Finnish Easter is a big holiday, but not necessary as religious as it originally was back in the day. With this occasion, Finns mix pagan traditions with family time and some religious aspects.
Easter is certainly a long weekend which cuts the spring nicely in half. Many families head for their summer cabin or ski resorts in Lapland.
The Finnish Easter Witch
For Finnish kids, Easter is the best celebration after Christmas and their birthday. The Sunday one week before Easter is THE day that children are most excited about.
To describe it in one sentence, I would say it is the Finnish equivalent of Halloween.
In many families, the preparations start a couple of days before. Kids gather a good bunch of willow twigs and decorate them pretty with different colored ribbons and feathers.
On Sunday, the children go door to door with their joyful willow twigs. Wishing the door opener good health and happiness by chanting a rhyme and waving the willow, they give the twig and in exchange expect candy or money.
One version of the rhyme is: “Virvon, varvon, tuoreeks, terveeks, tulevaks vuodeks. Vitsa sulle, palkka mulle!”
Some twenty years ago, my sister and I spent the whole week preparing our twigs for Sunday.
It did not occur to us that we were the only kids in a 10 km radius. That of course meant that a minimum amount of effort would have been equally appreciated and resulted us getting the same huge amount of candy.
However, for us, the best part of that day was not the willows nor the candy, it was definitely the chance of being an Easter witch. We planned our assembles for weeks and did many dress rehearsals to perfect our looks.
With pride and excitement, I used my mum’s lipstick and eyeliner to create the freckles and blush appropriate for a witch.
Luckily, when I grew up and was too big to be an Easter witch, my makeup skills also improved! Below you can see my Easter witch look.
Actual Easter Days
Finns celebrate Easter from Friday until Monday. Some shops are open during all days, most shops at least on Saturday. If you work in an office, you get a wonderful little holiday of four days.
The Easter grass (rairuoho in Finnish) is a must in any household with children. It symbolizes the spring. You buy a pack of Easter grass seeds in any grocery store. Plant the seeds a week before Easter to get a good grass patch.
During Easter, Finland is suddenly something out of Alice in Wonderland. Here are some of the things we do during Easter!
Six Funny Things that Belong to Finnish Easter
#1 Finns rarely like small decorative trinkets. At Easter, we have little chicks, roosters, bunnies, and eggs all over the house.
#2 Finns do not particularly like yellow. At Easter, we decorate everything with yellow.
#3 Finns rarely eat lamb. At Easter, we eat only lamb.
#4 Finns know that willow makes you allergic. At Easter, we decorate the house with willow twigs.
#5 Finns do not let their kids eat sweet things for breakfast. At Easter, children eat chocolate eggs in the morning.
#6 Finns don’t like cold porridge. Well, nobody likes it. At Easter, we eat mämmi, cold sweet rye porridge with cream and sugar.
Do your Easter traditions have something in common with Finnish Easter traditions? Is there anything else you would like to know about Finnish Easter? Let me know in the comments!
Looking for more information about Finnish culture? Check out some of my other posts:
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Hello there!
I’m Varpu. One blonde,
travel-loving,
Finnish engineer driving this site.
Another awesome post Varpu! Your website is such a great resource for everyone who is interested in learning about all things Finnish and discovering how amazing Suomi is. 🙂 Mahtava! Kiitos paljon Varpu. Keep up the great work!
Ooh thank you so much Scott! I really appreciate it!
Thank you Varpu, my Finnish wife (who is painting Easter Eggs right now!) really enjoyed this page! Keep up the good work!
Kiitos paljon Tom! So happy to hear that.
Soo lucky to have the cabins and sky resorts 🙂
Sounds like a fun time, specially for the little ones 😀
Do Finns also enjoy the sweet almonds tradition in easter like in several european countries?
Lamb is quite good, but hard to cook indeed…
Happy Easter!
Hei Paulo! Thank you so much for your comment. I don’t think I’ve ever heard about anyone eating sweet almonds in Easter in Finland. My guess is that we don’t have that tradition here. It sounds delicious though!
Hei Varpu,
My Finnish Mom only made lamb for dinner once. My Finnish Dad didn’t like it at all and all he would say was, “Lambs are for sweaters!” 🥴😁
I hope you have a wonderful Easter Varpu.
Hehe 😀 Anita, you are right, not all Finns like lamb at all. It’s quite tricky to make also for me because I only make it during Easter 😀
Growing up Finnfsh
I was so sad when we only got two groups of Easter witches knock on our door yesterday, even though it was adorable how one of the girls was dressed as a cat and was greeted at the door by my actual cat!
Xoxo,
Laura // afinnontheloose.com
Oh, I bet that was the cutest thing! Thank you for commenting, Laura! <3
Thanks for the information. I love how in funny things there are so many contradictions! Just sent it to my Finnish husband. He couldn’t stop laughing because he agrees with so many of these points!
Aww, Klaudia, thank you so much much for this awesome and adorable comment. <3 It's so great to know that you and your hubby liked this post!
Hei Varpu! thanks for your wonderful blog! ❤ I can finally know many secrets of your splendid nation.
I wanted to know what are the best wishes you can exchange at Easter?
In Italy for Easter Sunday we organize a big lunch where we invite the closest relatives and the little ones can break the big chocolate eggs with little surprises inside. At Easter lunch, at least one dish of lamb is prepared (but not everyone likes it 😂) and then it is accompanied with typical dishes from the region you come from.
Hei Deborah! I loved learning what Italians are doing at Easter! Thank you so much for sharing! I think the most common wishes are: Hyvää pääsiäistä! Hauskaa pääsiäistä! and Iloista pääsiäistä! Good Easter, Fun Easter and Happy Easter if I translate roughly. 😀
Thank you for this interesting and lovely information.
Hei Susanna! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know you liked this post! I appreciate it. <3