Dorothy Gladys Spicerin kirjassa The book of festivals (1937) selostetaan Suomen kohdalla Runebergin päivän vietoksi seuraavaa.
This great festival honors Finland's national poet. Schools are closed. In Helsinki, shop windows display busts and pictures of Runeberg, which generally are placed against a blue background and surrounded by lilies-of-the valley, blue and white being the colors of Finland's national flag. Rows of white candles, placed in the foreground of the windows, are lighted at night. Special ceremonies are observed at Runeberg's monument in the Esplanade. The statue is decorated with garlands of pine and spruce, hung between four great torches. In the evening the lighted torches flame brilliantly against the dark sky. Delegations of students lay wreaths at the foot of Runeberg's monument and sing the impressive national anthem, composed by the poet. Lighted candles burn in the windows of apartments and houses. This great festival of lights is symbolic of the nation's love forf the cdelebrated poet, who died in 1877 and whose work - of classic simplicity and epic greatness - has gone far in interpreting Finland to other nations.
Eroa nykypäivään on runsaasti ja Runebergin torttua ei mainita ollenkaan. Herra tietää mitä lähteitä Spicer on käyttänyt. Erikoista on, että Runebergin päivästä kirjoitetaan pidemmin kuin itsenäisyyspäivästä, jonka kohdalla ei ole puhettakaan kynttilöistä ikkunoilla.
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