Sunday, December 10, 2006 - Hauskaa Joulua: Merry Christmas Finnish style

Playing the kantele

I know this is British Expats but being a Brit whose other half is Finnish I'm recording this entry for posterity at the very least.

With my two sons being half Finnish and with the older one attending Finnish school to embroil himself in the Finnish cultural side of his heritage, last night was the annual Finnish Christmas fair at the LA Finnish club in North Hollywood, CA. , which I would nver known had existed had it not been for one night on the pull many years ago, but I digress.

The club reminded me of a rusticly Finnish wheeltappers and shunters/British legion with numerous posters displaying Finlands natural scenic beauty.

The annual christmas celebration started with the agenda being handed out in Finnish, which I can only speak a few words of , so when it came time for the carols it did save me having to follow along to the words, and the embarresment of singing, which my neighbors seated next to me were no doubt extremely greatful for.

Some of the women then played some music on a kantele which is like a Finnish harp or lute, this was prefaced by the instruments historical folklore. Legend has it that some Finns caught a massive fish and after the were done made a beautiful instrument from the jawbone with maidens hair for strings, thankfully this was explained in English, unless the folklore story of old made me temporarily able to comprehend the Finnish language, but I'm pretty sure it was the former.

Singing Finnish carols( my kid in blue on right)

Next on the agenda came our little darlings singing a Finnish carol and shaking some little thing with bells on it, I found it interesting that Finnish carols are more melancholy as opposed to the joyous celebratory tones of the traditional English ones.

After the hyms there was a grand entrance from a rather diminutive Joulupukki( Santa Claus) giving out presents to all the kids.

Finally there was a traditional Finnish Christmas dinner which was washed down with red wine from the very inexpensive bar, featuring glasses of red wine at $2.50 each. Traditional christmas dinner consisted of the following;

Kinkku (sliced ham),Lanttulaatikko(rutabaga casserole),porkkanalaatikko(carrot casserole),maksalaatikko(liver casserole with raisins) this was my favorite which was like a cross between breadpudding and  liverpate with raisins, lipeakala( dried salt cod soaked in lye, then boiled), rosolli( beef, apple,potato, herring and pickle salad) and ruisleipa(rye bread), for dessert was purro ya hedelmakeitto(porridge and fruit soup), no gravy was served and I think the rather bland menu reflected Finland's rather austere geography and history unlike Englands richer food, but of course I am biased.

An interesting night out not understanding a word and eating bland food with no spice, but at least the bar was cheap.