Joulupukki is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

figure. The name ''joulupukki'' literally means "Christmas goat" or " Yule Goat" in Finnish; the word ''pukki'' comes from the Germanic root ''bock'', which is a cognate of the English "

buck Buck may refer to: Common meanings * A colloquialism for a dollar or similar currency * An adult male in some animal species - see List of animal names * Derby shoes, nicknamed "bucks" for the common use of buckskin in their making People *Buck ...

", and means "billy-goat". An old Scandinavian custom, the figure is now often conflated with Santa Claus.

Origins and description

The ''Joulupukki'' was originally a pagan tradition. The Joulupukki may also be a man turned into a

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

-man on Christmas Eve (as depicted in

Elsa Beskow Elsa Beskow ( Maartman; 11February 187430June 1953) was a famous Swedish author and illustrator of children's books. Among her better known books are ''Tale of the Little Little Old Woman'' and ''Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender''. Back ...

's ''Peter and Lotta's Christmas''). Today, in some parts of Finland, the custom persists of persons performing in goat costume in return for leftover Christmas food. The performer traditionally is an older man, who is called a "'". He usually wears warm red robes, but with a broad band of blue near the fur, uses a walking stick, and travels in a

sleigh A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners s ...

pulled by a number of

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 sub ...

(which do not fly, unlike Santa Claus' team). In Lapland, he rides in a ''

pulkka A pulk (from fi, pulkka; sv, pulka; no, pulk; se, bulki) is a Nordic short, low-slung small sled used in sport or for transport, pulled by a dog or a skier, or in Sápmi pulled by reindeer.Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...

", in its Finnish translation, ''

Petteri Punakuono "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a song by songwriter Johnny Marks based on the 1939 story ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' published by the Montgomery Ward Company. Gene Autry's recording hit No. 1 on the U.S. charts the week of Christmas ...

'', has led to Rudolph's general acceptance in Finland as Joulupukki's lead reindeer. Joulupukki is often mentioned as having a wife, Joulumuori ("''Old Lady Christmas''"), but tradition says little of her.

Joulupukki's other side

Pagans used to have festivities to honour the return of the sun and some believe Joulupukki is the earliest form of present-day Santa. The Yule Goat was thought by some to be an ugly creature and frightened children while others believe it was an invisible creature that helped prepare for Yule. Popular radio programs from the year 1927 onwards probably had great influence in reformatting the concept with the Santa-like costume, reindeer and

Korvatunturi Korvatunturi is a fell in Lapland, on the border between Finland and Russia. Its Finnish part is within Urho Kekkonen National Park in the municipality of Savukoski. In Finnish the name ''Korvatunturi'' means "Ear Fell", referring to the mountai ...

as his dwelling place. Because there really are reindeer in Finland, and Finns live up North, the popular American story took root in Finland very quickly. Finland's Joulupukki receives over 500,000 letters from over 200 countries every year. Most letters come from Poland, Italy, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau . Joulupukki is a prominent character in ''

Rare Exports ''Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale'' is a 2010 Finnish fantasy film, fantasy action film, action horror comedy film written and directed by Jalmari Helander about people living near Korvatunturi who discover the secret behind Santa Claus. The film ...

'', a movie based on the award-winning shorts by

Jalmari Helander Jalmari Helander (born 21 July 1976) is a Finnish screenwriter and film director. He is known for the 2010 film '' Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale'' (in which Cate Blanchett named it as one of her favorite movies) and the 2014 action-adventure ' ...

References

{{Winter solstice Christmas characters Christian folklore Finnish folklore Finnish mythology Santa Claus Christmas gift-bringers Yule fi:Joulupukki#Suomi