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It is officially 2008 in Rovaniemi, Finland and it came without a hitch. At 6pm yesterday evening, fireworks began sounding from every corner of the city as that is the official time when it becomes legal for fireworks to be shot off for New Years. And they are definitely not cheap. You have your average loud firecrackers but as we drove from my boyfriend’s parents house to our New Year’s Eve get together in the city we had our own little mini show of fireworks illuminating the sky on our route. It is really quite something.

From 8pm-2am we celebrated the coming of the new year with friends, food and a variety of wines, beer and cider (I stuck with the cider, the only alcohol I really enjoy consuming). Our hosts served a large variety of really great food from veggies (carrots, pickles, cucumbers, squash, etc.) with dipping sauce to green salad with chicken, bacon wrapped carrots, pesto pasta salad and some other items that were all really good.

The night progressed with a random mix of conversations considering that everyone at the table had some connection with a large variety of cultures other than Finland such as study abroad experiences in the U.S., Italy, London, multiple languages acquired from various jobs. It all mixed together to create a great environment for me, the sole, native English speaker- though the switch to Finnish was pretty quick the few times I went to the bathroom. As a foreigner in a country that speaks a language different than your own you realize pretty quickly how thankful you are of people who do their best to make you feel comfortable by speaking in a manner than includes you in the conversation (either by translating or speaking primarily your fluent tongue). Though I am learning Finnish I am nowhere near the point where I can carry on a casual conversation in Finnish and feel fortunate to be able to spend time in Finland and not feel like an outsider amongst friends.

The night progressed to midnight when TONS of fireworks began going off as we could view from our friends’ windows and hear all around us and we toasted the new year with a glass of champagne and continued with our drinks. The last round of food was a pot of chocolate fondue with sliced bananas and red peppers (I stuck with the bananas) and a pot of nakki (hot dogs in Finnish). We headed home around 2pm, the fireworks had finished mostly by then (though I slept with ear plugs for the late night after shocks.

Today we are going to most likely lounge around the house, watch movies and probably make a trip to the Arctic Circle/Santa Claus Village as that is the only place that is open today next to a couple local gas stations/mini marts and video rental stores. Lots of Russian tourists visit this part of Finland during this time so they spend lots of time and money taking arctic tours in the city which is why the shops at the Arctic Circle will be open.

There is no traditional New Years Day meal in Finland but I’ll follow up with a final (part 3) post later this evening to sum up the events that take place.

Enjoy the New Year!

I labeled this post as part 1 because it is currently 2:05pm in the afternoon (kello on viisi yli kaksi) and it is rather early to tell you what is going on for New Years Eve. Traditionally on my previous visits, New Years Eve has been pretty laid back, drinking cider all day and celebrating the changing of the New Year with fireworks. The first year we shot off rocket fireworks in Matti’s front yard and two years ago we went downtown with TONS of people and shot off fireworks in the biggest understated fire hazard manner in parking lots surrounded by cars, not the best idea but no harm done (that we know of).
In the United States, ever since I was a kid, New Years Day (or Eve, can’t remember when the meal typically is) is celebrated with a meal of green veggies, usually greens in my home (for money in the new year), black eyed peas (for luck) and something for health, really can’t remember that either. I have a funny feeling my mom might comment on this point and correct my errors

In Finland there is no special meal or anything but rather just lots of drinking and fireworks. In the U.S. fireworks are the symbol of 4th of July but starting about a week ago, grocery stores set out their fireworks display (mostly rockets and things that exploded in the air) and a few days ago we started hearing the noises of kids in the neighborhood getting some early practice…

We’re spending part of New Year’s Eve at home and the other with a couple groups of friends just a few blocks outside of downtown. Nothing wild planned (never been the type) but I’ll have my camera with me for any events that might take place or if we should venture downtown to capture the awe and stupidity of New Years festivities. At the very least I’ll take a photo or two. Rovaniemi was showered with some snow yesterday (FINALLY!) so things are looking rather pretty and white. And today we saw the sun (well, the horizon of the sun) for the first time in like 4 days (I’m on the arctic circle so it is expected- though you never really get used to it)!! The temperature is finally starting to fall here from the unusually warm temperatures of the past few weeks- it’s around 23F degrees right now and slowly falling into the teens. It’s NOTHING like my first new years in Rovaniemi when I felt every muscle and bone in my body freezing from -20F weather. I think, without realizing it at the time, my body was preparing for the future years I would spend in Minneapolis which is currently getting a big taste of snow and semi cold weather.

Stay tuned for more later in the day!

-Angela

If you look at a Finnish calendar, you’ll see on each day of the calendar names of people in the corner. This represents the celebrated names on that particular day. In Finland (similar to some other countries in Finland) they celebrate name days throughout the year.

Courtesy of Finnguide.fi

“The names used and their date placement in the calendar are often associated with religious names, religious days, national historical personalities and national historical events. Normal country specific Christian names, and even new Christian names which have been integrated and accepted into a countries list of nationally recognized names, are also given their own position in the calendar.

The official Name Days Almanac of Finland is published by the Almanac Office at the University of Helsinki and contains all Finnish official Name Days lists (Finnish, Swedish, Sami and Greek Catholic). The University of Helsinki Almanac office, was established in 1994 and has a staff of three astronomers.”

If you feel Wikipedia is a good source of information they discuss the origination of name days from medieval times.

“During medieval times name days were of little significance in the Nordic countries, except for the celebration of patron saints for various guilds. A more widespread celebration of name days began in the 17th century, at first in the royal court and among aristocracy, but successively also among the general population. The Church of Sweden promoted celebration of name days over birthdays, as the latter was seen as a pagan tradition.”

From my experience, kids are celebrated more on their name days than adults. This is just what I’ve seen from my personal experience with my boyfriend’s family. His nephew will get a card and a small present on his name day. Some people celebrate with flowers and other gifts from friends and family.

To view the full list of Finland’s Namedays check out the full calendar here.

Today, October 6th, 2007, Hyvää Nimipäivää to Minttu and Pinja