Christmas in Estonia

In Estonia, Christmas time starts with Advent. Children put their socks on their window ledge and every day until Christmas Eve, December 24th, an elf comes and puts some sweets in it! On Christmas Eve families come together and in the evening Santa visits and asks people to tell him poems in exchange for gifts.

Tradition and typical Christmas decorations are Christmas lights and almost every family also has a Christmas Tree too, which is normally decorated a few days before Christmas. Both Estonians and Latvians claim that the first public Christmas tree was displayed in their country! Estonians believe that the first Christmas Tree was in Tallinn not in Riga, the capital of Latvia.

Estonians like to eat a lot at Christmas! The most traditional food is blood sausage, which is made from blood, oats and pork. Other traditional Estonian foods include sauerkraut, tangerines and gingerbread. They also like to drink mulled wine, which is made in both ways: with and without alcohol.

In Estonian Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Rõõmsaid Jõulupühi'. Happy/Merry Christmas in lots more languages.