Visiting a cemetery

It’s Christmas time, my favourite time of the year. And this year it seems that everybody in Finland are going to have a white Christmas. Let’s hope that the forecast keeps its promises.

Although the headline of this post may seem to be dark, the post is not ment to be sad. We all have ancestors and quite many of us also close ones, who are not anymore with us. In Finland we have a great tradition to remember those people at Christmas time. We visit the graves and light a candle on the grave. If we cannot visit the actual grave, we also have places in our cemeteries dedicated to the ones buried somewhere else (muualle haudattujen muistopaikka).

I think most of the Finns visit the cemetery on Christmas Eve, but my family usually visits the graves on 23rd of December. As my ancestors come from the western parts of Finland and I’m nowadays living in the southern parts of Finland, we usually take the candle to the place in the cemetery dedicated to the ones buried elsewhere. I visit the relatives graves earlier in the December.

Imagine a dark evening, with minus grades (like - 5 C), some snow on the ground (at least 10 cm), a quiet cemetery (with lots of people, but we Finns do not talk in the cemetery, we whisper or stay quiet) and candle or candles on almost every grave. The scenery is just magical. And it is definitely one of the things starting my Christmas.

When we look back in time, visiting graves and lighting a candle there is not so old tradition in Finland. It dates back to 1920s. One has to remember that Finland got its independency in 1917 and we had our civil war in 1918. So those might have influenced quite much on the tradition. To a nation wide tradition it became after the World War II. 

The young nation, not even a year old, got into a civil war and it was then decided that the deceased would be sent to the home parish to be buried, maybe because some of them were Jägers who had not been home for years and of whom the family did not know that they were actually Jägers. The Finns continued this tradition also during Winter, Continuation and Lapland War and in every parish there is a soldier’s graves for those who have given their lives for Finland. I think after the wars remembering those, who gave their lives for the nation to stay independent, and lightning a candle on their graves was important for Finns. We have to remember that there were 3,7 million citizen in Finland in 1939 and we lost about 97 000 citizens during the WWII of which about 95 000 were soldiers. That was 2,6 % of our population. 

So quite recent but a beautiful tradition.

I wish you all a Peaceful Christmas!

Pikkujoulu / 1st advent

Tomorrow we are having 1st advent, which is often called in Finland Little Christmas (= pikkujoulu). It also starts a new liturgical year.

As mentioned before we Finns are not so church going people. Very few of us visit church weekly or even monthly, but on Christmas, Eastern and 1st advent many Finns attend a service in their local church. The highlight on 1st advent’s service is singing of Hosianna, Davids son (Hoosianna), psalm 1 in Finnish psalm book.

Words in Finnish can be found here.

and psalm song by Tapiolan kuoro from here.

There are also lot more traditions related to this weekend. Those depend very much once again of our roots and of course every family have their own traditions. In my family it has been a tradition for at least last 4 generations to decorate a small Christmas tree (pikkujoulukuusi) on first advent and bake the first plum jam filled mince pies (joulutorttu). Within this weekend our home will get its Christmas decoration, except the actual Christmas tree, which will be brought in and decorated on 21st of December on St. Thomas Day.

But this is also time for companies’ to arrange pre-Christmas parties for their employees.  And friends to meet up and have pre-Christmas party. The party can be a dinner in a restaurant and afterparty in a disco or trip to Stockholm or Tallinn or maybe even to some Central-European city. Time to relax and have fun. And yes, some relax and have so much fun, than others can talk about it until the next pre-Christmas party. :) So tonight many of Finns dress-up and go out to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season either with good friends or workmates.

Hyvää Pikkujoulua!

Have a nice 1st advent!

Mikkelinpäivä

Tomorrow we shall have St. Michael’s Day (Mikkelinpäivä) in Finland. He is the only angel to have own celebration day in our liturgical year.

His day has been celebrated in Finland as long as we have had the Christian church. The archangel Michael’s day is the 29th of September and spent on that day or if not Sunday, the following Sunday. This has been the tradition since the late 18th century. Before that it was always celebrated on the actual day.

The day used to be very special for the hired help in farms. By law the hired help (maids and hinds) were given one week holiday starting from St. Michael’s day. That was usually also the day, when their contract ended and they could make contract with another farm.

The day was widely celebrated in Finland, because it meant that the harvesting was over, the cows were back in the barn and the long winter period with indoor work was starting. The shepherds (quite often young boys) enjoyed this too, because this time of year they got finally back to the farm from shepherding the whole summer in the woods and meadows. The shepherds on the shore area usually lived whole summer on an island with the herd. 

Tomorrow in most of the churches in Finland a family service is held, because angels are thought to be near the children. The day’s gospel sets child as the model of faith.

St. Michael has been quite popular in Finland. He has been the guardian saint of 10 of our medieval churches and even a city in the Eastern parts of Finland has been named after him, Mikkeli.

Back in the old times folks also used to read signs of weather for coming winter and spring on St. Michael’s day.

Mitä ilmaa Mikkeliin, sitä sitten Köyriin.

What weather on St Michael’s day, that we will get until Köyri (1.11.)

They are promising +9 C and partly cloudy for tomorrow. :)

Also it was said, that if the cold weathers have already arrived and the leaves are falling of the trees on St. Michael’s day, the spring will come early and the trees will get leaves back already on 23.4.

The Monday following St. Michael’s Day used to be called old Monday (vanha maanantai) and for long it used to be a holiday. There is even one quite markable event, that has happened on this old Monday. In 1906 the Finnish women were granted the right to vote for the first women in the Europe and third in the world after women in New Zealand and Australia.

A Bee / Talkoot

The harvesting time is here. The first hays have been harvested in the beginning and mid of July, also strawberries had to be harvest in mid July. Now it is best time to collect bilberries, hallons and currants. Apples will be ready in few weeks. So this is the best time in the year for old fashioned bee (talkoot). Back in the old days the harvesting was done much with the help of voluntary workers. The people of a village would settle dates and did the harvesting a house/day. The bee workers did not get any salary, but they got food and drink during the day.

Nowadays people arrange still quite much bees. Of course the bee is not anymore about harvesting. One can invite friends over to help with gardening, painting walls, building something, making their cottage ready for summer or winter, moving or anything else. One can have hundreds of virtual friends in the social media but the true number a friends one knows, when announcing to have a bee.

The housing company or condominium usually arranges bee annually in the spring. The purpose is to clean up the courtyards and gardens, the common areas. The finance of the different sport clubs in Finland is much based on the voluntary / bee work of the members of the club. If you want to participate in old time hay bee, that might be arranged in every July in Helsinki. The city of Helsinki arranges hay bee in the early July (this year it was on 3rd of July) at Tuomarinkylä manor. The hay is collected in old fashioned way by hoisting the hays on poles. The hay is cultivated without any pesticides or insecticides. The hay is collected from an area of about 5 hectare and used during winter as winter feed of the animals of a nearby Haltiala farm, which is also open for visitors. The bee workers are offered soup lunch and coffee. After the work is done the bee workers get to relax and wash up in the saunas of the mannor and farm.

If you are in Helsinki in beginning of September, you may want to join the harvesting bee in 6th of September at Malminkartano gardens. The are hundreds of apple trees waiting to be harvested then.

What about then private bees?

The bee workers - friends, relatives or neighbors - are not often professionals. So the bee has to be made so that everybody can do it or at least have signed duties for everybody based on their skills. Moving is a very good bee work. I have moved three times during my adult life and always managed to do it by inviting friends and relatives to the bee. I packed everything before the actual moving day. The bee started early in the morning (like 9 am) with coffee and breakfast. Then the bee workers did the actual moving and my job was to organize everything. When all the stuff was at the new apartment, I offered the workers lunch. After unpacking the stuff a few weeks later there has always been housewarming party just for the participants of the bee. Friends and relatives have also helped with construction of our house, in gardening and cutting down a tree.

I have also participated to many bees. I have been helping with moving, painting the walls, tearing down tapestry, burning trashes, picking apples and in gardening. Each time I have had wonderful time with the hosts and other bee workers.

Wedding

This week is the Midsummer (juhannus), so a very proper time to post about wedding (häät) and wedding traditions in Finland. Once again please do remember, that there are many traditions in Finland depending on religion and area, so this post is based on my knowledge and on my roots in the western part of Finland and lutheran religion.

In Finland both get a golden ring when engaged. The bride also gets a ring when wed. The ring usually has one or more diamonds. Nowadays with some couples also the husband gets another ring, but this is not traditional. I think one reason for both getting the ring when engaged lies back in the medieval times when engagement was considered as strong as marriage. Back then a spokesman (puhemies) for the groom (sulhanen) would negotiate with the father or other guardian (holhooja) of the bride (morsian) about the terms of the marriage. When they reached an agreement the couple was engaged and later the engagement was validated by marriage. Child born before the actual marriage was considered to have the same rights as child born in marriage. The marriage was not even always blessed by a priest. It was as late as in the 17th century when it became mandatory to have a priest present at  wedding and conducting the wedding so that the marriage would be legal. It was so late as 1864 when woman 21 years of age or older could marry without the permission of her father or guardian. Before that she always needed a permission. Even today quite many men still ask bride’s hand in marriage from her father, although it is not mandatory. And in medieval times the marriages, especially between more wealthier people, were mostly agreements, which purpose was to ensure alliance between families or bring more wealth to the families. In this harsh land with great distances an ally was very important.

Before getting married there has to be announcement made in the home parish of the bride. Before mid 20th century there was announcement made on three subsequent Sundays during the service. The purpose was to make the coming marriage public, so that anyone could tell, if they knew any objections to it. Today the announcement is more tradition and the incapacities of the marriage are checked out in other ways. But still it is a tradition to go to listen that day’s service and the announcement and go for a coffee to the bride’s parents’ home after the service.

The bride brings dowry (myötäjäiset) with her, nowadays not so often any more, to the marriage or like in the old days for the house she was married to. The husband gives a dower (huomenlahja) to the wife the morning after the wedding day. In the past the dower was to show appreciation to the wife and the wealthy of her new home. Nowadays it is mostly jewelry, like earrings or a necklace. In the past the wife’s dowry could be agreed to be inherited to her children after her death. The dowry could also return to her father, if she died without a heir, f. ex. to first childbirth and the child did not survive either. Additionally the bride brought with her trousseau (kapiot), which contained linen and other textile, which she had embroidered herself or with the help of the women at her home.

Then the wedding itself. Why post at this time of the year? Because in 20th century the midsummer used to be most popular time for weddings. Now most people in Finland get wed between May and September and before 20th century usually the wedding was held after the harvesting time was over, so in October to December. Also in the old days the weddings lasted 2 - 4 days. Now it takes one day.

Traditionally the groom is not allowed to see the bride during the last 24 hours before the wedding. So even if already living together many brides go to spend the last night with their parents or some friends. The bachelor parties are held much before (more about those in some other post). It is tradition that the father of the bride walks her to the middle of the church and the groom walks to meet them. The father gives the bride away to the groom and walks behind the couple to the front of the church, where he sits in the first row  on the left hand side (the bride’s side). If the bride is wearing a vail, the father can lift the vail when giving the bride, the groom can lift the vail at the altar before the wedding starts or just after the wedding before the couple turns to face the audience. The bride (especially when marrying for the first time) wears a white long dress (the pure white is traditionally reserved for the virgin brides, but nowadays also others use the pure white). The dress should cover shoulders in the church, so it may contain a shawl, short jacket etc., which can be removed during the later celebration, or then the dress is just not so open. Before the 20th century the bride’s wedding dress used to be black, because it served as the only better dress of the bride in the marriage. The groom can wear a tailcoat or a black suit.

The wedding ceremony can be long or short. It starts with entering of the couple to the altar, followed by blessing, prayer, some words from the Bible, the priest’s speech to the couple (based on the talk held few days before), the wedding itself (the questions, ring prayer, conformation of the marriage and blessing), a psalm, prayer, Our Father -prayer, blessing and ending music. Usually the ceremony takes 20 - 30 minutes. The audience stands when the bride enters the church and when the couple walks to the altar, during words from Bible and when the pair leaves the church. 

The questions can be presented in two different formats. The other format has also the words “until the death does you appart” and the other wording not. The couple can also give the ring promises (With this ring I …) but that is not traditional in Finland.

Most of our churches have great organs and many couples choose to have traditional wedding marches played when entering and leaving the church (like from Wagner, Melartin or Mendelssohn).  

Listen to some of the most popular organ and other music played in Finnish weddings from here.

Quite many couples today tour around the back of the church and enter the church again from there. Wait for the audience to go and stand in front of the church and then leave the church again in rice or other rain given by the guests. But actually this is not the traditional way, although very commonly used nowadays in Finland. The traditional way is to walk through the “rain”, when leaving the celebration arranged after the wedding ceremony. But unfortunately nowadays many wedding couples stay in the celebration until it really ends (way past midnight).

The celebration is usually held at a location (rented restaurant, manor etc.) near the church if possible. Usually a dinner is served to the guests. If a traditional wedding then the wedding couple is taken from the church to wedding photo and after that they arrive to the celebration and are greeted by the guests and congratulated with sparkling toasts.

After dinner there can be dancing, speech of the bride’s father, robbing of the bride or other games. Of course the wedding couple cut the cake (top part of it is reserved for the wedding couple and frozen and eaten at the 1st wedding anniversary) and the one (bride or groom) to first stamp on the floor, when the cake server hold together hits the plate, is the one setting the pace in the marriage. If traditional wedding, the celebration lasts for the dinner and few hours more.

The wedding couple leaves the party first and the guests wave at them. The car is decorated and drags old shoes and cans making lot of noise. Other cars honk to the wedding car.

Then few tips for the guests. Usually you need to dress up fancy, but not in an evening gown. You can always ask from the contact person of the dress code if not mentioned in the invitation. There is always contact person’s details, traditionally bride’s mother as traditionally the bride’s parents pay for the wedding, to whom you have to announce whether participating or not. Usually the wedding couple has also drawn up a present list to some local store and it is mentioned in the invitation. You may buy something from the list or if you know a present the couple would love, you can also buy outside the list. Depending on the couple, children may be allowed to the ceremony and celebration or not. The celebration may last way over midnight, but you may leave after the first dance and cake. There may also be lots of alcohol served or then just few glasses of wine. The celebration depends so much of the wedding couple.

Although such a long post this time so many traditions related to Finnish wedding are still left untold. Maybe more about them in some later post.

Birthday

Birthday is quite important for many of us. It is common to think that the time of the year we are born defines us, at least in some ways. How do we then celebrate such an important day in Finland?

Of course a baby’s birth is always a big thing for the parents and possible siblings, but also for grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends of the family. The new born is greeted  with small gifts, which are either bought at first visit in hospital or home or send to home. It is custom to bring or send flowers to the mother and a small token (a soft toy like bunny or a memento) to the child.

The first birthday, 1 year old finally, can be important for the family. Parents usually invite the close relatives and godparents of the child for a coffee on the actual birthday. The child gets presents, mostly toys suitable for his/her age and quite often clothes too. 

When the child grows the presents of course change. Child may get clothes, toys, bicycle, skates, skis, toboggan, games, phone and so on. In some families the guests ask from the parents, what would the child need. And the parents can little bit co-ordinate the presents, so that the child gets suitable presents and not two same kind. It is also a nice way for the grandparents to help the family by buying f. ex. a new bike for the child.

When the child turns 3 or 4 years, comes the children parties. The parents of course decide how many friends the child can invite and where to have the party. For the younger ones the party is usually at home. For older children the party can be at home or also in some other location, like in a adventure park, on a ship, in a museum or in a restaurant. Only sky is the limit. The cost for having party outside home varies from around 15 euros to 35 euros/child + some additional costs. So easily the party costs around 500 euros for the birthday-child + 9 friends. The outside-home-locations of course arrange then the services (snack, juice or soda, cake) and the program. At home the parents usually have to arrange the program themselves. 

I have arranged this year already 2 birthday parties at home. The theme was easy both times, because the birthday hero knew what theme to have. The program was quite traditional from my childhood and the kids seemed to like it, because nowadays not so many people anymore have this kind of parties. First the guests sung Happy birthday and then the birthday hero opened the presents. The children were so exited, waiting for their present to be opened and to see what the others had bought. Then all the 11 children sat down around the table and had fun eating popcorn, chips, candies, cake, cinnamon buns and biscuits. After eating the children had almost an hour time to play together. Before heading home there was a treasure hunt and angling. First one had to find a gold coin (actually a chocolate wrapped in gold foil) and then they could fish with that coin. The coin was put on a bucket and raised over a blanket. And wow, there was a catch, some candies in a plastic bag. Just before leaving home the guests also got a balloon to take with to home.

The older the child gets usually the demand for parties grow. At some point they don’t want to have a friends’ party anymore. But when a child turns 18 and is of legal age, he/she usually wants to have a party with friends too. In Finland a 18 year old can buy wine, beer, cider and other mild alcoholic drinks from Alko (a monopoly in Finland , except for really mild alcohols, see http://www.alko.fi/en/alko-at-your-service/information-on-alko/vastuullinen-ja-palveleva-erikoisliike/) or at restaurant. So it is quite ordinary to go and buy a bottle of sparkling wine from Alko just when turning 18 and to serve it to friends at home.

As the year’s go by people celebrate their birthdays in various ways. Some throw a big party, others just when turning round years (40, 50, 60, 70 and so on) and some don’t celebrate their birthdays at all. The employer usually remembers the 50th and 60th birthday and those days are official, paid days off for the birthday hero, when on normal work day. One can place an add on the local newspaper telling everybody, that I’m celebrating my birthday on this day and you are welcome to come and congratulate at this time or to tell I shall be travelling on my birthday and wish that nobody remembers my birthday.

If having a party, then one must always have good servings. One can serve a dinner at home or in restaurant or afternoon coffee with all kinds of little sweet and salty things and then the cake. A birthday cake is a must. :) Again depending on the area in Finland the serving can be really plentiful or quite small. In my family the serving has always been plentiful and a saying has been passed on from mother to daughter quite many generations: a coffee table must have at least 7 different delicates (cake, biscuits, coffee cake, pie, pastry, birthday cake and so on).

And also adults can have theme party at their birthday. When turning 50 one can invite friends to some place and ask not to bring any gifts but the dress up like in the 1950s. :)

So what to take as a present, if invited? For a child you can always ask from parents. Usually if not a relative, the present may cost around 10-20 euros and be something you think is suitable for the child at that age. For teenagers you can f. ex. give a gift card to a local shop or to AppStore. The value should be 20-25 euros. For adults it depends of the age and what kind of party it will be. So read the invitation carefully. If the party is held in a restaurant, you can give a gift card and the value maybe around what you think the servings (dinner or just some snack) to you will cost for the host (so around probably around 50-100 euros). Or then you can buy a present: vase with flowers, crystal glasses, a memento, small painting, what ever you think is suitable for the birthday hero. Don’t buy anything too expensive. I personally think that it is really the idea that counts. It is not common to give money in Finland but the gift cards are frequently used. The Finns additionally tolerate quite much, so you cannot offend them easily.

Oh, and remember to dress up according to the occasion. To a child's birthday party you may dress quite relaxed. To an adult's party, read the invitation or ask the host. The Finns usually dress more informal than other nations. So even a dinner party in a restaurant held for somebody's 60th birthday usually require only a suit and tie you use in the office and not a tuxedo and for the women a short cocktail dress or office clothes with a little bit better jewelry. But the best way is to ask the proper dress code from the sender of the invitation.

Have a nice party!

Winter fun

Just a short post about what to do in Finland in winter, because the winter finally arrived to the southern parts of Finland just before mid of January. And the temperature has stayed below -10 C after that, most days near -20 C, with just 5 cm of snow.

Of course everybody knows the usual stuff: skiing, skating (also on lakes and sea), downhill skiing, snow shoveling and riding downhill on a toboggan or pulka. But there are lots more we can do because of the snow and coldness. Here are some examples.

If the temperature stays just below 0 C we can make snowman (lumiukko) and snow lantern (lumilyhty) out of the snow. If there is lots of snow we can even build a snow fort (lumilinna).

If there is enough freeze, preferably below -10 C, I always make ice lanterns or other decorations out of ice by freezing water in bucket or some other container outside over the night. One must be really careful, if using plastic bucket or container, not to break the bucket. The ice formed on the surface has to be broken and water still inside poured out. Then the bucket is turned upside down and little hot water is gently poured on the outside of the bucket. The icy lantern is suddenly released from the bucket and a candle can be put inside the lantern.

This year I have colored the water with food colouring and filled little plastic desert cups with the colored water. Before taking them out, I have put a piece of thread into the water and the rest of it outside the cup. When the water is totally freezed, I have taken the ice cube out of the cups and hung the ice cubes on the branches of our trees. They glint very nicely in the cold air, especially when the rays from the sun hit them.

And last but least of winter fun is of course rolling in the snow, naked. But that requires hot (above +75 C) sauna, remote location, at least 40 cm snow and preferably a clear night sky with temperature of at least -20 C, colder the better. One has to warm up in the sauna first for about 10 minutes. Then go out and let the skin cool just a little bit and then jump into the snow and roll around there for few minutes. Back to sauna for 5 - 10 minutes until one is totally sweaty again and then do it again. We can also make a hole in the lake’s or sea’s ice and plop for a ice swimming.