We all know Santa is from Finland. I caught him yesterday, doing his final shopping before he's off to all the children (big and small) around the globe.
This year christmas eve is being held at our place, which is a first ever for me. In the Netherlands I never celebrated the eve-before. Christmas day is the big think there. But here in Finland all the gifts, wine and good food starts an evening earlier. So, as you can imagine, stress levels will be rising the coming hours as is usual in my small family of 4 + cat & dog. Thankfully the tree is standing and all the shopping has been done, both for food and gifts. Tasks remaining: Making the food, cleaning the house and getting myself an outfit that's Christmas-worthy: I'm on that this afternoon.
BTW: Did you know that Christmas is celebrated on the 25th because it's the day when the sun is lowest on the horizon in the northern hemisphere? This event was called Yule by te Germanic tribes. The Romans, fresh from kicking some Germanic ass while conquering them, thought this to be kind of "wicked" and decided to throw a party because of it. They started it actually each year on December 17 to honour their God Saturn (the god of agriculture) and called it Saturnalia. During their week-long bash...ending on Yule (they sure knew how to party) they exchanged gifts and, nice guys as they were, they temporarily released their slaves. I wonder who got the drinks and made the food for them. Christianity developed and at some point dring the 4th century AD, the Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. To keep everyone happy, they decided to throw Christmas on the 25th of December and mark it by giving gifts....along with worship, wine, food etc. I guess a soul was easy to win in those days.
Ok, we skip 17 centuries and are back in -15 degree 21st century Finland, that is still waiting for some snow. At least a bit more than the 3mm we have now. I suppose 17 centuries did not change Christmas all that much: We still attach Christmas to a tree dressed up for a party, free our slaves erh....workers temporarily and make sure everyone gets a gift, good food and drinks!
This year christmas eve is being held at our place, which is a first ever for me. In the Netherlands I never celebrated the eve-before. Christmas day is the big think there. But here in Finland all the gifts, wine and good food starts an evening earlier. So, as you can imagine, stress levels will be rising the coming hours as is usual in my small family of 4 + cat & dog. Thankfully the tree is standing and all the shopping has been done, both for food and gifts. Tasks remaining: Making the food, cleaning the house and getting myself an outfit that's Christmas-worthy: I'm on that this afternoon.
BTW: Did you know that Christmas is celebrated on the 25th because it's the day when the sun is lowest on the horizon in the northern hemisphere? This event was called Yule by te Germanic tribes. The Romans, fresh from kicking some Germanic ass while conquering them, thought this to be kind of "wicked" and decided to throw a party because of it. They started it actually each year on December 17 to honour their God Saturn (the god of agriculture) and called it Saturnalia. During their week-long bash...ending on Yule (they sure knew how to party) they exchanged gifts and, nice guys as they were, they temporarily released their slaves. I wonder who got the drinks and made the food for them. Christianity developed and at some point dring the 4th century AD, the Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. To keep everyone happy, they decided to throw Christmas on the 25th of December and mark it by giving gifts....along with worship, wine, food etc. I guess a soul was easy to win in those days.
Ok, we skip 17 centuries and are back in -15 degree 21st century Finland, that is still waiting for some snow. At least a bit more than the 3mm we have now. I suppose 17 centuries did not change Christmas all that much: We still attach Christmas to a tree dressed up for a party, free our slaves erh....workers temporarily and make sure everyone gets a gift, good food and drinks!
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