Candlelight Christmas

Hämeenlinna Image by Tuomo Lindfors, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Candlelit Christmas

by Nancy Nygård Cemeteries in Finland are well-cared for by surviving family members. They are seen more as scenic parks with grand old trees where people can enjoy leisurely strolls. Small flower gardens are planted and tended throughout the summer. And at Christmas time, candles are placed on gravestones and lit.

Nearly three-quarters of Finnish families visit a cemetery at Christmas time; with Christmas Eve Day being the busiest day. Hundreds of candles glow in the snow creating a tranquil atmosphere. Some people make picturesque natural lanterns around their candles using piles of snowballs or with icy covers made by freezing water in buckets. Visitors walk the cemetery in peaceful, silent reverence.

The custom of setting candles by graves became widespread in Finland in the 1920s when candles became affordable. It is an annual tradition just like the huge Christmas meal and giving of gifts. Why not add this to your Christmas activities this year?

Julkärve

Feeding the birds at Christmas is a Swedish tradition with practical and symbolic origins. Swedes put aside the last sheaf of grain from the harvest, known as the Julkärve or the Christmas sheaf. A bundle was hung out for the birds on Christmas Eve, hoping the birds would stay out of the barn—where their precious harvest was stored—if they had another food source. And if many birds come, the legend goes, a good crop the next year will follow. Some farmers place the sheaf high in an apple tree, petitioning the spirit of the harvest to be generous the following season. The very act of giving the Julkärve to the birds also has significance as a reminder that, no matter how lean the times, people must share.

Oh, christmas tree!

Did you know? • Wealthy people in towns had Christmas trees from the 1820s • Rural parsonages of south and central Ostrobothnia adopted the Christmas tree in the 1850s • Most of the population adopted Christmas trees in the 1870s • Christmas trees became widely known in the twentieth century due to Christmas festivities celebrated in schools • In 1894 there was a public outdoor Christmas tree in

Tampere and one in Abo in 1900 • The custom of public Christmas trees in town centers began in the late 1940s