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by Marja-Leena

Happy St. Lucia Day!

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This young maiden dressed in white with a red sash and a wreath of candles on her head brings light to the northern darkness! I wrote about this Swedish-Finnish tradition a year ago, so if it’s new to you, please visit that post.

Finnish blogger-friend and writer Anna Amnell posted photos of the Santa Lucia parade in a rainy (!!) Helsinki. Note the girl with a crown of candles on her head representing Santa Lucia. Anna also wrote an article about Lucia that Finnish readers will enjoy.

Another blogger-friend Dave Bonta has a unique and beautiful view of the saint of light with some incredible photos of light patterns! Don’t miss this one.

December 13, 2006 in Culture, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric by Marja-Leena 3 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Happy 89th, Finland

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Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää to Finland and my Finnish readers!

On December 6, 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Finland declared its independence. On this date, 89 years later, Finns are celebrating their country’s Independence Day. If you are interested in learning a bit more about my birth country, please read my post of last year, plus this nicely updated history in Wikipedia.

On an unrelated note except for locale, have you listened to the Helsinki Complaints Choir? It makes me smile. I first saw this a few months ago and have noticed it’s been making the rounds of the blogosphere lately.

PS. The Choir is also viewable on YouTube, should you not have QuickTime on your machine. There’s a bit of background info, too.

December 5, 2006 in Culture, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, History by Marja-Leena 17 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

wombat’s world

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A rock painting at Astuvansalmi, Finland. Photo by Kate Laity (enhanced by me to bring out detail)

As you know, I’m intrigued by Finnish connections. A while back, through the wonders of Technorati, I checked out a link back to my blog from a post called Touching Ancient Finland.

The writer was going to Finland to see the Astuvansalmi rock paintings! I learned Wombat’s World is the “blog for medievalist K. A. Laity, author of the novel Pelzmantel: A Medieval Tale, who is “Currently working on Unikirja, a collection of short stories based on the Kalevala, Kanteletar, and other Finnish myths and legends”.

Well, that piqued my attention, so I delved a little deeper and learned that American Kate Laity has Finnish roots. I began to follow her blog for reports on her trip: Terve from Helsinki and Finland recap. Many of the sights she visited were familiar to me, but not the rock paintings in real life, so these excited me the most.

Impatient to see some of her photos, though I knew Kate Laity was busy with a new teaching post this fall, I emailed her to ask if she would be posting any of them. Kate and I have enjoyed some nice “conversations”, both being keen about our Finnish connections. Her photos of the boat trip to see the Asuvansalmi rock paintings are now up and I’ve enjoyed browsing through them several times, reaffirming my desire to make that journey myself! She kindly sent me an essay ‘on traveling in search of ancient Finland’ that is being published in New World Finn. Here are a couple of excerpts:

For the past couple years, I have been at work on a collection of stories influenced by The Kalevala, the ancient mythology of Finland. At the back of my mind, however, was a big worry. How could I write about ancient Finland, when I had never been there? […] How then to get a sense of this lost past? Naturally enough, a visit to modern Finland would be a good place to start. I was fortunate that the generous folks at the Finlandia Foundation found my journey a worthwhile exploration to fund. Their gift allowed me to go in search of the world of Finnish mythology this past August.

While I would very much enjoy my visit to the National Museum’s exhibit on ancient life in Finland, and I was thrilled to find Kivikäs’ book at the Academic Bookstore in Helsinki, the memory of the visit to the rock paintings has stayed vividly in my mind. It has sent me back to my stories with a new zeal for authenticity, and it has helped me to reshape some of the narratives to better reflect that glimpse of the ancient past. It may be a world lost to us now, but I hope my stories–buoyed by my taste of ancient Finland–can give readers a window on that distant time.

I’m so happy to have met Kate and I’m looking forward to the completion and publication of her Unikirja (a Finnish word meaning dreambook) and must find her novel Pelzmantel: A Medieval Tale.

By the way, Kate refers to Kivikäs’ book, which I also own and wrote about a while ago.

P.S. Off the subject a bit, something else I learned at Wombat’s World is about a Finnish/Chinese movie Jade Warrior. According to the gorgeous website, Jade Warrior combines kung fu with the Kalevala, ancient China and modern Finland. It was shown at the recent Toronto Film Festival (it did not get a good review) but does not appear to be at the currently running Vancouver International Film Festival, so the chance that I would ever get to see it seems small.

October 9, 2006 in Blogging, Books, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Folk Legends & Myths, Rock Art & Archaeology by Marja-Leena 11 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Finnish knitting lesson

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(Still from The Last Knit by annekeAnna)

Talk about obsessive-compulsive, this animation is extremely well-done and hilarious.

Thanks to my husband for finding our evening’s laugh medicine. Enjoy!

September 25, 2006 in Films, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Neat stuff by Marja-Leena 13 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Modern Finnish Ruins

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Photo: Air raid shelter of Rettig, Turku, Finland – Tuomas Romu

Abandoned buildings, derelict factories filled with incredible old machines sitting alone in the dark halls with their power turned off for good, or nearly collapsed sawmills rotting silently away in the forest, being reclaimed by nature are the best, most authentic and interactive museums of industrial archaeology and local history.

For several years I have searched, explored and photographed these ruins of the modern world, the slow deterioration and decay of forgotten space. This site is a collection of information and photographs of such places.

These are not the scenes of the beautiful Finland I know. Each black and white photo of a ruin in Tuomas Romu’s gallery opens to a series of more exploratory photographs in colour. These gorgeous photos find beauty even in dying buildings and abandoned mines, even in their eeriness.

(Thanks to Finland for Thought for the link.)

August 31, 2006 in Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, History, Photography by Marja-Leena 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

August

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The days are still very warm but there’s a very noticeable change to the light. With shorter days, the sun’s angle is getting lower, shadows longer, evenings cooler and the nights heavy with dew. In the park, yellow leaves on the ground, fallen early due to drought, give a distinctly fall-like air. I remember my mother often saying to me that this time of the summer is Mätäkuu, when food quickly begins to rot, a term common to pre-refrigeration days. In my kitchen, the fruit flies are quick to appear with any slightest bit of ripe fruit in the bowl and in my compost pail under the sink.

August is the month of my late father’s birthday (he’d now be 86 if alive), and just now it dawned on me that his name, Kusti, is derived from Augustus, after whom this month was named. I’d not made the connection before between his name and his birth month. (This month is called “elokuu” in Finnish.) According to Nordic Names, Kusti comes from the Swedish name Gustav, which was also the name of a few Swedish kings including the present one. Then at Behind the Name I find that Kusti is the pet form of Kustaa or Aukusti, the Finnish form of Augustus.

This makes me smile. You too, Dad?

And I see that while I’ve been doing my own ruminating here, there’s been a wonderful conversation on August and summer holidays over at Cassandra Pages, and there are some great poems on August at Via Negativa. Enjoy these last days of summer!

PS. Dave, in the comments below, reminded me that there’s another “August” post written by Leslee at 3rd House Journal. I’d enjoyed it earlier and maybe that inspired my own nostalgia.

August 20, 2006 in Being an Artist, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Home by Marja-Leena 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

Fiskars Village

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The Fiskars Granary

Funny how one thing leads to another, especially on the net. A while back I had bookmarked for future study an exhibition announcement in Art Daily called ‘Fiskars Art Center presents Remix-Rethought’. Fiskars? The Finnish scissor company? Yes, and there is a place in Finland called Fiskars that I didn’t know about. This tickled my Finnish funny bone.

I found a lovely website for Fiskars Village. It was founded in 1649 and today is known as a center of craft, design and art in a beautiful valley in Southern Finland. I enjoyed the virtual walk around the village and its beautifully restored historic buildings. The village site lists news and the many exhibitions and events.

Some interesting history here! When the old Fiskars Ironworks (est.1649) ceased during the 1980’s the town became uninhabited. The beautiful surroundings and vacant premises lured a number of craftsmen, designers and artists to the village. Eventually they formed The Artisans, Designers and Artists of Fiskars Co-operative. They hold numerous high quality exhibitions that have witnessed growing attendance numbers.

This year the main exhibition is the Remix-Rethought exhibition that I first read about in Art Daily. There’s also an exciting touring exhibition in Japan, Fiskars Design Village. The Artist Residency program for foreign craftsmen, designer and artist professionals also sounds very tempting.

Finnish readers will enjoy this lovely article by Eija Mäkinen* about Fiskars’ artists, artisans and designers. (*Update: this site no longer exists so link has been removed.)

So, guess what town we are going to visit on our next trip to Finland? I think I’d be tempted to move to Fiskars, and it’s not far from Helsinki!

July 14, 2006 in Art Exhibitions, Culture, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric by Marja-Leena 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

midsummer dreams

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Photo: stonehenge.co.uk

If I were in Finland right now, I’d be celebrating Juhannus at someone’s summer cottage by a bonfire next to the water.
Many Finns start their summer holidays this week.
I remember one year celebrating ‘midsommer’ first in Denmark, then in Sweden and at last in Finland!
If I were in Lapland* or the Yukon I’d stay up all night watching the sun never set.
If I were in England, I’d be at Stonehenge for the pagan ritual of watching the sun rise through the alignment of the standing stones.
If I could I would make the summer solstice a holiday in Canada too (another northern nation), so we can all mark the passage of the seasons and the ancient rituals of our ancestors, thus capturing a little of the magic of the past.
But I can and do wish everyone a happy summer solstice! Hauskaa Juhannusta!

(* expired link, thus removed)

June 21, 2006 in Culture, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric by Marja-Leena | Tags: ,
7 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

June 1, 1906

For some time I’ve been thinking about mentioning some fascinating Finnish history that I’ve been reading at Virtual Finland**. Guest writer Hank at Finland for Thought beat me to it with the following:

1.6.1906 was a significant date in the Grand Duchy of Finland.

His Excellency, Nicholas the Second, by the grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, Prince of Estonia, Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth had ratifed one of Europe’s if not the World’s most modern Parliamentary systems of the time. Finland changed from the most ancient four-chambered estate diet with a 10% population allowed to vote to a unicameral parliament with universal suffrage – women were first time in the world allowed to run for parliament as well as vote. (New Zealand had allowed voting for women 1893 but not to stand for election originally). The voting age as eligibility to run for office was 24 in the 1907 elections (it was lowered to 21 in 1944, 20 in 1969 and 18 years in 1972.) The first Finnish Parliament had 19 women voted for office, 9,5% of members.

Today (yesterday in Finland) the Finnish Parliament celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary in a special session also attended by a large number of international guests. Read more…

What amazes me is that this was able to take place while Finland was under Russian control. I wonder how many Finns, especially bloggers, are aware of this special event? Is my pride showing?

** Sadly Virtual Finland no longer exists. It has been replaced by ‘This is Finland’ but links don’t apply.

June 1, 2006 in Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, History by Marja-Leena 2 Comments »

by Marja-Leena

beauties vs beasts

03 Finland Left 2006
(Lordi – Photo from Eurovision)

The first that I ever heard of LORDI was in an email about two weeks ago from fellow-blogger Anna in England: “Lordi lordi, whatever next? I really think that you should do a piece about these guys…we are  about to be deeply shocked apparently.” I wrote back, “I’m missing something here… what guys? what’s shocking?” Then Anna sent me this link. Ohh!

So, Lordi is the monster heavy-metal band that is representing Finland in this year’s Eurovision song contest. I must say I’m not a fan of heavy-metal rock. I first heard their entry Hard Rock Hallelujah at BBC (via Pinseri). The Lordi members are from Finnish Saame (Lapland) and credit Kiss for their inspiration. They have never appeared without the heavy grotesque makeup and costumes nor revealed their true identities.

What got me interested in them initially is this mystery, a hint of Lord of the Rings, the “Arockalypse” (as they post on their homepage) and the pyrotechnics in their huge performances – is it clever marketing? The huge media coverage Lordi is getting seems to indicate success, just look at the blogs, online news in Finland, the UK and Canada including the CBC, and print news such as even our conservative Vancouver Sun with two articles “Monster-rock band has even fellow-Finns feeling horrified” and “Euro songfest’s easy-beat challenged”. (That’s enough links already, eh!)

Lordi was voted in as one of ten finalists, a first ever for Finland, both elating and upsetting many conservative Finns. The finals of this 50 year old contest are presently underway as I write this, and I’ll be back as soon as I know the final results of the voting.

UPDATE 3:45 pm PDT – FINLAND WINS! Learned first at Pinseri, then Finland for Thought (great photo here). The Eurovision site is slow updating, guess the Finns have been watching TV into the wee hours!!

LATER: BBC has a report and list of runner-ups.

ADDENDUM: May 21st: Lordi is now in Wikipedia in English and Finnish. (Thanks to blogisisko)
AND the feedback from Helsinki’s main newspaper: Helsingit Sanomat where there are also some great photos

May 24th: Lordi-mania is still humming away, though I said to myself that I wouldn’t write anymore about this. However an interesting article about lead Tomi Putaansuu and his labour of love is too good not to share. Also, read the comment and question from Anna Amnell below – anyone have an answer?

May 20, 2006 in Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Music by Marja-Leena 16 Comments »

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