Truth and Myth About Christmas

This morning, the rush of Christmas preparations is already almost over, and around midday Finnish people go to listen to the Declaration of Christmas Peace, which dates back to the Middle Ages. Later in the evening, at the festive table, the Christmas Gospel is read, telling how the child Jesus was born to Mary, who had become pregnant as a virgin and who, together with her betrothed Joseph, had gone to Bethlehem to be registered for taxation.

This story, familiar to all Westerners, is a rather beautiful narrative. In addition, for many people it is associated with such childhood memories that they wish to revive them even if their worldview is not theistic. If anything, this shows how extremely important traditions are to people.

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As most of you—my esteemed readers—are probably aware, many Christmas traditions are much older than Christianity. One of their sources is the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which was celebrated for a week around the time of the winter solstice.

The description of Saturnalia given, for example, on Wikipedia sounds very familiar, although there are of course differences beyond the Christian nature of the celebration. During the festival, people gave each other gifts, and there was plenty of festive food, games, and merrymaking. It is also interesting that in the Roman temple considered the center of Saturnalia, the cult statue of Saturn had its feet unbound.

On the other hand, Saturnalia was led by a carnival king chosen for the occasion, and slaves were granted the freedoms of free people. This meant that they were allowed to gamble, become publicly intoxicated, cast aside the cloak of restrained behavior, and even act insolently. The streets, too, were filled with boisterous celebration.

These latter Roman customs do not belong to the Christmases of my generation, but I have noticed that, at least in terms of celebrating, Finland is gradually changing. Not everyone spends Christmas at home anymore; instead, people set off on boisterous holiday trips to the south or the north. And perhaps nightlife, too, is livelier than before even in cities where people’s homes are located.

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The ancient Romans had neither Christmas trees nor Santa Claus. The origin of the former is not known for certain.

According to Estonians, the first public Christmas tree was erected in Tallinn as early as 1441, but Latvian archival sources claim that the Brotherhood of the Blackheads brought the Christmas tree to Riga in 1510. In addition, there is a well-known account according to which the Christmas tree originated in 16th-century Germany, in the area of present-day Strasbourg.

What is certain, however, is that the Christmas tree tradition does not originate from Finland or even from the Nordic countries, since spruce trees began to appear in people’s homes here—initially among the nobility—only in the 19th century. Among the common people, the Christmas tree became widespread only about a hundred years ago.

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Santa Claus, of course, lives on Korvatunturi in Finland (the name translates as “Ear Mountain”), together with Mrs. Claus and his elves. This is so despite the fact that some who have lost their faith in him believe that Santa Claus originated as a kind of successor to the tradition of Saint Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra who lived in the 4th century.

Even more absurd is the idea held by Americans that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole and travels around with flying reindeer—as if they did not know that there are no reindeer living at the North Pole at all. And even if there were, they certainly would not know how to fly.

In Finland, however, there have always also been relatives of Santa Claus: the Nuutti goats and Kekri goats. They are known to have gone from house to house, first drinking the alcoholic beverages offered to them, second distributing gifts to well-behaved children, and as a third option handing out birch twigs to the naughty ones.

Fortunately, in recent years Santa Claus has reduced the first and third of these pastimes and has instead focused more on listening to Christmas songs sung in children’s clear voices and on distributing gifts.

With these words—taken more or less seriously—I wish you, my esteemed readers, a very good and happy Christmas!

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
A Different Kind of Christmas
Christmas gift to the Holy Land
Merry Christmas!