The 1982 Christmas stamps celebrate a peacefull Christmas. The town of Turku has declared “Christmas peace” since the 1320’s – and usually this peace is considered to include men, domestic and wild animals, as well as mythical creatures like elves.

The lower value Christmas stamp displays good will with animals of the forest. Many finnish Christmas tales focus on the forest animals. A common feature for these stories is that during Christmas season all animals live peacefully with each other.

The higher value shows a group of young christmas elves (or tonttu’s as we Finns call them) eating Christmas porridge. An ancient tradition was to leave something – usually porridge – for the tonttu’s (and other mythical creatures) to enjoy during the christmas night. In return, they would keep good care of the people of the house. And the tradition is far from the dead – instead of porridge many kids leave milk and cookies for the santa’s little helpers.

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