I'll admit it first - I was always under the impression that Santa Claus wore a nice red suit with white trim, a handsome beard, a big belly, twinkling eyes, drove reindeer in a magical sleigh (Rudolph leading the way of course), was from the North Pole, ate cookies, drank so much milk he probably went into a lactose attack every city he visited and nobody ever saw him. Oh and he lands on your roof quietly and leaves the presents behind for you to open on Christmas DAY morning.
Well here's the Finnish version (but in English): Santa's NOT from the North Pole, but from Lapland which is in Northern Finland....he doesn't give gifts for you to open on Christmas Day morning - but visits the children on Christmas Eve and makes an appearance - so the kids DO get to see him. He does drive reindeer but they are not "parked" on your roof.
Not safe for kids to read below............
Usually someone (i.e. an Uncle or neighbour) dresses up as the big Jolly guy and does the rounds for the communities. You can even HIRE a Santa Claus and request a "sober" Santa...people put ads out there all the time apparently... "Sober and non-smoking Santa available for hire..."
So there you have it my Canadian friends....Finns disagree with the "Coca-Cola version of Santa" (as a Finnish friend once described it to me) - and believe he's from Finland....
Let the debating begin....now.
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