The tranquility of Finnish Christmas and the mysticism of the north sell in Central Europe.
LEIPZIG Finnish Christmas can be seen more and more at German Christmas markets, which opened last week all over the country.
The Kalevala Spirit company has been organizing Finland-themed markets in Germany since 1999.
Das Finnische Weihnachtsdorf, or the Finnish Christmas village, can be found today in addition to the original Leipzig, but also in Stuttgart, Hanover and Dresden. Christmas markets employ 400 people during the high season.
Getting a market place in German cities is not exactly simple. You have to compete for every free place.
CEO of the family business Karolina Kranz lives in Munich and hopes one day to have a market place in his hometown as well.
The main attractions of Finnish tourists are the charred salmon and the mulled wine made in the Valamo monastery. Every year, 45,000 liters of mulled wine are poured down the throats of Germans. Visitors to the market in Leipzig alone eat around nine tons of charred salmon every year.
“Grilled salmon, yay!”
Kalevala Spirit originated with Kranz’s mother Maire Härkönen-Schwab of the idea in the 1990s. He first started charring salmon in Bad Wimpfen.
Härkönen-Schwab translated flame salmon into “Flammlachs”, and now the term is widely used in Germany. The word adapts the traditional German delicacy Flammkuchen, or flame pie, which is the German version of pizza.
Last year, Dresden’s Finnish Christmas market fell victim to an October campaign. A local entrepreneur who lost his sales place to Finns started to avenge his loss to Kalevala Spirit.
The city of Dresden wanted to evict a local entrepreneur by Nico Thierbach From Postplatz because his customers were drunk and rowdy. Instead, they wanted a calmer Christmas atmosphere.
Thierbach campaigns on the radio and social media, taunting the Finns.
– In his radio campaign, it was said that grilled salmon, yäk, Kranz says.
According to Kranz, Thierbach’s reaction was surprising, but it ultimately turned into a victory for the Finnish villages.
– His October campaign piqued people’s interest, and more customers came. They wanted to come and taste what that broiled salmon tastes like, says Kranz.
Silence appeals
This year, the publicity has been exclusively positive.
– Maybe in the end it was noticed that those Finns are not so bad after all, Kranz laughs.
The Finnish closeness to nature and the northern atmosphere appeals to Germans. For example, handmade candles and reindeer antlers work like hot stones.
– German Christmas markets have a lot of commotion and bright lights and a lot of activity and mood. Finnish Christmas, on the other hand, is calm, atmospheric and even close to nature, Kranz describes.
Each Finnish Christmas market has its own favourites.
– For example, Hanoverians love mulled wine the most. Even though our market there is only half the size of the market in Leipzig, Leipzigers drink mulled wine under the table there. Leipzig, on the other hand, is absolutely in love with the warp salmon, says Kranz.