TRACES OF TIMES PAST When Finns talk about their history, they often describe how the sparsely populated wilderness strived for centuries as the wild frontier between the East and the West. The inhabitants, used to surviving in the woods and rowing on lakes, sometimes suffered from the wars raging on their borderland, but on the other hand, they often enjoyed the benefits of cross-border trade and cultural interaction. Memories of the borderland are many. The Olavinlinna fortress in the present-day city of Savonlinna stood on its island and towered over a swiftly running strait. It was a significant military power factor in the late Middle Ages. In the country where the harsh winter and marshy land stopped all other means of transportation, whoever controlled the waterways held the power. Nowadays, even the army of ancient Egypt boasts behind the walls, as Verdi’s “Aida” is often performed at the world-famous Olavinlinna Opera Festival. 2
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When you arrive in the capital, Helsinki, from the sea, you meet a defence wall of stone. The name of the fortress offers a glimpse into Finland’s history: in Finnish, it is Suomenlinna (Castle of Finland); in Swedish, it is Sveaborg (Castle of Sweden). 4
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Finland changed from an agrarian society to an industrial country with astonishing speed, in only a couple of generations. Elderly Finns have experienced their source of bread changing from a stony field to a red-bricked factory. Industry sprang up wherever there was hydro power. The city of Tampere rose by the Tammerkoski rapids, which connect two large waterways. 6
Early industry made efficient use of the few riches to be found in the northern country. The forest, fittingly named green gold, was cut down for building material and boiled into pulp to make paper. People became experts in handling the metals found in the ground. Today’s production is entirely different, such as the world’s largest cruise ships and smartphones. 7
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For long, Finland’s cities were mere clusters of wooden buildings. The reason was clear: there was an almost unlimited source of wood. Houses were also heated with wood. It can be viewed as Finnish inventiveness that the masters of their time decorated wooden houses by carving forms that looked like stone pillars and masonry. One of the best preserved wooden cities is Rauma, which has been designated a World Heritage Site.
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Geographically, Finland is almost an island. Merchants had to know the risks of seafaring and understand warehousing. The most important product stored in the red-ochre shore-line storehouses of Porvoo was salt. Without it, fish and meat could not be traded before the era of the freezer. Porvoo was the scene of a pivotal event in Finnish history, when the Russian Tsar declared at the Porvoo parliament meeting in 1809 that Finland, separated from the kingdom of Sweden, would rise “as a nation among nations�.
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Finland’s most renowned castle watches the mouth of the Aura River in Turku, which was the second-most important city of Medieval Sweden. In the 1500s, future king of Sweden John III lived in the castle. His struggle for power with his half-brother, Eric XIV, could have been straight from a Shakespearean drama. Turku had to give up its status as capital when Russia conquered Finland. Turku people still half-seriously grudge the matter. Stubbornly they still call the Turku Cathedral, which stands by the Aura River, the centre of Finland’s spiritual life.
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Fires scourged densely built cities in Finland and all over Europe. Only one city block of Turku was left untouched by fire. Nowadays, it is an esteemed handicraft museum.
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The bedrock of Finland is the oldest and most stable in the world. The landscape was shaped by the ice ages, which carved and flattened the terrain like a giant plane. There are no high-peaked, sharp mountains in Finland. Hikers can feel with their fingers the lines that the several-kilometre thick mass of ice carved into the rock 10,000 years ago. Having been released from under the weight of the ice, the land in Finland is still rising, in some places even up to eight millimetres each year. On Finland’s coast, a farm’s worth of land rises from the sea every year.
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The forest, waters, and solid rock are the basic elements of Finland. Finns often refer to them when they describe the inner landscape of their souls. When these three elements are all present, Finns, who often have poetic tendencies, experience deep emotions. A prime location for sentimental moods is by the famous Kiutaköngäs rapids in Kuusamo, where the river roars through a severalhundred-metre-long gorge it has cut through the rock. The rock types found at Kiutaköngäs are not typical to Finland’s bedrock. The most common rock is granite, which is a valued building material due to its strength and beauty when it is polished. 20
Finns have always admired the tough dwellers of the wilderness who endure the long, dark, and cold winter to wake up to the joy of the short northern summer. The farmer who cleared fields in stony and frosty land was a hero. The word “sisu” (=perseverance, guts) has acquired legendary status as a descriptive word for persistence. This young pine is also full of “sisu”, staying green in temperatures below -40°C, having driven its roots into cracks in the rock with hardly any soil.
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Finland’s landscape varies from the flat fields on the west coast to the rugged fells of the north. One of the most photographed lake areas is Koli in North Karelia. Another traditional nature tourism area is the fell region of Kilpisjärvi in Lapland.
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CITY LIFE Finland, just like the other Nordic countries, has no single city with over a million inhabitants. However, together with its neighbouring cities, the capital, Helsinki, forms a metropolis with a population of over one million, and its liveliness makes it a worthy component to many European cities. The central locations of the country’s government, culture, and business, can be found in the Helsinki region. The largest Orthodox Church in Western Europe is the Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki. It is a memento of the era when the Russian Tsars ruled Finland. The architecture of the capital city centre also shows characteristics from that Imperial time. This was noted during the Cold War, and Helsinki acted as St. Petersburg in many Hollywood movies. 26
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Many Finnish cities are typically lively in the summer, but in the winter, they doze off to a small-town idyll. One of the most attractive summer towns, alongside Porvoo, is Pori, host of Finland’s most important Jazz Festival.
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When Finns want genuine scents and atmospheres, they get their daily groceries from a market hall. The market hall of Oulu is right in the city centre, by the seashore and the market square. There the shopper can find plenty of delicacies hand-made by local producers.
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The region in the central and eastern parts of Finland, marked by thousands of lakes and waterways, is rightly named the Finnish Lake District, or the Finnish Lakeland. Lappeenranta lies on the shore of Finland’s largest lake, Saimaa, and Kuopio (overleaf) is by the beautiful Kallavesi. The most impressive way to travel in the Lake District is to step aboard a boat that cruises on one of the world’s most lovely waterways. From Saimaa, there is access to the sea through the Saimaa Canal. The other end of the canal is in the old culture city, Vyborg, which belonged to Finland before the Second World War.
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The most famous Finns are the Nobel Prize winner, President Martti Ahtisaari, our top athletes, and many stars of the world’s concert halls. Other famous Finns are Santa Claus, Angry Birds, and the loved Moomins, who have their own adventure park in idyllic Naantali on the south-western shore. The guest harbour of Naantali is busy in the summer, perhaps because statistically, it is the sunniest town in Finland. Boaters in the Finnish Lake District can dock, for example, in the beautiful city centre of Jyväskylä. (overleaf)
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Rovaniemi is the northernmost university city of the EU. Tourists know Rovaniemi as the home town of both Santa Claus and the hard rock monster Lordi, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The Arctic Circle passes through Rovaniemi; the sun does not set at all in the city from early June to late July. To counter that, the winter is full of the Christmas atmosphere created by snow, candles, and lights.
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ROOTS IN THE SOIL Finland is the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finns don’t usually regret this at all: on the contrary, they may be proud of it. Finns feel that sitting alone or with their best friend surrounded by nature in pure silence is a luxury and source of great pleasure. Certain “hermit-like” features are part of our national special characteristics. Finns don’t consider silence uncomfortable, even in groups. Two thirds of all Finns live in cities. However, many “City-Finns” can name the village or even the house where the family’s roots can be found. The word “home lake” carries deep emotions.
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For many Finns, the countryside often means bushes and trees, seen rushing past a car window. The only contact many city-people have with the country lifestyle is when a tractor slows down traffic on a highway passing farmland. Road maintenance in Finland is a constant struggle against frost. In the winter, the ground freezes and shifts road foundations over one metre deep. Road construction and repairs consume many times more money than further south.
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Finnish cities are not concrete jungles. Greenery and trees can be found in every population centre. A lot of people cycle to work, as in this photo from Oulu.
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Finns are proud of their everyman’s rights, which allow them to roam freely in forests and collect berries, mushrooms, and flowers without permission from land owners. It is self-evident that everyman’s rights must be enjoyed with respect toward nature and the inhabitants of the countryside. Littering is rare in Finland.
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School children in Finland have a luxuriously long summer holiday compared with many other countries. For many children, almost three months of freedom still means relaxed days amidst nature.
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The northernmost arable lands of the EU — even of the whole world — can be found in Finland. Wheat and sugar beet have been grown even up north in Lapland, although the crops have been small. It is possible to grow cattle and fodder crops even in the northernmost parts of the country. In the olden times, a successful annual crop was a matter of life and death. Farming skills are still respected.
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OUTDOOR LIFE Compared with other European countries, Finland is cold. But in reality, the land is not at all as cold as you might think looking at a map. Finland is as far north as Siberia, Greenland, and Alaska, but nature is much greener here, and average temperatures are many degrees warmer than in those areas of eternal frost. This is due to the Golf Stream, which warms the Northern Atlantic and carries mild air currents to Finland. The annual climate changes in Finland are severe, and the four seasons are very distinct. Extreme temperatures of -50째C have been measured in Lapland, and there are a few sweaty days of +35째C in midsummer. The flora and fauna have had to adapt to these extremities. In the summer, nature flourishes in all shades of green; in the winter, it hibernates under the snow.
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Finland’s climate is favourable for forests, which grow thick all over the country, except in the most northern parts of Lapland. Forests have been extremely significant for Finland’s economy, and even today, calling forests “green gold” is not an overstatement. In addition to their economical significance, Finns consider their forests important because they are an endless source of peace and beauty. Retreating to nature is an essential part of being Finnish.
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There is plenty of water in Finland, and much of it is unbelievably clean. Finland has more renewable water supplies per capita than any other country in Europe. In the Helsinki area, people drink lake water that needs very little chemical purification and stands its ground well against bottled “spring water� in blind tests. Boating is commonplace; Finns own hundreds of thousands of boats.
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Finland’s sea areas are vulnerable because they are shallow and they have slow water turnover. In recent years, the Baltic Coastal countries have awakened and joined their forces to combat eutrophication.
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The length of the skiing season varies a lot in Finland. In the north, people start skiing in November and don’t stop until midsummer. In some winters in Southern Finland, the only good skiing weather can be found in artificial skiing “tubes”. Children often learn to ski before they go to school.
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All over Finland, there can be over one metre of snow. It offers protection for many animals, and on the snow you can see signs of winter activity. Two paw prints side by side followed by two in line reveal that a rabbit has been looking for food.
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The charged particles of the solar wind strike the earth’s magnetic field, creating the mystical Aurora, the Northern Lights, which can be admired especially on bright, cold nights. According to legend, a firefox swinging its tail makes the fells sparkle.
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Light in Finland alternates from the Midnight Sun to sunless winter days. Northern people, used to the many weeks of polar night, say that “it never gets dark here.� The glowing snow and sky create a mysterious blue twilight, the atmosphere of which must be experienced to understand. The Midnight Sun of the summer is also charming in its own way.
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Finland’s northernmost big lake, called Inari, is very deep, which can be judged from the forms of the rocky islands. According to Sami legends, the island named “Ukko’s rock” was a place where spirits were worshipped.
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CULTURAL GOLD The changing natural forms and harmonious colours of the north have been an endless source of inspiration for Finnish artists. Many world-famous architects and designers have also drawn their creativity from nature. A typical common characteristic of many Finnish artists is that they praise the simple beauty of functionality. This thinking isn’t just a modern fad, but a tribute to the masters of traditional handicrafts, who knew their materials well. The internationally renowned Finnish icons, Alvar Aalto, Tapio Wirkkala, and Timo Sarpaneva would probably agree that a sooty coffee pot and a Guksi, a drinking cup carved from birch burl, used by Laplanders in the wilderness, represent Finnish design in their own, unique way.
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The handicraft traditions of the Sami, the aboriginal people of Lapland, are seen in the colourful folk costumes that dwellers of the north wear at festivities, and of course, in the tourism business. Reindeer herding is an enduring source of livelihood. Mountain reindeer were used as half-domesticated animals already in the Middle Ages. Lean reindeer meat is considered healthy.
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You can admire utensils and works of art made of reindeer skins in the museums of Lapland. These samples of handicraft skills can be seen in daily use as well. Boots made of the leather of a reindeer’s leg were definitely warm. Shamans’ drums used to carry strong magical powers.
The Gold Rush was not restricted to the Wild West. One hundred years ago, gold discoveries caused a craze in Finland, and people rushed up north in search of quick riches. Lappish gold occurs as nuggets that are panned in running water. The largest single nugget found was 400 grams. Memories of the gold rush are preserved, for example, in the museum village of Tankavaara in Sodankylä, where everyone can try their luck at gold panning.
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Modern art is highly esteemed in Finland. Several traditional art museums exhibit historical art alongside the works of today’s fiery artist generation. The skill of following the times is represented by the one-hundred-year-old Turku Art Museum and Culture House Korundi in Rovaniemi (small photo).
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Curiosities of the Finnish summer are the hundreds of open-air summer theatres with both local amateur and professional actors, such as this theatre in the old military fortress in Lappeenranta.
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A typical, charming sight during the Midsummer Night Festivities: people dancing the emotionally charged Finnish version of the tango, or the waltz, or foxtrot. Midsummer is when all of Finland seems to retreat to the shore of a lake, sea, or river, to celebrate the longest day of the year. Rowing over a serene lake during Midsummer’s Night, one can experience the true enchantment of the Finnish summer.
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The National Museum of Finland can be seen reflected from the glass wall of the Helsinki Music Centre. It is on the main road named after the legendary General Mannerheim, along which are many of Finland’s most important cultural buildings. Congress Centre Finlandia Hall is one of the iconic architect Alvar Aalto’s last large designs.
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At its best, art can present a powerful societal message. Dancer Reijo Kela got the idea for “The Silent People”, which consists of one thousand heads of peat: as many as there were people unemployed in the village at the time the work was done. The figures standing by the highway are repaired and clothed twice a year. Temporary art can be created anywhere in Finland, for example, by putting two stones on top of each other.
The ”Silent people” is in Suomussalmi, by highway n:o 5. Created by Reijo Kela.
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There are a few Michelin-rated restaurants in Finland. Finnish delicacies are potatoes, taken directly from the soil and boiled, fresh dill, and vendace fresh from a lake. The pleasure of the meal is doubled if you can dine outdoors, preferably on the patio of your own cottage.
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Finland and Finns are impossible to describe with only a few words. In Finland, you can come across a diverse setting of history and the present day, varying landscapes, and different lifestyles. However, if an impressionist was making a painting of Finland and was only allowed to use a few hues, they might be purity, peace, freshness, obstinacy, know-how, coolness, and tenacity. 111
Finland Impressions © Esko Jämsä, Kirjakaari, Jyväskylä
Photographs and colour separation Esko Jämsä
Printed by Saarijärven Offset Oy, Saarijärvi 2014
Text Markku Heikkilä
Publisher Kirjakaari, www.kirjakaari.fi
Graphic design and layout Kati Lähdemäki, Kirjakaari
ISBN 978-952-5969-20-7
English translation Aki Myyrä, Molehill Communications
Works of art pages 16-17 page 39 pages 95-96 page 96 pages 96-97 pages 98-99 pages 104-105
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The Luostarinmäki Handicrafts Museum, photos published by permission of the Museum Centre of Turku. Moomin World, photo published by permission of Muumimaailma Oy Siida, the National Museum of the Finnish Sami, photo published by permission of the National Museum of the Finnish Sami The Rovaniemi Art Museum Korundi, photo published by permission of the Rovaniemi Art Museum The Turku Art Museum, photo published by permission of the Turku Art Museum The City Theatre of Lappeenranta, summer theatre, photo published by permission of the City Theatre of Lappeenranta “Hiljainen kansa” (=”Silent people”), Reijo Kela, photo published by permission of Reijo Kela. The ”Silent people” is in Suomussalmi, by highway n:o 5.