Hyvää Kalevalan päivää!! - Happy Kalevala day!

Today Finland celebrates Kalevala day. This is a flag day, which means that the Finnish flag can be seen (almost) everywhere in Finland.

Kalevala is the Finnish national epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology. This book played a major role in the development of the Finnish national identity. The first version of this book was published in 1935. The meter of the poems in this book is called Kalevala Meter (a trochaic tetrameter). This book is and has been a source of inspiration for many different artists. (Not only Finnish artists: J.R.R. Tolkien found inspiration in this epic too!) Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer, composed many symphonies inspired by Kalevala. (e.g. Kullervo Symphony, Lemminkäinen Suite,…) 

There's also jewelry inspired by Kalevala. 

and here are some paintings inspired by this epic:

Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Lemminkäinen's mother

 

Akseli Gallen-Kallela: The Defense of The Sampo

Hyvää ystävänpäivää! - Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all those loving couples out there!

To be honest I actually prefer the Finnish way of celebrating this day. The reason is simple: In Finland this day is all about friendship! Hyvää ystävänpäivää translates to happy friends day. So this day isn't only for loving couples and doesn't exclude all those who are single. Also it is important, I think, to celebrate friendship. Being grateful for having awesome friends should definitely be part in our lives. This day exists so that we don't forget to show our friends from time to time how much we appreciate their friendship and how important they are to us.

So, happy friends day, everyone!

(c) Milla Paloniemi

 - Happy friendship day, little one!

- Your crickets!! Ooh! Thanks!

Hyvää Joulua!! - Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Source

What's probably the best place to visit for Christmas? - Santa Claus' Village! - Wait! What? You can visit Santa at home? Of course you can, no matter which Season, you're always welcome!

The village lies in snowy, cold, Nordic town Rovaniemi, Finland. It is the official home of Santa Claus! You can stay overnight in this village and enjoy the Christmas Spirit every day/night. Rovaniemi is located at the Arctic Circle. In the Santa Claus Village you can take nice pictures with Santa, or visit an entertaining, and informative, Christmas themed exhibition. If you want to visit the Elves’ Toy Factory, you can do so in this lovely village! There's also an underground home cavern Santa Park, where you can meet the elves or other fairytale creatures.

(For more info and the live camera visit http://www.santaclausvillage.info/)


You didn't quite get into Christmas mood? - Here are a 2 of my favorite movies (and my  YouTubeplaylist) for this jolly season:

Source

* Joulutarina - Christmas Story

It is a movie for the whole family. In my opinion this is the best Christmas movie ever! It is a sad and heartwarming story about a little boy, whose parents died. The village decides to take care of the poor boy. They set up a rule that everyone has to take care of the boy by giving him a place to live for a certain amount of time. Every time the boy leaves a home, he secretly gives little presents to the families...

  * Rare Exports

Source

This is for the ones who like it a bit dark and scary. This movie is about the 'real' origin of Santa, which is a dark and morbid story. Originally Joulupukki (Santa) lived at Korvatonturi (a mountain at the Finnish/Russian border) and that's where the story of this movie takes place. Due to an accident the real, but evil, giant and luckily frozen Santa is found in this mountain. His little helpers 'collect' the kids in the surrounding village. The purpose of 'collecting' is that this giant, evil thing called Santa doesn't bring any presents to the children, he eats the children! A little kid, who did some research has to try to save the village....