Joulupolku

A selection of photos from the Joulupolku, the Christmas Walk, on Seurasaari on Sunday. It was a dark grey day that became a dark snowy evening with not much illumination so it's not a stellar collection of photos.

Seurasaari is an island very close to downtown Helsinki that is both an outdoor culture museum featuring historical architecture from all regions of Finland as well as being home to many furry-eared squirrels. I read a blurb in the Helsinki tourism guide that there was going to be a Christmas walk event on the island for a few hours. I grabbed my camera and took Jarkko along in spite of his cold thinking it would be good for us both to get out of the house.

A minor detail that the program failed to mention was that the event was for children and that children attending should bring a torch/lamp/source of illumination and 1 handmade ornament for decorating a tree. Had I known about the torch request beforehand, in addition to the weather, I likely would have left my camera at home. When we arrived the place was teeming with cars, more cars, hundreds of small children and a legion of prams.

It was sorta fun wandering around the island watching kids with miner style headlamps cavort about like they had been fed crack and looking for stuff in the dark and snow. Giant squirrels were handing out cookies and pedestrian reflectors, carolers were singing, warm rice porridge was being served and sausages cooked. Around what I have dubbed the scary Nazgul Nativity there was a collection of Christmas peace candles, some of which had been carefully placed within snowball containers to help keep the wind at bay. The handmade ornaments were adorable as were the gingerbread cookies left out for Santa. On the dance grounds there was singing about porridge and dancing in circles. And, of course, there was the Joulupukki and Mrs. Joulupukki to tell all the kids they'll all be getting coal this year. :) The trees were lit all around in various colours which had a mystical effect since it was snowing. The last stop on the walk was a few bon fires for people who brought their own sausages to complete the holiday outing with warm, greasy meat enjoyed al fresco amidst the falling snow.

So, next year we'll have to bring a torch, sausages to grill and an ornament or two to put on the tree. I think I'll start reading the event programs in Finnish more often as well since I'm finding that the information is a lot better and more accurate in Finnish.