THIS WAS AMAZING! "Sparrow on Christmas Morning" Marco Hietala 

It was, I believe, written by Z. Topelius to comfort his young daughter whose little brother had died fairly recently (at the time child mortality was an everyday thing). So the sparrow she gave the seed to tells her he is her deceased little brother, come back from heaven as a sparrow to look in on her.

Info things: Zacharias Topelius (14 January 1818 - 12 March 1898) was a Finnish author, poet, journalist, historian, and rector of the University of Helsinki who wrote novels related to Finnish history. "Varpunen Jouluaamuna"/"Sparrow on Christmas Morning" is a poem by Zacharias Topelius from 1859. You can see the sorrow of Topelius in the poem; his son, Rafael, died at the age of one the spring before he wrote the poem. This is one of Finns' most loved Christmas songs. Really amazing version from the Raskasta Joulua gang.

Zacharias Topelius, who wrote this poem in 1859, is also known in Finland as "fairy tale uncle" because he published fairy tales for children...

Kiitos from Finland.

I don't like christmas songs but varpunen jouluaamuna is a favourite for sure. And when Marko sings it, even better. Finnish christmas songs are not like happy happy Joy Joy, they are almost always heavy, sad, melancolic etc. And many have Deep meanings.

The feeling is Finnish melancholy, a lot of our art of any kind is about heavy and dark subjects. So I think that´s what you felt 😊 And the song is about dead brother coming from heaven to see his sister as a sparrow.

This is not, as others have said, a happy, happy, joy, joy song, but the lyrics have always touched me deeply. And, Marko, of course, could make anything a masterpiece.

Pretty much all the finnish songs are "heavy" or "weighty" whether it's Insomnium or Christmas carols lol. it's the melancholic undertones which create the distinct soundscape, minor chords and scales.

Marko doing Marko things..., he really can hit the listener in the feels like few others.

This song is so important in avery Finnish people and yes there is super heavy things behind!' 1939-1945 winter and second worldwar

It is the song, and Marco and the choir and the band perfectly perform it. As a Finn, of course I had heard and sung this song many times when I was a kid, but I remember the first time when the lyrics really hit me as a teenager, and the tears poured. When you know the history of the song there is an explanation. I love how many foreigners say that this Christmas song points out how important the nature is for us Finns.

From Tribal to this.. one of my favorite Christmas songs ☃️🎶🥰

I'm half Finnish 🇫🇮 but from Sweden 🇸🇪 and I just love Finnish Christmas songs. So different from Swedish ones that are much more cheerfull and happy. This song is one of my favourites, especially performed by the magnificent Marko. I love Raskasta Joulua/Heavy Christmas and yesterday I watched one of the concerts from 2023 that was aired on Finnish tv, which I have at home. Fantastic concert as always! My favourite singer JP Leppäluoto (Charon etc) is also a singer on the RJ tours each year 💙🇫🇮

Always love Marko, and Marko singing in Finnish is a whole other level, but this was the first time I have seen this with translation and these lyrics in their entirety destroyed me.

❤❤❤❤

Its not a most joyful merry-merry xmas song. In Finland we have plenty of these kind of xmas songs. Also this version was a bit metal one then.

I was in this concert and the children choir combined with Marco just hit every nerv and emotion possible. I just sat there baffled and almost didnt know what just happened. I think this is one their best performances at Raskasta Joulua tour.

He's such a cool dude he could sing this in his sleep.

In at 44 seconds.... sorry, just had to note my good luck. Will add legit comments once the video starts/completes. From the little bits I know about Finnish Christmas music, the lyrics were written in 1859 by Zacharias Topelius. The song implies the prior death of the young girls brother, who came back briefly in the form of the Sparrow. I've heard there is a much bigger story wrapped around it, but I will let one of the Finnish native-speakers to fill in more gaps.

As always, Marko brought it. His singing gets overshadowed sometimes in Nightwish due Floor being front and center, but the guy can sing his ass off. I'm looking forward to the January reactions brother.

Finns love a heavy Christmans, Should listen to Ayreon Age of Shadows if you want more Marko.

Varpunen Jouluaamuna is my favourite Christmas song!❤Thank you! This song has a special place in my heart. It has very sad/melancholic lyrics.... very Finnish to make even the Christmas songs sad😅 Marko's version is one of the best ones!

Hi Tommy I am not entirely sure Marco can do anything wrong (apart from the one time he forgot his lyric and said "F--- it" instead). He is phenomenal. Thank you.

Marko ❤😊

I was in this concert and the thing that this was my mother favored Christmas song took me in a really deep things and hearing Marco to sing it was really amassing! I love your channel and the reactions you have put up, but this one was really something :) Thank you so much and keep doing what you are doing :)

This was amazing! I love me some Marco ❤ Wonderful song, it caught me in the feels for sure ❤

The lead guitarist played in Dark Sarah. You can see him do his thing in Melancholia. A great song by them.

That year (2019) was the only year they had children's choirs join them on the stage. I actually got to see this live a few years ago. It was amazing. 😊 I have yet to see them with JP Leppäluoto, though. Maybe someday. 😅 But yeah, now that you're in to Raskasta Joulua, I'm obligated to recommend more of JP (the Dragon from "Dance With The Dragon") yet again. 😅 He performs with Raskasta Joulua too, and is very close friends with Marko. If you think this is emotional, you should hear JP sing another traditional Finnish Christmas song, "Konstan joululaulu", about a child visiting their mother's grave on Christmas Eve. He sings that one like nobody else. "I will stay with you, keeping it again; I will make your Christmas beautiful. You will see that the valleys and lands of sadness Can be covered in bright light." (A rough translation by me of the last half of the last verse)

90% of Finnish Christmas songs are melancholic, at least in their undertones.

Welcome to Finnish christmas songs, my brother. Sure, some of them are actually quite cute and jolly even, but... .... yeah. Then there's the dark side.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparven_om_julmorgonen