The Whole Town

Last weekend, the young and old of Joensuu bundled up and headed out into the frigid temperatures to enjoy an evening of holiday festivities.  At this annual Christmas gathering, the typically vacant town square came alive.  Christmas lights were lit.  Children sang Christmas tunes.  And Joulupukki (Santa Claus) made an appearance.  The grand finale included a spectacular display of red, white and green fireworks.  As November comes to a close, I found this gathering to be a lovely start to the Christmas season.  The whole town enjoying each other's company.  The whole town sharing in the celebrations.  The whole town.

Dressed in penguin and Santa costumes, the
local children's choir sang many popular Christmas
tunes.  While most songs were in Finnish, I was
still familiar with nearly all of the melodies.

The whole town came out to join in the festivities. 
The Finns sure do know how to dress warm.

Joulupukki and his wife greeted the town.
Yes, that's a giant dancing snowman on the left.

Maria (my Finnish flatmate) and Tiina (my Finnish
friend) enjoy the fireworks.  Please note that this photo
was taken at 6pm.  The sun had set about three hours
prior, so it was plenty dark to see the fireworks. J