Faith in Santa Claus wavers and Santa's helpers

  • 08.12.2021

Children's belief in Santa Claus is, of course, a given, and so are adults. And the belief continues, albeit perhaps slightly altered, into adulthood. The first suspicions about Santa Claus usually arise among primary school children, there is always an older sister or older brother who has hinted at the existence of Santa Claus. As a result of these insinuations, the nature of Santa Claus is then observed more closely than before and half a dozen or so clues are found. Here too, knowledge is king and people are happy to share their own information.

Santa Claus the fairy tale creature?

For me, believing in Santa Claus or the end of Santa Claus was not an isolated event. Believing in Santa Claus came gradually with age and time. ”In the stone courtyard of ”our” three-storey stone house, where we played, there were at least five children of about the same age as myself, in addition to my younger friend - big age groups as we were. Of these, someone more knowledgeable could always tell us something the others didn't yet know, and at least raise questions and conjecture. This is also how I think the seed of doubt came into my faith. Similarly, a schoolmate might have said the same thing, even if there hadn't been much talk about Santa Claus, thus confirming my doubts about the existence of Santa Claus. Although I don't know my exact age when I actually knew that Santa Claus was a fairytale creature, I do know that it hasn't come as a shock to me. Probably due to my already ”pre” distant relationship with Santa Claus, and also because I was relatively old, around school age, before I joined in the games of the friends in the yard, which must have been when the ”Santa Claus baiting" started.

Helena Lavonen, Mikkeli

Will Santa have enough money to buy presents?

Fortunately, my parents didn't have to witness and explain when my faith in Santa Claus began to waver, which happened already at school age, actually in the first grade. I had been wishing for a wooden train track since pre-school and wished for it for a few Christmases in a row, part of primary school. Every time I made that wish out loud, I was told that Santa didn't have any money. I wondered to myself, of course, why then the school bullies, at least in their own words, received the Christmas presents they had wished for, and they certainly had no fear that Santa Claus would not have the money for their presents. After a while, my faith began to waver, but I think at some point my parents realised that I knew what was going on, because when I was in fifth grade I was asked directly what I wanted for Christmas. Even then, I didn't always get what I wanted, but once I did, I got a gift and reminders until the following summer of how expensive my wish was. I didn't cry or bother my parents about questioning the existence of Santa Claus, sometimes at the end of primary school I just remembered how Santa didn't have money for my wishes, but he had for the wishes of the school bullies. If you got toys or anything extra during the year, you were reminded that Santa didn't bring presents.

Aliki Koppari, Janakkala

It was nice to fool the younger ones

I don't remember how old I was when I first saw Santa Claus or how old I was when Santa Claus visited my house. Luckily I have a few pictures to remember, because my own memories are so fuzzy. I do remember that once when I was little I would hide behind a rocking chair because Santa was so scary. I don't remember when I stopped believing in Santa either, but I do remember that even after that, Santa's visit to our house was exciting. Santa's arrival, especially unexpectedly, electrifies the mood even for an adult. When I was a kid, every Christmas Santa didn't come all the way inside the house, sometimes presents would just appear in the hallway, for example. When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I certainly no longer believed in the ”real” existence of Santa Claus and I received a Santa mask as a Christmas present. Then my younger sister and I came up with the idea of playing a trick on my 1-2 year old little sister and I dressed up as Santa Claus. Even after the presents were handed out. I don't know what she understood about the situation, but she was very serious. At that point, when I no longer believed in Santa Claus, one Christmas I tried to rummage through my mother and father's cupboards to find out what I might get as a present but failed miserably.

Tuula 66, Mikkeli

When I was maybe about 7 years old, the whole family went shopping in the run-up to Christmas. My brother and I were waiting outside the checkout counters for our parents. There in the aisle was Santa Claus - and behind his white beard was a grey beard, I think his real beard. That's when I said to my brother, "That's not the real Santa Claus, Santa doesn't have two beards. I guess that was the end of my faith in Santa Claus.

Violette, Pori

At least we have a real Santa Claus !

Every Christmas, Santa looked and felt the same. Yes, my childhood faith was strong when there was not a shadow of a doubt, even though Santa had pictures of an owl in his mantelpiece that looked exactly like the ones on the lining of my mother's coat. Santa's crepe paper pipe cap was also quite cold in the winter frost. And the beard was always made of linen, not a curly beard like today's dresses. My toddler nieces and nephews make up all sorts of gags. I think one of the worst Christmas-related ones I can remember. My brothers thought that now my little sister was too old to believe in Santa Claus. So they already had a plan in place to reveal the truth about Santa Claus. Maybe it was good that I found out the truth, even if it felt harsh. After all, I had my doubts when my friends at school told me that there was no Santa Claus. But I put up a good fight and told them that we had a real Santa Claus. I was born during the winter war in 1940 and due to the war years Santa sometimes left presents in the hall, sometimes came himself especially if my father happened to be on holiday, my memory is hazy at this point. The best thing was to write notes to Santa Claus, which we put in the trunk of a tree in the yard and the elves would come and get them at night. My faith in the real Santa Claus was shaken by my four-year-old cousin Reino, who always knew better than us girls about everything. In my book Frog Flowers (Pilot 2004), I wrote about it as follows. And there is no God either! I don't believe Reino at all, the information is flowing over me like water. Since my mother once said that there is a Santa Claus and there is a God, that's fine. The big boys have supposedly told Reino that. Nonsense, I say! I tell Reino about his strange talk at home and I'm a bit surprised by the look on his mother's face... The next Christmas it will be revealed. My mother explains to me and my sister that it's about a game called Santa Claus. Such games are needed when you've just survived a war and you're still walking around with your face full of truth and your shopping vouchers in your pocket... When Santa Claus, as it were, comes on Christmas Eve with Dad's fur hat on and his coat turned inside out, grumbling in Dad's voice, I laugh to death...

Liisa Marjatta Järvinen, Helsinki/ Hartola

Santa's busy schedule

The arrival of Santa Claus was the most anticipated moment of the evening. Santa would visit your home or grandmother's house, knock on the door and bang in with a stick in his long, I remember grey coat. It was exciting. Santa would hand out presents from his sack or basket to each person by name, if he could read on the package who it was for. If necessary, the more discerning ones helped Santa to find out. Santa didn't have long to stay, as he had to rush off to another place. The most popular gift was a big doll with its eyes closed when lying down. The doll was named Anu after my cousin, who was a baby at the time. I wrapped the doll in a warm blanket and took her with me to the grandmother's house, where we would walk along the forest road on a kick-scooter. That Anu doll is still there, and cousin Anu is now a mother and grandmother of four grown-up children, just like me. And so time and the years have passed. I also have a plastic candle lantern from Santa's presents, which I remember receiving through my now deceased Aunt Sylvi.

Kaisa Komulainen, Vantaa, Kajaani

Christmas celebrations in the Basque region

Back when my tubers were few, that's when the old ones of kahare and viire were few. So then we took Santa Claus from the village two years in a row. That's when my daddy got to be there. Santa's costume was mid-1970's, the inner turret was on backwards, the mask had a beard, a beard with a fur hat low on the head and a fur hat and a stick on the head. It was still a pretty modest life back then, at least in the countryside. Then we went out with Santa Claus and his mistress for coffee on New Year's Eve. Flikkka has said that they didn't know anything back then, that the man was Santa, when I asked Flikkka about it later. Then they bought us a new dressing gown and dad was the daddy, sure enough, two or three times everything went well. But it must have been the fourth year since dad was a daddy, he was two years old by then. All would have gone well, but daddy didn't bother to get a stick from the woodshed, he took a flour stick from the pretty lady's kitchen with which to set the big sticks on the bread. He recognized the stick at once, he knew it was his father. It didn't turn out to be a catastrophe. The flour stick has become something of an insider's story for us.

Kerttu Karhu, Kauhajoki

Ear defenders genuine Santa Claus

At some point, I began to wonder how the same Santa Claus could be here and there at the same time and still look different. My mother explained that the real Santa Claus from Korvatunturi couldn't get to every place, so he had a lot of helpers. Yes, the real Santa Claus of Korvatunturi exists, even if not all children can see him.

Anneli Mäkelä-Alitalo.

Santa's helper

When I grew a long beard, I put an ad in the paper : Santa Claus driving around with his own beard. Three eves later I took orders and went on a tour. The same families ordered - I guess I was successful. A few orders came in after I decided to stop. I was able to fit in 4 visits on the evening of the eve. I greeted the people and asked for the names of the children and sang a Christmas carol and handed out presents. Photos of the kids on Santa's knee of course. It always took more than half an hour. The pay was 40 euros. I got a few bottles of wine. The sheer number of presents was a surprise. I toured as a Santa after 1995. So there were several man-sized sacks full of gift packages. The joy of the grandparents was nice to witness although they certainly had their own memories of much more modest Christmases. The mother-in-law was in a nursing home and we visited there weekly. When Christmas came we suggested that I should appear as Santa Claus in the care home at a convenient time. And so Santa Claus and Mummy went out to cheer up the nursing home. I also toured the so-called closed ward with my nurse. Not all the nurses understood anything about Santa Claus, but I remembered it. - As the years went by and Grandma Veera got older, I would occasionally lean over to Grandma and ask: ”Does Grandma know me!” And Grandma looked up and said, "Well, if it isn't Santa Claus.

Matti Parikka, Ylivieska
 

 
The above stories have been obtained from the Finnish Literature Society's archive and the Santa Claus Foundation's joint heritage collection 2020-21.The story collections have been edited by Ollijuhani Auvinen. The Joulupukkisäätiö was established in 2000 and its mission is to promote the Finnish Santa Claus worldwide. The Foundation collects traditional material related to the Finnish Santa Claus. The Finnish tradition of Santa Claus is also inscribed on the National Inventory of Living Heritage under the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Convention.

The borrowing of traditional inscriptions is only allowed with the permission of the Santa Claus Foundation. The email address of the Foundation is [email protected]. You can also send your own Santa memories to the email address to be stored for researchers to use.

SANTA CLAUS LICENSING
Henry Fordinkatu 6A
00150 Helsinki, Finland
[email protected]

[email protected]

SANTA CLAUS FOUNDATION
South Esplanade 2
00130 Helsinki, Finland

[email protected]

© 2025 Santa Claus Finland & Licensing | by developit // creative
The images and texts are protected by copyright.

© 2025 Santa Claus Finland & Licensing
by developit // creative
The images and texts are protected by copyright.

Privacy policy

Lapland Troll

The trolls that live in Lapland belong to the Arctic troll family, or polar trolls. You can recognise them by the snow packed in their fur and their fierce growling. They are tough to give snow washes and are therefore feared throughout the Korvatunturi region. However, you can easily placate the Sunbird by giving it a good hug. It will melt the troll's boggart heart and with good luck you'll make a lifelong friend.

Finnish horse

In Finland, we are used to a certain modesty. The Finnish horse, for example, does not boast much about being one of the fastest and most versatile cold-blooded animals in the world. Even though it is. In the Korvatunturi, the abilities of Finnish horses are well known, and they have been considered one of the most reliable working companions for centuries.

One enthusiastic stable elf devoted much of his life to trying to teach a Finnish horse to fly like Santa's reindeer. He was proved to be too heavy for the job - the height record was set by crashing into the chimney of Santa's sauna.

Snowman

The world's tallest snowman was built in the United States. It was over 37 metres high and took over three months to build. 

The world's smallest snowman was built on the Korvatunturi. It was built by Hjalmar Metriparta, head of the Tonttuversta's miniature department, by stacking three snowflakes using specially made tweezers cooled to absolute zero. 

In his excitement, however, he threw the snowman away without a trace before anyone saw it.

Niila the dog

A happy and playful puppy, whose best friend is Palle-poro. Nilla, with her beady eyes, prefers to sleep next to a warm stove. Nilla wears a collar around her neck. Nilla loves snow!

Palle-poro

Teddy is Santa's trusty sidekick. On Christmas Eve, when things get busy, Palle makes it to every corner of the world with Santa Claus. Palle's favourite food is apples. He can draw beautiful patterns on snow with his horns. Palle is also musical and loves to dance to Christmas carols. He wears a big bell around his neck.

The reindeer, by the way, is a semi-wild domestic animal related to the deer that grazes in the fells. You may not have known that all reindeer are naturally able to fly. But neither do the reindeer themselves. So the biggest challenge for the reindeer trainers at Korvatunturi is to get the reindeer to realise their flying skills themselves. Learning to fly is one of the most closely guarded secrets of Korvatunturi. The training technique is passed down by tradition through whispering alone.

Ensio

Ensio an "easy" guy with a heart of gold who doesn't stand up straight but stands up when help is needed. Whether it's an almond stuck in Santa's throat or some other humanitarian crisis, our good guy is eager to be there with a first aid kit on his back, ready to save the day. On rescue missions around the world, he's accompanied by his trusty Alaskan malamute, Nöpö, whose sharp muzzle and snow shovel-sized paws come in handy, especially when searching for lost skiers in the snow.

As a selfless elf, he always wants to put good things into circulation, which is why he has set up the Little Monkey First Aid School, teaching the children of the world the all-important first aid skills of a girl and boy. As well as wound cleaning and plastering, there are courses on everything from doing good to helping your neighbour make snow to making coffee for lonely grandmothers.

Fredrik

The Porvoon riverbank is an ancient settlement area. Several hundred years ago, a merchant ship sailed down the small river with a ship's elf named Fredrik Flodbåt on board. Fredrik is attached to his hometown of Porvoo and its warm, friendly inhabitants, whom he likes to playfully tease every now and then, if not every now and then. His best friend is the cat in the cathedral. From his home in the bell tower, he can see every nook and cranny of the city. The elf's role model is the Runeberg family itself. He thinks it is wonderful that Porvoo has been home to a family whose words and art have remained alive in the hearts of all. True to his role model, he wears glasses on his nose, even if he doesn't need them when he is sharp-sighted.

The elf spends a lot of time in nature and for this former riverside elf, the Pelling Archipelago is the most beautiful place in the world.

Lampertti

Smile every time you step on board, because so does Lampertti the ship's elf! Sailing at sea makes his eyes light up like the anticipation of Christmas Eve, as the merrily crashing waves carry him off on incredible adventures. Lampertti has dipped his miter in the Red Sea, anchored his ship in the fabled port of Atlantis and disappeared a few times with his boat into the Bermuda Triangle.

Lampert's favourite pastime is also pedalling in a Christmas balloon - with a swimming ring, flippers and his best friend Harri Hylke, of course. The open sea, the joyful chatter of the seagulls and the sea wind blowing tiny fireworks into his beard always make Lampert sigh with happiness, because the sea is his home and adventure is his calling.

Morning

The dawn was comforting people and reducing the fear of flying for the first time back in 1909 when those great giants of the sky, airships, made it possible to fly like a bird in the sky. Morning is a philanthropic elf who loves the human bustle of the station and can best be spotted from his favourite spot in the arrival hall, where tears still well up in his eyes every time he witnesses the emotional reunion of grandparents and grandchildren on the eve of Christmas.

The days at the station are busy, with Aamu scurrying around with a walkie-talkie in his pocket attaching loose luggage tags. In the run-up to Christmas, Aamu likes to assist Santa himself in choosing and wrapping last-minute presents. At night, the station is more serene and this is when Mamu patrols the terminals, tucking in sleeping backpackers and waking sleep-deprived passengers for their onward flights.

Veikka

Veikka is an elf that most of us have unknowingly come across somewhere in the world. He's always on the move, but his weathered face is often covered by binoculars, a sun visor, ski goggles or a sleep mask made from a Christmas red blanket. But you can still recognise Veika for his exceptional sense of adventure and his ability to guess all his fellow travellers' favourite holiday destinations - sometimes even correctly!

Veikka has travelled the world a hundred and one times, and has captured a thousand and one sights on his camera memory card, from the Eiffel Tower to the famous limestone mound of Kheops. But his favourite destination is Joulusaari, which broke away from the Korvatunturi when the continental plates moved a long, long time ago. The island still has a small but hardy reindeer population, and special almonds used in Christmas porridge are grown on the slopes of the tropical fells. Veikka always brings them back to Korvatunturi as souvenirs.

Konrad

You may have noticed that many train carriages have small hatches in the wall or ceiling that the average passenger never gets a peek behind. They give access to the secret service routes of the train wagons.

In fact, each train is staffed by three to five real elves. Their responsibilities include checking train schedules using star maps, waking up dozing passengers at the right stop and looking after animal passengers.

Train elves live a nomadic life. The oldest of them all, the legendary Konrad "Konnari", who has travelled every single stretch of Finland's 6,000-kilometre railway network. Konnari's favourite route is Oulu-Rovaniemi, especially in winter frosts and when it's brown. Konrad's favourite motto is "Now things are on track".

Papu

People drink a lot of coffee in Finland. In fact, the most in the world. And a big slice of our country's coffee consumption rests on one, rather small, shoulder. They belong to an elf called Paul the Pot-bellied Gaffebau - more commonly known as Papu. His most famous motto is 'Christmas in white and coffee in black'.

Papu is the official coffee elf of Korvatunturi and a true enthusiast. He has tuned all his elf senses to the development of the perfect Christmas coffee. The right recipe has now been honed for 147 years, and coffee has been drunk in the same amount as one medium-sized forest pond.

The number one customer at Papu Elf is Santa Claus himself, for whom a steaming cuppa is poured every morning straight from Paul's traditional copper pot. Today it was blend number 3008, with a touch of lichen. We don't yet know what they thought of it.

Tuutio

Tuomas Torventöräys, nicknamed Tuutio. Tuutio is 107 years old. His familiar catchphrase is "There are elves of all stripes on the road again". The Korvatunturi is a traditional region where sledges run on the hillside to the glow of the northern lights. Quiet and peaceful. It has always been like this and that's good. But it was Tuutio's love of cars that took him from Korvatunturi to the city. He combined his love of cars with the elves' unerring sense of direction and became a taxi driver. How does he reach the pedals of a car? Tuutio has specially designed stilts decorated with speed stripes, which he received from a grand elf as a Christmas present.

Edison

The Edison elf always carries a computer in his backpack, as he is responsible for the IT affairs of Korvatunturi. Edison's role model is Linus Torvalds, the inventor of Linux. He is also developing his own computer application called Eartree with milk.

Patrick

Playing number 11, Elf Patrick loves not only hockey but also other winter sports. He loves animals, and is training for a running race to beat his dog in the 100 metres.

Kaamos

A big fan of metal music, Kaamos the elf gets inspiration for his music from Finnish nature and the changing seasons. Kaamos's first hit, Swallow the Norhern Light, topped the Korvatunturi charts for 24 weeks! Kaamos' hobbies also include baking.

Echo

An echo-elf understands animal speech. The animals are the elves' helpers, and Kaiku translates the animals' speech for the other elves. Kaiku can also turn elves into animals, but only one at a time.

Höperö

Höperö is also particularly known for his absent-mindedness. To be on the safe side, the elf celebrates Christmas on the 24th of every month, just to make sure he doesn't forget. He is 350 years old and a scribe by trade. He collects beards in different colours and uses them to keep his beard wavy. He likes to eat Rice Porridge every day to find an almond, because he can't remember ever having found one.

Sparky

At 111 years old, the pink-haired Säihky is a real cheerleader who puts everyone in a good mood. Dancing and singing are among his favourite pastimes. She can play several songs in a skirt while dancing. Säihky likes anything with colours and stripes. They often go hippy-hopping with Palle the reindeer.

Oula

A 193-year-old bearded and snooty elf. Oula is a hard-working elf, but when needed, he can easily be inspired to play and romp around. Oula enjoys sledging, snowmaking and jumping into snow piles. He is learning to play the guitar and loves Joulumuor's black coffee.

Santa Claus's tassels

Santa's slippers are like the embrace of a fireplace - soft and warm. The spruce pattern that decorates them speaks of his love of nature and his connection to the northern landscape.

Santa's boots

Santa Claus' boots have traversed the snowy forests and corners of the world. Their surface carries the memories of thousands of Christmas journeys, and the fir tree pattern speaks of the values that make Christmas magic.

Santa's hat

Santa's cap is deep red and soft as first snow. Its tassel floats like a snowball falling from the clouds, and it carries with it the spirit of Christmas and thousands of stories that whisper softly in the wind to Santa's ears.

Santa's beard

Santa's beard is like a shimmering snowdrift - long, bushy and mysterious like a northern fir forest. Its thousands of curls are like loops woven by the Christmas tree, dancing like snowflakes in the winter weather.

The face of Santa Claus

Santa has a warm smile on his face and a sparkle in his eyes. Soft furrows and bushy eyebrows tell of centuries of wisdom and stories.

Tuomo

157-year-old beardless elf. Tuomo is very young for an elf, still in his infancy, or rather in his infancy. Tuomo hasn't eaten a tutt for at least a hundred years! He knows how to do a vault when he jumps from the roof to the rivet. Tuomo admires Santa Claus more than anything.