What is Santa Claus Village?
Santa Claus Village is a village of snow-covered wooden cabins near the town of Rovaniemi, in Lapland, the northernmost part of Finland. Here Santa Claus, whom the Finns call Joulupukki, has an office where he welcomes children every day of the year, not just in December.
Entry to the village is free, and every year more than 700,000 visitors come from all over the world. That is why Rovaniemi is called “the official hometown of Santa Claus”.
Where is it? Right on the Arctic Circle
The village is about 8 kilometers from the town center and easy to reach by bus. A white line marked on the ground runs right through it: this is the Arctic Circle. On maps and globes, the Arctic Circle is an imaginary line. North of it, there are winter days when the sun doesn’t rise at all. Many visitors take a photo stepping over this line.
What can children do there?
- Meet Santa Claus in his office, where they can talk with him and have a photo taken.
- Send a postcard from Santa Claus’ Main Post Office. The special Arctic Circle postmark is only stamped here.
- See reindeer, the animals that pull Santa’s sleigh, and go for a sleigh ride.
- Watch the northern lights, the green lights that dance across the sky on clear winter nights.
How to write to Santa Claus
Santa Claus’ Main Post Office has received almost 25 million letters so far, from around 200 countries. In December, as many as 30,000 letters arrive in a single day. You can write to him too, at this address:
Santa Claus' Main Post Office
Tähtikuja 1
96930 Arctic Circle
FINLAND
Write the address in large, clear letters, put on an international stamp and send your letter early, so it arrives before Christmas.
Two Finnish Christmas traditions
The Christmas sauna
In Finland, almost every home has a sauna. On Christmas Eve, many families go to the sauna together, then dress up for the festive dinner. That is how they begin Christmas, clean and calm.
The hidden almond
At Christmas, people eat riisipuuro, a warm rice porridge made with milk. A single almond is hidden in the pot. They say whoever finds it in their bowl will have good luck all next year.
A taste of Lapland: Joulutorttu
How do you say “Merry Christmas!” in Finnish?
Hyvää joulua!
Try saying it at dinner on Christmas Eve.
What word did Mira discover here?
In each of the eleven cities of the journey, Mira finds a special word. The word from Rovaniemi is written in her Christmas passport, at the end of chapter 8.
