Lapland is not only the home of Lapps and reindeer, but also the hometown of the world-famous Santa Claus. "A long time ago, a very old Santa Claus traveled around the world, bringing joy to children. One day, he came to the Labi area near the Arctic Circle and was struck by the beautiful scenery covered with snow and silver. I was fascinated by it and decided to settle in Ear Mountain here. From then on, Ear Mountain in Finland became the place where Santa Claus lives..." Whenever Christmas comes, the enthusiastic Finns will tell the story over and over to guests from afar. This touching fairy tale. Many children around the world know that Santa Claus lives on Ear Mountain in the Arctic Circle.

The legendary Santa Claus wears a red soft hat with hanging shoulders, a red leather robe, and long boots. He has silver hair and a curly white beard hanging down past his waist. Every Christmas Eve, he rides a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer to every house and takes out candies from red cloth bags. dessert. Give children toys and other beautifully packaged gifts to enjoy holiday happiness. In the past decade or so, in order to expand tourism resources, many countries have searched for the roots and hometown of Santa Claus in their own countries. The Swedes have held a grand settlement ceremony for Santa Claus; the Norwegians intend to let Santa Claus live there; the Icelanders believe that the ice-covered Greenland is the most suitable place for Santa Claus to live; but the Americans insist that Santa Claus has always lived there. Alaska; even the Japanese consider Hokkaido the home of Santa Claus. In July 1996, the Santa Claus World Conference was held in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. 150 Santa Clauses living in 18 countries around the world were invited to attend this event, but there was no Santa Claus from Ear Mountain. It turns out that the Finns insisted that it was the Finns who first found the hometown of Santa Claus, and that only their own country was the true hometown of Santa Claus. Therefore, they boycotted the conference and refused to gather with the "fake" Santa Claus.

On Christmas Eve in 1995, the then United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros wrote to Santa Claus to extend holiday congratulations, saying that the Christmas spirit that Santa Claus spreads among children around the world is just like the Charter of the United Nations. , full of peaceful voices and good wishes. What is gratifying for Finns is that the address of this letter is sent to Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapi Province in northern Finland and the only city in the world located on the Arctic Circle, where the famous Santa Claus Village is built. Finns are proud that Gali's congratulatory message means that even the United Nations recognizes Finland as the hometown of Santa Claus.

In order to further strengthen the image of Finland as the hometown of Santa Claus, and to attract more domestic and foreign tourists, Tourism Finland and the Labi Provincial Government have jointly formulated a "Christmas" with long-term strategic significance. "Hometown Plan for the Elderly", in 1985, a unique tourist attraction, Santa Claus Village, was established in Rovaniemi. Subsequently, 10 tourist spots named after Santa Claus were successively established throughout the Labi area, including ski resort centers. Reindeer Park and Safari. Now more than 1 million people visit the Labi area every year. In the Labi area, the World Gold Rush and the Golden Trout Fishing Competition are also held every year in the name of Santa Claus. The "Santa Claus Home Tour" event makes northern Finland a tourist hotspot all year round. A famous trademark can be seen on all tourist spots and tourist products: a red boot with a turned-up toe. Those are the boots that Santa Claus cannot live without all year round, and they are also the artistically processed capital letter J - the first letter of the Finnish Santa Claus Joulupukki.

Santa Claus also attracts a large number of passengers to Finnair. Now, Finnair has five flights a day to Rovaniemi, a city on the Arctic Circle. During the Christmas period, the number of flights increases to 10 per day. Many people who are familiar with their country’s Christmas activities come to Santa Claus’ hometown with their children to celebrate the festival. Every year on Christmas Eve, 20,000 tourists from the UK, Greece, South Africa, Japan, Australia and other countries arrive by chartered flight. The city of Rovaniemi is covered in snow. When they took photos with Santa Claus with white beard and white eyebrows in Santa Claus Village, they were all happy; when they saw with their own eyes the vast forest and snowfields in the Arctic Circle, and admired the dots lit in the white snow in the "Polar Night" When the lights are red, they are extremely excited and happy; if they are lucky enough to see the unpredictable Northern Lights, they will be even more excited. Visitors can also take a reindeer sleigh, dog sleigh or modern electric sleigh to Ear Mountain to visit the place where Santa Claus lives.

When people sit on the sleigh, the clear and melodious sound of deer bells rings in their ears, and a fairy-tale world of ice and snow appears in front of them, they can't help but feel the fresh and simple wind of enjoying exotic Christmas folk customs in pure nature. Come.

Every December, more than 50 million Christmas cards are sent out by post offices across Finland, ranking first in the world on a per capita basis. However, the busiest post office throughout the year is the Santa Claus Village Post Office on the Arctic Circle. There are always people coming and going here from morning to night every day, and it is extremely busy. The unique Santa Claus Village Post Office in the world is not only a must-visit place for tourists to send letters to all over the world, but it is also the most desirable place for children. Children who do not have the opportunity to visit Santa in person at the Arctic Circle can send greetings to Santa via phone calls and letters. Say hello or ask for a gift. Santa Claus receives between 600,000 and 700,000 letters from more than 150 countries and regions around the world every year. In the post office, there are more than a dozen "elves" wearing red clothes and red hats all year round to help Santa Claus handle these letters. Especially before Christmas, Santa Claus receives as many as 20,000 letters every day. Faced with letters flying in from all over the world, Santa Claus was overwhelmed and had to temporarily hire 60 assistants to help him open, read and reply letters. With the popularization of computer application technology, the work of Santa Claus Post Office has also been computerized, and Santa Claus uses video phones and computers.

Santa Claus and his assistants enter the names and addresses of all the children who write letters into the computer and store them, and the computer writes a reply to each child in 8 different languages. In addition to holiday greetings, the letter also contains a short Christmas story, and the content of each letter is different. Although Santa Claus is very busy, he still hopes to receive more letters from children. If Chinese children are interested, they can also write letters to Santa Claus. Santa Claus is very trustworthy and will definitely reply to all the children who write letters. If you don’t believe it, just ask Chinese children to write a letter to Santa Claus according to the address below.

Santa CIaus, Post OffiCe

SF 96930 Rovaniemi

Finland