Wedding

This week is the Midsummer (juhannus), so a very proper time to post about wedding (häät) and wedding traditions in Finland. Once again please do remember, that there are many traditions in Finland depending on religion and area, so this post is based on my knowledge and on my roots in the western part of Finland and lutheran religion.

In Finland both get a golden ring when engaged. The bride also gets a ring when wed. The ring usually has one or more diamonds. Nowadays with some couples also the husband gets another ring, but this is not traditional. I think one reason for both getting the ring when engaged lies back in the medieval times when engagement was considered as strong as marriage. Back then a spokesman (puhemies) for the groom (sulhanen) would negotiate with the father or other guardian (holhooja) of the bride (morsian) about the terms of the marriage. When they reached an agreement the couple was engaged and later the engagement was validated by marriage. Child born before the actual marriage was considered to have the same rights as child born in marriage. The marriage was not even always blessed by a priest. It was as late as in the 17th century when it became mandatory to have a priest present at  wedding and conducting the wedding so that the marriage would be legal. It was so late as 1864 when woman 21 years of age or older could marry without the permission of her father or guardian. Before that she always needed a permission. Even today quite many men still ask bride’s hand in marriage from her father, although it is not mandatory. And in medieval times the marriages, especially between more wealthier people, were mostly agreements, which purpose was to ensure alliance between families or bring more wealth to the families. In this harsh land with great distances an ally was very important.

Before getting married there has to be announcement made in the home parish of the bride. Before mid 20th century there was announcement made on three subsequent Sundays during the service. The purpose was to make the coming marriage public, so that anyone could tell, if they knew any objections to it. Today the announcement is more tradition and the incapacities of the marriage are checked out in other ways. But still it is a tradition to go to listen that day’s service and the announcement and go for a coffee to the bride’s parents’ home after the service.

The bride brings dowry (myötäjäiset) with her, nowadays not so often any more, to the marriage or like in the old days for the house she was married to. The husband gives a dower (huomenlahja) to the wife the morning after the wedding day. In the past the dower was to show appreciation to the wife and the wealthy of her new home. Nowadays it is mostly jewelry, like earrings or a necklace. In the past the wife’s dowry could be agreed to be inherited to her children after her death. The dowry could also return to her father, if she died without a heir, f. ex. to first childbirth and the child did not survive either. Additionally the bride brought with her trousseau (kapiot), which contained linen and other textile, which she had embroidered herself or with the help of the women at her home.

Then the wedding itself. Why post at this time of the year? Because in 20th century the midsummer used to be most popular time for weddings. Now most people in Finland get wed between May and September and before 20th century usually the wedding was held after the harvesting time was over, so in October to December. Also in the old days the weddings lasted 2 - 4 days. Now it takes one day.

Traditionally the groom is not allowed to see the bride during the last 24 hours before the wedding. So even if already living together many brides go to spend the last night with their parents or some friends. The bachelor parties are held much before (more about those in some other post). It is tradition that the father of the bride walks her to the middle of the church and the groom walks to meet them. The father gives the bride away to the groom and walks behind the couple to the front of the church, where he sits in the first row  on the left hand side (the bride’s side). If the bride is wearing a vail, the father can lift the vail when giving the bride, the groom can lift the vail at the altar before the wedding starts or just after the wedding before the couple turns to face the audience. The bride (especially when marrying for the first time) wears a white long dress (the pure white is traditionally reserved for the virgin brides, but nowadays also others use the pure white). The dress should cover shoulders in the church, so it may contain a shawl, short jacket etc., which can be removed during the later celebration, or then the dress is just not so open. Before the 20th century the bride’s wedding dress used to be black, because it served as the only better dress of the bride in the marriage. The groom can wear a tailcoat or a black suit.

The wedding ceremony can be long or short. It starts with entering of the couple to the altar, followed by blessing, prayer, some words from the Bible, the priest’s speech to the couple (based on the talk held few days before), the wedding itself (the questions, ring prayer, conformation of the marriage and blessing), a psalm, prayer, Our Father -prayer, blessing and ending music. Usually the ceremony takes 20 - 30 minutes. The audience stands when the bride enters the church and when the couple walks to the altar, during words from Bible and when the pair leaves the church. 

The questions can be presented in two different formats. The other format has also the words “until the death does you appart” and the other wording not. The couple can also give the ring promises (With this ring I …) but that is not traditional in Finland.

Most of our churches have great organs and many couples choose to have traditional wedding marches played when entering and leaving the church (like from Wagner, Melartin or Mendelssohn).  

Listen to some of the most popular organ and other music played in Finnish weddings from here.

Quite many couples today tour around the back of the church and enter the church again from there. Wait for the audience to go and stand in front of the church and then leave the church again in rice or other rain given by the guests. But actually this is not the traditional way, although very commonly used nowadays in Finland. The traditional way is to walk through the “rain”, when leaving the celebration arranged after the wedding ceremony. But unfortunately nowadays many wedding couples stay in the celebration until it really ends (way past midnight).

The celebration is usually held at a location (rented restaurant, manor etc.) near the church if possible. Usually a dinner is served to the guests. If a traditional wedding then the wedding couple is taken from the church to wedding photo and after that they arrive to the celebration and are greeted by the guests and congratulated with sparkling toasts.

After dinner there can be dancing, speech of the bride’s father, robbing of the bride or other games. Of course the wedding couple cut the cake (top part of it is reserved for the wedding couple and frozen and eaten at the 1st wedding anniversary) and the one (bride or groom) to first stamp on the floor, when the cake server hold together hits the plate, is the one setting the pace in the marriage. If traditional wedding, the celebration lasts for the dinner and few hours more.

The wedding couple leaves the party first and the guests wave at them. The car is decorated and drags old shoes and cans making lot of noise. Other cars honk to the wedding car.

Then few tips for the guests. Usually you need to dress up fancy, but not in an evening gown. You can always ask from the contact person of the dress code if not mentioned in the invitation. There is always contact person’s details, traditionally bride’s mother as traditionally the bride’s parents pay for the wedding, to whom you have to announce whether participating or not. Usually the wedding couple has also drawn up a present list to some local store and it is mentioned in the invitation. You may buy something from the list or if you know a present the couple would love, you can also buy outside the list. Depending on the couple, children may be allowed to the ceremony and celebration or not. The celebration may last way over midnight, but you may leave after the first dance and cake. There may also be lots of alcohol served or then just few glasses of wine. The celebration depends so much of the wedding couple.

Although such a long post this time so many traditions related to Finnish wedding are still left untold. Maybe more about them in some later post.

Birthday

Birthday is quite important for many of us. It is common to think that the time of the year we are born defines us, at least in some ways. How do we then celebrate such an important day in Finland?

Of course a baby’s birth is always a big thing for the parents and possible siblings, but also for grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends of the family. The new born is greeted  with small gifts, which are either bought at first visit in hospital or home or send to home. It is custom to bring or send flowers to the mother and a small token (a soft toy like bunny or a memento) to the child.

The first birthday, 1 year old finally, can be important for the family. Parents usually invite the close relatives and godparents of the child for a coffee on the actual birthday. The child gets presents, mostly toys suitable for his/her age and quite often clothes too. 

When the child grows the presents of course change. Child may get clothes, toys, bicycle, skates, skis, toboggan, games, phone and so on. In some families the guests ask from the parents, what would the child need. And the parents can little bit co-ordinate the presents, so that the child gets suitable presents and not two same kind. It is also a nice way for the grandparents to help the family by buying f. ex. a new bike for the child.

When the child turns 3 or 4 years, comes the children parties. The parents of course decide how many friends the child can invite and where to have the party. For the younger ones the party is usually at home. For older children the party can be at home or also in some other location, like in a adventure park, on a ship, in a museum or in a restaurant. Only sky is the limit. The cost for having party outside home varies from around 15 euros to 35 euros/child + some additional costs. So easily the party costs around 500 euros for the birthday-child + 9 friends. The outside-home-locations of course arrange then the services (snack, juice or soda, cake) and the program. At home the parents usually have to arrange the program themselves. 

I have arranged this year already 2 birthday parties at home. The theme was easy both times, because the birthday hero knew what theme to have. The program was quite traditional from my childhood and the kids seemed to like it, because nowadays not so many people anymore have this kind of parties. First the guests sung Happy birthday and then the birthday hero opened the presents. The children were so exited, waiting for their present to be opened and to see what the others had bought. Then all the 11 children sat down around the table and had fun eating popcorn, chips, candies, cake, cinnamon buns and biscuits. After eating the children had almost an hour time to play together. Before heading home there was a treasure hunt and angling. First one had to find a gold coin (actually a chocolate wrapped in gold foil) and then they could fish with that coin. The coin was put on a bucket and raised over a blanket. And wow, there was a catch, some candies in a plastic bag. Just before leaving home the guests also got a balloon to take with to home.

The older the child gets usually the demand for parties grow. At some point they don’t want to have a friends’ party anymore. But when a child turns 18 and is of legal age, he/she usually wants to have a party with friends too. In Finland a 18 year old can buy wine, beer, cider and other mild alcoholic drinks from Alko (a monopoly in Finland , except for really mild alcohols, see http://www.alko.fi/en/alko-at-your-service/information-on-alko/vastuullinen-ja-palveleva-erikoisliike/) or at restaurant. So it is quite ordinary to go and buy a bottle of sparkling wine from Alko just when turning 18 and to serve it to friends at home.

As the year’s go by people celebrate their birthdays in various ways. Some throw a big party, others just when turning round years (40, 50, 60, 70 and so on) and some don’t celebrate their birthdays at all. The employer usually remembers the 50th and 60th birthday and those days are official, paid days off for the birthday hero, when on normal work day. One can place an add on the local newspaper telling everybody, that I’m celebrating my birthday on this day and you are welcome to come and congratulate at this time or to tell I shall be travelling on my birthday and wish that nobody remembers my birthday.

If having a party, then one must always have good servings. One can serve a dinner at home or in restaurant or afternoon coffee with all kinds of little sweet and salty things and then the cake. A birthday cake is a must. :) Again depending on the area in Finland the serving can be really plentiful or quite small. In my family the serving has always been plentiful and a saying has been passed on from mother to daughter quite many generations: a coffee table must have at least 7 different delicates (cake, biscuits, coffee cake, pie, pastry, birthday cake and so on).

And also adults can have theme party at their birthday. When turning 50 one can invite friends to some place and ask not to bring any gifts but the dress up like in the 1950s. :)

So what to take as a present, if invited? For a child you can always ask from parents. Usually if not a relative, the present may cost around 10-20 euros and be something you think is suitable for the child at that age. For teenagers you can f. ex. give a gift card to a local shop or to AppStore. The value should be 20-25 euros. For adults it depends of the age and what kind of party it will be. So read the invitation carefully. If the party is held in a restaurant, you can give a gift card and the value maybe around what you think the servings (dinner or just some snack) to you will cost for the host (so around probably around 50-100 euros). Or then you can buy a present: vase with flowers, crystal glasses, a memento, small painting, what ever you think is suitable for the birthday hero. Don’t buy anything too expensive. I personally think that it is really the idea that counts. It is not common to give money in Finland but the gift cards are frequently used. The Finns additionally tolerate quite much, so you cannot offend them easily.

Oh, and remember to dress up according to the occasion. To a child's birthday party you may dress quite relaxed. To an adult's party, read the invitation or ask the host. The Finns usually dress more informal than other nations. So even a dinner party in a restaurant held for somebody's 60th birthday usually require only a suit and tie you use in the office and not a tuxedo and for the women a short cocktail dress or office clothes with a little bit better jewelry. But the best way is to ask the proper dress code from the sender of the invitation.

Have a nice party!

Winter fun

Just a short post about what to do in Finland in winter, because the winter finally arrived to the southern parts of Finland just before mid of January. And the temperature has stayed below -10 C after that, most days near -20 C, with just 5 cm of snow.

Of course everybody knows the usual stuff: skiing, skating (also on lakes and sea), downhill skiing, snow shoveling and riding downhill on a toboggan or pulka. But there are lots more we can do because of the snow and coldness. Here are some examples.

If the temperature stays just below 0 C we can make snowman (lumiukko) and snow lantern (lumilyhty) out of the snow. If there is lots of snow we can even build a snow fort (lumilinna).

If there is enough freeze, preferably below -10 C, I always make ice lanterns or other decorations out of ice by freezing water in bucket or some other container outside over the night. One must be really careful, if using plastic bucket or container, not to break the bucket. The ice formed on the surface has to be broken and water still inside poured out. Then the bucket is turned upside down and little hot water is gently poured on the outside of the bucket. The icy lantern is suddenly released from the bucket and a candle can be put inside the lantern.

This year I have colored the water with food colouring and filled little plastic desert cups with the colored water. Before taking them out, I have put a piece of thread into the water and the rest of it outside the cup. When the water is totally freezed, I have taken the ice cube out of the cups and hung the ice cubes on the branches of our trees. They glint very nicely in the cold air, especially when the rays from the sun hit them.

And last but least of winter fun is of course rolling in the snow, naked. But that requires hot (above +75 C) sauna, remote location, at least 40 cm snow and preferably a clear night sky with temperature of at least -20 C, colder the better. One has to warm up in the sauna first for about 10 minutes. Then go out and let the skin cool just a little bit and then jump into the snow and roll around there for few minutes. Back to sauna for 5 - 10 minutes until one is totally sweaty again and then do it again. We can also make a hole in the lake’s or sea’s ice and plop for a ice swimming.

 

Eating on Christmas Eve

The food plays a very important role in the Christmas of Finns. So this post is going to be about Christmas Eve’s dishes. Some of the dishes date back to medieval times and even before. Of course they have been updated during the centuries.

The centerpiece of the dinner table is ham, but in some home’s it has been replaced by turkey or even a dish out of vegetables. Because this blog is about Finnish traditions and there are many different ways to eat in Finland on Christmas Eve I shall focus on my family’s food traditions. We have been eating the same dishes for decades and the recipes have been given from mother to daughter for some generations already. Mostly the Christmas Eve’s dinner is eaten in Finland at home, not in restaurants.

We eat very light breakfast, because for lunch just after the Christmas Peace has been declared at noon we eat rice porridge (riisipuuro). It is made out of white porridge rice and milk and let stew on stove for 1 - 2 hours, mixed couple of times during stewing. One pealed almond is mixed into the porridge before it is served. Everybody eating try to find the almond, because the receiver of the almond will have good luck for the upcoming year. The porridge is scooped to one’s plate, then powdered, dried cinnamon (kaneli) and white sugar (sokeri) are added on top of the porridge and finally milk (maito) is poured to the plate.

The actual Christmas Eve’s dinner is served around 5 pm before the Santa visits. The dinner consists of starters or the so called fish table, the main dishes and the of course the desert.

The fish table is filled with cold fish dishes and other cold dishes. Our tablet has the following:

gravlax (graavilohi), made out of fresh salmon or usually at our table rainbow trout by covering the fresh fish file with thin layer of sea salt, some sugar and fresh dill, wrapping it to a foil and let stay there for few days

shoemaker’s salmon (suutarin lohi) made out of Baltic herring, that has been placed to a liquid made out of vinegar, water, salt, sugar, onion, laurel leaf and pimento, the liquid is replaced few times during the about 5 days that it takes to make this dish

glassmaster’s herring (lasimestarin silli) made out of Atlantic herring, that has been placed to a liquid made out of vinegar, water, salt, sugar, onion, white pepper, pimento, laurel leaf and carrots, the liquid is replaced few times during the about 5 days that it takes to make this dish

mustard herring (sinappisilakka) made out of Baltic herring in a mustard sauce

boiled eggs

meat jelly (aladobi) usually the meat is from calf

liver paste (maksapasteija)

mushroom salad (sienisalaatti)

pickled onions (hillosipuli)

pumpkin pickles (kurpitsapikkelsi)

warm, cooked potatoes (keitetyt perunat)

rosolli salad (rosolli) that is served cold and contains cubes of cooked carrot, cooked beetroot, pickled cucumber and onion

rosolli sauce made out of whipped cream that is colored pink with vinegar beetroot liquid

rye bread, sweet dark and light Christmas bread (spiced with dark syrup, anise, fennel), milk, butter, cheese

The main course table contains then

The Christmas Ham (joulukinkku) baked in the oven for several hours, the ham weighs usually about 10 - 12 kg, incl. bone, or a ham with attached bone about 6 - 8 kg, it is cooked in the oven in 100 - 125 C about 1 - 1,5 h / kg until the inside temperature is around 80 C, let cool to under 60 C, surface is pealed off and the upper side of the ham is covered with mixture of raw egg, sugar and mustard and then fine breadcrumb is sprinkled on top of the the ham, baked in the oven in 225 C for 6 - 10 minutes until the surface has a nice brown color, then stored in fridge and served cold

carrot casserole (porkkanalaatikko) made out of rice porridge, dark syrup, eggs and cooked carrots in oven, served hot

rutabaga casserole (lanttulaatikko) made out of cooked rutabaga, dark syrup, egg, spices and cream in oven, served hot

potato casserole, sweetened (perunalaatikko, imellytetty) potatoes are pealed and cooked, then they are smashed and wheat flour is added, stewed in oven in 55 - 60 C about 8 - 10 hours, milk and dark syrup are added and then baked in oven for 2 - 3 hours at 150 C

liver casserole (maksalaatikko)

warm, cooked potatoes

ham sauce (kinkun kastike) when the ham is baked in the oven the bouillon is collected, it is filtered and cooled, some of the bouillon is taken, water added and wheat flour and heated and boiled, cream is added and let boil for just few minutes, served warm

For desert we always have plum cream (luumuvaahto) made out of cooked plums, sugar and whipped cream

After the Santa has visited we have the coffee table, which contains gingerbreads, sour milk coffee cake, mince pies (containing plum jelly) and cream cake plus chocolate cordials.

Needles to say that we have been eating excessively after even tasting all of that.

And the ham lasts about week and so do the casseroles. On new year’s day the rest of the ham is traditionally used in the making of a pea soup.

:)

Joulupukki

November went by without a single blog post from me. Sorry. But now it is finally December.

As the independence day of Finland (6th of December) is already on this week and it happens that the so famous Saint Nicolaus is having his day on the same day, I decided to write about the Finnish Santa Claus (Joulupukki).

Well we know that the Santa Claus lives in the northern part of Finland, in Lapland (Lappi) on a fjeld (tunturi) called Korvatunturi (in English Earfjeld). He is accompanied there by his wife (joulumuori), the elfs or elves (tontut) and the reindeers (porot). The Christmas elfs (joulutontut), a very special type of elfs, help Santa to make all the presents. The Christmas elfs assist Santa also by spying on the children and making a list who has been nice and who has not been.

Santa visits our homes on Christmas Eve. We actually believe that he has only one reindeer pulling his sledge. Santa leaving Korvatunturi is shown on national TV every Christmas. You can even nowadays watch it from internet

http://www.visitrovaniemi.fi/In-English/Sights/Events/Santa-is-on-his-way

On most of the Christmas’ we do not see Santa. We just hear him knock on the windows or door and then there the gifts are. He is so busy on Christmas Eve. But every year some of us get lucky and have Santa visiting their home. If we are not at home, we shall write Santa a note and leave it beside the Christmas tree, that please this year bring our presents to the following address. And imagine, he always delivers them in the right place.

Because Korvatunturi is located in the wilderness, Santa has moved some of his businesses to Rovaniemi, which is located right on the Polar circle. There is also Santa Claus Main Post Office. Read more about it here

http://www.posti.fi/english/postisservices/salesnetwork/santaclausmainpostoffice/

Want to see Santa? Click to

http://santaclauslive.com/en/

As Christmas is a Christian celebration once again, when Christianity entered Finland the old and the new were mixed. We have always had elfs. They are really small, bearded men, who can be centuries old. People believed in those elfs really strongly even during Christianity. There was one elf living in the sauna, one in the stable, one in the barn and so on. When the household was nice to the elfs, the elfs took care of the wealth and well-being of the household. Though this mixing of legends and beliefs, a character called nuuttipukki was born. Somebody dressed as a mixture of goat and man and went from house to house on January 13 (Nuutinpäivä), begging for leftovers from Christmas. He took away the Christmas and the celebrating time was over. During centuries the Nuuttipukki was transformed to Joulupukki. Still in the 1970s some of the Santas visiting homes in Finland wore mask like the Nuuttipukki  used to do. And even today if you are lucky and in Finland at the right time, you may meet Joulupukki on Christmas Eve or Nuuttipukki on January 13.

I wish you all a really nice December!

Kekri

Kekri is a very old Finnish celebration that has been celebrated since the medieval times and even before that. It has always been a time to celebrate the ending of the year and the crop that has been collected from the fields. In the old times it was not fixed on one date. Every farm usually celebrated it, when the harvesting was finished. That happened between end of September and beginning of November. In the beginning of the 19^th century it became custom to celebrate it near or on the All Saint’s Day (Pyhäinpäivä) in the beginning of November. Nowadays it is celebrated in some cities or parishes and more or less in kindergartens and schools as a competitor for Halloween. Actually Kekri is the cousin of Halloween. ;)

In the old days the hired help of the farm house got their one week holiday starting from Kekri. And the year was changed at Kekri not on New Year as it is now. After the Kekri had been celebrated on the farm the hired help (maids and farmhands) could travel to their relatives and spend some time there.

The house was cleaned well for Kekri. The tables were full of fresh food made from the just harvested crop. Soups, bread, lamb, porridge, fish. The more there were food from dawn till dusk, the better the crop would be next year. And if they run out of food, it meant that next year there would be hunger.

There were plays, singing and dancing on Kekri. Most of the people drank quite much alcohol at the Kekri party. Depending on the parish the master’s drinking ability was well followed. In some places it was thought, that if the master was well drunk during Kekri, there would be a very good crop next year. In other places it was thought that if the master drank too much or passed out due to excessive amount of alcohol, the crop would flatten next summer.

The Kekri time was the last time before next summer to get actual fresh food in Finland. The fall was time to butcher animals, so there was fresh meat. Rest of the meat was stored in salt liquid or dried. The potatoes, carrots, turnips and beetroots were fresh. Then they were stored in the cellar or preserved. The barley, wheat, rye and oat were just harvested. And usually there was still fresh milk. By Christmas most of the cows were no more producing milk.

At Kekri we can also manufacture Finnish lantern. It is not made out of pumpkin, although those can be nowadays also seen in the yards in Finland. Lantern here is called kitupiikki (cheapskate) and it is made by caving a turnip hollow, putting some lamb ‘s sebum on the bottom and inserting a thin stick into the sebum and then lightning it. It gives a very dim light, that’s why the name.

Hyvää Kekriä!

Happy Halloween!

Happy harvesting party!

Funerals in Finland

This time the post is going to be somewhat dark. Tomorrow a year has gone since my dear friend’s death. Still not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and be thankful for his friendship. I’m so glad to know that he knew how much I valued our friendship. He loved a Finnish/Russian proverb: you live as long as you are remembered. 

As sad as the topic is I dedicate this post to my dear friend. I shall remember You always.

Already in the prehistoric times the Finns buried their deceased to a wooden box. People in those days believed the coffin to be the deceased person’s home. Quite often the box was made by the deceased himself and it had served as a storage box. People also remembered and worshiped the late relatives. Advice and protection was asked from them. But they were also feared and all kinds of spells were done to prevent the deceased to come back among the living.

The arriving of the catholic religion changed the traditions but not much. Until the early 20th century some tools, jewelry or other personal items were buried with the deceased. The deceased was dressed to his/her best clothes and buried with them. During the 19th century it became custom to bury the deceased in long sleeved, long shirt.

For centuries people were buried under the floor of their church. During the 18th century it was realized that it was little crowded under the floor and people also noticed that it smelled inside the church. So at the end of the 18th century it was forbidden to bury under the church’s floor and the cemeteries, as we can see them now, were formed, usually around the church.

The funerals (hautajaiset) as such have been quite ascetic. Local priest said the prayers and blessed the deceased. The mourners (saattoväki) used to bring the food with them to the mourning house (surutalo), because the distances were long and the people had to stay in the house for a few days before heading back home. During centuries people got richer and it became custom to serve food and drink to the mourners. In a way it also reflected the status and richness of the house and showed f. ex. after the master’s death that the house would survive.

Nowadays it is custom to arrange the funerals within 1 - 3 weeks after the death. The deceased is put into the coffin in the place, where he/she had died. A hearse of the undertaker the relatives has chosen will pick up the coffin and drive to the morgue. The closest relatives or friends will follow the hearse in their own cars, thus forming a funeral procession. The coffin will be held in the morgue until the funerals.

The invitation to the funerals can be send by mail or email, write to the obituary published in a local or national newspaper or the invitation can be told over the phone when announcing about the death of that person. If the distance is not too long, everybody invited try to participate. If one cannot participate to the funerals, it is then custom to send an address (adressi) by mail or as telegram to the mourning house, so it can be read in the memorial service. The relatives may also want to have a so called closed funerals, in which case only the closest relatives will participate to the funerals and the obituary will be on the newspaper after the funerals, stating buried in the presens of the close-ones (haudattu läheisten läsnäollessa).

The funerals may be divided into two parts. First is the funeral service (siunaustilaisuus) in a cemetery chapel or local church. The coffin will be waiting in the chapel, when people arrive. A handbill is usually given when entering the chapel. The closest persons, f. ex. family, to the deceased will sit in the front row on the right side and on the left the closest relatives and then backwards. The closest people will be dressed totally in black, except little children solemnly. Other participants may use dark blue or grey in their clothes. The black is also used to honor the service and the deceased. 

The funeral service starts with a psalm or a prelude. The priest says the first blessing and introduction. A psalm is read and a confession made. Then there is a prayer read and some reading of the Bible and the speech of the priest. Then the priest makes the blessing of the deceased, a psalm, a prayer and Lord’s prayer and Lord’s blessing. 

If there is cremation the flowers will be now lowered beside the coffin. The garland will be larger the closer the people lowering it are to the deceased. Friends can also lower a nice bucket. The first one of course to lower the flowers is the widow or the closest person of the deceased present. The widow will lower the flowers on the left side of the coffin near the heart of the deceased. 

The flowers can be favorites of the deceased or symbolize his/her place of birth with their colors. And for the veterans of our wars people usually select white and blue flowers to symbolize fatherland and our flag’s colors. There is always also a card with text or if very close to the deceased a ribbon with text. The text is read out loud before lowering the flowers. Usually there is a short poem or  a verse from Bible and then a text like deeply missing (syvästi kaivaten) and the names of the persons lowering the flowers, although not all from the same family have to be present there. Then the flowers are lowered and it is custom to stand still beside the coffin for awhile. After leaving the coffin the persons will nod to the widow and family and return to their seats. After all flowers have been lowered a music will be played and the participants may leave the chapel. Someone close to the family will announce an official invitation for all present to arrive to the memorial service starting right after. The funeral service will take about 30 - 40 minutes.

If the coffin is buried right after, no cremation, it will be carried to the cemetery during the music and the flowers will be lowered at the grave. The widow and family will be first to follow right after the coffin and then the rest. The carriers are the six closest men of the deceased (close relatives, friends or co-workers). The coffin is carried feet first. When lowering the coffin to the grave, men will take of their hat, the carriers after they have lowered the coffin. A psalm can be sung. A few decades ago the men still filled up the grave after lowering the coffin, but today a scaffold is put on the grave to cover it.

The memorial service (muistotilaisuus) is then much more relaxed service. If the mourners are honored there will be food served and after that coffee and sweets (cake, buns, coffee cake). There may also be just sandwiches and cake. People eat and talk about the deceased, remember together all the good times they had had and how the deceased was and how was his/her life. A few psalms can be sung and a prayer said. Somebody close to the family or part of the family will read the addresses from those who could not be present or not invited. The memorial service will take about 2 - 3 hours.

Still quite many people in Finland follow the custom that the close relatives of the deceased (widow and close family) will dress only in black for the 40 days after the death and not wear f.ex. big jewelry and not participate to parties.

A thank you -note will be send to all of the persons, who either participated to the funerals or send their condolences in the form of an address. It also custom to remember those who send their condolences to the closed ones of the deceased, when they did not know the deceased. Meaning that if the grandmother of a friend dies, it is decent to send a condolences card to the friend and get a thank you -note back.

Christening

I have been writing about traditions relating to the certain calendar dates or times of the year. This month’s post is about christening party (ristiäiset). I wrote about choosing the name for the baby already in January, but I did not talk about the traditions relating to that celebration.

In Finland about 77 % of the population belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, about 1 % to Orthodox Church, a bit over 1 % belongs to other religions and about 21 % don’t belong to any religion group. I’m most familiar with the Lutheran Church, so this post represents the traditions related to christening a child in Lutheran Church.

Approximately 75 % of all children born in 2012 were baptized to Lutheran religion. The christening party is usually held within 6 weeks to 2 months after the birth of a child. The party can be held at home, at parent’s parish’s premises (f. ex. chapel = kappeli or church = kirkko) or at another location (f.ex. grandparent’s home). Also baptizing parties with many children baptized at the same time are still held in the church, but very rarely. A child can also get an emergency baptize (hätäkaste) just after the birth, if the survival of the child is not certain. Anyone belonging to the Lutheran church can baptize in that situation. The child, that survived, celebrates, like other children, the christening party then also later.

In the christening the child is dressed to a christening gown (usually white, but can be also of other colors) and there is usually a pink or light blue bowtie attached to the dress. 

 The christening table is covered with white tablecloth and a Bible, a candle, a white, small linen, a small bucket of flowers and a christening bowl are placed on the table.

The parents may invite only the closest relatives and friends to the christening or they can have a bigger party. Usually the coming godparents, the grandparents and parents’ siblings with their families, grandparents, aunts and uncles are invited. So there may be only priest and 5 guests including the godparents or tens of people present at the christening. The celebration is quite short with a few psalms sung, some prayers, Our Father -prayer, confession, some Bible reading and the baptizing. In the baptizing the priest takes some water from the bowl and waters the babies hair (some priest make the hair all wet, some just touch the hair with the water).

The parents choose usually 2 - 4 godparents to their child among their own siblings or from their closest friends. A godparent must belong to a christian church, that recognizes the child baptizing of Lutheran Church (f.ex. catholic or orthodox) and at least one of the godparents has to belong to the Lutheran church. A person, who does not belong to church, cannot become a godparent.

In the old days the godparents usually took the new born to baptizing just few days after the birth, depending of course of the distance to the church. So naturally a woman still lactating was often chosen as one godparent, because she could feed the child if needed during the voyage. The baptizing happened normally on Sunday after service or just before the service. The mother was usually too weak to go to the church and also for long time she was considered to be dirty after childbirth and had to be blessed before she could enter the church again.

In the middle ages the baptizing was done by sinking the baby into the water naked after which a white linen was wrapped around the baby. The linen belonged to the church. In the 17th century christening was done only by watering the head so the first real christening gowns were made. In the 17th and 18th century the dress was usually made out of silk or velvet and could also be used later as a ceremony dress on other occasions. In the beginning of the 19th century the dress was started to be made out white cotton and the christening dress, as we now it today, was born. It could be also made out the same fabric as mother’s wedding dress had been made. By the end of the 19th century the gender of the baby was told with pink or light blue color and the dress was only used as christening gown. During the 2nd World War the babies were baptized wrapped in their mother’s wedding veil or a dress made out of the wedding dress and veil.

Nowadays the dress is typically white with some pink or light blue ribbons or bowtie. Many families still have gowns in which already the baby’s grandparent or grandparent’s parent was once baptized. Many people embroider the name and the date of a child baptized in that gown on the inner side of the hem of the gown.

The white linen set on the table for drying of the child’s head can also be a linen used in more than one child’s christening in the family and also on it can be embroidered the names and dates of the children.

The Bible on the table is usually the Bible the child’s parents have been given, when wed.

Godparents bring a remembrance gift to the child, f.ex. a spoon or a plate to which the child’s name, birthday and -time and christening day has been engraved to. Other guests bring clothes or something little to the child.

After the christening is the coffee. The table is filled usually with sandwiches or sandwich cake (voileipäkakku) and with sweet bakery like cream cake, buns, biscuits and a sweet pie or tart. The servings can be ordered from a bakery or then self made.

The baby is photographed in the christening gown with godparents, parents, grandparents and often with other guests too. The parents send to all the guests a thank you -card afterwards. Quite many parents also post a notice in the local newspaper stating the name of the new born, birthdate, christening date and birthweight and -length.

25.07.

Today we celebrate the name's day of Jaakko (Jacob). Once again it has been 

originally celebrated in the remembrance of a saint and apostle James, son of 

Zebedee. He was the brother of John the Apostle. In Finland the day of Jacob 

ends the women's week. From 18th to 24th, only women celebrate their 

name's day. This is also the time of the year when the harvesting of the crops 

is beginning. During the women's week the weather has been thus very carefully 

followed and also the coming weather has been predicted from the weather during 

women's week. Of course people have been hoping for clear sky and rainless 

days, so that the harvesting would be successful. But we have a saying that the 

women are so sensitive to cry, that it always rains during women's week. If it 

rains much, it is going to rain the next 7 weeks. If it rains just few drops, 

it is going to be rainless for the next 7 weeks. This year it has not rain 

much. :)

The following women have their name's day during women's week

18.7.2013 Riikka (originates from Fredrika, Henrika, Ulrika)

19.7.2013 Sari, Saara, Sara, Salla, Salli (originate from the Hebrew name 

Sarah, meaning madam or princess)

20.7.2013 Marketta, Maarit, Reetta, Reeta, Maaret, Margareeta (originate from 

the Greek word margarites meaning pearl)

21.7.2013 Johanna, Hanna, Jenni, Jenna, Jonna, Hannele, Hanne, Joanna 

(originate from the man's name Johannes, Hebrew meaning the grace of God)

22.7.2013 Leena, Matleena, Leeni, Lenita (originate from Hebrew Magdalene, 

meaning a person origin from Magdala)

23.7.2013 Olga, Oili (originate from Scandinavian name Helga, meaning saint)

24.7.2013 Kristiina, Tiina, Kirsti, Kirsi, Krista, Kiia, Tinja (originate from 

Latin/Greek name Christina, meaning the female follower of Christ).

But back to Jaakko. What do we celebrate today. It used to be believed that 

Jaakko is throwing the cold stone to water. So after his day the surface 

temperatures of lakes are going to be cooling and the autumn is closing. The 

day of Jaakko used to be celebrated according to the Julian calendar (until 

1753), so the day of Jaakko was actually 5th of August if we move it to the 

calendar we use nowadays. That is the date when the surface temperatures of our 

lakes begin to cool according to the Finnish Environment Institute. The 

background of this celebration is the pilgrimage of the Saint Jacob and the 

throwing of the cold rock is seen to describe his sins and letting go of 

them. 

We also have a Jaakko that throws the stone or rock to the sea every year on 

his name's day. The chairman of the Finnish Unscientific Society (Suomen 

Epätieteellinen Seura) Mr. Jaakko Koskinen throws the rock to sea on the shores 

of Helsinki today at noon.

http://www.epätieteilijät.fi/ (in Finnish)

It is totally humoristic event, but a very nice way to concretize an old legend 

or myth.

The surface temperatures in our biggest lakes are at the moment in Southern and 

Central parts of Finland between 15 - 19 C, in Northern parts of Finland around 

10 - 15 C. The temperatures at the Baltic sea is around 15 - 17 C.

http://wwwi4.ymparisto.fi/i4/fin/sst/2013/N16_N18_wk29_2013_jul_15_16_18_20_21.png

Jaakko has been given to first name to Finnish males starting from the end of 

19th century to 2012 to 61.874 men. And let's not forget that also the 

following men are celebrating their name's day today

Jaakob, Jimi, Jaakoppi

The British and Scottish kings' name James was also formerly translated to 

Finnish as Jaakko. Nowadays we use the real name and do not translate them anymore 

to Finnish. For example the father of Queen Elizabeth II is know in Finland as Yrjö 

VI (George VI), but the new born prince of Cambridge is called George also in Finland.