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4. A pupils have made this video clip for this Comenius project. You can download it to your own computer to watch it.
CHRISTMAS4_2.wmv
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Christmas Now and Then
Christmas Food
Traditionally Fins used to eat ham, lipeäkala (fish cooked in lye solution), Christmas rice porridge, Karelian Stew, carrot-, swede-, liver-, and potato casserole. They also ate rawpickled salmon, chocolate, gingerbread biscuits, Christmas pastries, rosolli-salad and plum soup.
The foods were prepared by grandmother or mother, some of the foods were bought ready-made from the grocery store and some foods were made from own produced ingredients.
Nowadays people eat same, traditional dishes as before but more is bought ready-made from the grocery store.
Christmas Presents
In the pas,t presents included sports equipment, musical instruments, skates, drawing equipment, clothes, home-made presents, woolsocks, hats, dolls, toys, chocolate, books, pyjamas, towels, mittens, wooden toys and scrap.
The presents were given to the children by Santa Claus in most of the families on Christmas Eve. Before presents, people used to go to church by a horse sleigh. In some families children handed out the presents and in most families they would go to Christmas sauna before handing out presents.
Today presents are more expensive and there are more games and phones and other electronical gadgets as presents. Also, we give jewellery, clothes, underwear, chocolate, video games and books as presents. Home-made presents are not so common today.
Christmas Decorations
In the past, the house was decorated with candles, home-made ornaments like Christmas balls, decorative ribbons, Christmas tree, ice lanterns, paperstars, angels, himmeli (ellaborative ornaments made of straw), straw goats, angel bells and elf hats.
Nowadays we use different kinds of electric lights (both indoor and outdoor), tealights, electric candlelights in Christmas trees, Christmas flowers as Christmas decoration.
Other customs
In the past people went to the church by a horse sleigh and they didn’t visit friends or neighbours before Christmas was over. In Christmas Eve, it was customary to light candles on the graves of the loved ones. Christmas sauna was traditionally on Christmas Eve. Some families gave Christmas flowers to relatives.
Christmas carrolls were sang and Christmas games were played during Christmas. In the boxing day, people went to visit their grandparents. Even the birds living outdoor were remembered by giving them balls made out of fat or sheafs of oat. Christmas pastries were baked together in the family. It was also customary to read the Christmas Gospel from the Bible.
Today the Christmas tree is bought from the market place, gingerbreads are baked from ready-made pastry. People still go to the sauna on Christmas Eve and the graves are also visited on the same day. There are concerts in churches which are called “The most beatiful Christmas carrolls”, they are very popular nowadays. Chrismas dinner is still important but today we also visit our friends and relatives even on Christmas Eve.
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Christmas Now and Then by Sohvi 4.C
My grandmother told me this story. ” When the Winter War began November 1939, Kajaani, the town where we lived was bombed. I was 6 years old and my sisters were 4 and 2 years old. Our mother and three children went by train to Suonenjoki, where our grandparents lived, to escape the war. Our grandparents house was on a high hill. There was an old windmill where young female volunteers called “lotta” where watching the skies for enemy planes. They used binoculars to check the sky if they could see these enemy planes and if they did, they phoned emergency centres immediately. Suonenjoki and other places nearby had to be kept dark during nights so that the enemy bombers couldn’t see where the houses were. It was Christmas time. The house was cleaned and all the Christmas pastries were baked. There was a big Christmas tree in the corner of the living room. All the men were in the war and two lotta’s were asked if they could act as Santa Clauses. So the Santa Claus and Mrs Claus came in wearing wolfskin coats and draging a special wooden basket filled with Christmas presents. The presents were small, wartime presents but they were so lovely, that I can still remember precisely what was in them. They included baked bunman, woollen shoes with a red tassels! Before Christmas presenst were handed out, Christmas Gospel was read and beautiful Christmas hymns were sang.”
Today, we first eat Christmas Dinner and the we sing and a Christmas elf comes to visit and hand out the presents. I am always somehow away when the elf comes to visit.
Sohvi
About 60 years ago when my grandmother was a little girl Christmas was a very important feast. You were not allowed to visit anyone on Christmas Eve. You were supposed to stay at home. Mother had made all the Christmas food: carrot and swede casseroles, rice porridge and ham, of course.
In the morning father had fetched the Christmas tree from the forest and it was children´s job to decorate it with sweets, ribbons and real candles. After that my granny´s family visited their neighbour by a horse sleigh in order to listen to the Christmas service in the radio. The church was too far away to go by a horse sleigh. In the evening everybody went to sauna and after that came Father Christmas.
Nowadays we eat more or less the same kind of Christmas food than 60 years ago. We decorate the Christmas tree (which isn´t necesserely always a real one) on Christmas Eve. In the evening we go to sauna and after that comes Santa and brins us a lot of presents. Nowadays many people also spend their Christmas holiday abroad.
My granny says that Christmas today isn´t so festive because everybody seems so hasty. Christmas was better 60 years ago.
Vilma
Nowadays we don´t go to the church on Christmas Day unless my grandmother wants it. I can´t stay at home because then she won´t give me any chocolate.
Henri
Now I´m going to tell you about my Christmas. On Christmas Eve we listen to Christmas carrols. When Santa comes he brings us lots and lots of presents. Last year I got a new DVD-box. It was a very nice Christmas but my little sister was annoyed because our father was jogging when Santa came to our house…
Anita
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