Culture of Finland - Festivities and Traditions

Festivities and Traditions

Finnish holidays are similar to the Western Christian calendar and Protestant traditions. Holidays and traditions are a blend of the thousand-year old Christian presence and vestiges of old Finnish pagan traditions.

Notable among these is Juhannus, the Finnish Midsummer. A majority of Finns retreat to summer cottages (mökki) on any one of Finland's numerous lakes. Depending on the region, a bonfire at midnight celebrates the summer solstice, and in Åland, the Swedish-originated tradition of dancing around the Maypole is observed. The midsummer traditions also include different versions of pairing magic and folklore in the festivities.

The Finnish Christmas, Joulu, follows traditions of Christmas trees and the Advent calendars. Holidays start on the 23rd of December. Gift giving occurs on Christmas Eve with a visit from Joulupukki (Father Christmas, Santa Claus). Traditional meals are typically only eaten on Christmas followed by sauna. Christmas Day is reserved for a "quiet day" and the holidays end after the 26th, St. Stephen's Day (tapaninpäivä).

Easter is a combination of Christian and Pagan customs. Either on Palm Sunday or the Holy Saturday, children dress up as witches (noita) and go from door to door, giving away daffodil adorned branches of willow in exchange for sweets. This is similar to the United States celebration of Halloween. Burning Easter bonfires is a Pagan custom meant to keep witches at bay.

Vappu, or May Day is a national holiday, an event for Finns to emphatically welcome spring after several months of little daylight. It can be compared to Mardi Gras with parades and parties. Traditionally, the event begins on the eve of Vappu by former and current students putting on their student caps (graduation cap).

Finnish Independence Day is the 6th of December and a national holiday.

Sauna is a steam bath practiced widely in Finland. The word is of Proto-Finnish origin (found in Finnic and Sámi languages) dating back 7,000 years. The sauna's purpose is to bathe, and the heat (either dry or steam) opens pores in the skin and thoroughly cleanses the body. Cedar or birch branches can be tapped along the body to stimulate blood circulation. The sauna soothes sore and aching muscles. The Finns often use and have used the sauna to recover from hard physical labor. Sauna culture dictates subdued speech and time for thought to soothe the mind. Sauna is not to be rushed as it is essential to spiritual living. The structure of the sauna began as a small log building partially buried in the earth. A "smoke sauna" was used to cure meats in pre-industrial years as well as, to bathe or a sterile environment for childbirth, but this tradition has declined in favor of a modern invention, the continuously heated sauna, which is hotter, cleaner and faster to heat up. In Finnish saunas, temperature is set to about 60–100 °C, and small amounts of water thrown on rocks atop the stove emit steam, which produces a heat sensation. Some Finns prefer the "dry sauna" using very little steam, if any. Traditional sauna includes the process of perspiring and cooling several times. A part of the cooling process may be a swim in the lake before returning to the sauna for an additional sweat.

Similar steam baths have been part of European tradition elsewhere as well, but the sauna has survived best in Finland, in addition to Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Norway, and parts of the United States and Canada. Moreover, nearly all Finnish houses have either their own sauna, or in multistory apartment houses, a timeshared sauna. Public saunas were previously common, but the tradition has declined when saunas have been built nearly everywhere (private homes, municipal swimming halls, hotels, corporate headquarters, gyms, etc.).

Finland has a great amount of summer festivals, the biggest being music festivals.