Monday, December 10, 2007

About traditions

The 6th of Decembre was Finland's Independence Day, so all the Finns living in Mexico were invited to a little reception in the Embassy in the afternoon. It was nice to see other members of the community and eat some Finnish coctail snacks.

One thing I've noticed after I moved abroad is that you become more tradiotionalist and maybe a bit more patriotic too. Not that I though Finland is the best country of the world or something like that. Living abroad can make you very nostalgic sometimes, but it also helps to see the richness of other cultures. But yes, I'm proud of being Finnish and having been brough up there - my cultural heritage is part of what makes me the person I am. And yes, I also love some traditions of my home country and try to celebrate them here in Mexico too. Especially what comes to food - for example Christmas isn't Christmas without some gingerbread or glögi (spicy mulled wine, can be prepared also without alcohol). Besides, it's fun to combine traditions - my Mexican boyfriend also loves joulukalenteri (the advent calendar - I haven't seen any here in Mexico) and baking piparkakkutalo (gingerbread house).

Talking about different traditions, last week we decorated the Christmas tree in my boyfriend's house. I could also make the nacimiento (a kind of nativity scene typical for Mexican homes) all by my self. I'm not religious at all, but it was fun making the nativity scene with all the religious figures, animals, and with moss and lichen. I though it woudn't take that much time, as the scene isn't very big, but then I found myself making bridges and little palm trees out of moss and couple of sticks I found accidentaly... I wasn't totally happy with the result - need more materials!! - but it looks quite nice anyway. Maybe next year I'll be the one who buys the materials so I can make it more beautiful. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the nacimiento for now, I'll try to add some later.

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