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By Dan Roblee
SEINAJOKI, FINLAND – Venla and Veera Bohjanen have graduated from the ranks of Finland’s Easter witches, and this year, they’ll be handing out chocolates with the adults on Sunday, and getting decorated pussy willows from witches in return.
It’s their second big Easter transition, with Venla, 12, just barely able to remember her toddling Easters in Hancock, where a family picture shows she once sat on the Easter Bunny’s lap.
“I remember the Easter Egg hunt,” she said, noting the Finnish girls’ Easter tradition boys only rarely participate actually has more in common with a different U.S. holiday.
“In Finland it’s kind of like Halloween in America,” she said. “You go door to door, you have dresses.”
A few people might wear some other kind of costume, but traditionally, they go as witches in shawls and scarves, explained their dad, Hancock native Aaron Bohjanen.
“What we do, during the week, we go out and cut pussy willows, basically the tree branches starting to sprout buds,” he said. “We take them home, and the kids decorate with ribbons and colorful decorations.”
On Easter Sunday, they don their costumes, add freckles and eyeliner, and head for the streets with bunches of willow branches, knocking on doors and reciting the required chant.
“I wave a twig for a fresh and healthy year ahead; a twig for you, a treat for me!” is a loose translation of the rhyme, said Aaron, though it’s actually a bit more complicated.
Along with the blessing, the witches hand over a willow branch, eventually leaving homeowners with “a nice little bouquet to decorate,” he said.
The adults put the candy in the coffeepot the girls have brought along traditionally a copper one, according to the Associated Press. Some people give money instead of candy, said Venla, but when it’s candy, it’s always the good stuff.
“The candies are usually chocolate eggs or chocolate,” she said. “None that’s fruity or whatever.”
The results are “a little more subdued than the Holloween take, but the girls have come home with some pretty good hauls,” added Aaron.
According to the AP, the tradition is a mix of Swedish and Russian practices. The pussy willows come from the heavily Russian region of Karelia, where they were used in lieu of palm leaves for Palm Sunday blessings. In Sweden, there’s a long tradition of children going door to door at Easter time, though they traditionally traded drawings for treats.
The two traditions began to blend in the 1970s, and continues to evolve with western influences including pointed hats, occasional masks and other commercial costume items.
The tradition also varies across Finland, said Aaron, with some witches walking on Palm Sunday, a week before Easter, while others head out Easter Sunday. In some regions, few if any witches walk the streets.
“Our region, in the south, is where it might be the most popular,” he said. “The area we live in is right at the border of the Swedish speaking areas.”
Veera Bohjanen, 11, was a bit wistful about giving up witching for the first time a year ago, and noted the decision doesn’t have to be final. While most girls quit around the time they turn ten, there’s no actual age limit.
Instead of pulling out the shawls, though, she’s happy to be an ambassador for her second homeland and its holiday.
“Someone should come to try it,” she said. “In Finland Easter is fun.”