Where Santa Claus Lives

Finnish children start losing their innocence at the age of seven, when they find out about the biggest lie in their lives. Santa Claus does not exist. His beard is made from cotton and he does not ride on sledges pulled by reindeer. And he has no assistants – “tontu”, who stay behind the window of each house and see that children behave well and receive the best presents as remuneration for their obeisance. No. The presents are bought by parents, grandmothers and uncles and aunts.

But, the tale about Santa Claus is still living in Finland. Especially in the capital of Lapland, the city of Rovaniemi. Due to this tale, in one of the poorest regions of the country, with the highest degree of unemployment, there have been set up enterprises that bring good profit. And for 65 000 people, the tale of Santa Claus became true.

The phenomenon is rather new. Nothing existed beyond the Polar Circle, until, in 1950, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt came to the city. In the eve of her visit, a hut of Santa Claus had been built at 9 km away from the city, along the road leading from Rovaniemi to the North. Various souvenirs were sold to rare tourists coming to this region.

In this way, visitors began to come to Santa Claus during the last days before Christmas. This continued up till 1985 when, all of a sudden, the white-bearded old man decided to get seriously involved in the business and open an office where children could come all the year round. Starting with that moment, the machine of attracting tourists took a new turning, and in 1995, the zone was proclaimed “the official capital of Santa Claus”.

A wonder happened in Rovaniemi in which not so many people believe. In 1944, the city was completely destroyed by Stalin’s army. But today, after so many years, the biggest tourist center was set up in one of the most unattractive places on earth, which can be considered unable to have such a thing. December in Finland is the time of “kaamos” (Polar night), when the sun practically does not rise and out of 24, there are 22 hours of night. Still, when the sun appears above the city, it does not heat the frosting air, but colors a little bit the sky in pink. The temperature can easily go 45 degrees below zero, although the usual frosts here are of 10-20 degrees below zero.

One cannot say that Rovaniemi is one of the nicest cities in the world, but its surrounding forests, rivers and lakes make it indeed very attractive. Here you can find the Polar Circle at only several kilometers from the capital of Lapland towards the North. “Today the temperature is 10 degrees below zero, the day is beautiful, and the snow on the trees creates such an impression as if we are in a fairy tale. And only several days ago, there were 30 degrees below zero”, says Martha Selin, the Press-Secretary of Santa Claus at nine o’clock in the morning and her voice is so pure as if she is in heaven.

There are only two hours before the sun rises, and these terrible frosts make the people tremble. But this fantastic landscape, the snow, the polar night, the characters of the Lapland myths and personally Santa Claus, receiving visitors in his office beyond the Polar Circle – are unique phenomena. For tempting the most undecided people, in 1996 an amusement center was built, receiving up to 50 000 visitors during several weeks before Christmas holiday. Last year, this part of the world had been visited by 400 000 tourists, each one leaving here 65 Euro on average during the visit to the residence of Santa Claus.

One can enjoy riding the sledges through the magnificent woods, pulled by reindeer or “huskies”, ride the snowmobiles, find out the secrets of Finnish drivers that enrolled to the driving school in winter conditions, and if you are lucky, see the Northern radiance that makes you shiver. The cave of Santa lies beyond the Polar Circle and a sixteen-ton door hides it, here the “tontu” are working hard. And right after the summer, when the snow has already melted in Lapland and the sun does not rise, you find yourself in the most impressive and real Christmas atmosphere. The most romantic lovers can even get married here: for the sum of 1000 Euro, they will benefit from an extraordinary wedding ceremony in the snow, similar to those organized in LasVegas.

For the Finnish people, Santa Claus has always been someone greater than a white-bearded old man, dressed in red trousers and red coat that disseminates candies and sweets to the children near supermarkets. On the 24th of December, the country practically stops existing. The World Christmas Day is being declared: the trains do not function any more, nobody works and everyone stays at home, except for some Santas that bring in the Santa Claus money-box: 30 Euro for every 10-15-minute visit in the ordinary Finnish houses. On the day before Christmas, such visits are very common: Santa rings the door, he is offered a chair in the house and, when seated, he starts talking about his long trip from Lapland, where he brought the presents from.

Finnish children are aware of the fact that Santa lives in Lapland. But for the rest, such a fact is not at all so obvious. When the children from other countries are asked: “Where does Santa live?”, you can hear the name of any remote Northern country, such as Lapland, Switzerland, Greenland or simply Northern Pole. “We worked very hard so that people from all over the world knew where Santa Claus indeed lives”, says Martha Selin. And that is not an unimportant whim. The whole life of Rovaniemi depends on the reply of the local parents, when their children ask them about the location of Santa Claus. So, if all the children in the world knew that Santa’s home is in Lapland, the inhabitants of this place could breathe easily. In order to inform all the children about the location of Santa, a special mark has been invented that costs 6 Euro and that has the image of Santa fixed on it.

It seems that nowadays such a policy tends to be true. Last year, the post department, working solely for Santa Claus, received 700 000 letters addressed to Santa from children from 184 countries. Now, there can be no reasons for simply believing in fairy tales.

Prepared by Vlada Popushoi