The Finnish celebration of St. Knut’s Day is different from the Swedish and Norwegian versions: though both celebrate the end of the Christmas or holiday season, Finland focuses less on the Christmas tree and more on the creepy goat ‘Nuuttipukki’, a common Finnish character dressed as a goat that visits houses for leftover food and drink. It used to be performed by young men but is now traditionally performed by children, dressing as ‘Nuuttipukki’ in furry jackets, horns, and a leather mask to appear as goat-like as possible: though this physical appearance is similar to the described appearance of ‘Krampus’, another scary holiday character, they are not the same and do not have related origins. Nuuttipukki travels house to house demanding food and drink, particularly favoring leftover alcoholic beverages, in the old days: if a household rejected his demands, the Nuuttipukki would begin causing chaos and performing evil deeds in the home. The Nuuttipukki and his friends may scare your animals, destroy your garden, and even harass your children and servants. An old proverb from western Finland even claims, “Good [St.] Thomas brings Christmas, evil Knut takes [it] away.” Young men who used to engage in this tradition were usually mischievous and increasingly drunk as the night went on, further contributing to the belief that misfortune would come if you did not fulfil their demands of more treats. Nowadays, it is usually children that dress as the Nuuttipukki and go home to home, searching for candy and other treats: as a consequence, there is less of a scary association with the Nuuttipukki than there was previously. It is quite similar to ‘Halloween‘, during which children also dress up in costume and go house to house searching for sweets. Though not all areas of Finland still celebrate it, it can still be found in Satakunta, Southwest Finland, Ostrobothnia, and the Åland Islands.
