Santa Claus is traveling again this Christmas. Once again, hundreds of goats are roaming in Finland, but a good and believable goat is not born by chance, but demands a lot from its performer.
The work sounds like routine and long experience – and no wonder, because Hukkanen has been doing goat work for more than 30 years. There have been hundreds of gigs.
– I think I’m already a third-generation Santa Claus, because my father and his father did Santa Claus gigs. The character has become familiar, laughs Hukkanen.
In many families, Father Christmas is father, grandfather, uncle or neighbor. But when you need a Santa in a shopping center, Christmas parties or other occasions, you need to find a Santa who can also host and perform.
Working as Santa Claus is not a full-time job, as the season is quite short, but there are a large number of semi-professionals. Santa’s work is a nice source of additional income for many, and at the same time you can spread the Christmas spirit and atmosphere.
– I have no family of my own, and no children, so Santa’s chores bring me that Christmas feeling, says Hukkanen.
Puki’s bun doesn’t suit everyone
Everyone has their own image of Santa Claus. The most common is probably a tall and chubby and bearded character who wears a red and white bun. However, a believable goat character is not born by chance, but certain characteristics are required from the goat.
– First of all, you have to be quite big, and a chubby stomach is not a problem at all. In my opinion, such a one and a half meter tall goat is not believable, it is more like an elf department, Hukkanen begins.
And Santa wouldn’t be real if it didn’t sound like Santa.
– Sound is a very important thing. Santa doesn’t chirp, but the buck must have a handsome, low and audible voice, continues Hukkanen.
The equipment must also be decent. For example, Hukkasen has a tailored and handsome beard, which you can’t find in every store.
– The goat must also have glasses. By the way, I don’t need glasses and that’s why I use these without lenses. They have the advantage that they don’t frost when you go in from the cold to hand out gifts.
Hukkanen emphasizes the importance of singing skills. He has accumulated dozens of years of singing and performing experience as the bass singer of the Turo’s Hevi Gee band and as a karaoke host.
– Singing ability is an absolute prerequisite for those who want to work as Santa Claus. For bigger gigs, although at company events you have to sing together and at home gigs it’s great to see how even the shyest in the family sing together with the goat.
Pukki won’t take this Christmas either
In recent years, many families had to experience unpleasant moments when the buck came to the scene more or less in good spirits. Nowadays, it is self-evident that the buck won’t take. Ari Hukkanen doesn’t drink alcohol anyway, so the Santa Claus gigs are always handled well.
– I once received a call where the mother of the family on the other end of the line asked in a strict tone that the goat doesn’t smell like old booze and tobacco. I assured that this has never happened before. He was so pleased that I visited his family several Christmases, says Hukkanen.
Reliability is the secret of a successful goat, because many families order a good goat year after year. Hukkanen has many long-term customers who have become his good friends.
A sense of humor is an advantage, but sometimes it hurts, because the guy only gets to know the customer’s name, address and phone number in advance.
– I was at a gig and everything went perfectly. Father, mother, children and grandma and grandpa were in a good mood. After giving out the gifts, grandma said that the goat has gifts. I joked that the buck is not an engineer, and there was quite a lot of laughter, because the father of the family was an engineer.