How come Santa lives in Lapland? And when did he move to Finland?

From Korvatunturi…

Santa Claus lives much closer to Normandy than where the collective imagination has placed his residence. Forget all about the North Pole! Indeed, you’re more likely to find him in Finland or, more precisely, in Korvatunturi (Joulupukki in Finnish), a fell within the Urho Kekkonen National Park in Finnish Lapland, on the border with Russia.

The story has it that both his secret home and workshop, where his elves make and wrap toys, are located on this fell, which is said to be shaped like an ear (perhaps to hear children’s wishes). This story of ours has a narrator: Markus Rautio, a Finnish radio presenter, who announced the news in 1927 during his show: the “Children’s Hour with Uncle Markus” (Markus-sedän lastentunti). A fairly wise choice to shelter one of the most sought-after men in the world: Korvatunturi is only accessible by foot or by sled.

Finnish author and illustrator Mauri Kunnas uses this premise for his book “Santa Claus” (Joulupukki), published in 1981, before anchoring the location and popularising it through further sequels.

…to Rovaniemi

Santa Claus’ official postal address was later moved to Rovaniemi, a Finnish city nearly razed to the ground by the Germans during World War II. But that was before Alvar Aalto was commissioned by the Association of Finnish Architects to rebuild it in 1945. And he did more than rebuild it: he drew up the famous “reindeer antler” street plans.

However, unlike other war-torn European cities, Rovaniemi did not benefit from financial aid to recover from the war; Finland was even forced by its powerful neighbour to reject the Marshall Plan. It obtained some support from the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, established by former U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In 1950, his widow, Eleanor, visited the Arctic Circle. In the blink of an eye, Rovaniemi had become a top tourist destination.

Just a couple of kilometres from the Arctic Circle, Santa Claus now has a public-facing office in the capital of Lapland, which offers direct flights to many European cities, including London, Paris and Istanbul, as well as daily connections to Helsinki. Rovaniemi receives more than half a million tourists every year … and just as many letters.