Everybody's house is given a very
good clean in readiness for Christmas. Hours are spent in the kitchen cooking
and baking special treats for the festive season.
Fir trees are felled, tied onto sleds, and taken home to be
decorated.
A sheaf of grain is often tied to a pole, together with nuts
and seeds and placed in the garden for the birds. Many of the peasants will not
eat their Christmas dinner until the birds have had their dinner.
The meal was begun as soon as the first star appeared in the
sky.
In Finland the Christmas tree is set up on Christmas Eve.
Apples and other fruits, candies, paper flags, cotton and tinsel are used as
decorations, and candles are used for lighting it.
The Christmas festivities are preceded by a visit to the
famous steam baths, after which everyone dressed in clean clothes in preparation
for the Christmas dinner, which is served at 5-7 in the evening.
Christmas gifts may be given out before or after the dinner.
The children do not hang up stockings, but Santa Claus comes in person,
often accompanied by as many as half a dozen Christmas elves to distribute the
presents.
The main dish of the dinner is boiled codfish served snowy
white and fluffy, with allspice, boiled potatoes, and cream sauce. The dried cod
has been soaked for a week in a lye solution, then in clear water to soften it
to the right texture. Also on the menu is roast suckling pig or a roasted fresh
ham, mashed potatoes, and vegetables.
After dinner the children go to bed while the older people
stay up to chat with visitors and drink coffee until about midnight.
Christmas Day services in the churches begin at six in the
morning. It is a day for family visits and reunions. In some parts of the
country the Star Boys tour the countryside singing Christmas songs.
During all these days the people keep wishing each other a "Merry Yule."
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