Olli Pekka RönnDec 25, 2022

Meet Kekri Buck, the Finnish pagan era fertility symbol, who roamed around in January snatching for stiff drinks, but also bringing gifts for good kids or birch whips for naughty ones. He was later merged into Xmas proceedings joining Sinterklaas, Kris Kringle, Weihnachtsmann, Sint Nikolaas, Julenissen, Svatý Mikuláš, Jólasveinar and what have you.

We too have now the red-clad Santa, but in our obstinacy we insist on calling the Coca-Cola dude Christmas Buck.

#photography #MerryXmas #oronn

Show threadSussu LaaksonenDec 25, 2022
@o Yule Goat aka joulupukki does not strictly speaking have Christ in it 🤷
Show threadOlli Pekka RönnDec 25, 2022

@sumfaralla
Oops, my zero-religion upbringing showing I guess?
Goat's okay by me, even if a male goat AKA buck.

Be well & enjoy your holidays, O

Edit: capital letters for screenreader purposes

Show threadSussu LaaksonenDec 26, 2022
@o It's interesting that the name of this holiday wasn't christianized in Finnish or the Scandinavian languages. Joulu and jul come from Old Norse - jol was the pagan midwinter holiday.
Show threadOlli Pekka Rönn
@sumfaralla
And this: I now hear that Kekri remained such a serious contender that many if not most in my grandparents' generation were quite on the fence with the Xmas/Kekri importance question.
Be a boomer, and all ancient history is your backyard (used to think I was Gen X, then met a killjoy 😢 )
Dec 26, 2022 at 8:43amWeb