Santa Claus exhibition opens at Postal Museum in Tampere showcasing letters from around the world

Every year, Santa Claus receives around 500,000 letters, with many containing messages not just from children but also from adults. Santa is perceived as a figure for all ages, and adults often share their hopes for peace and well-being for others in their letters.

A new exhibition at the Postal Museum in Tampere, titled “Letters to Santa Claus,” showcases the vast range of letters sent to Santa around the world. The oldest letters date back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, while the most recent are from last year. According to Suvi Jalli, the exhibition’s curator, it has been over a decade since letters were prominently displayed in Helsinki.

Letters also reflect their times. For instance, a nine-year-old girl named Tuija wrote in the late 1970s that Santa must be struggling financially during a recession, leading her to limit her gift requests to just three items: a Stiga toy, a jewelry box, and some ribbon ties. Jalli notes that modern letters often include pictures cut from toy catalogs to provide Santa with clearer gift ideas, whereas older letters featured more drawings and shiny stickers.

The exhibition contains letters from approximately 200 countries, with the largest volume coming from Poland, Italy, and Central Europe, as well as Finland. Surprisingly, a significant amount also arrives from locations such as Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan. During the pandemic, however, mail volume dropped slightly due to postal disruptions.

Since the establishment of Santa Claus’s main post office in Rovaniemi in the 1980s, every letter sent there is opened and read, with some archived at the National Archives in Oulu. After Christmas, Santa’s main post office sends out around 10,000 response letters worldwide, primarily to preschools and classrooms, sharing insights about Santa’s summer activities and life in Finland.