I have been in Hietaniemi cemetery in Helsinki after dark on All Saint's Day, it almost feels magical to walk around there with all the candles on the graves lighting up the darkness with a warm flickering orange light 🕯🪦✨
there's a cemetery right across the street from me. mostly a quiet neighbourhood but around pyhäinpäivä and joulu it's basically mayhem with people driving and parking their cars everywhere, car doors slamming all day. but the sea of candles in the dark is really beautiful.
Nice reaction again 👍. If I remember correctly from one of Your reactions, You are a Christmas person? In that case, recommend You watch a Finnnish movie called "Rare exports" and You will find out what the real Santa is and looks like👹.
Kekripukki asked for treats/treating. The group that came to the door asked: "Kekri or oven?!" So the group had to be sustained with Kekri delicacies and alcohol, or else they would break or knock down the house's oven, according to their threats. When celebrating kekri, it was customary to make a lantern out of turnips.
@@Aurinkohelmi They are basically the same traditions and characters, but during different holiday. A bit like burning a bonfire during various traditional celebrations. 😁
Yeah, most of the tradition that is unique for one scandi county is the same in all of the nordics. That's why we all feel like one family we have the same culture more or less!
Without any further ado, asides the Swedes Germans and soforth. It is a time of remembrance and grace of those before us. Lighting a candle to my ancestors who made my path easier. For the Halloween... Well, every f-cking morning my face scares the shit out of me in the bathroom mirror...❤
Old pagan holidays were already popular - rebranding them as Christian holidays just made sense 😅 I think it might have been easier to convert people to a new religion when they got to keep their beloved holidays. It has been said that Christmas used to be pagan holiday of Yule which would make sense since in Swedish it is still called "Jul" (yule) and in Finnish from same origin "Joulu" (yo-lu).
Grains are collected early in the autumn. After that there were celebrations, but Kekri came later in autumn, after everything was done to be ready for winter, including slaughtering animals. Later a lot of Kekri-traditions were moved to Yule, like leaving sauna and food to dead relatives. Before any gods, Finns use to worship their dead. That's why our old traditions are full of spells and customs to protect ourselves against the dead, because while they were respected they were also very scary and could cause all kind of bad things to living if they weren't happy. Nowadays Halloween is a fun party, but mostly for kids and young adults. Traditionally our carneval has been Mayday. And on Easter kids dress up as witches (This tradition comes from east.). So Halloween is like a mash-up of those in our minds.
Animism has been practiced allover the world. There's an animistic mythological creature in Nordic folklore called tonttu/tomte/nisse, who is associated with the winter solstice and the Christmas season. I guess you can call him as Santa's little helper. In Finnish he's tonttu, but before that he was known as haltija. Here are couple of discussion about haltija in Finnish mythology: "Spirit(s) of the Sauna: Seen and Unseen Beings in Finnish Folklore" and "Finnish Animism and Sauna: Interview with Dalva Lamminmäki". The Cola Santa's illlustrator Haddon Sundblom's father was from Åland Island's and mother from Sweden. The Santa's red suit however is earlier design. in the 1870s, the American Civil War Cartoonist Thomas Nast introduced Santa with a red suit and cap, white fur lining and buckled black belt as part of the Union Propaganda. Santa is very much a hybrid being and he's origin differs in different cultures Here's some videos about the Finnish version of harvest festival and how the traditions live on in Christmas. Even Santa is called as Christmas Goat in FInland (Joulupukki): "Kekri festival in Finland / Kekrin vietto Suomessa", "NOVEMBER - The Month of Death in Finland", "The Finnish Kekri and its variations throughout the world" and "Celebrate Christmas like a Finnish pagan! Old Finnish Christmas traditions explained".
I still leave some food and wine for the departed. At 11:15, no, they didn't demand to stay overnight but asked for hospitality ie. some food and drinks.
The Coca-Cola Santa was created by Haddon Sundblom, a half Swede half finn from Stockholm. The red Santa is older than that. It's a bishops colours and comes from the dutch Sinterklaas to America. Red hatted gnomes/elfs were old in Germany at the time and could be an influence. So the Coca-Cola Santa didn't invent the costume, that's just a myth, but it did contribute to it's success.
That, grey leather jackets and actually scary masks as well. Coca-cola made it friendlier. Even though when I was kid we still had a lot of those old scary Santas in 80´s and start of 90´s 😆
@@elinahamalainen5867 In Sweden, we had the Jule Goat instead... Going around beating folks with a piece of wood or giving presents away. People adorned hideous goat masks with large horns.
I watched a video from you earlier today about five (I think it was five) things why you not should move to Finland. But when I should watch that again it was gone. It looks like I never watched it when I looked what I watched today on RUclips. That was strange. Halloween is spooked by me 👻
December 25 was originally linked to Roman festivals like Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, celebrating the sun god around the winter solstice. Early Christians likely chose this date to create a Christian alternative to these popular celebrations. The choice was made by church leaders in the 4th century to help Christianity integrate with existing traditions.
I believe you brits celebrate this too. It's our way of celebrating Halloween. We also tell stories about the dead ones... So same base as Halloween... although Americans replaced family history with horror stories...
Christmus (jul for vikings) , easter, midsummer and all saints day where all paygen. Relly old thing all over europe ( world?) To selebrate related to the suns movements thrue the year.
It's interesting to find similarities in pagan beliefs across the world. All that trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and making pumpkin lanters, lighting candles and the old 'kekri' traditions are pretty much about appeasing and repelling spirits and protecting yourself from them during time when the border between the living and the dead is weaker. Originally the costumes were meant to disguise children as spirits so they wouldn't be taken by them (ever seen vintage halloween pics? They are terrifying!). Nowadays it's more like anime or comic con.
In order to proselytize people away from their older beliefs it's been a common practise rather not totally prohibit the old tales, sagas and beliefs but mold them into part of christianity. As a matter of fact many bible stories are stolen from much older Greek mythology. When you promote your new religion people adopt it much more easily when there are lot of familiar aspects and practises rather than everything totally new and different. That's why many religion celebrations might be a bit different depending of the country as there are older history behind them that might've been unique only to that area. For last couple of decades, at least in biggest cities, halloween is celebrated in an American way, lot's of costumee parties etc. And of course every shop full of cheap bric-a-brac here in Finland too. In residential neighbourhoods kids also dress up and go around to collect treats, but not really in the city centres where you don't have acces to apartment houses or blocks.
It's easier to feed religion to people if it's all about an old known thing like, say, pagan holidays. In fact, the new birth of the year has been celebrated for thousands of years around December 21, when it is the winter solstice, i.e. the day starts to get longer and the light returns to life. When you add the birth of Jesus to it, you get a Christian meaning for the old pagan celebration. In the same way, a lot of Christianity has been introduced into our lives over the course of a couple of thousand years. Coca cola used Santa Claus for marketing back in the day and changed his clothes to their own colors. In Finland, Santa Claus is a Joulupukki which means christmas buck. This again comes from Nuuttipukki, who used to go from house to house. Even in the 1960s, there was still a grey-haired goat in a puffy cap standing at many doors. Christian tradition includes gifts and it is justified by the fact that even Jesus received gold and myrrh, but even in ancient Rome, carnival-like saturnalia parties were celebrated at Christmas time, when the emperor received money, friends candles and children clay dolls. When you combine these, you get the current Santa Claus who goes from house to house.
I have been in Hietaniemi cemetery in Helsinki after dark on All Saint's Day, it almost feels magical to walk around there with all the candles on the graves lighting up the darkness with a warm flickering orange light 🕯🪦✨
The designer behind the red dressed Santa is Finnish-Swedish artist called Haddon Sundblom (born in USA)
In english Christmas points to christianity. We in Nordics and in Esthonia(at least)use different forms of Yule: jul,joulu,jöulud. Winterfeast.
As a sweede (with finish mother) this is what we do. It is so beutiful with all the candles at the graveyards. I love it.
there's a cemetery right across the street from me. mostly a quiet neighbourhood but around pyhäinpäivä and joulu it's basically mayhem with people driving and parking their cars everywhere, car doors slamming all day. but the sea of candles in the dark is really beautiful.
Nice reaction again 👍. If I remember correctly from one of Your reactions, You are a Christmas person? In that case, recommend You watch a Finnnish movie called "Rare exports" and You will find out what the real Santa is and looks like👹.
Haha, one of the best christmas movies ever! 😅
Kekripukki asked for treats/treating. The group that came to the door asked: "Kekri or oven?!" So the group had to be sustained with Kekri delicacies and alcohol, or else they would break or knock down the house's oven, according to their threats.
When celebrating kekri, it was customary to make a lantern out of turnips.
As a Finn had to admit this was new for me as well ☺ Though I do know about Nuuttipukki going after Christmas to demand all left over food and booze 😄
@@Aurinkohelmi They are basically the same traditions and characters, but during different holiday. A bit like burning a bonfire during various traditional celebrations. 😁
Yeah, most of the tradition that is unique for one scandi county is the same in all of the nordics. That's why we all feel like one family we have the same culture more or less!
Not just "used to" offer food etc, some still very much do :)
Without any further ado, asides the Swedes Germans and soforth.
It is a time of remembrance and grace of those before us. Lighting a candle to my ancestors who made my path easier. For the Halloween... Well, every f-cking morning my face scares the shit out of me in the bathroom mirror...❤
Old pagan holidays were already popular - rebranding them as Christian holidays just made sense 😅 I think it might have been easier to convert people to a new religion when they got to keep their beloved holidays. It has been said that Christmas used to be pagan holiday of Yule which would make sense since in Swedish it is still called "Jul" (yule) and in Finnish from same origin "Joulu" (yo-lu).
Grains are collected early in the autumn. After that there were celebrations, but Kekri came later in autumn, after everything was done to be ready for winter, including slaughtering animals. Later a lot of Kekri-traditions were moved to Yule, like leaving sauna and food to dead relatives. Before any gods, Finns use to worship their dead. That's why our old traditions are full of spells and customs to protect ourselves against the dead, because while they were respected they were also very scary and could cause all kind of bad things to living if they weren't happy. Nowadays Halloween is a fun party, but mostly for kids and young adults. Traditionally our carneval has been Mayday. And on Easter kids dress up as witches (This tradition comes from east.). So Halloween is like a mash-up of those in our minds.
Animism has been practiced allover the world. There's an animistic mythological creature in Nordic folklore called tonttu/tomte/nisse, who is associated with the winter solstice and the Christmas season. I guess you can call him as Santa's little helper. In Finnish he's tonttu, but before that he was known as haltija. Here are couple of discussion about haltija in Finnish mythology: "Spirit(s) of the Sauna: Seen and Unseen Beings in Finnish Folklore" and "Finnish Animism and Sauna: Interview with Dalva Lamminmäki".
The Cola Santa's illlustrator Haddon Sundblom's father was from Åland Island's and mother from Sweden. The Santa's red suit however is earlier design. in the 1870s, the American Civil War Cartoonist Thomas Nast introduced Santa with a red suit and cap, white fur lining and buckled black belt as part of the Union Propaganda.
Santa is very much a hybrid being and he's origin differs in different cultures Here's some videos about the Finnish version of harvest festival and how the traditions live on in Christmas. Even Santa is called as Christmas Goat in FInland (Joulupukki): "Kekri festival in Finland / Kekrin vietto Suomessa", "NOVEMBER - The Month of Death in Finland", "The Finnish Kekri and its variations throughout the world" and "Celebrate Christmas like a Finnish pagan! Old Finnish Christmas traditions explained".
Christmas is also different in Finland
I still leave some food and wine for the departed. At 11:15, no, they didn't demand to stay overnight but asked for hospitality ie. some food and drinks.
All Hallow’ E’en. Alla helgons dag. The Irish used to carve hideous Jack-o-lanterns out of beetroots. Then go around demanding booze at every house.
The Coca-Cola Santa was created by Haddon Sundblom, a half Swede half finn from Stockholm.
The red Santa is older than that. It's a bishops colours and comes from the dutch Sinterklaas to America. Red hatted gnomes/elfs were old in Germany at the time and could be an influence.
So the Coca-Cola Santa didn't invent the costume, that's just a myth, but it did contribute to it's success.
There is still many people who puts costumes on and goes to bars and halloween parties, another ''reason'' to drink lol
i celebrated both style
I think in Finland Joulupukki (Santa Claus) was dressed first in grey or undyed woollen clothes. Coca Cola made the clothes red that is true.
The Coca-Cola thing is unfortunately not true...
That, grey leather jackets and actually scary masks as well. Coca-cola made it friendlier. Even though when I was kid we still had a lot of those old scary Santas in 80´s and start of 90´s 😆
@@elinahamalainen5867 In Sweden, we had the Jule Goat instead... Going around beating folks with a piece of wood or giving presents away. People adorned hideous goat masks with large horns.
I watched a video from you earlier today about five (I think it was five) things why you not should move to Finland. But when I should watch that again it was gone. It looks like I never watched it when I looked what I watched today on RUclips.
That was strange.
Halloween is spooked by me 👻
December 25 was originally linked to Roman festivals like Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, celebrating the sun god around the winter solstice. Early Christians likely chose this date to create a Christian alternative to these popular celebrations. The choice was made by church leaders in the 4th century to help Christianity integrate with existing traditions.
I believe you brits celebrate this too. It's our way of celebrating Halloween. We also tell stories about the dead ones... So same base as Halloween... although Americans replaced family history with horror stories...
Christmus (jul for vikings) , easter, midsummer and all saints day where all paygen. Relly old thing all over europe ( world?) To selebrate related to the suns movements thrue the year.
She didn't show a picture of a cemetery when it's dark and a candle flickers on every grave
Of course All hallows day should be 1.11, as Halloween is literally eve for all hallows day 😄
Nov. 1st is what you meant, right?
It's interesting to find similarities in pagan beliefs across the world. All that trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and making pumpkin lanters, lighting candles and the old 'kekri' traditions are pretty much about appeasing and repelling spirits and protecting yourself from them during time when the border between the living and the dead is weaker. Originally the costumes were meant to disguise children as spirits so they wouldn't be taken by them (ever seen vintage halloween pics? They are terrifying!). Nowadays it's more like anime or comic con.
Dwayne, look up the legend about Stingy Jack and the origin of Jack O'Lanterns. Not everything is made in USA. 😉
In order to proselytize people away from their older beliefs it's been a common practise rather not totally prohibit the old tales, sagas and beliefs but mold them into part of christianity. As a matter of fact many bible stories are stolen from much older Greek mythology. When you promote your new religion people adopt it much more easily when there are lot of familiar aspects and practises rather than everything totally new and different. That's why many religion celebrations might be a bit different depending of the country as there are older history behind them that might've been unique only to that area.
For last couple of decades, at least in biggest cities, halloween is celebrated in an American way, lot's of costumee parties etc. And of course every shop full of cheap bric-a-brac here in Finland too. In residential neighbourhoods kids also dress up and go around to collect treats, but not really in the city centres where you don't have acces to apartment houses or blocks.
Sol Invictus was the original Christmas
@@Slindi81 No, not really. That's also a myth.
It's easier to feed religion to people if it's all about an old known thing like, say, pagan holidays. In fact, the new birth of the year has been celebrated for thousands of years around December 21, when it is the winter solstice, i.e. the day starts to get longer and the light returns to life. When you add the birth of Jesus to it, you get a Christian meaning for the old pagan celebration. In the same way, a lot of Christianity has been introduced into our lives over the course of a couple of thousand years.
Coca cola used Santa Claus for marketing back in the day and changed his clothes to their own colors. In Finland, Santa Claus is a Joulupukki which means christmas buck. This again comes from Nuuttipukki, who used to go from house to house. Even in the 1960s, there was still a grey-haired goat in a puffy cap standing at many doors. Christian tradition includes gifts and it is justified by the fact that even Jesus received gold and myrrh, but even in ancient Rome, carnival-like saturnalia parties were celebrated at Christmas time, when the emperor received money, friends candles and children clay dolls. When you combine these, you get the current Santa Claus who goes from house to house.
first comment :)