One of Finland’s most important winter celebrations is St. Lucia’s Day, a holiday that is also celebrated in Sweden. St. Lucia is said to have delivered food to the Christians during the time of their greatest persecution, her way lit only by a few candles. St. Lucia was executed for her efforts, thus she later became a saint of the people of Finland and Sweden. St. Lucia Day is celebrated on December 13, and, at that time, the eldest daughter is dressed in a white robe and sash with a head wreath with candles around it. She then distributes breakfast rolls and coffee in honor of St. Lucia.

Finland also celebrates Christmas differently from countries in the western parts of the world. One of the big differences is with the Christmas Tree. In many cultures the tree is erected and decorated as far as a month before Christmas, while in Finland it is felled and decorated on Christmas Eve. The children of the family will then decorate it with ornaments, tinsel, cookies, candy, apples, small Finish flags, and candles or Christmas lights.

Christmas day is also different in Finland, as the stores and shops are open till noon, which is the official start of the Peace of Christmas. This is when Christmas is officially in effect. In Finland, families will also go to the graveyard in the early evening and place candles on the graves of departed loved ones and mourn for them. After all of this, the celebration begins with a visit from Joulupukki, a jolly old man dressed in a red suit similar to ‘St. Nick’, but a rough translation of Joulupukki is Christmas Goat. While St. Nick and Joulupukki both use reindeer and a red sleigh to go from house to house delivering gifts to the ‘good children’, Joulupukki doesn’t fly or go down the chimney in the middle of the night, but knocks on the door during the Christmas celebration and announces ‘ Onko tääl lä kilttejä lapsia’ which asks if there are any good children in the house.

After giving out his gifts Joulupukki ‘departs’ to Lapland to his workshop for another year of toy making. Of course, Joulupukki is normally played by a male family member or friend of the family who sneaks out of the house to knock on the door and distribute presents to the elated children as a reward for their good behavior throughout the year.