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.

* * *

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.

* * *

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!

A Different Kind of Christmas

Today, most of us celebrate Christmas Eve each in our own way, enjoying the holidays peacefully with loved ones and following old traditions. That’s what I will be doing as well.

However, things haven’t always been as good, and people have had to spend Christmas in very different circumstances. Even today, Ukrainians’ Christmas is overshadowed by the ongoing war, the impact of which on their holiday spirit is difficult, if not impossible, to even imagine from the safety of our northern corner of the world.

That’s why I decided to share the following text with you—to remind us to be content and grateful for the peace and atmosphere we are fortunate to enjoy this Christmas. It is an excerpt from a war diary describing the Christmas of the 1st Machine Gun Company of Infantry Regiment 65 in the Finnish Army during the first year of the Winter War, 1939:

"24.12. Christmas Eve. Relocation to Räisänen. Part of the company engaged in combat, led by Second Lieutenant Micklin. Russian aircraft. On Christmas Eve evening: violin + guitar + singing. Morale fairly high. The cabins were very warm.
25.12. Wake-up at 4 a.m., followed by an early departure to the front lines. Dry rations ran out. Supply extremely difficult. The men in their positions endured the terrible cold, -35°C, and hunger, but there was no help due to poor connections. Artillery fire several times. The Russians retreated about 3–4 km. Intense pursuit. Sergeant Taimi wounded. Cold night. Supply improved slightly. The battalion had no tents or other equipment except for Company I. We received rations during the night.
26.12. Fierce fighting continued through the night. Patrols continued movements and battles. Our patrol silenced a Russian mortar. In the morning, we got some rest. Overall, it was a relatively calm day. Shells + aircraft."

With these words, I wish all of you—my dear audience—a good, peaceful, and grateful Christmas! To Ukrainians especially, I also wish for a better future!

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Christmas gift to the Holy Land
History of Finland XIV: The end of the first Finnish Republic
Merry Christmas!

Strengthening Christmas Market Security: Lessons from Magdeburg

The motive for the Magdeburg terrorist attack remains unclear, and I will not address it in this text. Instead, I wonder how it was even possible for a vehicle to access the market area. After all, the security measures for Christmas markets had been recognized as extremely important in Germany ever since a similar attack in Berlin in 2016, when a man drove a truck into a market and killed 12 people.

For this reason, large concrete barriers had also been placed around the square in Magdeburg. However, a gap was left between the barriers for emergency vehicles, and it was through this gap that the terrorist managed to get through. This was done to ensure an evacuation route for a "conventional" emergency situation.

Of course, at this point, this sounds utterly foolish—as it undoubtedly is. Hopefully, it is now understood that the security measures for Christmas markets must prevent all types of vehicles from accessing the area, while providing a guarded and controlled access point for emergency vehicles, which is only opened when absolutely necessary.

This should also be implemented in countries other than Germany, including Finland and other nations where such terrorist attacks have never occurred.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Terrorism Landscape in the EU Contradicts the Narrative Presented by EU Politicians and Media
The Stabber Killed Three People in an Extremely Multicultural City
Cancellation of Taylor Swift's Concert in Austria Was a Success for the Terrorists

Christmas gift to the Holy Land

In the Christian - and nowadays, even among more secular Western people - Christmas emphasizes events over 2,000 years ago in the current territory of Israel, as well as the giving of gifts in commemoration of those events. That's why this Christmas, I want to remember the residents of the so-called Holy Land with a proposal for achieving lasting peace between them.

A new solution is needed for two reasons. The first is the nature of Israel as a Jewish state, and the second is the terrorist violence carried out by the Palestinian population who made a colossal mistake in the events of 1948-49 by following the proposal by other Arabs to leave their homes. Both have hindered the establishment of peace between the inhabitants of the Holy Land.

Therefore, a solution must be sought based on maintaining the nature of Israel as a Jewish state while putting an end to the terrorist activities of the Palestinian population. These conditions are not met by the widely discussed two-state model, and particularly, Jews are not interested in a single-state model where Palestinians who engage in terrorism year after year would be granted Israeli citizenship.

In this situation, creative thinking is needed. However, first, we must wait for the end of the ongoing war so that the biggest obstacle to peace, the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, is removed from the stage.

Afterward, there should be a negotiation table with representation from Jews and Palestinians living in Israel, as well as Jordan, Egypt, and potentially other Arab countries, along with impartial mediators. The result must be an acceptable solution, offering Palestinians the freedom to either move away from Israel to Jordan, Egypt, or other Arab nations, or alternatively, to await Israeli citizenship.

Palestinians relocating to Arab countries should be granted citizenship, for example, five years after settling in the country, provided they meet the conditions and behave appropriately. Those choosing to live in Israel would initially remain without citizenship, but it would generally be granted to them after 30 years. 

That is primarily because renouncing Palestinian terrorism would be a precondition for citizenship. Since achieving this is unlikely to happen overnight, a framework encouraging the abandonment of violence must be established.

Therefore, it should be decided that for each act of Palestinian terrorism within the first year of the agreement, the granting of citizenship would be postponed by one week. Similarly, from the second to the tenth year of the agreement, each act of terrorism would delay citizenship by one month. After that, for the next ten years, each act of terrorism would postpone citizenship by one year, and from then on, by five years.

Such a system would provide Palestinians with a way out of the current deadlock and strong motivation to refrain from terrorist acts. As violence diminishes, trust between Israeli Jews and Palestinians would gradually grow, leading to increasing economic integration over the years, which would further strengthen the peaceful development.

* * *

In the proposal I outlined earlier, it is crucial that the timeframe is long, at least 30 years. Presumably, a considerable number of Palestinians would not choose to wait in Israel for such an extended period and would instead opt for relocation to an Arab country, where obtaining full citizenship rights could happen in a substantially shorter time. This way, the character of Israel as a Jewish state would not be compromised, even if the remaining Palestinians were granted citizenship.

The extended timeframe is also essential because over three decades, an entirely new generation of Palestinians and Jews would grow up, whose lives would not be overshadowed by continuous violence and oppression but rather characterized by peaceful coexistence. This would lead to a decrease in the significance of ethnic and religious boundaries, strengthening society and ultimately creating a situation where the granting of citizenship to Palestinians would not provoke insurmountable reactions among Jews.

And thus, peace would eventually arrive at the birthplace of Christian Christmas! For the people living there, peace and goodwill toward each other would prevail.

With this proposal, I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas! I also extend my wishes to the residents of the Holy Land, hoping that my gift brings them peace!

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Merry Christmas!
Nauttikaa joulusta! (in Finnish, but readable in English using e.g. Google translator)
Joulumuisto (in Finnish, but readablein English using e.g. Google translator)

Merry Christmas!

Today is Christmas Eve. That is the day, when most children in Western countries are waiting for Father Christmas or Santa Claus - and many of them even think of him as a Finn.

I am also waiting for Santa Claus, even though I am not a child anymore. Or well, it is sometimes said that a person turns into a child again when he has lived enough. So why not me?

This year, I am expecting Santa Claus with a very special reason, because I will be in a company including both younger and older children. And that is why it will be interesting to follow their reactions when Santa steps in. And to notice once again that the older ones do not reveal the harsh truth about the old man with a huge white beard and red clothing to their younger siblings.

I find it difficult to understand how older brothers or sisters are almost always ready to join the adults and keep the secret on Santa Claus from their younger ones, even though they must burn from willingness to shed light on the matter.

Obviously the explanation is that they are even more interested in joining the group fooling the smallest in the family in a nice way.

With these words, I wish you - my dear readers - a Merry and Clandestine Christmas season!

Previous thoughts on the same topic (in Finnish, but readable in English by Google translation):
Enjoy Christmas!
Christmas memory
Christmas fairytale