In Finland, the Christmas dinner is eaten on the Christmas Eve, December 24th. Families and friends gather together to share the warm, festive atmosphere of the evening and enjoy the various traditional Christmas dishes. Oven-baked ham, root vegetable casseroles, mixed beetroot salad, liver casserole and pâtés, meat aspics, gravlax or smoked salmon, fish roe and herring dishes form the basis of the traditional Finnish Christmas dinner. Perhaps the three most essential dishes on Finnish Christmas table are oven-baked ham, rutabaga casserole and mixed beetroot salad. Without the taste of these traditional dishes, there would be something missing in Finnish Christmas celebration. In picture on right, clockwise from top right: slices of baked ham, rutabaga casserole, beetroot salad, homemade mustard, sweet pea sauce. This basic Christmas dinner menu is of course enriched with all kinds of supplementary dishes in different families, according to their individual liking, traditions or diets. Following the links on the top left corner of this page you will find more information about the various traditional Finnish Christmas dishes or how the Christmas time is celebrated in Finland. You will find recipes for some of the dishes mentioned above in here. Read more about traditional Finnish Christmas here.