HAPPY KEKRI!No, that's not an IKEA-goat but a Kekri-goat. The city of Kajaani has a tradition of building a straw goat that they burn at Kekri, a Finnish end-of-harvest and remembering the dead -celebration that divides the year in two. A few days before and some afterwards are called Jakoaika, Dividing time, days that are no longer the old year but not yet the new one and Kekri happens in the middle. As a typical Finnish party it means basically three things: sauna, crazy amount of food and some alcohol (the master of the house should get drunk during Kekri for good luck for the following year), but with an additional feature of letting the forebears do everything first.
The day starts with people rising up early to complete the day's work, which is why I was up at seven today... Lots of food gets prepared and of course there's sauna but alas, I'm going to have to skip the sauna part at least until I have one of my own here. When the sauna is ready the dead are invited to bathe first, and meanwhile the people of the house set the table, go to the sauna and announce tht the food is ready. Then it's time for the living to bathe and after that go have a feast!
Kekri has a plethora of traditions, many of which have been moved to Christmas/Yule and the current New Year but some have actually survived to this day. One such is bonfires like the Kajaani Kekri-goat, there's more photos of the goat
here and the burning
here if you're interested.
