Joulu

December 20, 2006

December has been unseasonably warm and well, dark. You can miss an entire day if you’re not watching for it and in spite of the eternal nocturne I can’t sleep. I wait until after 1:00 am to go to bed and find myself up searching for a book at 3:00 am. My shadow at noon is at least twice as long as I am tall and if the sun burns through the clouds it stares at you head on. Still any sun is welcome and everyone is out during daylight regardless of conditions. I’ve conformed to the Helsinki fashion of cladding yourself in reflectors, since so much of the day is night. The city is all dressed up for the holidays and in this bottomless darkness Helsinki sparkles.

The Christmas market fills Esplanadi Park and is bustling well into the evening. Everything you could possibly imagine made of wood is for sale there—one man makes the most amazing little birds with delicate wings out of one piece of wood that he then fans out by overlapping and hooking each piece onto the next. And the food! I can’t believe what I’ve seen!

Deepfried sardines, giant pancakes with berries and cream, cloudberry syrup and the most amazing honey…and of course, lots and lots of hot coffee. Everyone is very friendly and they’re happy to talk to you, barely pausing even after you tell them you don’t speak Finnish. Still somehow you can make sense of it. I pass through the market almost every day on my way to and from Juhani’s office just to peek into all of the little booths. Christmas in Helsinki is delightfully warm.