Juhannus / Midsummer

Today we celebrate midsummer eve (Juhannusaatto) in quite quiet Capital district. Yesterday there were lots queues on the roads leaving from Helsinki and the Capital district. People head to their cottages or to the cottages of their friends or relatives. To tourist Helsinki seems to be very quiet city tonight and strange because it is going to be bright the whole night. The sun is setting tonight at just before 11 pm and it is rising again at bit before 4 am. So there is not going to be dark at all and additionally they are promising clear or just a bit cloudy sky. The temperature is now almost 22 C and in the night it is going to be around 15 C. During midsummer’s nights we may even get to see the super moon in Finland. If the sky really stays clear like it is now, the full moon is going to look bigger than normally during the night. This due to the fact that the moon is now closest to earth in its orbit.

The finnish midsummer is full of old traditions, but this time I decided not to write about them. Maybe next time. Just few words about midsummer nowadays in Finland.

Very many Finns spend their midsummer with friends, family or relatives at a cottage. They barbecue food, drink alcohol and go to sauna. Some people go to the music festivals arranged throughout Finland. And very few of us stay home, if living in a city.

The midsummer weekend is often considered to be the “darkest” weekend during the summer, especially if the weather is good like it is this year. Last year 10 people lost their lives by drowning during midsummer. In year 2012 altogether 104 people drowned in Finland and 23 of them in June. So every 3,5 days a person dies by drowning. During midsummer 10 people in 3 days. If we compare it to the lives lost in the traffic, it is a lot, although we live in a land of thousands of lakes. During 2012 255 people lost their lives in Finland in traffic.

But if we stay in Helsinki, what can we do here. The shops close by midday. And most of them open the next time on Monday. The restaurants are open, at least many of them. Then we have the amusement park Linnanmäki and of course our zoo Korkeasaari. To see a bonfire (kokko), which is very Finnish, we can go to Seurasaari. It is an island very near Helsinki and they have a midsummer celebration there every year. The main bonfire is litten at 10 pm from a church boat (kirkkovene). The bonfire is built on a raft on the sea. Every year a couple is wed during midsummer celebration at Seurasaari and they get to light the bonfire. 

http://www.seurasaarisaatio.fi/midsummer-bonfires-/

It used to be very popular to get married on midsummer and even today it one of the most popular times among the couples.

The following picture have been taken about an hour ago on one of the main roads leading out of Helsinki. Usually there is at least few cars any time of the day or night.

Maternity package

I just have to make a short post of a very important tradition or actually a benefit we have in Finland. The BBC News Magazine wrote about it yesterday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22751415

Let’s start with the history of maternity clinic system. The maternity clinic system was developed by doctor Arvo Ylppö back in the 1920s. First it focused more on taking care of the children between 0 - 6 years of age, so before school. The importance of such clinic was obvious, because in the neighborhood of the first clinic the infant mortality was reduced in 3 years from 15 % to 3 %.  Quite quickly they also started to pay attention to the pregnant mothers and their wellbeing. In 1944 after the WWII the laws about maternity and child health clinics came into force and obligated the municipalities to arrange the service for the inhabitants.

The law about the maternity grant was set already in 1937 and the first packages given the following year. First it was only for the poor mothers. The reason for such packages was to get the pregnant women to come to the check-ups and to bring the child too after birth. Before the act the infant mortality was quite high. In year 1949 the maternity grant was given to every pregnant women in Finland. Nowadays a pregnant woman can choose weather to have the packages or a compensation in money. In order to get the maternity grant the pregnant woman has to visit her local maternity clinic regularly, 12 - 15 times during the pregnancy and the first visit has to be before the end of the 4th pregnancy month. The package contains clothes for the new born, diapers, a toy etc. See the content of the package from the following link.

http://www.kela.fi/web/en/maternitypackage

Like the article by BBC says quite many Finnish children sleep their first nights at home in the maternity package’s cardboard box. Almost every first-time mother takes the package and only about one third of all pregnant women choose the money (now 140 €). The package is roughly worth of 300 euros.

Due to the maternity grant, the maternity clinics, child health clinics and monthly child benefit the infant mortality is among the lowest in the world, around 0,4 %. Almost every (99.7 %) pregnant woman visits the maternity clinic in Finland and almost all (99.5 %) children have their check-ups at the child health clinics.

And we also have the long maternity leave, which usually starts 30 weekdays (about 5 weeks) before the child is expected to born and lasts for 105 days. The mother may choose to stay home additional 158 weekdays. During that time the mother will get a compensation in money which is calculated based on the incomes. F. ex. a mother with 36000 euros yearly income will get 111 euros for the first 56 days and almost 85 euros a day until the 105th day. The compensation for the additional 158 weekdays is 92,5 euros for the first 30 days and after that almost 85 euros a day.

The mother can stay home until the child is 3 years old without loosing her job. She will get her job back, if she returns right after the basic leaves (the child is then about 11 months) and usually she will get the old job back even when going back to work after the child is 3. If mother stays home until the child is 3, the employer has to have a job for her, but not necessarily the old job but the salary and benefits has to be the same than before the leave.