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.