Alternatives to Christmas church offered in Leppävaara School

All pupils take part in school end-of-term assembly, regardless of faith

print this

By Marja-Riika Saaristo and Julia Peltonen
     
      On Thursday morning, Leppävaara Secondary School in Espoo is buzzing nicely, as the school choir and orchestra go through their routines for Friday’s Christmas church service and Saturday’s end-of-term celebration, held in the school hall.
      There is nobody at the door asking for nationalities or religious denominations, for immigrants have been an everyday matter at the school for the past fifteen years.
     
Among those heading into one of the music classrooms are 14-year-old Agyekumwaah Richael, born in Ghana, and Fahandezh Saadi Raouf, 13, who moved to Finland from Iran.
      Both will be singing at each of the upcoming events, for singing at a school occasion is more important to them than purely religious considerations.
      Richael is Roman Catholic, and Raouf - who also sings in Cantores Minores, the highly-regarded boys’ choir of Helsinki Cathedral - is a member of the Bahá'í Faith.
     
One in four of the pupils at Leppävaara Secondary School comes from an immigrant background.
      “In addition to Lutheranism, we teach the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic faiths, ethics & philosophy of life, and Islam. At the time of the Christmas church service on Friday, those who do not attend on religious grounds will be offered their own time for quiet and reflection. The Roman Catholic pupils have already attended their own Christmas Mass. Everyone takes part in Saturday’s school celebration to mark the end of term”, reports the school’s principal Pirjo Karhu.
      “We have tried to make the alternative more and more like the school do at the end of term. For instance the pupils present greetings from different countries, look at slide-shows, and eat gingerbread cookies by candlelight”, says music teacher Suvi Somerma.
     
The lion’s share of the immigrant pupils at Leppävaara are Russian-born or Estonians, and are either members of the Orthodox Church or do not belong to any organised religion.
      Somali adherents of Islam are the third-largest group in the school.
     
The Leppävaara end-of-term celebrations on Saturday will begin with the singing of Jouluyö, juhlayö (“Silent Night”; "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht ).
      The words of the traditional carol may have a religious content, but the song as such meets the guidelines modified some years ago (see earlier article) by the Board of Education, for they state that the singing of an individual hymn does not of itself turn an occasion such as this into the practicing of religion.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 19.12.2008

More on this subject:
 BACKGROUND: Christmas traditions are part of Finnish cultural heritage

Previously in HS International Edition:
  New guidelines to be set for school Christmas celebrations and religion (22.12.2005)
  Christian tradition disappearing from school Christmas celebrations (13.12.2005)

Links:
  Leppävaara School, Espoo

MARJA-RIIKA SAARISTO / Helsingin Sanomat
marja-riika.saaristo@hs.fi