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6th December is Nikolaustag for the Germans, Austrians and Swiss but for the Finnish it is their Independence Day - itsenäisyyspäivä according to Wikipedia; unfortunately it does not provide a guide to the pronunciation!
The day marks Finland's 1917 Declaration of Independence from Russia and is a public holiday.
Finland shares 1,340km of its borders with Russia; in 1917 the population of Finland was around 3 million compared to well over a hundred million in Russia. So winning independence from its much larger, more powerful neighbour was no small feat for Finland.
Traditionally on this day the Finnish put lighted candles in their windows, to guide the Finnish soldiers home from the Russian frontier.
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