Palm Sunday (Palmusunnuntai)

It has been a while since my last post. The Lent (paasto) is quite uneventful time. Of course not many people these days anymore fast. And actually this can be the best time of the year in Finland. We still have lots of snow (80 cm this year) also in the Southern parts, the days may be sunny with few minus degrees and the nights awesome with crystal clear sky full of stars and temperature near -20 C or even below that. A good time to go outdoors: ski, skate, take long walks in the bright sunlight. Additionally the mornings and evenings are getting brighter and longer. But back to the post’s topic.

The Easter time is closing up and the Lent is soon over. Next Sunday we are celebrating Palm Sunday (Palmusunnuntai). And there is a reason why I post this a week in advance. At least week before Palm Sunday we have some things to do, if we want to celebrate the Palm Sunday according to Finnish traditions.

First we dress up, take garden shears and go for a walk in the woods. There we seek some young birches (koivu) and cut branches from them, naturally we have asked a permission for that from the owner of the forest. We also look for willows (paju). The willows already have catkins (pajunkissa). We cut few branches with catkins and head home. At home we put the birch branches into water and after a week we shall have very small leaves and can decorate the branches. The willow branches can be left on the table without any water. There is one more thing to do. We take some soil and plant some grass seeds on it, cover them with clear plastic, place in light and keep humid. On Palm Sunday there shall be nice green grass (rairuoho) to decorate.

On Palm Sunday we decorate our house with bright yellow (to mark the sun, the spring and joy) and green (marking new growth, spring and hope). We may also use some violet (to remind us about the sufferings of Jesus and repentance we should feel). The grass gets small, usually yellow chickens and white bunnies. On the branches of the birch we put  some birds, feathers and small witches. Yes, witches. They have bright colored clothes, a broom, a cat and also a coffee pot. To the same vase we add tulips and daffodils in bright yellow and red.

On Palm Sunday we have even a tradition for the children. Its roots are in the Eastern Finland, and also somewhat in the Western Finland. Young children are dressed up as Easter witches. The children make so called wicker (vitsa), with which they virpoa (wave the wicker) a person and read a poem at the same time. The poem wishes good luck, good health for the coming year. The wicker is given to the person and the child gets a reward, usually a chocolate Easter egg. The wicker is made out of willow branch with catkins and decorated with colorful silk paper rosettes. The children tour around in the neighborhood from door to door. It resembles the Halloween tradition of children in USA.

Originally the wickers were blessed in a service in Orthodox churches on Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday. Then on Palm Sunday the children would wave the wickers to their family or relatives to remember the palm leaves salute done to Jesus and to bless their close-ones in this way. The “pay” (palkka) the children got, could be collected only on Easter after the Lent was over. The children were not dressed up. 

In Western Finland the people believed in witches (pääsiäisnoita or trulli), who would fly in the night between Good Friday (Pitkäperjantai) and the following Saturday and try to curse the house and steal the livestock, because the protection of God was at the lowest due to the death of Jesus on Good Friday. People lid up bonfires (kokko) to keep the witches and bad spirits away. At some parishes lonely women living outside the society would dress up as witches and scare the residents of the parish.

So actually two totally opposite traditions, the good blessing done by the Orthodoxes with wickers in the Eastern parts of Finland and the cursing done by witches in the Western parts of Finland, have nowadays been combined into the same tradition done by children. Many people don’t remember any more the original traditions. Especially the Orthodox Church has tried to tell about their original tradition and how it should be celebrated.

Right or wrong? Mixing old traditions? Maybe, but the children have fun. Most of them are dressed up so cutely and well. And I get beautiful willow wickers, with which I can decorate my house. And I get to see the joy on the children’s faces when they get to choose from the chocolate eggs I have reserved for them.

Virvon, varvon.

Tuoreeks, terveeks.

Tulevaks vuodeks.

Lahja sulle, palkka mulle.

Have a peaceful and sunny Easter time!