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Definitely a different post but I always thought that StoneBlog should share also background cultural info beside hints and tips about StoneGate… and given the particular season, well, here we go.

You all know Stonesoft is a Finnish company… and you might know that in Finland there is a very special person living in a very special place.

The name of this VIP in Finnish is JouluPukki, known worldwide as Mr.Santa Claus.

He can be met in a small village close to the city of Rovaniemi, the administrative capital of Finland’s northernmost province LapLand.

This village is right inside the northern Arctic Circle, and it is considered worldwide the official place where Santa Claus comes from. Despite the small size, as you can imagine the village has a very active Post Office. Latest counters report more than 8 million items received in the last years from 184 different countries… from people writing to Santa Claus’ Main Post Office, Santa’s Workshop Village, 96930 Arctic Circle.

There are many people not believing in Santa Claus anymore… but I do and I have visited him personally last summer in his office. I can tell you that regardless what you believe to be the real truth, it really has been a great emotion to meet this giant man and see the very beautiful Lapland (which I have been told has a different way of being splendid depending on the season you visit).

But continuing with the tradition, Santa Claus home and secret workshop is believed to be in a hidden place in Lapland: a mountain (not very high one, 486 mt/1594 ft) called Korvatunturi, a name that translates into "Ear Fell". It is indeed through this Ear Fell that Santa is able to hear all the children worldwide and built the famous "naughty and nice list".

Another curiosity: many cultures believe that Santa Claus is coming down the chimney, while in Finland he uses to knock on the front door on Christmas Eve celebration and ask the famous question:
"Onkos täällä kilttejä lapsia?" (Are there (any) well-behaved children here?)

And for those of you who still do not believe he’s real, well… let’s use some technology to give you the real proof: from december to january you can connect to www.santaclauslive.com where you can see live Santa in his office (during the office hours) and you can also see the beautiful village dressed for Christmas through an external webcam (yes, even from your iPhone)

And finally, if you want to track the sleigh during Christmas Eve, you can check NORAD website who will track Santa Sleigh on the 24th december using Google Earth!

This all said, I wish you all a Merry Christmas (Hyvää Joulua) and a Happy New Year (Onnellista Uutta Vuotta).

StoneBlog Admin

written by RoarinPenguin - 520 views \\ tags: christmas, Joulua, JouluPukki, Santa Claus, Season Wishes