Many Finnish customs are closely associated with forests, which Finns have historically seen not as dark foreboding places but rather as offering refuge and shelter. In one of Finland’s signature literary works, Seven Brothers, 19th-century writer Aleksis Kivi depicts the socially inept brothers’ flight to the protection of the woods. Today, on weekends and during holidays, Finns flee from urban stress to their forest summerhouses.
Other customs associated with trees and wood are alive and well in Finland. Bonfires are lit at Midsummer, the doorways of houses are decorated with birches, and leafy birch whisks are still used in the traditional wooden sauna. On Easter, mämmi, a pudding made from malt and rye flour, is traditionally eaten from containers made of (or made to resemble) birch bark. In late winter, while snow covers the ground, birch branches are brought indoors to remind the household of the coming spring.
Although Finns consider Santa Claus to have his permanent home in Korvatunturi, in northern Finland, the spruce Christmas tree is a relative newcomer to the country, having made its first appearance in the 1820s. Now the Christmas tree is a fixture of Finnish Christmas celebrations, which also involve special foods, including rice porridge (made with milk and cinnamon), a baked glazed ham, and a potato and carrot or rutabaga gratin. The holiday is not complete without a Christmas sauna bath.
New Year’s Eve is celebrated with private and public fireworks displays. Large crowds also gather in Helsinki’s Senate Square to hear speeches and music. Perhaps the most-interesting Finnish New Year’s Eve tradition is the melting of tin: small bits of tin (or lead), usually shaped like horseshoes, are melted and then thrown into cold water, with the resulting shape or its shadow interpreted as a symbolic harbinger of the future.
Another of the most important holidays in Scandinavia, Midsummer—which celebrates the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice—is known in Finland as Juhannus (a name that is derived from the feast of St. John the Baptist). The solstice falls on June 20 or 21 and is officially celebrated in Finland on the Saturday that falls between June 20th and 26th, with the three-day weekend national holiday beginning on Friday, Midsummer’s Eve. Typically, the celebration involves music, dance, and the lighting of bonfires, as well as trips to the country for city dwellers.
Vappu, which effectively combines the celebration of Walpurgis Night and May Day, is yet another important holiday in Finland. The celebration of that holiday, which dates to at least the 18th century, begins on the evening of April 30, usually with merrymaking related to the drinking of alcoholic beverages, and continues the following day, including more family-related activities.
Wood is an essential component of the typical Finnish sauna, which is almost universally constructed out of birch or other sturdy wood beams. Bathers sit on wooden benches, splashing water on the hot stones of the stove and whisking each other with birch branches, just as their ancestors would have done millennia earlier. Traditionally, the sauna was a sacred place for the Finns, used not only for the weekly sauna bath but also for ritual purposes. This was particularly the case for those rituals performed by women, such as healing the sick and preparing the dead for burial. The sauna was also used for doing laundry and for key farming activities, such as curing meat and fermenting and drying malt. Given its importance to the farm economy, it is logical that the sauna was originally built within the enclosure surrounding the farm’s outbuildings. The current placement of most saunas on a lakeside or coastal inlet goes back only to the early 20th century, following the fashion of the gentry’s villas.
For a long time the sauna (whose name comes from a Finnish-Sami word) was usually heated only once a week, because it took a whole day to prepare it to stand several rounds of bathers (with men and women bathing separately). Many Finns believe sauna baths provide healing for the mind and body, and they are taken with almost religious reverence. Although not playing the central role it does in Finnish culture, the custom of sauna bathing is also widespread among the other Finnic peoples in the Baltic region—the Estonians, Karelians, Veps, and Livonians—as well as among Latvians and Lithuanians.
Wooden sauna, Finland.© 300dpi/Fotolia
The arts
Finland’s national epic, the Kalevala, compiled in the 19th century by the scholar Elias Lönnrot from old Finnish ballads, lyrics, and incantations, played a vital part in fostering Finnish national consciousness and pride. Indeed, the development of almost all Finland’s cultural institutions and activities has been involved with and motivated by nationalist enthusiasm. This theme can be demonstrated in the growth and development of Finnish theatre and opera, in literature and music, in art and architecture, and also in sports. The festivals of various arts, held annually at places such as Helsinki, Vaasa, and Kaustinen, and Finland’s many museums show an awareness of the individuality and importance of Finland’s contribution to world culture. Savonlinna, in particular, is celebrated for its annual opera festivals. Theatre, opera, and music
Drama in Finland is truly popular in the sense that vast numbers act in, as well as watch, theatrical productions. Besides the dozens of theatre companies in which all the actors are professionals, there are some in which a few professionals or even the producer alone are supplemented by amateur performers. And there are amateur theatrical companies in almost every commune.
The country’s most important theatre is the National Theatre of Finland, established in 1872 with Kaarlo Bergbom as producer and manager; its granite building in Helsinki was built in 1902. There are also several other municipal theatres. One of the most exciting in the country is the Pyynikki Open Air Theatre of Tampere, the revolving auditorium of which can be moved to face any of the natural sets. There are innumerable institutions connected with the theatre in Finland, including the Central Federation of Finnish Theatrical Organizations. There is a wide repertory of Finnish as well as international plays. The Finnish theatre receives some degree of government assistance.
The main centre for opera is the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki; the Savonlinna Opera Festival takes place every summer. The international success of Finnish singers such as Karita Mattila, Jorma Hynninen, and Soile Isokoski has added to the continuing national enthusiasm for opera. Several Finnish operas, including The Last Temptations by Joonas Kokkonen and The Horseman by Aulis Sallinen, gained notoriety in the late 20th and early 21st century.
The dominant figure in Finnish music during the first half of the 20th century was Jean Sibelius, the country’s best-known composer, who brought Finnish music into the repertoire of concert halls worldwide. Other renowned composers include Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, and Einojuhani Rautavaara. The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki is a world-famous centre of musical study. The city is also the location of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The Sibelius violin competition and Mirjam Helin song competition are held there every five years. There are annual music festivals in Helsinki and several other cities. Internationally known Finnish conductors include Paavo Berglund, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Osmo Vänskä. Literature