Fun Finnish Christmas facts most foreigners don't know
Finnish Christmas is not what most people expect. There's no frantic commercial buildup, no obligatory parties dressed up as fun. Instead: a sauna, a graveyard, the best roast ham you've ever eaten and a quiet kind of meaning that's harder to explain than to feel. Finland's Christmas traditions are rooted in something older and more honest than the modern version most of the world has inherited. Central to all of it is the Finnish sauna, which on Christmas Eve becomes something closer to ritual than routine.
1. Christmas Eve is the main event
In Finland, Christmas Eve isn't a warm-up. It's the day. Families gather for the main meal, exchange gifts and spend the evening together. Christmas Day is for leftovers, walks and well-earned quiet. The focus and weight of the celebration sits firmly on the 24th.
2. Joulupukki is not your average Santa
Joulupukki, the name translates to Christmas Goat, has pagan roots in Finnish tradition, when he appeared as a symbol of fertility and good fortune rather than gift-giving. His base is Korvatunturi, a hill in Lapland shaped like an ear, perfect for listening to children's wishes. Unlike the British version, Joulupukki knocks on doors and hands over gifts in person. No chimney theatrics.
3. Christmas Eve begins with a sauna
Before the meal, before the gifts, comes the sauna. Families take a candlelit steam session on Christmas Eve as both preparation and ritual, cleansing in the literal and spiritual sense. The sauna elf, saunatonttu, is said to watch over the proceedings. Respect is expected. The tradition is taken seriously.
The sauna is one of the clearest expressions of Finnish life at any time of year. At Christmas, it becomes something more.
4. The tree goes up on Christmas Eve morning
While many countries begin decorating in early December, Finnish families often wait until Christmas Eve morning to bring in and dress the tree. The tradition dates from when trees were cut fresh from the forest on the day itself. Decorating becomes a shared activity, with ornaments often handmade or passed down. The scent of pine in the house is part of the ritual.
5. Joulukinku: The Christmas ham
The centrepiece of a Finnish Christmas meal is joulukinku, a large piece of pork that can be started in the oven as early as Christmas Eve morning and cooked at low heat all day. It's served with mustard, alongside carrot, potato and swede casseroles. The ham is taken seriously. Families have their own methods and their own recipes, defended quietly across generations.
6. Visiting the grave
On Christmas Eve, many Finnish families visit cemeteries to place candles on the graves of relatives. In winter darkness, Finnish graveyards become extraordinarily lit, row after row of small flames visible for a considerable distance. It's a moment of genuine beauty in an already serious day.
7. Rice pudding and the almond
Riisipuuro, rice pudding, is served at Christmas, with one almond hidden somewhere in the pot. Whoever finds it is said to have good fortune in the coming year. The game is real and the competition can be surprisingly intense for something played with pudding.
8. The Christmas peace declaration
Every Christmas Eve, at noon, the Christmas Peace is declared in Turku, a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. The declaration is broadcast on national radio and television. It officially marks the beginning of Christmas and calls for peace and respect during the period. It is observed, broadly, as a serious moment.
9. Stars made of straw
Himmeli, geometric straw mobiles, are a traditional Finnish Christmas decoration, hung from ceilings to catch the light. Originally connected to harvest rituals and the hope for a good crop, they've become associated with Christmas rather than agriculture. Handmade ones are still common; the tradition of making them has been passed to younger generations with some care.
10. Glögi
Finland's Christmas drink is glögi, a spiced, often non-alcoholic mulled drink served hot with raisins and almonds in the bottom of the cup. It's drunk throughout December rather than reserved for a single occasion. The smell of glögi is, for many Finns, what December smells like.
11. Boxing Day is quiet
Finland's Boxing Day, Tapaninpäivä, is Saint Stephen's Day. Traditionally associated with horses and outdoor activities, it's now primarily a day of calm, visits to relatives, walks in winter landscapes, the extended comedown after Christmas Eve. Cities are largely empty.
12. A genuinely Finnish Christmas
What makes Finnish Christmas distinctive isn't any single tradition. It's the combination of solemn and warm, ancient and domestic, a graveyard candlelit in December darkness, then home to sauna and ham and candlelight. It's a Christmas that takes its meaning seriously without performing it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a traditional Finnish Christmas like?
Finnish Christmas centres on Christmas Eve. Families gather for a sauna, a large meal featuring roast ham and casseroles and the exchange of gifts. Many visit cemeteries in the afternoon to light candles on graves. The atmosphere is warm but serious, far less commercial and frenetic than Christmas in many other countries.
What does Joulupukki mean?
Joulupukki means Christmas Goat in Finnish, a reference to the character's pagan origins. Today he functions as Finland's Santa Claus, based in Lapland at Korvatunturi. Unlike other versions of Santa, Joulupukki typically delivers gifts in person, knocking on the door rather than arriving via chimney.
What do Finns eat at Christmas?
The main dish is joulukinku, roast pork ham, served with mustard and a selection of casseroles: carrot (porkkanalaatikko), potato (perunalaatikko) and swede (lanttulaatikko). Herring dishes and rice pudding with a hidden almond are also traditional. The meal is served on Christmas Eve.
Why do Finns go to the sauna on Christmas Eve?
The Christmas sauna is a longstanding tradition with roots in both practical and spiritual significance. It's a moment of preparation and cleansing before the main celebration, taken seriously across generations. The saunatonttu or sauna elf, is associated with the Christmas sauna specifically, a figure who watches over the household and expects respectful behaviour.
What is glögi?
Glögi is Finland's Christmas drink, a hot, spiced beverage similar to mulled wine, available in alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions. It's typically served with raisins and almonds dropped into the bottom of the cup and drunk throughout December. The scent of glögi is closely associated with the Finnish Christmas season.
Finnish Christmas: quiet, serious and entirely its own
Finnish Christmas doesn't need explaining to Finns. They grew up with it and they mostly prefer it to the alternatives. For everyone else, it's a useful reminder that Christmas can mean something particular, rooted and real, without requiring much noise to prove it.
101 Very Finnish Problems began as a list of observations about Finnish life. It became a book because the observations kept coming.
4 comments
There’s some false information in this article when speaking about Finnish Christmas carols.
It’s told here that
‘Varpunen jouluaamuna’ (Sparrow on a Christmas Morning, lyrics by Zachris Topelius), for example, tells a story of a girl and her dead little brother. The brother has died of famine, but visits the girl on Christmas morning in a shape of a sparrow. ‘The morsel of food you offered brought me from the land on angels’ . "
The little brother DID’NT die in famine but in a disease. ZachrisTopelius wrote his own sorrow about the loss of a beloved son, who died in a fatal sickness.
Rafael was his only son, and in the poem which was later composed as a beloved Christmas song, he described how the late baby boy came to visit his sister in a shape of a sparrow.
In 1800’s it was very common that babies died in some sickness before their first birthday, the story of the song was very familiar in most families resonating in people’s hearts, and the song became very popular.
It’s very easy to claim Finnish Christmas songs as sad, if you dont know well the Finnish culture and the background of the songs as in “Sparrow in the Christmas Morning”. The Finnish Christmas is not a noisy festival, it’s a family celebration with solemnity and mid-winter mood with Christmas tree, candle lights and good food. In the background there’s an old agrarian mid-winter festival, when there was time to rest and there was plenty of food. The solemnity becomes from gratitude of the food security and Christian traditions, which are still in the background of the Finnish Christmas.
And when it’s the darkest time of the year and you feel yourself more or less drowsy, then the songs have easily some melancholy.
But there are also cheerful Christmas carols and plays, which used to be performed at school celebrations. Now however the demand of non-religious Christmas celebrations have ruined many nice traditions.
Maybe we should remove also the English word ‘Christmas’ which is referencing to the birth of Christ…?
The Finnish word ‘joulu’ (coming from the old word ‘yule’) is better in this meaning, cause it has nothing to do with Christianity 😊.
In our version of Latino Christmas traditions, Christmas Eve is the star. We feast. Go to church and open presents. When I was younger the tree was decorated then..now, most of us decorate earlier. Wit the price of evergreens. we want to get our money’s worth.
The Finnish Joulupukki of today is a scary and very old man, who is tired and skinny, can hardly stand up, and sings a dreary song to children, who answer him a farewell when it is time for him to go on. The first time I saw him I was not impressed, and I haven’t been impressed since.
In my childhood in Finland we had dried cod with stinky white sauce, roast gammon, roast beef, boiled potatoes, oven baked dishes of swede, carrots and rice or liver and raisins. Also a cold salad of chopped root vegetables with sauce of whipped cream sweetened and coloured with beetroot juice called " rosolli". For afters we had rice porridge with dried fruit boiled and thickened. with potato flour. And we were thoughorly stuffef