Finnish Santa Claus prepared for big day

Santa Claus has set off to deliver his sleigh-full of presents to children the world over.

Santa Claus has been filling sacks and checking lists (twice, reportedly) ahead of his busiest night of the year. (AP)

Santa Claus has been filling sacks and checking lists (twice, reportedly) ahead of his busiest night of the year. (AP)

It may be dark in Santa's village in Finnish Lapland, but the elves are making last minute preparations for Christmas.
 
At this time of year the sun doesn't rise until 11am, but that doesn't mean Santa Claus isn't busy on Christmas Eve. He's still got lots of letters to read and sacks to fill.
 
"Preparations are going well, everything is on schedule," he says.
 
"One good thing about Christmas is it's always at the same time, Christmas Eve is always December 24th. So, keeping that in mind, you plan everything and everything is in order."
 
Now that Santa's list is almost finished, have children been good or bad this year?
 
"My belief is that basically all the children are good," he says.
 
"But sometimes you get a little tired, a little hungry - you didn't eat proper breakfast and things like that. So, then maybe you're a little bit grumpy and people say: 'Oh, don't be naughty.' Same thing happens to adults as well."
 
Santa's village is located just on the Arctic Circle, eight kilometres north of Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland.
 
Around 400,000 people visit the village each year to meet Santa Claus, play in the snow and get in the festive spirit.
  
"Why did we come here? Well to see Santa of course!" said Kaisu Malkki, who's visiting with her family.
"We are from Vantaa, from southern Finland, we don't get real Santas there so we needed to fly all the way here."


For others like Liz and Kira Boorn from Darwin, it's the perfect way to spend Christmas.
 
"This is what you see on the front of the Christmas cards, this is what Christmas is meant to be," says Liz.
 
"Whereas we have super hot, here's your barbecue, beers."
 
Students Melina Schatz and Ashley Nelson may be a little older than most of the visitors, but that doesn't stop them from having fun.
 
"It's wonderful, like it's a beautiful place like in a fairytale because Santa is here and all the children are waiting for Santa so it's perfect," says Schatz.
 
"We love it, even at our age we still love it," says Nelson.
 
For those who can't meet Santa Claus in person, there's always the old-fashioned post to get in contact.
 
In the village's post office, Santa's elves are busy sorting through thousands of letters sent from all around the world.
 
The village says Santa Claus has so far received 16.5 million letters from 198 different countries.
 
Each year they receive over half a million.
 
This year the most festive post is coming from Italy, followed by Britain and China.
 
At Mace Montessori Nursery School in London, they're preparing a special present for Santa.
 
The school caters for children aged from almost two-years-old to five-and-a-half, and their requests have since been received by the man himself.
 
But Santa says many of the letters he receives aren't just present wish-lists.
 
"Also a lot of stories about their families, their friends and of course - unfortunately - nowadays with all the conflicts and problems in the world there's always the fear and the question: 'Why is there war?' I can't answer that, nobody can, except maybe the people who cause it," he said.
 
It's a long night ahead for Santa, but rest assured his trusy reindder have been ready and waiting for some time.
 
"Rudolph actually starts practicing with them quite early, in the first snow comes to ground, he starts getting sort of restless or active, he starts going around with the reindeer and training the younger ones. But now, as we are there, we are ready," he said.

Share

4 min read

Published

Updated


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world