Finish the year with fun facts about Finland

Flag of Finland.

Why learn Finnish? If you want to go to Finland to see Santa Claus, or the northern lights,  Finland is known to the Finns as Suomi.

Finland's Tourist Atractions

Finland offers tourists saunas, salmon and Santa Cluas and the Sibleius museum as well as Moomins, sleight rides, the Northern Lights.

Finnish Language

Add the opportunity to learn Finnish, to conquer the challenge of the Finnish language. You already know one word. Sauna.  

Santa Claus

Finland is the land of Santa Claus who can be visited all year in the north of the country in a theme park offering ll sorts of delights for chidlren and adults. Winter is the time of year for sledges and sleight rides and ccross country skiing and riding across iced up lakes on Snowmobiles, and warming up afterwards in the sauna. In sumer, by contrast, the days stay light until midnight.

I was invited to Finland by the tourist board way back in the Eighties by the tourist board who were promoting trips to see Santa Claus. I aasked him what he would say to people who dont believe in Santa Claus.

He replied, I don't believe in Concorde.

We had flown into the capital Helsinki, which is in the south. Nowadays you will find a Moomins shop in the airprot. It is landsidde, so you can visit it during your trip to Finaland.

Reindeer Meat

I was offered a restaurant meal and my hosts asked if I would prefer steak or reindeer meal. (Which is known as venison in the UK, and at that time was very pricey.)  As a tourist and a travel writer i wanted to try the local specility. Bu not wishing to cause embarrassment by ordering the dearest thing on the menu, I asked for steak. A day or two later I had reindeer meat when we were not given a choice and I asked to see the menu prices. I was amazed to see that the exotic reindeer meat was much chepaer than steak. Finland has lots of reindeer, and few cows.  Cold coluntry means reindeer. (The males have the antlers I presume, to fight enemies to protect the females or beat off rivals.) 

Nowadays I understand the price of venison has come down and it is more available outside Finaland, but it is still a novelty. What does it taste like. I have eaten all sorts of exotic meats, including crocodile. I have to confess that they all become a blur. To me they ae all tough and tasteless and not worth extra money, just once as a novelty. Nothing is as succulent and tasty as chicken meat.

Finnish - English

ja - and

kiitos - thank you

mina - I (memory aid, letter m like me)

M - male toilets

N - female toilets

no - well

sina - you

English - Finnish

well - no

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Xmas trees and decorations - the countries they came from

 Santa in Thailand, entrance hall at Sunwing Hotel, Kamala beach, December 2023. TUI is the low cost airline. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

It may surprise you to see real or more usually artificial Xmas trees in India, thailand and other parts of the world. Where did this custom start and when?

1 Trees in Germany/Europe in winter with candles supported on branches provided light and warmth.

2 King George's III's wife, Charlotte, brought one to the UK in.

3 An engraving, not a photo, of Queen Victoria and Albert (who was German) with their tree in 1848, makes trees popular in the UK

Later additions were glass baubles. Recent imports from Germany at Xmas time include gingerbread biscuits and stollen cake.

Christmas cards

Christmas crackers

Dickens writes about Scrooge in the Christmas Carol.

Grinch, an anti-Xmas character is created by Dr Seuss. The character is voiced by Danny Kaye and Wlter Matthau and others.

Ladybird Books

I have an ol Ladybird book (for children - but conveniently succinct for adults) which tells the story of the Xmas tree and Xmas customs.

New (to me) in 2023, the book Christmas tree.

If you have only one book, and don't mind folding the pages, you can create a tree decoration for the dining table. This makes a cone shape tree.

Useful Websites

Daily Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12881075/The-secret-history-Christmas-tree-fairy-lights-began-West-End-stage-tinsel-emerged-Germany-17th-century-Queen-Victoria-popularised-baubles.html#reader-comments

Wikipedia

How to make a book Xmas tree

Pages taken from books (or old printed paper from your printer wastebin). Tthis makes the cone shape tree.

https://www.rokolee.com/diy-book-page-paper-trees-xmas#:~:text=Fold%20the%20first%20page%20over,to%20all%20of%20the%20pages.

https://www.instructables.com/Bibliophiles-Christmas-Tree/

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-an-Origami-Christmas-Tree

Christmas isn't over yet! Prepare for Easter, Valentines, Halloween and next Christmas

Problem (I wrote in January)
It's New Year and the Christmas decorations look so limply last year. (Not simply but limply!) Shall I clear Santa's red hats and the green plastic tree and the Christmas crackers with Santa in a red nose ready for New Year's gold and glitter?

I think I should not clear Christmas decorations until the 12th day, which is January 6th. Why? In order to get maximum value and the maximum number of hours of pleasure from the effort I put into buying or saving the Santa decorations. Do you agree?

My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me.

Benjamin Disraeli

Solutions To Saving And Preparing From February Onwards

If you are shopping early for next Christmas, try the Christmas shop in the UK which has a website for shopping online. In addition to Christmas they have seasonal goods for Easter, Valentine's Day and Hallowe'en.

Lots of clearance items are under five pounds and even under a pound. The website choices are neatly divided into categories such as for the table and for the tree (Xmas tree).

Lots of British themes pop up, too, taxis, red letter boxes, and Pooh (Winnie the Pooh) and Piglet pencils.

Items for Valentines day include loads of hearts.

What an entertaining website to read.

Useful Websites

http://www.thechristmasshop.co.uk/

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Why You Should Follow Briefing And Instructions When Public Speaking And Selling

Problem
I was at a meeting of public speakers recently and was in two minds about whether a speaker had done well or badly. When I heard his speech I thought it was brilliant. He was asked to choose a character and tell a story whilst acting the part of the character. 

Photo by Jacog Windham from Wikipedia on Santa.

He chose to be Santa Claus, complete with a wonderful outfit, and told a humorous story, with a series of engaging slides about the health problems and job disadvantages of being Santa Claus.

His speech was funny. It was original. You can imagine my surprise when the evaluator conceded that the speech was well researched with the numerous funny slides, and entertaining, but did not follow the objectives which were to be in character, in effect, being an actor, convincing us for a moment that you were the character, rather than just reading out the speech.

This happens a lot in Toastmasters. You have a speech you want to give, or get an idea when you first read about the objectives, then you hope that you will be judged on the speech, not the objectives.

I used to think that the point of the objectives was to teach you a new technique. If you had not learned all of it, but only fifty percent, the only person to lose out was the speaker. So long as the audience enjoyed the speech, never mind. I agreed that a speech project demonstrating vocal variety which had none, had not fulfilled the objectives. When I did the vocal variety project, I picked a subject to fit, accents around the world.

Then I got to think about how you would be in real life. Supposing you were a salesman in a shop selling washing machines and you were told to tell the customers about washing machines. If you are demonstrating a food cutting machine, and are an actor, you might indulge in a lot of banter with customers while you do the cutting, ending with offering them free samples of food and asking them to buy the cutter, or blender, at the special one day only now or never price. That speech has to end specifically, after the entertainment, with the sales pitch and the call to action.

Now let's talk about a more common situation, the average seller of washing machines in a department store. The boss says, "your job is to sell washing machines." that's the brief. If the customer doesn't know which product the salesman is selling, and is entertained to a bit of character acting and jokes, but never a call to action, the boss will be cross. The salesman has not filled the requirement.

A similar situation of mismatch occurs in a restaurant. The customer wants the order the way he likes it. The chef says, "No. This is the way we do it. Today's offer is scrambled eggs. Your kid wants boiled egg. You asked for boiled egg. Too bad. I don't take orders from customers. I do what I want."

 Who is eating and who is paying? The customer. The boss or restaurant owner has the brief or objective, customers on seats, food on plates, happy customers pay money.

If you are employed as a speaker, your job is to find out what sort of speech the boss thinks will sell. When the customers turn up, the speech has to fit the customers.

When visiting a foreign country, you have to find out the usual house rules. What time are the opening and closing? What is the dress code? Is it just a guideline and flexible, or is it all or nothing?

You may think that a shopping mall is a public place. But in the UK a restaurant is private property.
You may be asked to leave and the restaurant owner doesn't have to give a reason. (He's better off not giving a reason. Telling a drunk that he is drunk will probably lead to arguments, escalating insults and possibly fights.)

Let's go back to the speech. If you joined a speech training programme just to make friends, you might be happy to muddle through. If you joined to learn how to make speeches which are understood, useful and welcome to all kinds of audiences, to people from all over the world, speeches given all over the world, then stopping to read the instructions, thoroughly twice, and to follow them, is a useful lesson.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Finland's Elves' Holiday resort

I just learned about the elves in Finland, a new attraction for families.

Doesn't this gorgeous blue-eyed guy look like what you expect in a Northern country, pale skin in order to absorb more sunlight. If he isn't from Finland, I can only say that he is well suited to the job of PR for the elves and the resort.

Who are the elves? Are they native, homegrown elves, like trolls/ (You get those, or something like them, supposedly, in other northern and Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Norway and Iceland.) No, they are the well-known elves which find employment at Christmas time helping Santa. So you could to atwo-centree holiday, in Santa's home and the elves' home.

Silly, isn't it! But so cute.

What do you get? A guided tour by a guide dressed as an elf. Presumably there's a height qualification for this job.

I wonder if I would qualify. I have blue eyes and pale skin. Also I am not tall, unlike the PR guy.

On the other hand, the elves, to judge by the model held here, have black faces, white snowball noses like a snowman, buttoned up mouths, and a red hat which covers their eyes, so they can't see anything, no peeking at the presents, and long grey hair reaching down to their feet.

I am going off the idea of apply to be an honorary elf or elf guide. (I think I shall have to dress as Mrs Santa for a Christmas party. I noticed there's also a store in London advertising on London's Euston station with a poster about Uncle Christmas. It pays to be creative.)

Did you know that the original Santa Claus costume was green? Coca-Cola's advertising department came up with the idea of a red costume, brightening up the dark short days, contrasting with the white snow.

Meanwhile, the latest on the Santa scene, is the Elves, with conical red hats. You could stop traffic with those red cones.

The resort, in addition to the guided tour of the elves, has at least one luxury hotel.

 I have tracked down the elves for you.  A hotel too.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g930790-d480806-r50800250-Lapland_Hotel_Akashotelli-Akaslompolo_Lapland.html

The website is easy to remember. Elves and the abbreviation for Finland, fi.

www.elves.fi

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Where To Go And Stay and What To Say Over Christmas and New Year

UK Xmas Cracker. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Christmas trees in major cities. This is Prague, Czech Republic, with a free band playing music. They pass a hat around.

Prague: We went to a free midnight mass concert and hymns in Czech, Prague on Christmas Eve. No charge. But have coins ready for the collection box carried to each row of the audience for the poor and needy.

UK. Christmas decorations in English front garden. We drive around taking photos. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problems
Where or when do you say Santa Claus and where or when do you say Father Christmas? Where's best to celebrate or see celebrations of Christmas and New Year?

Answers What To Say
The choice of wording of Santa or Father is a religious distinction. Santa is short for Santa Claus, a saint, and also Latin, Italian, and Spanish as in the American place name Santa Barbara. 

Saints, created by the pope, are Catholic. (Catholic churches have statues of saints and Jesus on the Cross. Protestant churches are more austere.) 

After Henry VIII started the Church of England the word Saint fell out of favour, hence Protestants will use Father Christmas. 

The abbreviation 'Santa', short for Santa Claus, tends to be a kiddie word. 

Russia and China In Communist Russia and China religion was banned. So the Russians, who have colder winters in their northern capitals, celebrate and brighten mid-winter with a snow-white-haired and bearded gentleman called Grandfather Frost. 

Scotland The Scots are Protestant make less fuss of Christmas but more fuss over New Year. Go to Scotland or watch on TV in the UK.

Where To Go - By Country
Christmas is big in the USA, with Christmas trees in windows and lights across rooftops. Also in the UK and most European and other Catholic countries.

UK In the UK a large Christmas tree, a Norway Spruce, is donated by the Norwegian government, and placed in Trafalgar Square, London, England. 

Major events and activites for you: 
Advance planning: book restaurants. Order Santa Claus costume on line.
To do: (Some are free, some are free but turn up early or at non-busy times; some free but require booking seats, first come first served, others are time specific and rquire advance boking and payment.
Book Christmas shows pantomimes or ice shows.
Go ice skating on artificial rinks, or watch ice skaters to music.
Hearing Christmas carols under the tree. Seeing the lights in Regent Street and Oxford Street. The Harrods department store and Selfridges will have lights or decorations on the front and in the windows.

Outdoor seasonal tree with white lights. Expect to see large trees lit at night in Catholic countries such as Poland, in their capital, Warsaw.

Czech Republic
Our hotel served a 'special' higher price Christmas meal which featured the main dish of carp. Then we went to the free midnight mass.

Singapore
Singapore celebrates all religions and the major malls and streets have great lights and Christmas carols play in shopping malls and from lamp posts.

If you want to avoid Christmas and giving presents to children and the cost and time spent organizing gifts and Christmas dinner (for example, if you can't afford it, or are not Christian) you could opt for a non-Christian country, or a beach holiday.

Spain If you miss Christmas, or want to miss Christmas, you can go to countries which celebrate the Magi and birth of Jesus on January 5 or 6, notably Spain and other European countries. In Spain the big excitement is the national Christmas Lottery with a big prize, called El Gordo (meaning the giant). Families will make a grou bet and sit around the TV watching.

Italy
Popular places for Christmas include seeing Francis of Assissi, birthplace of St Francis. The appearance of the Pope on Christmas day at the Vatican also draws crowds. 

The Italian festive cake is Panettone, a huge domed cake which you can buy loose or in a decorative tin, in Italy and in Italian cafés in London, England. 

Venezuela
You also get Panettone in Venezuela.

Story
When I was a child it was not the done thing to celebrate other religions or to celebrate multiple cultures. My parents took me to an English hotel for Christmas, or to a beach holiday in Spain.

Hotels
Hotels have higher prices for Christmas meals and may be closed except to residents because the restaurants are fully booked.

UK. Christmas pudding with white sauce.

UK. Christmas pudding with ice cream - that's a first, new idea.

UK.Christmas pudding with yellow custard. You'll get this everywhere in the UK over Christmas, in restaurants and in pubs. Christmas tables in restaurants have Xmas crackers containing a joke or motto, a banger to pull, a paper hat and often a small plastic gift. Look for boxes of crackers in supermarkets. You may find it is banned to take crackers on planes becuase the crackers contain explisve or fire starting materials. 

Self Catering, Souvenirs And Gift What To Eat Or Buy - Fun and Food, Festivity, Souvenirs
Most supermarkets in the UK import foods from all over Europe and the world. In the UK supermarkets you can buy Christmas pudding and Christmas cake with a white iced top and messages and green trees and red Santas. Many biscuits and cakes and chocolates come in presentation boxes which are only available at Christmas time. The price of the contests and box will be dearer. But you can keep the boxes as biscuit tins, as a colletor's piece for your shelves, or for storing jewellery and knick knacks. Airport shops will have these, but also department stores and supermarkets.

France
The French Christmas cake is a log. The French word for Christmas is Noel. 

Germany
The Germans eat Stollen which is a long roll with a marzipan centre.

Christmas Dinner In Restaurants Restaurant prices go up around Christmas time and some restaurants will be fully booked both lunch and evening towards Christmas with office and social club Christmas parties, serving turkey, stuffing and roast potatoes, followed by Christmas pudding. (Usually other options including a vegetarian alternative).

Prices of restaurants drop in January, although last year in the UK some restaurants did not start their reductions until several days after New Year's eve.

New Year's eve you may also find high prices and fully booked bars and restaurants and shops and cafes closing early.

One club I belong to in the UK chose to have a DIY pot luck Christmas party and a meal out in January to celebrate the New Year. That cut the cost, as well as being an all-religion, all diet option.

Other English seasonal foods are mince pies. The cheapest are about £1 for six in a supermarket.

Prices of Christmas pudding (black domed pudding containing dried fruit, same as American plum pudding which is sold all year in the USA) are reduced in UK supermarkets after New Year.

Tips
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. See my previous posts on Christmas and New Year. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Where to worship St Nicholas's bones or see a relic of Santa in Russia

Three Santas, and at least three countries claiming associations with Santa. Photo by Angela Lansbury Copyright.

The generosity of the saint continues to influence others worldwide. A Santa run for charity in aid of St Luke's Hospice, Harrow, England. This lady is wearing her Santa outfit and the medallion she was given for completing the fund-raising run. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
Who is the real Santa Claus and where can you see him, or at least a tiny bit of him?

Answer
The bones of St Nicholas are in Bari in Italy now (2017). He originally came from a place in Asia Minor which is now in Turkey.

But a relic from the bones has been loaned to a church in Moscow. You can see the relic if you are willing to queue (line up) for hours, along with Russians keen to see it and touch the case.

Of course St Nicholas lived all year, when he lived, not just at Christmas. St Nicholas was originally shown wearing a green outfit. But red livens us up on dark days and nights. The fervour the popularity of the red-dressed Santa started with an advertisement for CocaCola in the USA.

They say that red sells. The Santa Claus costume proved it.

However, the success of the exhibition in Russia shows that St Nicholas draws followers not just at Christmas, but all year.

Tips
www.italiantouristboard.co.uk
www.italia.it/en/home
www.italiantourism.com (for the USA)

http://www.visitrussia.org.uk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40062807 Story of relic in Moscow.
More on wikipedia, wikitravel and TripAdvisor

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have other posts on Italy, Christmas and Russia. Please use the search on this website. Please share your favourite posts.

The Stress Of Travel And Meeting New People

Santa and a girl. Photo by  Jacob Windham from Wikipedia.

 

A Facebook friend posted a picture of Santa visiting special needs children. She said her beloved child in the photo coped very well. I started thinking about the challenges of meeting new people and people in uniform. As a child, I was nervous of anybody in uniform.

Such as a nun. 

Later I was nervous about approaching and asking directions from an Orthodox Jewish man in a large hat. Was he allowed to shake hands with a woman. Was I permitted to speak?

A man standing on sentry duty with a gun is obviously not there to give directions. When you visit a foreign venue, you can't tell who is who. Don't approach a man with a weapon.

Then I was in the USA in the middle of the mountains and valleys and we were lost. A man on a horse has a gun. My husband tells me to ask the way. I hesitate. "He's got a gun!"

"Never mind that. Who else are we going to ask? We're in the middle of the mountains and we're lost. Ask him!"

But the man tips his hat and says, "Howd'y, M'am." He is as amazed and delighted to meet people all the way from England, with English accents, as we are to met a real cowboy on a real horse with a real big Stetson hat and a real gun. I have the giggles for miles. Even now, years late, I am smiling at the memory.

Later in life I would be nervous about approaching a commissionaire outside a hotel, or even Harrods department store.

Santa Claus Character
Back to the little boy meeting Santa Claus. It's a challenge for Santa Claus too. Being in costume. Acting in character. Never knowing what they will ask or say. Having to be encouraging. Not upsetting the child or the parents. Especially meeting children with special needs.

I wrote:

I am sure they both coped very well. A very interesting thought have have inspired. For a child of any age and ability, even an adult, meeting a person in costume or uniform is a challenge. Meeting Father Christmas is your first Elevator Speech, introducing yourself and having the courage to say what you want. My name is .. and what I would like from you is a gift of ... Everybody is nervous about asking for what they want for birthdays and Christmas. So glad it went well for you all.

What are the lessons to learn?

Get to know the uniforms and customs and greetings of the people who you will meet. Learn their language and the polite forms. I have had to learn not to grasp the shoulder of a man in Hong Kong or Malaysia to show friendliness. They don't like being touched by a strange woman.

Remove shoes at the door. Wear shoes easy to remove. Label your shoes with your name if going to a large party. Or put your shoes in the hotel shower cap.

Learn to say hello, goodbye and thank you. Practise every day for a week before leaving home.

ANGELA LANSBURY, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.