Palm Sunday in Central and Eastern Finland is a special holiday for children. On this day, children dressed like witches hand out decorated willow branches in exchange for a sweet treat. This week, my girls learned this week about this Finnish tradition that is described as somewhat like American Halloween and they were eager to participate. I did some research, asked my advisor for some tips and assistance, and voila! My children celebrated their first Finnish Palm Sunday!
On Saturday, my advisor, his wife and their two daughters came over and taught us how to decorate willow branches. First the men went out to cut and gather appropriate willow branches. Then using hot glue, ribbons, pom poms, butterflies, tissue paper, feathers, fans and different colored tape everyone turned the plain sticks into the traditional Palm Sunday branches.
On Palm Sunday children dress like witches with scarves on their heads, freckles and rosy cheeks and go door to door asking for treats. We found some fabric and scarves in the house we are renting, painted the girls' faces and gathered some baskets and the girls were ready to go out with Adam and Olli-Pekka and his daughters this morning at 10:00 AM. When they arrived at a door they first asked if they could say their riddle. They then chanted "Virvon, varvon, tuoreeks terveeks, tulevaks vuodeks; vitsa sulle, palkka mulle!" In English it means "I wave a twig for a fresh and healthy year ahead; a twig for you, a treat for me!" The children then gave their willow branches to the person that answered the door and were rewarded with either a sweet treat, like chocolate eggs, or perhaps a few coins. The children could only visit as many houses as they had willow branches and each child that wanted a treat must say the riddle and hand over a twig.
We talked about the holiday with Olli-Pekka and Heli as we decorated last night. They said the holiday has become less popular in the past few years. Some young people started taking advantage of the holiday just going door to door asking for treats without putting in the effort to decorate the branches or to get dressed up and that was looked down on. There seems to be a certain standard that the decorated branches must reach, and the recipient of the branches can refuse to give out a treat if the branches are not sufficiently decorated. Unlike American Halloween where you can go to a seemingly infinite number of houses and barely mutter a word and expect a treat, there is an exchange between both parties on this holiday in Finland and parents teach their children that there are certain expectations to be met. Below are our decorated branches before the girls handed them out.
This tradition has roots in both the Russian Orthodox and Swedish celebrations - demonstrating that Finland had close ties to both of these countries in their past. According to Russian Orthodox Easter tradition willow twigs represent the palm branches that were laid on the ground as Jesus entered Jerusalem the Sunday before he was crucified. A Swedish and Finnish tradition says that children go around looking like witches to make fun of the people that believed that real witches roamed around at Easter time. The chant and gift of a willow branch is also supposed to ward off evil spirits and bring forth a good harvest. In Western Finland this tradition is more commonly celebrated on Easter Sunday.
The girls said it was so much fun. In the picture below you can see them checking out their gathered treats. They didn't learn the entire Finnish chant, but did their best by reading the English words at each house they visited. We have had some little witches visit our house today and were prepared with a basket of chocolate eggs to hand out to the visitors. What a fun way to celebrate the Easter season and coming spring!
