Winter Approach

Views from the garden and a detail of my painting (116 x 270cm!) in progress.

What is actually celebrated these days in Finland:

All Saints day

For adults, in Finland the whole Halloween idea isn’t about costumes or candy. The tradition is to celebrate – and commemorate – All Saints day.

This is how Finns celebrate All Saints: they go to a cemetery and light thousands of candles

All Saints day in Finland is celebrated the first Saturday after the 30th of October, and is a great day to go to the cemetery with the whole family, to visit and honor relatives by lighting candles, and to see how everyone else has done the same, making the view of the entire cemetery a very solemn and spectacular sight.

These days the shops are full of candles, and they even have special shelves for them.

Nonetheless – and despite the different nature of these days in Finland -, you might be invited to a Halloween party these days. And the younger you are, the more chances you’re likely have. After all, it’s never a bad time to meet up with friends, right?

That is how the blogger Big in Finland en Español describes Finnish Halloween tradition.

This is nearly the darkest time of the year. Usually it is the time of "the first snow" as well -and sometimes we are lucky to have such amazing sunny days like today. It seems that sun is tired, barely rising above the tree tops and sets early in the afternoon. But the light is golden and soft and yet glittering,

And yes, there is also an ancient Finnish tradition of this time, which has nearly been forgotten:

Kekri: also spelled Keyri, or Käyri, in ancient Finnish religion, a feast day marking the end of the agricultural season that also coincided with the time when the cattle were taken in from pasture and settled for a winter’s stay in the barn. Kekri originally fell on Michaelmas, September 29, but was later shifted to November 1, All Saints’ Day. In the old system of reckoning time, Kekri was a critical period between the old and new years when the ancestor spirits came to visit their former homes. The living accordingly held feasts honouring the dead. Food and drink were left for the spirits, the sauna was heated, and the dead were referred to as “holy men.” The feast was generally restricted to the members of the family, but in some areas the occasion was also marked by the common sacrifice of a sheep by the men of the entire village.

Thank you, Ariane, for the kind invite to participate the challenge

Halloween (and/or school).

Ariane is the host of the week´s AC (Art Challenge), see all the participants via her beautiful blog Rose .