The capital of Finland hosts the biggest New Year’s Eve celebrations in Scandinavia. The bells are rung at midnight at the Helsinki Cathedral and tens of thousands of people gather at the Kansalaistori Square for a gorgeous firework display accompanied by good music, delicious food and lots of dancing. If you don’t have a private New Year’s party to attend in Helsinki, you should have no problem finding a local bar or club with New Year’s Eve events. On Kansalaistori Square, the festival-goers will be entertained by top Finnish artists, but there is a programme for all ages, including a children’s disco that makes the entire family dance, then the night ends with fireworks. The Lux Helsinki light art festival has an early start at Korkeasaari Zoo, illuminated in an especially warm and atmospheric way in honor of the light art festival and darkest time of the year. Finns used to be very superstitious in the old times: they used to cast tin and interpret its shapes. If the tin came out patchy it was believed to bring prosperity for the next year. Like in Sweden, Finland also believed that bad spirits were around: the evil was scared away by being very noisy and setting on fires. It leads to the current tradition of shooting fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
Read more on Myhelsinki.fi
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