The flag of Finland

Today is the Commemoration Day of Fallen Soldiers (Kaatuneiden muistopäivä) in Finland. In 1940 Marshal of Finland Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim gave an order that the 3rd Sunday of May shall be celebrated in memoriam of those, who gave their lives defending Finland in Winter War (Talvisota) and in the Civil War (Sisällissota). Nowadays we honor all the people, who have given their lives defending Finland. The day is honored by visiting the war graves and also flagging with national flag. Until 1995 the flag was flown half-staff between 10 am and 2 pm. Between 8 am and 10 am and 2 pm to 9 pm the flag was flown in full-staff. Nowadays it is flown in full-staff all day (8 am to 9 pm).

The flag of Finland is white with blue cross. It is a rectangle. Its height is 11 units and length 18 units. No markings are allowed to be made on the flag and it always has to be clean and intact. Old, broken flag has to be destroyed by burning or cutting it in so little pieces, that it cannot be recognized as a flag anymore.

Finland did not have own flag until after the declaration of independency. Before as a national flag was first the Swedish national flag and then the flag of Russian Empire. But Finland has had its own national coat of arms since the 16th century. The coat of arms is the yellow/golden lion on red background. The lion has a crown, stands on a saber and holds on its right, armoured hand a sword. There are also 9 silver roses on the coat of arms. This coat of arms was many times used instead of a national flag. The idea of a national flag rose in 1848 when our national song, Our land (Maamme), was first presented in public on 13th of May in Helsinki. There were many suggestions for the national flag, including red flag with yellow cross. No national flag was yet decided. The national flag became topic again after the declaration of independency. In May 1918 the look of the national flag was decided and ever since the national flag of Finland has been white with sea blue cross. The white can be seen resembling the white summer nights or the white snow during winter and the blue reflecting the blue summer sky or the thousands of lakes.

Every Finn has the right to flag, it is not an obligation. There are 6 official flagging days annually plus the days when there are official election held and the day of the inauguration of the president. Additionally there are 13 established flagging days in Finland. These have been marked on the calendar, but they are not official. 

The official dates are

28.2. The day of Kalevala (Kalevalan päivä) also called the day of Finnish culture

1.5. May Day (Vappu), the day of Finnish work

The second Sunday of May, Mothers’ Day

4.6. The Flag Celebration Day of the Defense Force, the Birthday of C. G. E. Mannerheim

The Saturday between the 20. and 26. of June, the Midsummer Day (Juhannuspäivä) and the Day of Finnish Flag 

6.12. The Independence Day of Finland

A Finn can flag every time he or she has something, that require flagging, f.ex. birthday, wedding, christening. The flagging starts at 8 am and ends when the sun sets, by the latest at 9 pm. The flag is not allowed to be left on the pole for the night except on Midsummer. Then the flag is hoisted at 6 pm on Friday and taken down the following day at 9 pm. That’s the night of midnight sun. On Independence Day the flag can be hold on the pole until 8 pm, if it is lit after 4 pm.

When a person dies there is a half-staff flagging. The flag is then flown in half-staff on the day of death or on the next day, if the death has occurred late in the evening. On the funeral day the flag is then pulled to half-staff and raised to full-staff after the funeral service has been held.

The flag has to be always treated with dignity. It may be washed and ironed, but it is not allowed to let dry outside on the clothesline. The flag has to be hoisted and lowered peacefully and it is not allowed to touch the ground. The pole has to be seen from the main road and, if on the back yard, seen also over the house. In apartment buildings the pole has to rise to the third floor’s height. The height of the flag is about one sixth of the pole’s height. So the flag needs to fit to the pole. 

When half-staff flagging is held the flag is first hoisted to full-staff and then slowly lowered to half-staff, meaning to the height of about one third of the pole. Then the lowest corner of the flag is about in the mid of the pole. The state can order a national half-staff flagging day due to an incident that affects the whole nation. In the 21st century this has been done at least in 2004 after a bus disaster in Konginkangas (23 people were killed and 14 injured) and the Tsunami on Indian Ocean (178 Finns lost their lives), in 2007 after a school shooting at Jokela, Tuusula (9 people were killed) and in 2008 after a school shooting at Kauhajoki (11 people were killed).

Vappu

The April is over and the last spring month is closing awfully fast. This year the weather has not prepared us for the coming summer so far. It still is very windy and cold with temperatures near 5 - 10 C even during the day. The snow has melted.

The 30th of April is called Vappuaatto (the May Day’s Eve) and day after that of course Vappupäivä (the May Day). The celebration of Vappu starts on 30th of April.  The people (students or other), who have done their matriculation examination and have gotten their “white hat” (this year’s high school graduates will get their white hat only at the end of May), will start celebrating Vappu, when for example in Helsinki a statue called Havis Amanda has been washed and gets her own hat at 6 pm. Around Finland at 6 pm the hat is put on and the sparkling wine or champagne bottles are opened. In quite many cities a statue also gets washed and has a cap during the evening. 

Some people celebrate only on Vappuaatto by eating potato salad and sausages, drinking sparkling wine, cider or champagne and having doughnuts (without hole, filled with jam and covered with sugar), funnel cakes and sima for dessert.

On May Day then the students and other people with white hat start their day by eating outdoors in a park despite of the weather. The workers (or some of them) gather together and march through the city holding their flags. The marches were much more popular back in 1970s and before that. 

It seems that I have been focusing more on the eating side of our traditions, so why not do it also this time.

So as a main course we eat sausages, potato salad, meat balls and french fries. Sausages and meat balls are quite often ready made as well as usually the potato salad. The french fries are bought from the grocery’s freezer but they are not made in the oven, like the instructions suggest on the bag. They have to be deep fried in vegetable oil (f. ex. canola or sunflower oil).

As a dessert we have then funnel cakes, doughnuts with jam, maybe also donuts and of course sima. The doughnuts are actually buns that are deep fried in cocoa butter. They taste the best when still little warm. The funnel cakes are also made deep frying. The dough is poured into the hot oil as a very thin string and pattern is made at the same time. It is fried until it gets a nice brown colour. The ready cakes are taken out of the oil, let cool down and the slightly covered with powdered sugar.

a funnel cake

Sima is a very old traditional drink made in Finland for centuries. It is mead. And it is as best when home made. Sima was made already during the Viking times in Scandinavia. It contained quite much alcohol back then. The scandinavian mead was gradually replaced by the wines entering to Scandinavia from Central Europe. 

The making of sima as we now it today in Finland dates back to 18th century. Then it was only made by the rich people and in the mansions in Finland as it contained lemon which was expensive and not grown in Finland. It is more sweet and contains much less alcohol (only about 1 V-%) than the old traditional scandinavian mead. And it does not contain honey any more.

sima

The making of sima starts about one week before Vappu. What is needed is 8 litres of fresh water (best if boiled first), 500 g normal white sugar, 500 g demerara (= brown) sugar, juice of 1 lemon, 1 lemon pealed and cut in slices, some dark syrup, some fresh yeast (about ¼ of a teaspoon), raisins and some more white sugar. The warm water and the sugars (white & dark and the syrup) are mixed together and the lemons are added. The mixture is allowed to cool to about 37 C. Then the yeast is added and the mixture is mixed throughly. The mixture is allowed to stay in the room temperature about 12 hours. Sima is filtered and bottled into clean bottles (preferably out of glass) with 1 teaspoon of sugar/one liter and some raisins. After 6 hours the bottles are taken into the fridge or some other cool place with temperature under 10 C. The sima is ready within one week. It is ready when the raisins have rosen on top of the sima. It tastes absolutely wonderful and may have some alcohol in it, because it made by brewing. So don’t give it much to children.

Of course the children also celebrate Vappu. They get their nice folio balloons, whisks, horns, spinning tops and maybe even some masks or funny wigs.

Have a nice May Day!

Hyvää Vappua!

Watch the Havis Amanda get her hat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V17_cuJBvQ4

Spring and tires

The spring should be here and actually is not. We still have about 40 cm snow, but the ground can be seen in some places. The nights are still cold with temperature near -5 C. The days have been little bit warmer during this week, temperature around +3 C. Next week maybe also the nights are going to be over 0 C.

Here this time of the year is a bit problematic, especially if owning a car and using it daily. The law says we have to change the winter tires to summer tires by the latest a week after Easter. This year the Easter was quite early and the spring is late, so the police is making announcements, that please you need not to change your summer tires yet. It is perfectly alright still to have the winter tires. Some people of course changed the tires as soon it was allowed and now they are hoping that the roads won’t be very slippery in the morning.

I think in quite many families this is the time, when the most interesting discussions about the car are held. It would be nice to have the summer tires on. No more noise from the spikes of the winter tires. Let’s picture it like this in a normal Finnish family:

- The roads are getting dry and I’m going to wash the car this weekend, so I shall also change the tires, husband says.

- Are you sure, the spring is not quite yet here? wife replies.

- I’m sure, it has been over + 3 C for awhile already, at least these couple of days and I’m washing and waxing the car anyway, husband corresponds.

- Okay, so do it then, wife says.

The tires are changed and the car is washed. Everything goes fine and the husband is very pleased with himself.

A week later forecast promises some snowfall and degrees under 0 C for the night. The wife is a little nervous.

- Darling, should you change the winter tires back. I need to leave tomorrow quite early, wife asks.

- No, no need. It will melt before you leave in the morning and I don’t believe it is really going to be snow and frost, husband replies.

5 am in the morning the wife wakes the husband up.

- Darling there is about 5 cm snow on the ground and the temperature is -1 C, she says.

- Okay, I shall go and change the tires, husband replies, leaves the warm bed and goes out in the cold and almost dark morning and changes the tires. He swears that next year he shall wait a bit longer before changing the tires to summer versions. And never does he actually remember that. :)

And this will happen again in the fall. The questions, do I need the change the tires already? can I wait for few more weeks? is there going to be snow already? do I need the car early in the morning?

Of course quite many people, especially in the city areas have a service changing the tires and storing them. This time of the year is really hectic in such services and it is really difficult to get a time for maintenance or ad hoc tire changing.

I personally keep the winter tires until late April. Usually everybody else already have their summer tires. And in the fall I’m one of the first to change back to winter tires. So I’m playing it safe, but the winter has never surprised me. :)

Here is some info about car tires and requirements in Finland by Liikenneturva (Traffic Safety) 

http://www.liikenneturva.fi/tietolehti/2008_englanti/ruskeat/car_tyres.php

And then a guide to driving in Finland by Finnish National Traffic Police (Liikkuva poliisi) and TISPOL 

https://www.tispol.org/guides/finland.pdf

Eating on Easter

The Holy Week is here and the groceries are full with chocolate Easter Eggs, lamb, pasch (pasha, an Easter desert made out of quark and found in the Easter table of a Greek Catholic family) and of course the traditional Finnish Easter dessert mämmi, which is made out of water, rye flour and malt and flavoured with dark sugar syrup and sour orange (pomeranssi, Citrus aurantium) peel. The making of this rye dessert is quite difficult and demands lot of time. So I prefer buying it ready made.

But let’s start with the main course. It is traditional to eat lamb and home made cheese, egg-milk and blood sausage on Easter. Nowadays the lamb can be found in many tables on Easter. As a dessert we eat mämmi or pasha. 

Mämmi is often served also to the foreigners happening to be in Finland at the time of Easter. I admit it may look awful, but served with the right accompaniment it tastes quite good. And not even all Finns like it. Never try to eat it warm, without cream and sugar. Mämmi is one of my favourite Finnish desserts, but I never eat it warm or as such. Mämmi has to be cooled to fridge temperature (around + 3 - 4 C) and covered with sugar and almost drowned with cream. If ever in Finland that’s a dessert one has to experience. A foreign friend of mine tasted mämmi after it had travelled on room temperature almost a day to the tropic and of course served as such. I well understand, why my friend is now quite reluctant to try mämmi again. ;) The Finns have been eating mämmi since medieval times in Western parts of Finland.

Then we of course have the Easter eggs. They can be real, boiled eggs, only egg shells, chocolate eggs or even eggs made out of gold and jewelry. The most beautiful, non eatable Easter eggs have most probably been made by P.C. Fabergé and his goldsmiths in St. Petersburg f. ex. to the Russian Tsar and his family. Quite many of the goldsmiths working in the Fabergé’s factory in St. Petersburg were actually Finns. :)

What about then the eggs, that we can eat? The variation of chocolate Easter eggs is huge. Some of them contain a little toy or other surprise in them, some are hollow and made out of chocolate and then there is the Mignon Egg.I personally prefer Fazer’s Mignon egg. It has been manufactured for 117 years. Karl Fazer brought the idea of the egg from one of his business trips to Germany. It has been made since 1896 and it is still one of the most selling Easter Eggs in Finland. Also the Russian Tsar and his family enjoyed this eatable egg. According to Fazer, this year they are manufacturing 1,5 million Mignons (and there is 5,4 million inhabitants in Finland). The Mignon is solely hand made. To a genuine, emptied egg shell a mass of mandel-nut-nougat is poured and the tiny hole in the egg shell is sealed with sugar mass. One Mignon weighs 52 g. 

From the following link you can find a video of the making of Mignon.

http://www.fazer.fi/Tuotteet/Suklaa/Mignon-muna-viehattaa-paasiaisesta-toiseen/Mignon-muna-kasityona-alusta-loppuun/

Before eating the Mignon one can also paint it. The painting of real, boiled eggs or f. ex. Mignons is a nice tradition we also have. The children are taught quite young to paint the Easter eggs. What is needed is boiled egg, emptied whole egg shell or a Mignon. The surface is then painted with watercolors. The style is free. The egg can be decorated with only one color or multiple colors. It can have pictures, texts or patterns. The decoration is fun doing for all, independent of age.

And on 1st Easter Day, next Sunday, if the weather is not cloudy, I shall wake up at just after 5 am and go to see the Easter Sun dancing. ;)

Happy Easter!

Hyvää Pääsiäistä!

Palm Sunday (Palmusunnuntai)

It has been a while since my last post. The Lent (paasto) is quite uneventful time. Of course not many people these days anymore fast. And actually this can be the best time of the year in Finland. We still have lots of snow (80 cm this year) also in the Southern parts, the days may be sunny with few minus degrees and the nights awesome with crystal clear sky full of stars and temperature near -20 C or even below that. A good time to go outdoors: ski, skate, take long walks in the bright sunlight. Additionally the mornings and evenings are getting brighter and longer. But back to the post’s topic.

The Easter time is closing up and the Lent is soon over. Next Sunday we are celebrating Palm Sunday (Palmusunnuntai). And there is a reason why I post this a week in advance. At least week before Palm Sunday we have some things to do, if we want to celebrate the Palm Sunday according to Finnish traditions.

First we dress up, take garden shears and go for a walk in the woods. There we seek some young birches (koivu) and cut branches from them, naturally we have asked a permission for that from the owner of the forest. We also look for willows (paju). The willows already have catkins (pajunkissa). We cut few branches with catkins and head home. At home we put the birch branches into water and after a week we shall have very small leaves and can decorate the branches. The willow branches can be left on the table without any water. There is one more thing to do. We take some soil and plant some grass seeds on it, cover them with clear plastic, place in light and keep humid. On Palm Sunday there shall be nice green grass (rairuoho) to decorate.

On Palm Sunday we decorate our house with bright yellow (to mark the sun, the spring and joy) and green (marking new growth, spring and hope). We may also use some violet (to remind us about the sufferings of Jesus and repentance we should feel). The grass gets small, usually yellow chickens and white bunnies. On the branches of the birch we put  some birds, feathers and small witches. Yes, witches. They have bright colored clothes, a broom, a cat and also a coffee pot. To the same vase we add tulips and daffodils in bright yellow and red.

On Palm Sunday we have even a tradition for the children. Its roots are in the Eastern Finland, and also somewhat in the Western Finland. Young children are dressed up as Easter witches. The children make so called wicker (vitsa), with which they virpoa (wave the wicker) a person and read a poem at the same time. The poem wishes good luck, good health for the coming year. The wicker is given to the person and the child gets a reward, usually a chocolate Easter egg. The wicker is made out of willow branch with catkins and decorated with colorful silk paper rosettes. The children tour around in the neighborhood from door to door. It resembles the Halloween tradition of children in USA.

Originally the wickers were blessed in a service in Orthodox churches on Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday. Then on Palm Sunday the children would wave the wickers to their family or relatives to remember the palm leaves salute done to Jesus and to bless their close-ones in this way. The “pay” (palkka) the children got, could be collected only on Easter after the Lent was over. The children were not dressed up. 

In Western Finland the people believed in witches (pääsiäisnoita or trulli), who would fly in the night between Good Friday (Pitkäperjantai) and the following Saturday and try to curse the house and steal the livestock, because the protection of God was at the lowest due to the death of Jesus on Good Friday. People lid up bonfires (kokko) to keep the witches and bad spirits away. At some parishes lonely women living outside the society would dress up as witches and scare the residents of the parish.

So actually two totally opposite traditions, the good blessing done by the Orthodoxes with wickers in the Eastern parts of Finland and the cursing done by witches in the Western parts of Finland, have nowadays been combined into the same tradition done by children. Many people don’t remember any more the original traditions. Especially the Orthodox Church has tried to tell about their original tradition and how it should be celebrated.

Right or wrong? Mixing old traditions? Maybe, but the children have fun. Most of them are dressed up so cutely and well. And I get beautiful willow wickers, with which I can decorate my house. And I get to see the joy on the children’s faces when they get to choose from the chocolate eggs I have reserved for them.

Virvon, varvon.

Tuoreeks, terveeks.

Tulevaks vuodeks.

Lahja sulle, palkka mulle.

Have a peaceful and sunny Easter time!

12.02.2013 Shrove Tuesday

Today we celebrate Shrove Tuesday (Laskiaistiistai) in Finland. Once again a tradition, that  originates from catholic habits. The fasting before Eastern starts tomorrow, so people used to eat well and celebrate today before the fasting.

Nowadays we go sliding. We take our sledges, or actually it is a pulka or a toboggan (pulkka) and ride down hill on it on the snow. It is really fun. And it is not just for the kids or young adults. People from every age group does it. In the old days people used to shout long flax (pitkiä pellavia) while sliding down hill. With that people hoped for a good flax crop in the summer. The flax fibers would be longer, if the pulka would glide far.

The university students usually have some great parties on Shrove Tuesday. First they go sliding and afterwards go f.ex dancing in the evening. The best sliding team is awarded with something. University of Turku student association is also having a happening today.

http://www.facebook.com/events/324382254345004/ 

(there is also the text in English, just slide down a little bit ;) )

After spending few hours gliding (pulkkaillen) we go inside and have for lunch pea soup (hernekeitto), a soup with peas and onion and pork meat, and as a dessert some hot juice (kuuma mehu) or hot chocolate (kaakao) and a bun (pulla). The bun is a Shrove bun (laskiaispulla). It is made like a normal wheat bun. After baking it is cut horizontally in half and filled with whipped cream (kermavaahto) and either strawberry jelly (mansikkahillo) or almond dough (mantelimassa). The filled bun is then placed on a deep plate and slowly hot milk, spiced with some vanillin sugar, is poured around it. Then it is eaten with spoon.

Liukasta Laskiaista! (Slippery Shrovetide!)

25.01.2013 St. Paul’s Day

In Finland we celebrate our Name’s Day (nimipäivä). When a child is born, his or her name has to be informed to the authorities within 2 months of the birth. The child can have one to three names plus surname. The parents choose the names from old family names or names they like. The name has to be appropriate. A girl cannot get a boy’s name and vice versa. The written form of the name has to be according to the national language regulations. The name is not allowed to be offensive. Usually the child is given a first name, that can be found from the Finnish name day calendar.

The name day calendar is published by the University of Helsinki and it is updated every five years. A new name is added to the calendar, when at least 500 people has been given that name. Quite many people celebrate their name’s day, for example by taking some biscuits or buns to their workplace or inviting close friends or relatives to home for coffee and some sweets. Children get some small gifts from their parents, grandparents and other close relatives. There are only two days during the year, when nobody celebrates name’s day: Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

The name day calendar is originally based on the catholic saints’ calendar, where every saint had their own day. After the Catholic religion came to Finland, the Finns started to give their children names according to the saints. Before the names were more related to nature, like Morning (Aamu), Evening (Ilta), Wind (Tuuli) or Bear (Kontio), or to characters the parents wished for their child, like Shooter (Ampuja), Power (Valta) or Knowledgefull (Tietävä). The reformation came to Sweden-Finland in the 16th century, but the tradition to spend name’s day did not vanish. 

Before the end of the 19th century also quite often the name of the child was decided by the priest baptizing or a first born son was given the first name of his father. At the end of the 19th century also names, that were not based on Christian names were started to be added to the calendar. During the years of Russian Empire’s oppression quite many Finns changed their Swedish or Russian names to its Finnish form. Just after the Independency in the 1920s and 1930s many people also changed their Swedish or Latin based surname into its Finnish form or took a new Finnish surname.

Nowadays in the name day calendar mostly on a day there are only manly or womanly names. In some day’s there are both names, like the 19th of January, when we celebrate the names of Heikki, Henri, Henrik, Henrikki (all man’s names and Finnish versions of Henric or Henrik) and Henna, Henni and Henriikka (woman’s names and based on the woman’s name version of Henric, so Henrietta or Henrika).

On the 25th of January we celebrate Paavo, Pauli, Paul and Paavali (all man’s names and based on the Latin name Paulus, that means small or humble). This day is thought to be the day, when Paul the Apostle (apostoli Paavali) converted to Christianity.

In the old traditions there is a belief, that the mid of winter is reached at the day of Saint Paul. So now the days are getting brighter and half of the snow has snowed. The old folks also believed, that on Paul’s day the bear is turning around in his nest and people had to have at least two thirds of the food left, otherwise they would be hungry before the new crop. People also expected cold for this day, because it would mean a good crop in the summer and warm summer. 

The weather now at Helsinki-Vantaa airport

http://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/weather/helsinki?parameter=4&map=weathernow&station=100968 

The calendar office of the University of Helsinki

http://almanakka.helsinki.fi/

New Year's Eve

Tomorrow it is once again New Year’s Eve (Uudenvuodenaatto). We are saying bye-bye to the old year and welcoming the new year. In Finland the change of the year is celebrated in quite many ways, which most are the same as around the western world. We have the fireworks. We celebrate the coming year with our friends and family by eating well, having fun together and playing or dancing.

We also have an old tradition, that dates back to the 18th century. The tradition came to Finland of course from Central Europe and Sweden and was first only done by the gentry, but as early as in 19th century it became also common among the commonalty.

We cast tin. Nowadays the metal is mostly lead and only very small portion of it is tin, but still today we cast tin. The casting is usually done during the New Year’s Eve, before the year is changed. We take a very small scoop made out of metal and place it above heat source (usually on electric stove not fire though), put a horseshoe shaped metal item on the scoop and let it melt. After it has melted, the scoop is emptied quickly in to a bucket filled with cold water. One has to be really careful when pouring the liquid metal into the water. First of all the melted metal may splatter and one may get melted metal on skin. It burns a lot and makes bad damage in just few seconds. It should be wiped away before putting cold water on it. Otherwise only the surface will cool and there will still be hot metal against the skin. Secondly it will bring bad luck, if the melted metal is not poured continuously. The metal cools instantly when in the cold water and forms different kind of shapes. 

When all have casted their tins, it is time to read the new year’s fortune or events from the shapes and forms of the tins. If the tin has lot of rough surface, the caster will get money in the new year. If the tin has lots of shiny and even surfaces, the caster will have peace and good fortune. The form of the tin tells many stories; horse or ship shape means travelling, ring wedding, broken ring divorce, star good fortune. The shape of the tin can be interpreted as seen or then the tin can be held in candle or lamp light and the shadow will be interpreted. Everybody can let their imagination fly and usually we get good laughs, when interpreting the tins.

Happy New Year 2013!

Hyvää Uutta Vuotta 2013!

24.12.2012

Christmas Peace

It is Christmas, finally I like to add. This is the best time of the year, in my opinion. We have many traditions relating to Christmas and spending it. The traditions vary quite much depending from what part of Finland the ancestors are. And of course quite many people spend their Christmas making new traditions of their own. 

In Finland the Santa Claus visits on Christmas Eve. Maybe because he lives here and likes to start his journey from his homeland. :) This post however is about the Christmas Peace.

Every year on the 24th of December the Christmas Peace is declared in Turku, the old capital of Finland. There is markings, that the Christmas peace has  been declared in Turku as early as in the 1320s. Nowadays text and tradition date back to the 17th century, when queen Christina of Sweden-Finland gave her declaration to the citizens of Turku. 

The ceremony is started with a psalm (Jumala ompi linnamme), which original text was written by Martin Luther (Martti Luther). It has been sung in the beginning of the Declaration from the early 20th century and was first sung as protest in the most difficult years of Russian regime’s oppression against the Finns. The declaration is given after the clock of the Dome of Turku has stricken 12. The declaration is read in Finnish and in Swedish. Then our national anthem Maamme-laulu is sung both in Finnish and in Swedish, after which the marching band of the Navy (Laivaston soittokunta) plays the March of the Men of Pori (Porilaisten marssi). The Christmas Peace is supposed to last until the 13th of January, which is celebrated as the day of Nuutti (Nuutin päivä) in Finland.

Only few times during the century the Christmas Peace has not been declared. That has always happen due to the threat of war or other danger. These times have been in the 18th century during the Greater Wrath, when Finland was occupied by the Russian Empire’s troops for many years, in year 1808 due to the Finnish War, in 1917, when the nation had just declared her independency and was on her way to civil war and in 1939, when the Finnish troops were forced to start a counter-attack in the front line against the Soviet Union’s troops on the Christmas Eve.

The whole event is broadcasted in our national TV and also in Radio. Nowadays it can even be followed on the web. It is very widely followed by the Finns.

My Christmas starts from the Declaration of Christmas Peace.

I wish you all a Merry and White Christmas!

The psalm 

http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumala_ompi_linnamme (in Finnish)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mighty_Fortress_Is_Our_God (in English)

Maamme

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maamme (in English)

Porilaisten marssi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porilaisten_marssi (in English)

The Christmas Peace declaration in 1962 in Turku

http://yle.fi/elavaarkisto/artikkelit/joulurauhan_julistus_16350.html#media=16356 (in Finnish)

13.12.2012

Lucia’s Day (Lucian päivä)

This time I write about a Finnish-Swedish tradition, that has been mostly celebrated among the Finland’s Swedish speaking population. In the recent years the day has become more popular also in the Finnish speaking schools and kindergartens. 

The tradition is based on the legend of Saint Lucy, who lived in the Sicily in the 3rd century. She was a Christian martyr. Her name is derived from the latin word lux, lucis meaning light. She is the patron saint of blind and visually impaired. Her feast day is on the 13th of December and she is said to bring the light to the darkness.

Her celebration dates back to 17th century. In the monarchy of Sweden-Finland the 13th of December was also the day when school work was over and the Christmas vacation started. This celebration has also been connected to the German way of celebrate child Jesus (Christkindl). Quite many Scandinavian traditions have been influenced by the German traditions.

The first official Lucia maidens were celebrated in the beginning of the 20th century in Finland. A few years after the WWII a maiden has yearly been voted by the public for Lucia maiden. There is also charity connected to this voting. This year the money collected goes to support senior citizens, who are involuntarily alone. 

The Lucia maiden is crowned in the cathedral of Helsinki on the 13th of December. She is dressed in all white clothes and has a red belt. On her head she has crown with candles and she holds also a candle in her hand. After the coronation she appears on the steps of the cathedral of Helsinki and then she tours around the city center of Helsinki.

See pictures of Lucia’s celebration (in Swedish)

http://www.folkhalsan.fi/lucia

06.12.2012

06.12.2012

The Independence Day of Finland

Today I wanted to write about a beautiful manner, that still lives quite strongly in Finland. Even today quite many families light up two candles on a window in the evening of our Independence Day. It is a very nice way to celebrate and honor our independency.

But it has once been so much more. Today with this manner we also remember and honor the young men who once left from Finland to Germany to get a military training in the German Army. They left because they wanted to free Finland from Russia.

Finland made her declaration of independency in the 6th of December in 1917. Before she was part of the Russian Empire. Between 1915 and 1918 a few thousand young men were secretly recruited in Finland and send via Sweden to Germany to get the military training. When they returned, they thought they would fight against the Russian troops and free Finland and give her independency. Instead they found themselves in the middle of a civil war. After the Finnish civil war in spring 1918 many of these men became officers in the young nation’s army.

But about the candles. The Russian regime knew that most probably there was some movement and young men leaving Finland. So they tried to stop this kind of movement and “fleeing” abroad. The Finns needed to have a signal, how to tell those young men that a house was safe to enter and that a traveller would get food and a place to sleep. To mark the house safe the people started to light up two candles in the evening on one window. And the young men knew that to this house they could go safely.

So tonight at 6 pm when I light up the two candles for two hours I celebrate our independency and honor the Jägers (jääkäri in Finnish), who all sacrificed so much so that we could live in an independent nation. At the same time I also remember all other Finns, who have given their lives in defending our independence.

Read more about the Jäger moment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A4ger_Movement

This blog

I have always been very fond of history and especially the way people used to live back in the old days. I love to walk around in a medieval castle and imagine, how people hundreds of years ago walked in the same aisles and lived their lives there.

For over a decade I have had a very close friend, who was always fond of Finnish customs: the way Finns used to live in Finland, what kind of traditions Finns have had, how  Finns used to celebrate the holidays and how the Finns still celebrate all the holidays we have during the year. I was more than happy to tell about the Finnish manners.

This year I lost my dear friend. The Christmas is closing up. It has always been my favorite time of the year. Now I don’t have my friend any more to whom to tell all the stories and customs of us Finns. Then somebody close to me suggested to me, that why wouldn’t I put up a blog and write about all the things I used to write to my friend. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to start a blog.

So here it is. Don’t expect me to make a post every day or even weekly. I promise I try to post a new entry at least once a month. 

My roots are in the Western parts of Finland, which most probably can be seen in my posts. The way I represent the Finnish manners and customs are of course my personal view of them.

I do hope You enjoy reading the posts as much I enjoy writing them.