Sunday, October 19, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

The Finnish way to celebrate Christmas

Published 19 December 2024
– By Ivana Bratovanova
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3 minute read

There is no better place to explore Christmas traditions than Finland, the land of Santa Claus. Just an hour away from Helsinki, the city of Porvoo is immersive in all-things Christmas – markets, local shops, exhibitions, and food!

On the crossroads between tradition, present and future, we can all learn from Finns’ way of celebrating the holidays.

Porvoo, located just an hour from Helsinki, presents to visitors Finnish Christmas customs dating back from the 18th century. At the Holm House Museum I had the opportunity to experience first-hand the seasonal rituals of the Holm family, a distinguished merchant household.

The dinner table, set with green-rimmed Rörstrand dishes and wax candles, shows how important fine tableware was at the time. Traditional meals like root vegetable casseroles, rosolli salad, and rice porridge – prepared with rice, butter, and occasionally raisins – demonstrate how simple staples efficiently used to create festive and nourishing dishes despite limited resources.

The act of gift-giving was still novel in 18th-century Finland. Presents were often delivered in creative ways, such as being tossed through the door unexpectedly or brought by someone in disguise. The presents had clever, rhyming verses on them that reveal what is inside and who the gift is from. Gifts included practical items such as candles, handmade goods, or sweets such as marzipan and candied fruit.

Beyond family celebrations, community goodwill was key to the holiday. Bread baked for the poor and tallow candles symbolized generosity. The declaration of Christmas Peace from the Old Town Hall marked the start of quiet family time and religious traditions, like attending church and reading the Gospel of Luke.

Looking outside the window of the Holm House, the contrast between the calm, cozy serenity of the past and the lively buzz of the Christmas Path is unmistakable. The Christmas Path is an annual event with carousels, food stalls, and visits from Santa Claus, which stretches along Jokikatu streets. Vendors sell handmade goods and visitors can enjoy glögi, a traditional Finnish mulled drink made with spiced red wine or fruit juice, served hot with raisins and almonds.

Today, Finns continue to celebrate Christmas combining the old with the new. Santa Claus, or Joulupukki, remains a central figure, often visiting homes on Christmas Eve to deliver gifts. In these cases, families choose to hire a professional Santa or enlist a neighbor to dress up. It is not uncommon to see advertisements on the streets for “experienced” Joulupukki-s, who “do not drink”, important note for families who might have had a Christmas or two where Santa chose a bottle of liquor over warm milk and cookies.

Food is an essential part of the modern Finnish Christmas. Key dishes include oven-baked ham, often served with mustard, and root vegetable casseroles. Rosolli salad, a colorful mix of boiled beetroots, carrots, potatoes, apples, and pickled cucumber, is often topped with a sour cream-based dressing and sometimes garnished with eggs or herring. Fish also plays a major role, with foods like pickled herring, gravlax (cured salmon), and roe served with rye bread. Other staples are mushroom salad and boiled peas.

A Christmas sauna, decorated with candles, lanterns, or branches, is another Finnish tradition. A plunge into the cold snow or a nearby lake between sauna sessions is not only refreshing, but it also has several health benefits, such as improved circulation and boosted immune function. Finns usually choose to sauna on Christmas after breakfast when the typical rice porridge is served. A secret ingredient – the almond hidden in one of the portions – is believed to bring luck in the new year to the one who finds it in their dish.

The Christmas spirit in Finland does not cease to exist even in January. The Holm House Christmas exhibition continues until January 12, 2025. But if you still want to catch Santa Claus on time, you can find him on Porvoo’s Christmas Path every Saturday and Sunday leading to Christmas.

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Battlefield 6 breaks sales records – hailed as the series’ comeback

Published today 14:54
– By Editorial Staff
3 minute read

After the failure of Battlefield 2042, the game series is now delivering a decisive comeback. Battlefield 6 sells over seven million copies during the game’s first three days and receives glowing reviews from Swedish gaming media, who believe the game finally delivers what fans have been waiting for.

At the same time, the game, like previous titles in the series, suffers from typical Americanization that at times contributes to a silly impression.

Electronic Arts can confirm that Battlefield 6 has become the biggest launch in the series’ history. During the first three days, over seven million copies were sold, while 172 million matches were played online and 15 million hours were streamed on various platforms.

We never take moments like these for granted, so I want to express our sincere gratitude to our global Battlefield studios and the passionate community that has helped us reach this point, says Vince Zampella, head of the Battlefield series.

The success is remarkable considering that its predecessor, Battlefield 2042, received devastating criticism for its technical problems at launch. To turn the tide, Electronic Arts invested in Battlefield Labs, a program where players could influence development through continuous feedback.

Byron Beede, general manager for Battlefield, emphasizes the strategy’s importance:

From the initial concept through the implementation of Battlefield Labs and into the record-breaking open beta, we have been obsessed with player feedback.

Swedish reviewers impressed

Swedish gaming magazine FZ gives the multiplayer portion high marks and highlights how different player classes complement each other. The review notes that the game succeeds even when you’re not dominating: “Even when I don’t go 28-0 in a match and dominate opponents, it’s fun to play,” and summarizes the experience as “a bullseye and a powerful comeback for the series,” according to reviewer Joel.

GameReactor is equally enthusiastic and calls the game the series’ rebirth. The reviewer highlights the large-scale battles for up to 64 players and the extensive environmental destruction. “It’s fast, brutal and penetrates concrete in a way you won’t soon forget,” writes GameReactor and concludes: “Saddle up, lock and load – Battlefield is back.”

Typical Battlefield scene where players get the opportunity to fight on land, water and in the air. Photo: EA

Campaign functions as introduction

The single-player campaign receives more mixed reviews. FZ describes it as “a fairly generic military story” that nevertheless functions well as an introduction to multiplayer mode. GameReactor is somewhat more positive and emphasizes the campaign’s visual quality: “When we maneuver vehicles across large surfaces in environments that are among the biggest I’ve experienced in a game of this type during the later part – while all hell breaks loose, then Battlefield Studios also shows what this is all about.”

Technically stable but silly experience

On the technical front, reviewers are unanimous. FZ reports that the game runs completely stable: “Not once have I noticed anything like that (lag, editor’s note) on console.”

GameReactor confirms the quality and states briefly: “On the technical side, there is very little to complain about.”

Among the more typical elements in modern game titles, Battlefield 6 also features typical Americanization, and the game has symptomatic multicultural elements of minorities with macho culture and NATO character, which at times makes the experience silly and flat.

Facts about the Battlefield series

Battlefield is a series of first-person shooter games developed by Swedish game studio DICE and published by Electronic Arts. The first game, Battlefield 1942, was launched in 2002 and became known for its large-scale multiplayer battles with up to 64 players and the ability to use vehicles such as tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets.

The series has since released numerous titles set in different time periods, from World War I and II to modern and futuristic warfare. Among the most successful games are Battlefield 3 (2011), Battlefield 4 (2013), and Battlefield 1 (2016).

Battlefield 2042, released in 2021, became a commercial and critical failure due to technical problems and lack of requested features. Battlefield 6 is the series' sixth numbered main game and marks a return to modern warfare.

Finland was a European model – now homelessness is rising again

Welfare collapse

Published today 14:37
– By Editorial Staff
Getting off the streets is extremely difficult once you end up there.
3 minute read

Finland has long been a model in the fight against homelessness, but now the trend is reversing.

For the first time since 2012, the number of homeless people is increasing – and street homelessness among young people is rising sharply.

Julius Virtavuori has lived without permanent housing for over two decades. When Yle (Finnish public broadcaster) meets him at the Tupa supported housing facility in Helsinki, Finland, he reflects on his situation.

— It’s quite a long time. I think these are probably the last years I’ll be in this situation. There are apartments in Finland after all.

The hardest part is the feeling of lacking goals, he tells them.

— You take one day at a time. There’s nothing to build your life on long-term. And the side effects that homelessness brings – a certain use of intoxicants. That boom is long past for me, now I just take it easy.

Successful model under pressure

Julius’s situation is not unique, but Finland has for many years worked systematically to reduce homelessness. The country has been a pioneer in Europe, primarily through the so-called “Housing First principle”.

The model means that homeless people first receive their own apartment with a rental contract, and then support services tailored to individual needs. Instead of requiring people to first solve their social or health problems to qualify for housing, the order is reversed – housing comes first. The approach has received broad international attention and shown good results.

But according to a recent report from the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (formerly ARA), the trend has been broken. For the first time since 2012, homelessness is increasing again.

At the end of 2024, 3,806 homeless people were registered in Finland. Particularly alarming is the increase in rough sleeping – people sleeping outdoors, in stairwells, or in temporary shelters. A total of 649 people lived under these conditions, which is 230 more than the previous year.

However, the figures are only indicative, as homelessness is difficult to measure exactly. A person who sleeps at an acquaintance’s place one night may be forced to sleep on the street or in a stairwell the next night.

“Very alarming”

Emergency housing units report a sharp increase in young people falling outside society’s support measures and being forced to sleep on the street.

Jussi Lehtonen, service manager at the organization Vailla vakinaista asuntoa (Without Permanent Housing), has worked with homelessness issues for over 30 years. He sees the increasing youth homelessness as particularly worrying.

— It’s very alarming, because young people have their whole lives ahead of them. It shows for years afterward if they end up in that situation. And it would be very important to get them out of that situation quickly, says Lehtonen.

He believes that homelessness is often a consequence of too few affordable homes combined with cuts in benefit systems, which has made it harder for people with small incomes to manage financially.

— Ending up on the street is harmful in many different ways. For some, homelessness becomes chronic. The social network is reformed, and you have quite a lot to do with people who are on the street. Anyone understands that’s not good, Lehtonen states.

Unjabbed: For singles who didn’t take the COVID vaccine

The criticized covid vaccinations

Published 12 October 2025
– By Editorial Staff
"Don't give up. Anything worth achieving needs work", is the message from Unjabbed's founder Antonetta.
4 minute read

After conventional dating apps didn’t meet her needs, Antonetta decided for various reasons to start a dating site for people who didn’t take the COVID vaccine. On Unjabbed.net, people can meet others seeking love or friendship.

In 2023, Antonetta chose to use a popular dating app in an attempt to find love. Since she wanted to find like-minded people, she was also open about not having taken the COVID vaccine. This resulted in Antonetta’s account being repeatedly deleted. She doesn’t know why her account was removed, but she suspected it was related to her honesty about the COVID vaccine. Instead, she tried another app and chose not to explicitly state that she hadn’t taken the COVID vaccine, but used various hints such as “believe in natural health”, “avoid synthetic chemicals”, and “seeking people who took the red pill”. There she got a bunch of matches, but no one understood her hints and most of those she talked to had taken the COVID vaccine.

In the wake of this, Unjabbed.net was born, a dating and friendship site for those who didn’t take the COVID vaccine. Since 2023, it has attracted thousands of members from several countries, but users are primarily from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. In Sweden, there are a few hundred members at the time of writing. Worth noting is that the site only exists as a website, not an app. The app that exists with the same name is from a different creator, according to Antonetta.

Several dating sites also participated in marketing COVID vaccine campaigns during 2021, according to Antonetta. For example, Tinder created labels where people could fill in whether they had taken the COVID vaccine or not. After the site launched, she received responses from members that they had also had bad experiences on conventional dating sites.

After starting unjabbed.net, several members told me they couldn’t find anyone on conventional dating apps and as soon as they said they were unvaccinated they were either insulted or had their accounts deleted or felt their accounts were being hidden in search results or restricted in some way“, Antonetta tells The Nordic Times.

Financially challenging

Starting a new dating site is not always an easy path. To be visible, you need marketing and advertising – something that costs a lot of money. The site was free until last year when they chose to introduce a membership fee to afford reaching out to other singles who didn’t take the COVID vaccine. However, Antonetta wanted the amount to be affordable compared to many other dating sites and apps, which can cost up to 60 dollars for three months, and also charge for sending messages.

Our website just charges $16 USD for a whole year and we don’t charge for individual messages”.

The advantage of charging is also that many people think twice before creating an account, and it also prevents spam, says Antonetta. However, it’s possible to create a free account as well, but you don’t have all the features on the site.

Several have found love

Despite unjabbed.net being relatively newly started, Antonetta says she has received messages from people who found each other on her site.

One couple donated 50 dollars to us and told us they had met on our website and are now married. A woman contacted us and said she’s getting married to the man she met on our website. So it works!

Tips for finding the right match

If you’re planning to create an account, Antonetta recommends both writing something about yourself and having photos. If you want to be more anonymous, you can, for example, upload a picture in sunglasses or similar. She also suggests writing something that can create a conversation.

People can write anything. What are their thoughts on the future of the world? What line of work are they in? What are their hobbies? Favorite places in the world to visit? Funny stories”, she suggests.

She also advises that it’s more advantageous to write to people in your own country than outside the border. It partly signals that you’ve given up hope in your country, but it’s also very difficult to make long-distance relationships work. Furthermore, she also suggests spreading information about the site in your own city; there may be singles who didn’t take the COVID vaccine but missed that there’s a dating site for this purpose.

There is hope

Finding like-minded people can be difficult, and even though more and more people show understanding for those who chose not to take the COVID vaccine, there are still many who believe it was wrong not to take it. At the same time, Antonetta encourages unvaccinated singles to dare to go out and talk to people they meet in stores, in town, or on the bus. You never know who you might meet there. Finally, she also wants to say that you shouldn’t give up hope on love.

Don’t give up. Anything worth achieving needs work“.

Number of members at the time of writing on Unjabbed.net by country

  • USA: 1349
  • United Kingdom: 872
  • Canada: 984
  • Australia: 249
  • New Zealand: 68
  • France: 501
  • Germany: 705
  • Italy: 234
  • Belgium: 142
  • Switzerland: 70
  • Spain: 76
  • Portugal: 42
  • Denmark: 129
  • Norway: 204
  • Sweden: 479
  • Netherlands: 1019
  • Japan: 25
  • Ireland: 63

Moomin becomes new feature film

Published 10 October 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Moomin and his friends have spread warmth, security and adventure to generations of children and adults around the world.
1 minute read

Moomin is set to be produced as a new American animated feature film. This will be the first Hollywood adaptation of Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson’s beloved stories.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the magical Moomin troll, something that has been celebrated in both Finland and Sweden, where the troll is a cherished cultural figure.

Moomin, created by Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson, was previously produced as an animated feature film in Japan in 1992. There was also a Japanese-Finnish animated series that first aired in 1990 and became very popular internationally.

Now Hollywood will interpret the idyllic magic of Moominvalley, where Moomin and his friends embark on adventures, writes Moomin Characters, which manages the Moomin rights.

“We are honored”

The film will be produced by media company Annapurna’s animation division, which was founded in 2022 by former Disney animation executives Robert Baird and Andrew Millstein and is known for the Oscar-nominated film Nimona.

We’re honored to bring Tove Jansson’s timeless vision to the big screen, say Baird and Millstein.

It will be written and directed by Rebecca Sugar, known for the Cartoon Network series Steven Universe. Additionally, it will be produced by Julia Pistor, who is behind animated films such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Rugrats.

Earlier this year, Norwegian game developer Hyper Games also announced that they will release a new Moomin game. The game will be called Winter’s Warmth and is based on the book Moominland Midwinter.

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