The Christmas feeling in Porvoo transports beyond the centuries

The multifaceted Christmas season in Porvoo can be seen all over the city.

– Porvoo has a unique Christmas feeling, which is at its best in the old town. The shops and residents of Old Porvoo decorate their buildings and shop windows for Christmas and the medieval cathedral at the top of the hill crowns the scene, says the director of Porvoo Museum, Johanna Lehto-Vahtera.

The Old Town Hall, which houses the exhibitions of Porvoo Museum, is the center of many Christmas time events. On the 13^th of December Porvoo’s own St. Lucia will be crowned on the steps of the town hall, and the same location is used to announce the Christmas Peace on Christmas Eve.

– The traditions of different eras are continuing Porvoo side by side and the Christmas exhibitions in Holm House and J. L. Runeberg’s Home Museum help understand the multilayered traditions of Finnish Christmas. 

Old Traditions on Show in the Museums

J. L. Runeberg’s Home and Porvoo Museum’s Holm House both incorporate Christmas in the permanent exhibitions. Christmas preparations, decorations and festive foods from the time periods are part of the interiors of the museums.

In the time of the Runebergs the Christmas tree with its decorations was a new custom and the tree in the home museum is decorated in the same way as the Runebergs did, with silk ribbons.

There is no tree in Holm House, instead the center piece of the season in the 1700s is the dinner table. Ham, root vegetable casseroles and rosolli salad are still a part of Finnish Christmas feasts, but spinach stew and savoury jellies made with meat perhaps less so.

And even though the tradition of giving each other presents at Christmas began already in the 18^th century, recognising old customs related to it can be difficult for modern people used to the factory-made products of 20^th and 21^st centuries. In the 1700s and 1800s short rhyming verses were written on Christmas presents to hint at the content of the gift and its giver. The presents weren’t brought by Santa Claus; instead someone simply threw them suddenly in through the door.

Christmas is the biggest holiday of the Christian church and Porvoo’s medieval cathedral has been a central part of Christmas for the people of Porvoo through the centuries. Both Holms and Runebergs went there for the traditional Christmas service. Helping the less fortunate is also a long-lived Christmas tradition and for example in the 18^th and 19^th centuries bread and candles were gifted to the poor.

Find Christmas in Porvoo

-26.11.–22.12. Porvoo Christmas Market, incl. a free Christmas carousel

-25.11.–23.12. Christmas feeling in J. L. Runeberg’s Home, Aleksanterinkatu 3. Open Wed–Sun 10–16. Public guided tours on Sundays in December.

-25.11. 10–16. Christmas Path in the yard and garden of the J. L. Runeberg’s Home

-29.11.2023–14.1.2024. Christmas in Porvoo Museum in Holm House, Välikatu 11. Open Wed–Sun 12–16. Public guided tour Saturday 17.12.  

-1.–24.12. Porvoo Museum’s Instagram advent calendar in Finnish and Swedish @porvoonmuseo

-2.12. The Christmas Opening of Old Porvoo

-9.–10.12. at 10. Christmas Market on the Old Town Square

-13.12. at 18. Crowning of Porvoo region St. Lucia on the steps of the Old Town Hall, Jokikatu 45.

-14.12. at 13 Christmas Music Concert in the Porvoo cathedral. The church is open Tue–Sat 10–14, Sun 14–16.

-24.12. at 16. Declaration of the Christmas Peace on the steps of the Old Town Hall, Jokikatu 45.

For all the events during Christmas in Porvoo, see the Porvoo City Events Calendar.