Miss my Mom, especially at Christmas time! I remember our lovely Finnish Christmas foods and traditions and miss having her with us to celebrate. Was reading some of her letters and her memoirs. Here is what she wrote about her childhood Christmases in Finland.
CHRISTMAS MEMORIES
When I was a little girl Father went in to the woods and cut down our Christmas tree. In later years we bought our tree from a tree salesman who brought them to sell at the outdoor market (Tori) in Helsinki. I was really good at decorating the tree and so it became my job to do so each Christmas. This started after I told Father that I was better at decorating the tree than he was! I had explained to him that the decorations needed to be placed on the tree “just like this and this.”
Wax candles were hung from the tree branches and they were then lit. The tinsel star was at the top of the tree, and cotton was placed on the branches for snow. Apples and candies were hung from the branches, and decorations made of silver paper were hung on every branch, and the tree was draped with festive ribbon as well. Because the trees were fresh, being recently cut from the forest, they filled the rooms of the house with a wonderful scent which added to the festive feeling. I recall that each day I was allowed to take one apple and a candy confection that hung from the branches and eat them, and it was a grand occasion for me.
The whole house had of course been cleaned for Christmas. The coffee pots had been polished because they were copper and tarnished quickly. Mother had made “lutefish” a long time beforehand by soaking white fish in a vat of lye and ashes so that the fish would bleach and be suitable for eating. For me it isn’t Christmas without “lutefish,” ham and prune-soup pudding. And then of course there were the Christmas “pulla” and gingerbread cookies. A delicious rutabaga casserole was also part of the traditional Christmas fare in my home. The ham was usually so big that it lasted us until January 6 when Christmas traditionally comes to an end in Finland.
Christmas Eve was the most important time for us children because that is when the presents were given out to everyone, an occasion we had looked forward to all year. Father Christmas handed out the presents. He always knocked on the door first and asked, “Are there good children in this house?” And very timidly we would call out that there were. I remember being a bit surprised that Father would always be absent right at the very moment that Father Christmas would come into the house. Mother would explain that Father had gone to check if Father Christmas was in the neighborhood, and to see whether he had time to come to our house since he had so many places to visit. Well, eventually this little mystery was explained.
On New Year’s Eve we always poured molten tin into a bucket of cold water [an old Finnish fortune-telling custom]. It was exciting to see if the tin formed into the shape of a “ship to America,” and almost without exception that was what the lump of tin seemed to resemble. At Christmas we usually went to church to hear the Christmas sermon and Christmas concert. It as a highlight and a special event during our year!
-- Aune Irene Makinen-Tolvanen
