The day's series of official events began with the raising of the flag at Helsinki's Tähtitorninmäki hill at 9 AM, a tradition that began in 1957.

A mid-day ecumenical church service at Helsinki's Lutheran Cathedral will be attended by President Halonen and other dignitaries.

The traditional Finnish independence day celebrations in Helsinki continue with a torchlit procession of students from Hietaniemi Cemetery to the Senate Square at 5pm. Similar events are held in other Finnish cities.

The President’s Independence Day reception will begin at 7pm, with live TV coverage on YLE TV, radio and online. This year's reception has been themed as “Finland for equality and cooperation – responsibility for Finland, responsibility for the world”.

The reception and students’ procession will cause disruption to traffic from around 6pm in central Helsinki.

In honour of Independence Day, President Halonen this year awarded medals and decorations to over 4000 citizens for achievements in fields ranging from the military to the arts. Also, three new generals were commissioned by the president and two others promoted in rank.

Tampere will host this year's Independence Day military parade. Many streets in the city centre will be closed to traffic for a time.

The Finnish parliament declared independence on 6 December 1917. Before that, the country had been part of Sweden, and later became a Grand Duchy in the Russian empire.

Shops, Alko liquor stores, banks and post offices will keep their doors closed on Tuesday. Long-distance train services will run on Sunday timetables on Tuesday. For more information, see the state railways VR website. Local transport also runs according to Sunday timetables.