Janne is a Finnish colleague who organizes some special activities in Southern Lapland. We asked him why we should spend Christmas time in Finland and here it is his magic tale about Wintertime in Lapland!
The magic of Christmas time in Finland according to Janne
If you’re looking for a nice place to spend the next Christmas holidays, I would like to give you a few reasons to come to Finland. Here is the first one: you become happy! You might know that the Finns have been nominated as the happiest people in the world! Therefore we spread happiness all around, especially at Christmas time!
The second one is because of the Sámi people, the indigenous people living in the Northern part of Finland. They taught us how to herd reindeer, so here in Southern Lapland reindeer are free in the wild for half of the year.
We herd reindeer naturally because of their tasty and organic meat, which is always the queen of our Christmas food. Carrot and swede casseroles, oven-baked ham, beetroot salad, pickled Baltic herring, smoked salmon, and roasted potatoes are the perfect pairs of reindeer meat, making our Christmas menus rich and delicious.
The smell and taste of Christmas bring back memories of my childhood: baking Christmas cookies and “star pastries”, or, joulutorttu, were the most important moments in our family Christmas. Of course, the white-bearded man with a few presents in the evening was the most awaited moment at Christmas!
Around Christmas, we are in the darkest period of the year, which is called the Polar Night, up in the North above the Arctic Circle. Fortunately, in South Lapland where I live, we have a bit of light around Christmas time. We call this spectacular moment of the day the Blue Moment. And it happens only during Christmas: the sky and the whole landscape turn blue in the afternoon. From light blue to dark blue, and then from yellow to purple, red, and to total darkness, it’s a dance of colors. Then usually starts the wonderful Northern Lights show!
We can say that Christmas time is the most magical period also for nature and landscape photographers because nature is stunning. When I was a child, I used to spend Christmas holidays outdoors and my life was a great adventure in the Nordic nature all the time. I loved it so much that went to school for learning Arctic survival skills and Wilderness First Aid.
During this period of the year the activities in Lapland we offer to our guests are the same as we do with our families and children like skiing, snowshoeing, and ice-fishing. We might feel a bit quiet and shy at first, but you can trust that the heart of Northern people is always warm for guests visiting!
Welcome to South Lapland.
Janne & Pena-husky