Pink Halloween season has started on Koa's desk, and she wants to begin it with a secret: long before plastic pumpkins reached Finland, the Finns already had their own spooky autumn party. It's called Kekri, and it might be the cosiest end-of-season celebration you've never heard of.
What is Kekri?
Kekri is an old Finnish and Karelian harvest festival. It marked the end of the farming year, a bit like an autumn New Year. In 1789 the Finnish scholar Christfrid Ganander described it as "the celebration of the end of the harvest season."
The fun part: Kekri had no fixed date. It happened when the work was done, so it depended on the weather and the harvest, and could fall anywhere from late summer to late autumn. By the 19th century it had settled around All Saints' Day in western Finland.
Ghosts in the sauna
This is Koa's favourite detail. During Kekri, families invited their departed relatives to come home for the feast. On the evening before, the head of the house welcomed the spirits at the edge of the yard and led them to a freshly heated, cleaned sauna, with food and drink set out for them. After the feast, the spirits were politely sent on their way again.
So yes: in Finland, even the ghosts got a sauna. Very on brand.
The Kekri buck
Kekri also had its own costumes. People dressed up as a kekritär or as the horned kekripukki (the "Kekri buck"), knocked on neighbours' doors and asked for food and drink. Sound familiar? The kekripukki is often seen as an early cousin of Joulupukki, the Finnish Santa Claus. In the town of Kajaani, a giant straw Kekri buck is still burned every autumn.
Kekri, All Saints' Day and Halloween
As Christmas grew more important, Kekri slowly faded, especially with the move to towns in the early 1900s. Many of its feasting traditions moved to Christmas instead. Today, Finland's quiet autumn holiday is pyhäinpäivä, All Saints' Day, which has been held on a Saturday in early November since 1955. Many Finns like to keep it separate from the more commercial Halloween.
A fun coincidence for 2026: pyhäinpäivä falls on Saturday 31 October, the very same day as Halloween. Kekri itself is having a comeback too, with families and towns bringing back the feast and the straw buck.
A Kekri mindset for study season
Koa loves the idea behind Kekri: when a big chunk of work is done, you stop and celebrate it properly before starting the next season. Here's how to borrow that for studying:
- Close a "harvest". Finished a chapter, a project or a test? Write down what you learned in five lines. That's your harvest.
- Clean the sauna. Tidy your desk and your files before the next topic, so you start fresh.
- Feast a little. A cosy dinner, a film, a walk. Rest is part of the work, not a reward you have to earn.
- Welcome the next season. Plan just the first focus block for tomorrow, then set the free study timer on pinkoa.com and let Koa count the minutes.
Koa's own Kekri ritual this year involves hot cocoa in her "Boo! Back to studying" mug. Spooky, but make it pink.
Shade of the day: no. 15
Today is day fifteen of Koa's pink shade calendar. The shade card for no. 15 is the picture at the top of this post. Koa thinks it's just right for a cosy harvest evening with a candle and a book.
Psst: the launch-month code KOA20 still takes 20% off in the shop until 25 October.
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Sources: Kekri (festival), Wikipedia · University of Jyväskylä Museum: From Kekri to Christmas · Pyhäinpäivä 2026 date.