The highlight of the season has to be Christmas Eve. Residents of Turku have gathered together in the Old Great Square on this day since the Middle Ages to hear the Declaration of Christmas Peace. Celebrations begin at noon, when the bells of Turku Cathedral ring out through the icy air. The Chief Secretary of the City of Turku reads from a scroll from a balcony swathed in red cloth.

The text of this famous speech (which is read in both Finnish and Swedish) demands that all citizens must spend the time between Christmas Eve and St Knut's Day (13 July) in peace - any noisy fighting means punishment from his local governance (so be sure not to have left any one out when buying the presents!)

Turku's traditional affair is now so well known that it is broadcast throughout Finland and beyond, and families will stop everything to gather, listen and toast to it.

Apart from the Declaration, Turku offers a proper fairytale Christmas over the six-week period: there are historical exhibitions, shopping, traditional dining events, concerts, Yuletide tours for kids and families, decorations, fireworks, lights... and of course, being close to Santa's home up north, stockings here are sure to get full before others around the world...