FINLAND, CONT.

We wanted to know how and especially why, would a half million tourists a year, mostly children on 120 charter flights, come in search of the biggest myth of them all --- Santa Claus.

After a brief one-hour flight, our plane from Helsinki landed at Rovaniemi Airport in mid-afternoon. Already the sun was setting in a gorgeous nearly crimson sky, casting a pink light upon the snow-covered flat landscape of conifer and birch.

No sign of Santa. Neither St. Nick, Kris Kringle nor Father Christmas, but as we approached this city of 35,000 rebuilt from the ruins of World War II, the trimmings of Christmas began to appear in strings of white lights, of red and green trim, of real snow draped on evergreens, beautifully lit sculptures made of blue ice.

And in the city, to what to our wondering eyes should appear but two dozen hotels, a railroad station, bus terminal, taxis and rental cars, an energetic main street with an underground mall, health center, police station, post office, library, town hall, churches, museums, a hospital and a university attended by 3,000 students.

There is also a factory that makes snowmobiles, but by far the biggest engine that powers the economy in this frosty land of Northern Lights is the jolly, fat red elf who sits daily in a theme-park complex just outside of town.

Consider Orlando and Disney World at the North Pole. Entering the Santa Park beneath a Golden Arch, children ride by miniature train, mouths agape into Santa’s Cave, surrounded by active elves, making and repairing toys, baking gingerbread, mending and weaving clothes. Visiting kids from many nations were enjoying amusement park rides --- a helicopter, Santa’s Sleigh and reindeer. They were jumping, laughing and tumbling in the Fun Tunnel, and dropping in on the Elf School, whose principal is Santa himself.

Outside Santa’s office, where elves answer an astounding 32,000 letters a day from children the world over, we came across seven-year-old Leanne Harris, visiting here from her home in Bath, England, with parents Paul and Loraine Harris. Leanne was sliding over and over down an ice-covered snow bank, just a few yards from the log building where Santa was interviewing his little visitors in a multiplicity of languages.

“Coming here was a last-minute thing,” said Paul. “We thought, we’ll do it, because the little girl is seven and we thought we’d do it now because she’s not going to be so interested in it in a few years. It’s been pretty magical!”

Besides the British Isles and Continental Europe, Japan is well- represented by visitors who seek outdoor snow sports in addition to the Santa attraction. Throughout Rovaniemi you see adults and kids wearing heavy-duty warm snowmobile suits. Lapland Safari and Arctic Safari are two companies which take guests on sled dog rides and snowmobile journeys through the surrounding forests as well as visits to reindeer farms in the area tended by Sami herdsmen dressed in bright red.

A brief ride from town, our motorcoach dropped us off in the middle of a pine woods, where we were greeted, pardon the expression, by what seemed like catcalls, only yelping, yipping and yowling so loud and desperate, as to be a combination of mockery and let’s-get-to-it. The sled-dogs treated us to a heart-pounding swift ride on a snow-covered path to a conical-shaped log cabin. In the almost dark room, dimly lit by lanterns, we huddled around a huge fire and were served reindeer meat, tasty and tender, a milk-based vegetable soup and hearty hot grog. On the ride back, you find yourself not minding the 15-degree Fahrenheit temperatures.

During our too brief week-long visit to Finland, which covered also the bustling capital of Helsinki and the former capital of Turku, near the southwestern coast facing Sweden, we saw a Finland that thrives, its citizens busy and focussed. Led by Nokia, the worldwide leader in cell phones, Finland ranks as the second most competitive nation on earth, following only the U.S.

But for all their industriousness and business savvy, Finns enjoy embellishing the mythical past, at least the happy times of Christmas, handing down tales of “you better be good” with emphasis on elves, goblins, gnomes, fairies and their legends.

While visiting the Turku Castle, parts of it dating to 1280, we caught glimpses of a running figure as we descended a narrow walled-in staircase. As castle exteriors are concerned, Turku’s castle promotes an unattractive warehouse image, but the dozens of rooms in its delightfully cheery interior are furnished historically, promoting a happy, lived-in look. More sightings revealed a small, bent-over, gray-bearded figure darting in and out of doorways, until finally we cornered the Brownie, or Tomte, of Turku Castle in his own tiny windowless room. Shy but friendly, especially toward children, he posed for photos and shook our hands, bestowing good fortune as we continued our tour of the city.

Located in the Aland Islands archipelago facing Sweden, this beautiful old Christmas City of Finland contains many architectural leftovers of Swedish rule and is still an important seafaring town on the coastal Baltic Sea; its Kvaerner Masa shipyards are famous for icebreakers and luxury cruise ships.

Along the cobblestoned banks of the narrow Aura River, which bisects the town, trees twinkled with a million Christmas lights as townspeople walked through the snow to the Turku Cathedral, a 14th Century Gothic gem, on a Friday night 12 days before Christmas.

This was the annual St. Lucia celebration, following the Scandinavian tradition of a procession of white-robed, fair-haired teenage girls, the smiling one in the middle carefully balancing a ring of lit candles upon her blonde hair. She smiled and the crowd beamed back as a church choir joined the congregation in singing the Italian melody, “Santa Lucia”

.On this same night we also attended a performance of the Turku Philharmonic, playing Beethoven, followed by a visit with several other concertgoers to a quirky pub called “The Toilet”, located in a small circular building which indeed once served the residents of Turku as a needed facility.
Now sparkling clean and serving a light food menu, The Toilet attracts a well-dressed clientele, some of whom hoist beer from chamber pots. We met the loquacious and smiling owner, Markku Heikkilä, who implored, “When you come to Turku, there are two things to remember: One is to drink a lot, and the second is to go to the Toilet often!”

Happy, upbeat and industrious, Finns have a hurried look as they walk, perhaps because of the brisk winter, but they enjoy taking time off to tell a tale. In a restaurant in a converted grammar school, Bero Karvonen was leaning against the bar, beer in hand. A 63-year-old commercial fisherman who counts the winter as down time due to the freezing of the approaches to the Gulf of Finland, he joined us for lunch, apologizing often because his many jokes, when translated to English, missed their mark. But we smiled politely and laughed aloud when he told us that “last week I caught a big pike and had to take it home on the bus. It was so large it took up a seat of its own and the bus driver charged me a children’s fare for it.”

A fisherman’s whopper? It doesn’t matter; Bero was a enjoying life, especially in this most festive and bustling season.

Later, we strolled and shopped at an outdoor Christmas market on the grounds of the old cathedral. Merchants stood at brightly lit orange tents, selling every conceivable kind of Christmas trapping and gifts. In a corner of the plaza sat Santa, surrounded by teen-age elves singing Carols. Another santa, very thin but dressed in red with a gray beard, limped along supported by a cane. He carrried a notebook under his arm, would frequently stop in front of a small child, alternately smiling and appearing stern, and jot something down in his Behaviour Book. Adults would grin but some children looked on wide-eyed, petrified that they would get a bad report.

This was street theater, a slice of Finnish life that has passed through the ages, protected and embraced by perhaps some old-fashioned people looking for simple pleasures whose moral lessons last forever.

I recalled another theatrical the second night of our visit, in Roveniemi, when the owner of a restaurant, asked, “Who would like dessert?”

While we waited, the owner, named Matti Korva, began playing a haunting New Age melody on a kantele, a zither-like instrument that he placed across his knees. Our group of nine was alone in the darkly lit log cabin called the Santamus, a “restaurant for the senses”, usually reserved for corporate and private groups.

A “mountain stream” rippled over rocks in the middle of the room, while at another corner, a bluish fog bank appeared, combining with the music in a mood of wonder. From the ghostly fog, the prow of a wooden boat stealthily emerged, on unseen wheels, advancing slowly like a spectral from the past. A sound of waves splashed on a shoreline.

What a way to deliver our chocolate mousse, on a unique “dessert tray” unmatched for inventiveness.! Outside, gently falling snow was illuminated by tiny lights on trees, settling on the spruce trees and Santa’s log cabin. It’s a fanciful scene of tranquility and wonder, where kids and adults alike find themselves saying “I believe!”

If You Go

Finnish Tourist Board, 665 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017; phone 212-885-9737; fax 212-885-9739; www.gofinland.org.

Getting there: Helsinki, the gateway city, is an eight-hour flight from New York City, Rovaniemi and the Arctic Circle is a one-hour flight north from Helsinki. Finnair, 800-950-5000; www.us.finnair.com; British Airways, 800-247-9297; Lufthansa, 800-645-3880. By sea from Sweden and Germany, Silja Line and Viking Line.

Currency: Finland uses the Euro. You may also use your internationally keyed bank or credit card at ATMs. Ask your local bank.

Climate: In Lapland, the highest average temperature in December is 14 degrees Fahrenheit, the lowest minus 4 F, but it is a dry cold. Only a portion of the sun rises above the horizon, but there is daylight from about 9:30 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m. The Aurora Borealis can be seen on clear nights.
Turku and Helsinki, both bordering the sea, can often feel colder than Lapland, but the average temperatures are about 15 to 20 degrees warmer.

Attractions in Rovaniemi, the Arctic Circle:
The Arktikum or Arctic Center, is the Regional Museum of Lapland featuring cultures, lifestyles and nature exhibits. www.arktikum.fi.
Santa Claus Workshop, Arctic Circle, 96930 Rovaniemi, Finland, www.santaclausoffice.fi. Open every day of the year. Send letters to Santa here.
SantaPark, Suomen Joulumaailma Oy, Rovaniemi, 96930 Arctic Circle; www.santapark.com.
Arctic Safaris and Lapland Safaris provide sled dog and snowmobile rides, cross country skiing and snowshoe trips, visits to reindeer farms. Snowmobile suits, heavy boots, gloves and hats are provided for these excursions.

Attractions in Turku: Turku Cathedral and Christmas Market, Turku Castle, Market Square, Handicrafts Museum, Aura River Promenade, the Covered Market.

Time, Seven hours ahead of EST.

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