Happy new year everbody!
The trditional new year in Finland consists of hard drinking, fireworks and fotunetelling.
Drinking starts usually a bit earlyer around 6 or 7 in the evening and people makes sure that the alcohol doesent run out.
In finland the bublic is allowed to use fireworks only once a year and thats on new year. Because of that people are in a frensie , so they buy looots of them. The official time to fire them is from 6 in the evening to 2 in the morning, but most of the rockets are blown twelwish in mid night. Ofcourse by mid nigth everybodys pissed so its not unusual for people to blow themselves and a few familymembers up. Very yong children are also allowed to handle fireworks so theres a lot of accidents. Every year theres many campains to prevent this but we have hard heads.
At mid night we also tell fortune (my favourite part), new year wouldnt be enything without it.
We melt small tin horseshoes on the owen. When the horseshoe is melted you drop it in cold water and at the same time people shouts out your name. When you pick the piece of tin out from the water it has recived a new shape. You look at this shape under candlelight and the shape will tell your fortune for the next year.
This year I got a dragon/wolf head, Bron got a nesting dragon and a small dragon (will he be a scientifik marwel ?), mom got our dead dog… my dad got a sneak/seahorse, the dogs got money and Simon our dear friend in Cornwell got a flying squrrel. Now everybody can make up their own minds what does this mean ? ;)