January 29, 2012, 23:00
Music: Let it snow! by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne, sung by Frank Sinatra
Mood: Reflective
Weather: Much much colder (-18°C)
Snow-canopied trees, cars entombed by snow, roads layered with thick snow, rocks and posts buried under snow, and even Lake Saimaa submerged under snow. Snow is now here, there, everywhere, and the world is completely white. And, today, when I cast a backward glance trying to identify when exactly this mass burial under a white shroud began, I can barely imagine days when it was not always like this, when the world was not monochromatic, and when everyone were wondering just where the legendary Finnish show and winter had hidden itself.
In fact, even on December 21, i.e., winter solstice, when Lappeenranta experienced its shortest day, there was not the slightest sign, either sound or sight, of snow…I had recorded the shortest-day event as “Sunrise today at 9:20. Sunset today at 14:50. Length of day is 5 h 30 min”. And by December 22, the day had incremented by an entire minute: “Sunrise today at 9:20. Sunset today at 14:51. Length of day is 5 h 31 min.” Like a pendulum swinging upward from its lowest point, the days began increasing in length, and today, they are as long as 7 h and 29 min (for comparison, the day I arrived, August 22, was 16 h long.)
Finnish hearts begin to soar and sing from the day of winter solstice, and there is much cheer, since it marks the beginning of the end…not of winter but of darkness. A darkness dispelled by the increasing proximity of the sun, making the coming days brighter even when colder (the coldest time of the year is typically January-and February but the dullest is November-December). Many years ago, Vikings in the Nordic countries celebrated the winter solstice by eating and drinking, exchanging gifts, sacrificing to their gods and playing games; these had now intermingled with December 25 celebrations. Today, solstice brings much to cheer about quite literally too, since winter sports and outdoor winter activities begin with renewed enthusiasm with the increasing daylight and suitable snow tracks.
But, on December 21, 2011, snow was present only on our minds: many were bemoaning its paucity while slipping on wet roads and imagining a Christmas without snow, a winter-less winter, a greyish brooding colorless wintry Christmas. Snow is not only somehow pristine and beautiful but it also reflects light, thereby brightening the world. And even for people like me who do not celebrate Christmas, this was getting all too puzzling: where was the famous Lappeenranta snowy winter? Where, indeed…
- Winter at bay
And then, on Christmas eve, December 24, it snowed and snowed and snowed to our collective hearts’ content and silkily entombed all our doubts and fears. All my imaginations and remembered portrayals of cold and snowy Christmases were not to be betrayed by a truculent fickle winter. This may be a people-less Christmas but at least, it wont be snowless!
Lappeenranta at this time, especially around the university, is practically dead. Almost all Europeans, and of course Finnish students, rush to their homes since this is also the mid-semester 20-day break; many Asians in their second years also scoot away. Only a few first-years who cannot afford a trip home so soon remain, along with some Russians who mostly do not celebrate Christmas on December 25, a legacy of Communism as also orthodox tradition: Christmas in Russia and some neighboring countries is celebrated on January 7 since their orthodox churches use the old Julian calender, which means that their Christmas corresponds to January 7 on the Gregorian calender.
Christmas time in Finland is an unusually quiet time, quiet even by Finnish standards, and the reason is simple: these holidays are typically spent at home with families. The Finnish Christmas originated from an old “pagan” harvest feast called kekri, named after an ancient Finnish cattle protector and fertility god. Apparently, Kekri was celebrated around the end of November, or the end of the harvest season, but I am not quite sure what exactly was or is harvested in Finland except mushrooms and berries! With the advent, spread, and popularity of Christianity, the two festivities had assimilated by the 12th century, retaining elements of both celebrations.
Today, a Finnish Christmas is divided into three days: Christmas eve, Christmas, and St. Stephen’s Day (first Christian martyr; also known as Boxing Day in some parts of the world, such as Australia). As can be expected in a land of darkness, light often plays important roles in festivals. Candles are lit in all homes, and many Finns visit local graveyards and remember the dead by lighting candles. All through December, I saw many houses with traditional seven candlesticks on their windows; some say that this tradition dates from the lights being used as a welcome sign for weary travelers in peaceful times. Other Finnish Christmas traditions include the inevitable feasting and dinners and the even more inevitable sauna visits!
But its always the children who enjoy it the most…Hyvä joulu (literally, good Christmas; interestingly, the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish word for Christmas is jul, the Estonian is jõul, and the Icelandic is jól; and they all owe their origins to the old Viking word hjul, meaning “sun wheel”) is when Santa Claus (Joulupukki) makes his annual present-filled journeys from his home in Korvatunturi, Finnish Lapland. Of course, in true Nordic competitive spirit, every Nordic country has tried to claim Santa Claus for its own, and Santa Claus has many homes! And just like the red-dressed modern day Santa Claus is a barely two-hundred year old invention (the appearance, not the man himself who initially sported a vibrant green; interestingly, some attribute the redness to Coca-cola, probably wrongly), the legend of Korvatunturi originated in a radio show Markus-sedän lastentunti(“Children’s hour with Uncle Markus”) hosted by Markus Rautio as recently as 1926!
Despite the quietness and lack of people, boredom was never an issue during the Christmas holidays, especially in this time and age, where the Internet, books, and a million interests like playing table tennis with my Mexican friend fill up days with the rapidity of sugar pouring into a vessel. But Christmas also gave us a perfect reason to gather some of the remaining friends and have a simple dinner party with traditional foods. And thus it was that a couple of Chinese girls, a Chinese boy, a Mexican, a Russian, and an Indian sat around a table laughing and smiling and singing and eating and discussing…among other things, one-child policy! I had a difficult time conveying why it is not such a great idea to enforce such a rule: But why not? When everyone knows over-population is a problem, why not enforce it? Is education working? Well, you are saying that the educated people have less children, so may be the educated people should simply force the policy instead of waiting for everyone to get educated, no? I finally gave up when one of the Chinese began extolling the virtues of Mao!
But the icing on the cake was the next day when we paid homage to the snow gods by building a snowman…The problem with building a snowman is that, we were soon to learn, that the temperature has to be just right, i.e, around zero degrees with snow. And conditions here were far from ideal. Nevertheless, we struggled away and ended up building a snow baby!
- Evolution of a Snowbaby 1
- Evolution of a Snowbaby 2
- Evolution of a Snowbaby 3
- Evolution of a Snowbaby 4
- Evolution of a Snowbaby 5
The snow gods were apparently not pleased with our feeble efforts and insufficient propitiation, for on December 26, rain not only murdered the snowman with a spiteful vengeance but also washed away all traces of snow. Forever for that year. But it snowed again next year, right on cue on January 1 2012, a new-year’s day marked by fireworks outside my home, solitude inside, and the beginning of permanent snow. A white sheet that has since seen no stain, blemish or diminishing yet. Santa Claus idling in his home in Korvatunturi would approve.
Lappeenranta Sojourn 