Hyv�� Juhannusta!! Happy Midsummer!!

Living in Finland is great.  There are a tonne of holidays here that do not get celebrated in North America.
One of these holidays happens to be Midsummer.
It's always placed on a weekend, the Friday being the Eve of Midsummer and everything closes by 12pm on the Friday.  Buses stop running by 1pm and everything is closed on the Saturday.

Last night I got a message from some friends to go check out the huge bonfire that was being lit across the lake - so I packed up one child and went downtown to see.

In order to get closer to the fire you had to pay for a ticket...but we did this last minute - so we didn't bother.

I was told that Midsummer is considered a very magical day.
If you hope to find true love - it's very traditional to pick 7 flowers and place them under your pillow before you fall asleep on Midsummer Eve and whomever you dream of that night is your true love.

There are some other methods but they usually involve being naked and running around or spinning in circles and such....

People tend to go away to their summer cottages for Midsummer and of course slap themselves (and each other) silly with birch branches tied together in big bundles.

Another thing that is pretty common (and is very unfortunate) is to drink quite a bit and go out on a boat and if you really have to pee - and can't make it to land on time, some people pee while standing up in the boat.  Unfortunately, if you're drunk enough - you might fall in and possibly drown.

It's one of the major causes of death during Midsummer celebrations...the numbers seem to have gone down - but still it can and still happens.

So don't drink and paddle!

"Pancake Tuesday" - the Finnish version

This past Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday, but in North America it's often known as "Pancake Tuesday".
So what do you do for Pancake Tuesday?  You eat pancakes.  Yep...with lots of butter (or margarine because let's face it - butter is pricey in North America!!) and maple syrup.
Traditionally, pan cakes were served with coins or other sorts of surprises cooked into them...can you imagine?  What if you lost a tooth on a coin....or worse, swallowed it?!

Well, it's not "Pancake Tuesday" in Finland... but they do have a special food to eat on Shrove Tuesday!
They are called Laskiaispulla!
Pulla is defined as any kind of sweet bread or buns in Finland...not something you would use for a lunch-time sandwich!
I'm typically not a huge fan of pulla because it tends to be super heavy but while visiting a good friend of mine, she showed me them...and all I could see was whipped cream.
(All I could think about was WHIPPED CREAM!  And not think about how tight my pants are already...)

I took one look and asked my friend politely, "How in the world do I eat this without getting it all over myself?"
She told me she likes to eat the top piece then work on the bottom like a donut.
Okay, so NOT like a burger filled with whipped cream and strawberry jam.

These ones have strawberry filling and some have slivered almonds on top...or just whipped cream.

Unfortunately, these are not baked with coins.

A Bit About Finnish School.......

Last Thursday (Feb. 16th), I happened to be downtown and about to cross the street to get to the pedestrian walk-way, when I realized that I couldn't quite cross because there were line ups on both sides.
At first, I was thinking : "Oh!  A protest!  But nobody's yelling and there's no signs or sandwich boards hanging off of these people..."
Then I thought something horrific had happened and there was a car/pedestrian accident and someone was seriously hurt or dead...and with snow on the ground and fresh blood...I know - my imagine ran wild.
Then I saw that there was absolutely nothing, traffic was going as usual, just not many people were crossing the street.
I looked both ways and went across...then I got brave and asked the first relatively young person I saw (and hoped spoke English) what was going on.
He thankfully spoke English and advised me that the 2nd Year students are about to have a Reading Holiday break, today was the last day of classes and then they are to study for their final exams in mid-Spring.
The students will be paraded up and down the downtown area via trucks and they will toss candy out to waiting passerbys and it's typical tradition.

So here's what I saw:

Waiting for the trucks to drive by again and some are bravely picking up candy and watching to make sure they don't get hit by a truck or other vehicle!

Some people wore masks...or dressed as a Nun.

They did it!

Some dressed as Pippi Longstocking (she's from Sweden by the way), a cheetah, a Viking...the list goes on!

Pretty sure Finns know what "ASS" is in English.

Why not bring a light saber?

The costumes were fun!

Even Sponge Bob came along!

The Mario Brothers and Wario...

So these soon-to-be graduates do not get a prom.  They write that final exam and graduate in May/June and then move on in life or into higher education.
The day after, (this parade of students is always held on a Thursday) the 1st year kids who will graduate next year (hence they're in their 1st year program) get dressed up in super fancy tuxedos and dresses and have their ball.
I happened to be downtown again today but without my camera, and saw many beautiful dresses and many handsome tuxedos and suits!
Traditionally the ladies wore old-fashioned dresses, but now it's been changed up a bit and it's more of a "prom"...and the 2nd year kids are the 1st year kids "slaves".
They get teased a lot and that's pretty much the extent of it from what I understand.

Why do the 1st year kids get a prom?
Because they are celebrating entering their final year of school.
Seriously.

In North America, prom is held for those that are graduating high school (completion is grade 12 - all grades are compulsory and average graduating age is 18 years old) and is held normally before the actual graduation ceremony.  (Or at least that's how mine worked).

Congratulations to all those kids in the trucks!

Just For the Ladies!

Let's talk ladies about the best way to get free fabric to make yourself a fabulous skirt!


This February there are 29 days, as opposed to 28 - and it only occurs every 4 years.
Some know it as Leap Year (the year that the extra day occurs) and some know it as Leap Day.

What's the big deal?

Well, it's the day that everybody considers a little odd and backwards - so of course, the tradition of a man asking for a woman's hand in marriage is nixed and it's the woman who can propose to the man!
I know - it's not entirely a "Finnish tradition" but I'm getting to it!

So if the man says "Yes! Joo!" - great!  Get planning and congratulations!

But what if....what if the man says "No thank you.  Ei." ?!?!?!?!
That man has to buy you some fabric for a skirt!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know what you're thinking and hundreds of single Finnish women have done it too....
Start proposing to every single man you know - and you'll have a brand new wardrobe of skirts!  (You only get the fabric - so you better be good with thread and a needle or have a very loving friend to sew it for you!)

Finnish women do this on purpose and I can't blame them!!  If I could sew and was single - then I would definitely be sending out emails to random strange men and go wild with skirt patterns! HA!

Now, one hilarious thing that my friend told me about, was from 1956-1981 there was a man Finnish President named Urho Kekkonen and after his wife passed away in the 70's...all the ladies sent him a proposal request.
He denied all of them BUT he sent them all fabric and has never re-married!

There ya go...advice on a new wardrobe AND a love story (sort of)!
Have fun proposing!

*Huge thanks to my friend Arja who told me all of this so I could blog about it!*