KEKRINURMES · KARELIA · FINLAND

01The story of Kekri

The year
turns.

Before the calendar turned, the harvest did.

02The turning year

A movable feast.

Kekri had no fixed date. It depended on the weather and on the progress of the work, and usually fell somewhere between Michaelmas and All Saints.34

The ring is a teaching model, not a historical calendar. Each month is shaded by its real hours of daylight in Nurmes; the amber band marks the approximate Kekri window.

Explore the year

January

5.1 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Outside the Kekri window

February

8.2 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Outside the Kekri window

March

11.2 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Outside the Kekri window

April

14.6 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Outside the Kekri window

May

17.7 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Outside the Kekri window

June

20.0 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Outside the Kekri window

July

19.0 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Outside the Kekri window

August

15.9 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Outside the Kekri window

September

12.6 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Kekri window (approximate)

Michaelmas, 29/9, opens the window. Animals came in from the pastures and some were slaughtered for the winter.42

October

9.4 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Kekri window (approximate)

The heart of the season. Kekri was held once the harvest was in; the exact day depended on the weather and on how the work went.34

November

6.1 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Kekri window (approximate)

All Saints, a Saturday between 31/10 and 6/11, closes the window. In the 1800s Kekri merged with this Christian day. For farmhands and maids a free week followed.12

December

4.0 h of daylight in Nurmes mid-month

Outside the Kekri window

Christmas, the feast of the lords, later took over many of Kekri’s customs.1

03The feast

A feast for the living.
A place for the dead.

[Photograph to be supplied: a Kekri table, Hyvärilä 2026]

The food

Eating well was the heart of the feast, because food was scarce for much of the year. A sheep was slaughtered, sometimes the side of a cow, and lamb roast belonged to köyri.2

People ate throughout the day. It was the last fresh food before spring.7

The ancestors

Remembering the dead was central. Food was offered to them, and a festive meal was set out for the spirits of the farm, the haltiat and tontut.32

The church’s autumn day of remembrance, when candles are still carried to the graves, has roots in this older custom.21

The sauna

The feast began on the eve with a sauna, heated early enough that the dead and the household spirits could bathe as well. Only then did the eating and drinking begin.2

04At the door

Masks at the door.

Kekriä vai uunia?

“Kekri, or the oven?” The question at the door: offer hospitality, or risk the stove.2

From the archive

Archival record · 1927Pekka Ruotsalainen as the “köyriätär”, Kurolanlahti, Vatala, 1927. A man dressed as the female Kekri figure.
View the evidence
Title
Pekka Ruotsalaisen esittämä "köyriätär", Kurolanlahti Vatala
Creator
Ahti Rytkönen
Institution
Museovirasto (Finnish Heritage Agency), Kansatieteen kuvakokoelma
Date
1927
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Checked
15/10/2026
Open the original record in Finna

Pekka Ruotsalaisen esittämä "köyriätär", Kurolanlahti Vatala. Ahti Rytkönen, Museovirasto (Finnish Heritage Agency), Kansatieteen kuvakokoelma, 1927. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Archival record · 1927“The köyriätär went from house to house looking for fun.” The figure in Kurolanlahti, Vatala, 1927.
View the evidence
Title
"Köyriätär kulki talosta taloon hupia ehtimässä"; olento tässä Kurolanlahden Vatalassa
Creator
Ahti Rytkönen
Institution
Museovirasto (Finnish Heritage Agency), Kansatieteen kuvakokoelma
Date
1927
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Checked
15/10/2026
Open the original record in Finna

"Köyriätär kulki talosta taloon hupia ehtimässä"; olento tässä Kurolanlahden Vatalassa. Ahti Rytkönen, Museovirasto (Finnish Heritage Agency), Kansatieteen kuvakokoelma, 1927. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

A goat-like figure dressed in a fierce costume and led from house to house through the village, asking for hospitality. People dressed as the horned Kekri buck, and children feared him.23

A ghostly female figure dressed in white who joined the procession. Roles could be reversed: men dressed as women, and women as men.23

Today some towns burn a large straw goat. The archives do not show this as an old tradition; it is a modern addition.2

05Many names

One feast.
Many names.

Schematic only. It shows direction, not dialect borders.

The common name today. Its origin is not known precisely. It first appears in writing in Mikael Agricola’s Psalter of 1551, where Kekri is listed as a god of livestock.1

An eastern form. Keyri and keuri were used in the eastern parts of Finland, the direction of North Karelia and Nurmes.41

The other eastern form, used alongside keyri.41

A southwestern form. Köyri and köyry were the names used in southwest Finland.41

The other southwestern form, used alongside köyri.41

06The passage of time

Fading and return.

  1. Mikael Agricola names Kekri in his Psalter, as a god of livestock. It is the earliest known written record of the name.16

  2. Kekri merges with the Christian All Saints’ Day, and its remembrance of the dead moves with it.13

  3. In the early 1900s, Kekri is still a bigger celebration than Christmas in parts of Northern Savo and Kainuu.2

  4. Compulsory schooling spreads Christmas customs: Santa Claus, the tree, cards and carols. Kekri is not taught, and fades during the 1920s and 1930s.26

  5. All Saints’ Day moves to a Saturday between 31/10 and 6/11, creating a long autumn weekend.13

  6. Finns celebrate Kekri again, mixed today with Halloween and All Saints, at events such as Viaporin kekri at Suomenlinna and here in Nurmes.18

Archival record · 2008Kekri celebration in Pispala, Tampere, 2008: the feast returns.
View the evidence
Title
Pispalan Kekrijuhlat
Creator
Ilpo Mikkonen
Institution
Tampereen historialliset museot (Tampere Historical Museums), Vapriikin kuva-arkisto
Date
2008
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Checked
15/10/2026
Open the original record in Finna

Pispalan Kekrijuhlat. Ilpo Mikkonen, Tampereen historialliset museot (Tampere Historical Museums), Vapriikin kuva-arkisto, 2008. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

07The archive room

Real stories.
Real sources.

Each record carries its institution, date, licence and the day it was checked. Nothing appears here before it has been verified.

Search the national collections

Archival recordNiemelä croft, moved from Konginkangas to the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum: a kekriukko figure beside the stove.
View the evidence
Title
Konginkankaalta siirretty Niemelän torppa Seurasaaren ulkomuseossa, kekriukko tuvan uunin kupeessa
Institution
Museovirasto (Finnish Heritage Agency), Kansatieteen kuvakokoelma
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Checked
15/10/2026
Open the original record in Finna

Konginkankaalta siirretty Niemelän torppa Seurasaaren ulkomuseossa, kekriukko tuvan uunin kupeessa. Museovirasto (Finnish Heritage Agency), Kansatieteen kuvakokoelma. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Archival record · 1987Producers’ Kekri celebration organised by the Nurmes cooperative dairy at Mikonniemi, 1987. The local paper reported that well over a thousand producers came to hear speeches, relax and dance.
View the evidence
Title
Nurmeksen Osuusmeijerin järjestämä tuottajien kekrijuhla Mikonniemellä.
Creator
Sanomalehti Ylä-Karjala
Institution
Nurmeksen museo (Nurmes Museum)
Date
1987
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Checked
15/10/2026
Open the original record in Finna

Nurmeksen Osuusmeijerin järjestämä tuottajien kekrijuhla Mikonniemellä.. Sanomalehti Ylä-Karjala, Nurmeksen museo (Nurmes Museum), 1987. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Enter the archive room

Radio, 1965

Irtonaisviikko meidän kylässä

Teacher Sauli Koivukoski describes Kekri and the servants’ free week.

Institution
Yle Elävä arkisto
Licence
Linked, not embedded
Checked
15/10/2026
Open the original record

Exhibition

Kekristä jouluun (From Kekri to Christmas)

Online exhibition built on the photographs and collections of Ahti Rytkönen.

Institution
Jyväskylä University Museum
Licence
Linked, not embedded
Checked
15/10/2026
Open the original record

08The story continues

Traditions are not only remembered.
They are explored.

Explore the traditions Enter Kekri Quest

Sources

  1. 1 Mitä, miksi, milloin? Kekri ja halloween Tietävä, Finnish Literature Society (SKS) Agricola’s Psalter of 1551, the regional names, the merger with All Saints, 1955, the servants’ free week, the revival.
  2. 2 Kekristä alkoi kissaviikko Yle Uutiset, Marika Kataja, 31/10/2021. Expert: Juha Nirkko, archivist, SKS The sauna on the eve, the food, the meal for the dead and the spirits, kekripukki and kekritär, tin pouring, schooling and decline.
  3. 3 From Kekri to Christmas (Kekristä jouluun) Jyväskylä University Museum No fixed date, offerings of food for the dead, the Kekri buck and kekritär at the door, All Saints and 1955.
  4. 4 Kekri ja jakoaika (PDF) kalevala.karelia.fi Eastern names keyri and keuri, southwestern köyri and köyry; the window between Michaelmas and All Saints.
  5. 5 Kekrin juhlimiseen kuului herkuttelu, taiat ja yhteys tuonpuoleiseen Yle Elävä arkisto (Yle Living Archive) Kekri as the largest feast of the rural year; the 1965 radio programme on the servants’ free week.
  6. 6 In Remembrance of the Departed Yle News Agricola’s description, the fading of Kekri in the 1920s and 1930s, “the lords’ Christmas, the peasants’ Kekri”.
  7. 7 Finnish Christmas foods and their roots in kekri Yle News The last fresh food before spring; eating throughout the day.
  8. 8 Muinainen kekriperinne nostaa päätään Yle Uutiset Revival events, including Viaporin kekri at Suomenlinna.

All sources checked 15/10/2026.

Source

All sources