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
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