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