Christmas preparations

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 December 2022



A sign of coming Christmas is when the sweet pastry joulutorttu or by another name tähtitorttu starts to appear in shops and cafes. It is a square of puff pastry folded into a star shape with a lump of plum jam in the centre. I like how cultural differences show up in little things like the shape of puff pastry sold in shops. While in the Czech republic we often have it in a shape ready for our apple strudel, in Finland there are several rectangles in a box, waiting just to be cut in half and folded into a joulutorttu, which are also pictured on the package, including the procedure. They taste great with a hot drink glögi. It's something like a Christmas punch smelling of lots of spices. It nicely warms from the inside after a cold winter walk. It can be prepared in a non-alcoholic version or spiked with red wine and a splash of vodka. The glögi is served with sliced of almonds and raisins and Finns do not experiment with this combination. When Petri and I were making glögi one day, I suggested using dried apricots instead of raisins. The idea was not met with much enthusiasm, as I was about to disrupt an established ritual. I defended it by saying that the creation of new things is important in society, without it we wouldn't be making any progress. We wouldn’t invent a wheel, for example. In the end, the apricot version was very good, and Petri just said that we can sometimes prepare it like that, but rather not to offer it to others.


Joulutorttu/tähtitorttu with glögi


During pre-Christmas time, Finns send postcards. Lots of postcards. It's something I find very nice, and it fascinates me at the same time. Finns send Christmas postcards also to those they normally meet in everyday life, i.e. friends, family and work colleagues. I can understand sending a card to someone who lives across Finland but sending a card to a part of family who lives ten minutes away from us and we just saw them feels funny. And another thing that makes me wonder is the short message on the postcards. 

One year we were sending postcards from Prague. It took us a couple of days to get about twenty European stamps and then Petri wrote only about two words Hyvää Joulua meaning Merry Christmas and a signature. So much effort and then just this. I couldn't leave it like that and added a few sentences on the postcards for at least the closest ones. The next year at the book fair in Helsinki we bought beautiful winter postcards that already had the wishes printed there. So, Petri just wrote Pitäjänmäkista, meaning from Pitäjänmäki, and a signature. When I asked about this modest text, Petri replied that the whish was already there, so there was no point in repeating it. Again, I couldn't resist, and I found at the internet simple Christmas poems in Finnish and added them on selected postcards. I find the tradition of sending cards so lovely that I start to send a few postcards as well.  When I was still in the Czech republic, I sent a card to my mum and grandparents. My mum also liked this Finnish tradition and sent immediately one postcard to me and another to my brother and his family. They right away called my mum worrying it meant that my mum with her boyfriend won´t come on Christmas Eve to them when they sent the postcard. Mum told me the story and laughed that my brother with his family didn't understand at all why she wished them with a postcard Merry Christmas. It seemed illogical to my brother with his family when they were going to see each other.




Christmas Helsinki is magical. The city centre is lit up with millions of lights and there are lots of beautiful decorations everywhere. Mostly green and white, with the occasional red. The Christmassy decorated cafes breathe cosiness. The Stockmann store has every year different Christmas window, with puppets and music. In front of this window is a crowd of children squeezing and shouting enthusiastically. The main Christmas tree is in Senate Square, as well as Christmas markets with handicrafts and lots of good food.

Get the Helsinki Christmas atmosphere:



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