https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/helsinki-coolest-city-finland/index.html
(CNN) — When it snows, the flakes come at you like shards of ice. There’s a biting wind that freezes your ears off. Daylight lasts only a few hours.And no one talks much. Helsinki in the middle of winter sounds like a place to avoid at all costs. A dark, brooding city that shivers under piles of snow.Maybe it was once, but not any more…
Hi All, For your reading pleasure…Lorna
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180617-why-the-finns-dont-want-to-be-happy
Celebrate Finnish Culture Day/Kalevala Day at Saima Park!
Saturday, February 23. 8:00-10:00 Pannukakku Breakfast: Finnish oven pancake, bacon, sausage, fruit, juice, Finnish coffee bread, coffee/tea/cocoa. $8.
10:15-11:30 “Finnish Center at Saima Park: The Next Generation, Workshops”Premier showing of Judith Lindstedt’s film featuring four Kalevala-themed workshops held at Saima Park in 2018:
Following the one-hour film, workshop presenters will take questions from the audience.
The film was partially funded with a grant from Finlandia Foundation National.
10:00-3:00 Ski/snowshoe! If there’s enough snow, the trails will be open to the public hotdogs, soups, pulla, and beverages will be for sale beginning at 11:30.
Reminder: The trails are open to members during all daylight hours. Park outside the gate and walk in. For conditions, call Frank Ruosteoja at 978 343-4654.
“Europe’s first national government-backed experiment in giving citizens free cash failed to encourage its participants to work more as organizers had hoped – but it did improve their well-being.
Under Finland’s two-year basic income trial, which ended a month ago, a random sample of 2,000 unemployed people aged 25 to 58 were paid a monthly €560 (£475), with no requirement to seek or accept employment. Any recipients who took a job continued to receive the same amount.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/08/finland-free-cash-experiment-fails-to-boost-employment
Keep that flag out after “War Veterans Day” for May 1st: VappuWhat is Vappu?
With its northern latitude leading to cold. dark winters, the arrival of spring has always been a welcome event in Finland and a tradition of a festival to mark the turning of the seasons dates back to pagan times.
A Finnish twist on the May Day celebrations developed in the nineteenth century when engineering students would celebrate and party at midnight on 30 April, while sporting their traditional white caps.
This custom has now become widespread across Finland, leading to almost a carnival-like partying in towns and cities with large student populations.
Festivities begin in Helsinki at 6pm on 30 April, when students will gather at the Market Square to wash the statue of a nude female called Havis Amanda, before putting a white cap on her head.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Helsinki_HavisAmanda_at_Vappu_20050430.JPG
On 1 May, students and graduates will then lead a procession through Helsinki, ending in large open-air picnics in the parks across the city. Mead and doughnuts are traditional treats on this day.
Submitted by Joyce Hannula
It marks the last time Finland was at war, the end of the Lapland War in 1945. On 27 April 1945, the very last German troops left Finland and crossed the border to Norway - then occupied by Nazi Germany.
Submitted by Joyce Hannula
Fly your Finnish Flag
Monday, March 19 for the birthday of Minna Canth
and
“Day of Equality” in Finland
Minna, born March 19, 1844, was a writer and social activist.
She began to write as a widow while raising seven children.
She became a controversial figure.
Her most important works were plays which caused scandal:
“The Workers Wife” and “Anna Liisa”
She is the first woman to receive her own Flag Day in Finland,
starting on March 19, 2007
It is also the day of social equality in Finland.
Nordic nations take top four places in happiness rankings, with annual study also charting the decline of the US
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/14/finland-happiest-country-world-un-report
(2017 ranking in brackets)
1. Finland (5)
2. Norway (1)
3. Denmark (2)
4. Iceland (3)
5. Switzerland (4)
6. Netherlands (6)
7. Canada (7)
8. New Zealand (8)
9. Sweden (10)
10. Australia (9)
“The oldest ice skates that anyone has found so far were made in Finland 2,000 years before the birth of Christ, which is to say 800 years before the Trojan War depicted by Homer in the ‘Iliad’.” These primitive devices were made from the sharpened shinbones or jawbones of cattle.” Noted in NY Times 02/04/18 by Marita
