Visitors to the Porvoo Museum in Finland will be stepping back a few centuries as they visit the museum’s Holm House, where a special exhibit shows how Finns celebrated Christmas in the 1700s.
The celebration then and now focuses on the family Christmas dinner, with a table laden with traditional dishes and specialties, some of which are still on hand and some of which are less familiar today. Ham, root vegetable casseroles, and rosolli salad are still on today’s table, but other dishes like spinach stew and savory meat jellies are not.
Some parts of today’s holidays are absent, such as Santa Claus and a Christmas tree; they became common later in Finland. Gift-giving was also different, focused on hand-made presents, wrapped in plain paper with witty rhymes written on it, sometimes with clues to who was the giver.
Photo: Jari Laurén Porvoo Museum
