Santa sends Christmas message from Lapland
345 views · Published 29 December 2018 · 1:41 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(24 Dec 2018) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4188197 Santa Claus Village in Finland receives about half a million letters and wish lists every year. As Christmas approaches, the popular tourist destination in Rovaniemi - the capital of Lapland - can receive up to 32,000 letters a day. This year, most of the festive mail arrived from China, Poland, Italy and the United Kingdom. According to Rovaniemi's tourism and marketing company, more than 350,000 people visit the village every year to meet its Santa, play in the snow and get into the festive spirit. This year, snow arrived late in northern Finland as the winter tourism season got underway. According to the country's meteorological institute, an "exceptionally mild" November in Lapland was to blame. Before departing on his sleigh, the resort's Santa shared his festive message to people around the world. He said he wanted people to be happy and to try and understand each other better. He also appealed to people to look after nature better, saying the lack of snow at Christmas time was a warning that "nature has been in trouble". Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/049dba9f24adf511d1ce781cdfb62c78
