Feasts and special days
There are many feasts and other special days in ancient Finland. Some of them were for gods and some existed to welcome a season. Many of them still exist today and are celebrated in Finland.
Here's a list of most of the feasts that I know of.
Laskiainen
Laskiainen was an offering feast where people ate very fat food and drank strong spirits and ale, this secured everyones food supply in the new year. People would offer things for the gods and read out spells.
Everyone had to stop working this day so nothing bad would happen to their cows.
The younger folks would go sledding and welcome the new year by shouting ''Pitkiä hamppuja, pitkiä pellavia!''. This is where the holiday gets its name, ''laskea'' means slide on Finnish.
Before the sun went down, everyone went to the sauna and had to be very quiet. This way mosquitoes would leave you alone all year.
Everyone went to sleep early, before sunset.
Laskiainen these days is celebrated 11th of February.
Hela
On this day people would light bonfires called helavalkea in open places to keep bad spirits and forces away. On this feast people would dance and drink mead. This was the usual day to let farm animals out on the field for the first time of the year.
Ukon vakat
Probably the most important feast of the year. It was held in honor for Ukko, god of harvest and thunder. He was the most important and powerful god of them all. These feasts were maybe sometimes held in a sacred offering place and people would offer food and drink special ale brewed just for this day. Some sources have told that ritualistic dancing would happen this day aswell.
This was a very big feast where the whole town celebrated together. Every master of a house would draw lots on who would organize the feast, and it was a great honor to be selected. No guest was allowed to bring their own food, the organizer had to supply it.
This holiday was held in order to get good weather for the year, since Ukko controlled the weather.
Some sources say that spells were read out in order to make it rain.
It is believed this holiday was celebrated 25.5. It does not exist today, but Juhannus does.
Juhannus
Juhannus was also a holiday for the god Ukko, and even during the 19th century people in Karjala still called it ''Ukon juhla'' or Ukkos feast in english. This feast was held in order to get a good harvest and luck in love. People would do spells and other magical things to see their future wife or get luck in their lovelives.
This day still exists today and is celebrated 22.6.
Kekri
A harvest festival that was held between 30.9-24.12, but nobody is really sure when. It was a happy holiday where a lot of food and ofcourse ale and stronger alcohol was served. People danced, played and sang. Two usual foods served would be meatballs and sheep steak. Dead ancestors were invited to eat aswell and also to the sauna afterwards.
This holiday does not exist anymore, but many things are still visible in the Finnish christmas and new year.
Nuutinpäivä
The holiday that ended winter times. After a longer period of eating well, this feast was held and everyone could start working again. A gang of younger adults dressed up like bucks (male goats, they were seen as a symbol of fertility) and went from door to door, asking for leftover food and ale. If the house didn't have any ale left, the gang would do mischievious things and mock the house residents.
If the house did have leftovers, the gang would mark the houses door that it had ''paid its taxes''.
At the end of the day, the gang would be very drunk.
This goat tradition has changed a lot. It first started on the holiday Kekri, where only one man would dress up as a buck and go from door to door asking for food and ale. He would scare the kids sometimes and at the end of the day be very drunk. He was called Kekripukki.
These days the goat tradition is seen in scandinavian christmas with a goat made out of straw.
If the house did have leftovers, the gang would mark the houses door that it had ''paid its taxes''.
At the end of the day, the gang would be very drunk.
This goat tradition has changed a lot. It first started on the holiday Kekri, where only one man would dress up as a buck and go from door to door asking for food and ale. He would scare the kids sometimes and at the end of the day be very drunk. He was called Kekripukki.
These days the goat tradition is seen in scandinavian christmas with a goat made out of straw.
Karhunpeijaiset
The bear was a very sacred animal. People respected it but were also scared of it. In ancient Finland nobody would dare to say the bears real name, and therefor there are over two hundred recorded names for the bear. Karhu is bear in Finnish, but this is also not its original name.
Karhunpeijaiset was held when a bear had been hunted. The bear was carried to a clean house while people sang. The fur was hanged on the wall and its skull was placed in a kettle. When a soup called rokka was ready, people would invite in the bears progenitor called Hongas.
The food that was eaten was bear soup, ryebread, ale and strong spirits. No dairy products or cow meat was allowed, since the bear was an enemy of farm animals.
The feast was celebrated all night while honoring the bear. Songs were sang and dances that replicated a bears movements were danced.
The food that was eaten was bear soup, ryebread, ale and strong spirits. No dairy products or cow meat was allowed, since the bear was an enemy of farm animals.
The feast was celebrated all night while honoring the bear. Songs were sang and dances that replicated a bears movements were danced.
In the morning the bears skull was carried to a dead tree and placed high up on a branch. This allowed the bear to be reborn into the forest. This tree was called a kallohonka.
