Attracting witches to your door

One way to attract Easter witches to your door is to decorate a woven star on your door with colorful feathery chicks. Despite the fact the you may have bought the star at a Christmas market, it just may fool them. If they do come, be prepared with Kinder Eggs (chocolate shells with small toys hidden inside), to give to the witches after they sing this song,

Virvon, varvon tuoreeks, terveeks,
Sinuelle vihta, minuelle lahja.

I touch you with my magic branch
 - That will refresh you and keep you well.
 You get the branch, I get a reward.

Then they will tap you with a virpomavihta — pussy willow branch, that they have decorated with colorful feathers (just like the chicks on the star) which they give to you in exchange for a treat, casting a spell of good fortune on you as Spring approaches.

These are the ACTUAL WITCHES who came to our door today and we were prepared! I was nearly ready to concede that as we are in a locked apartment building, and we have those odd names on our door, we may not be lucky to have a witch visit this Easter, but then the doorbell rang. Children this young don't have much if any English yet (though they start by age 9 in schools with at least one language) but we successfully made it through the ritual, I'm happy to report, and they even consented to have their pictures taken. You can see how brave they were, indulging the over-excited foreigners.

Hyvää pääsäiänen!