Lappi

Talvimökki: From Helsinki/Lapland 04-05

Lappi is the Finnish name for their part of Lapland, the home of the Sami and their reindeer herds.  We're off there for the New Year and a couple of weeks of snow, skiing (both flavours), huskies, reindeer, sauna, ice fishing, kammos (that's the winter darkness) and hopefully the northern lights - we'll skip the wolves, bears and lynxes thanks. 

I imagine it will be a tad more authentic than the West Midlands Lapland...

25 - Joulupäivä

our christmas e-card to you all

meidän joulun s-korttin kaikille

Now stop reading this blog and go play with your new toys...

24 - Joulupöydällä (On the Yule table)

From Finland winter 06/07

Today is Christmas Eve. Which in Finland, unlike Britain, is the main event - ruokaa, joulupukki, lahjoja (food, santa, presents) ...

In the morning, it is traditional to eat riisipuru which is salted with 'lucky' almonds for the unwary. Then (if you have one) perhaps a morning sauna to get relaxed (and clean) for the day's 'exertions'.  The visit to the cemetery to place candles on family graves is perhaps for me the strangest thing of the day, with no similar tradition at home; traffic jams forming at the main cemeteries, directed by police make the whole thing slightly surreal, although the sight of the snowy graveyard filled with candles in the early darkness is eerily pretty.

By tradition dinner can start when the first star is in the sky (not sure what you do if it's cloudy) and the birds have been fed. After dinner, joulupukki and his tonttu may visit to deliver the presents... although strangely ours are already under the tree. Hmm.

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So then to the groaning christmas pöytä, from which one can take food for the rest of the afternoon and evening. But how does it compare to (tomorrow's) traditional British christmas dinner?  Last year we even managed to have both (with my family in UK) so here are both for the curious of both nations...

Suomen joulunruokaa: From hölynpöly

Starters

Suomi: Lax (smoked salmon), Silli (Herrings in various sauces), Fish roe

UK: Scottish smoked salmon & champange

Suomi: Lutefish (pre-soaked in lye... probably an aquired taste)

UK: nothing comparable

Suomi: Joulukinkku - the huge christmas ham: cooked overnight, slavered in mustard and breadcrumbs

UK: Turkey - huge, golden, with fragrant stuffing (the older British tradition is actually Goose, but I've never eaten that)

Suomi: Laatikkot - different casserole 'boxes' of carrot, sweetened potato, turnip and liver

UK: Roast potatoes, parsnips & carrots

Suomi: Rosolli - beetroot and mixed vegetable salad, Lingonberry and cabbage salad, Mushroom salad

UK: Brussel sprouts

Suomi: Pate, meat aspic, smoked reindeer.

UK: Liver pate, pressed tongue, stilton

Suomi: Gingerbread cookies, Joulutorrtu.

UK: Mince pies, christmas pudding, trifle

And to drink: Glögi, wine, beer, milk, and coffee (of course - Finns start to get the shakes if they don't get coffee every few hours...)

UK: Wine, beer, fruit juice, mulled wine, coffee

Later: 

2 burana and a lie down...

2 neurofen, the Queens Speech and a lie down...

A British Christmas plate: From hölynpöly

Hyvää joulun ruokaa!

23 = 1+4+5+9+12+15+19+20+21+22

No, no, no - you were supposed to deliver presents in a white van. Pic via.

Lacking a sleigh, we have been playing 'white-van-mies' today... er, I mean Sunday (which was no. 21 in our virtual advent calendar), and which will have been two days ago when this gets published. By which I mean we have been driving around in a valkoinen paketti auto delivering little bundles of joy (no - not them, it didn't have a red cross and blue flashing lights) to various people. I refer you to exhibits 15, 19 & in one case 20 to a surprised Bore . In return we have consumed tea, coffee and soft-boiled eggs - as well as the more seasonal 4 & 9.  During these visits we talked about 21, 14, 22 & 5 (not looking promising), received 19, 15 & 12 (in kit form!) and observed 20, 11, 10, 7 & 16. Ymmärrättekö?

22 - Joululaulut II

More impenetrable Finnish 'christmas songs' for you ulkomalainen I'm afraid... this time from Vesa-Matti Loiri. 

Another week - another (in theory) suomen joulu flavoured musical odessy. VML ('Vesku') is a bit of an institution here, an actor an singer with a deep, gravely voice and dramatic/emotional delivery, who scored nil point at the 1980 eurovision song contest.  Musically... well let's just say at one point we were dangerously close to the theme from 'Bergerac': accordion, bass, and Mark Knopfler-esque guitar nooddling. So not really my cup of tea, coffee, or any other hot beverage (although he does have a fine voice, and I did like the use of a modern, amplified kantele in one song). So mielenkintoista...  is the best I could do when asked afterwards what I though. It's a shame that he didn't have the more orchestral backing shown in the video, because the setting would have suited it.

Oh yes, the setting - the reason I didn't put up to much resistance to seeing either him or the diddily-dingers last week. In a word: Aalto.

VPL VML was performing at Finlandia Talo Aalto's 'white phase' carrera-marble-clad concert hall which, although we had a lightning tour a few months ago, I wanted to experience in operation; and Rasvaton (whatever) were at Aalto's 50-year old 'red-phase' Kulttuuritalo - which won for me in terms of the flow of the architecture, clever canopy, and intimacy of the trademark asymmetric fan auditorium.  I could write lots more on both, but it has been all said before better than I could...

21 - Talvipäivän Seisaus

'Wintersunset' © Mikael Rantalainen

Aurinko nousee: 09.24

Aurinko laskee: 15.13

So today, the winter solstice or shortest day (in the northern hemisphere) the sun is (barely) above the horizon for a mere 5 hours and 48 minutes in Helsinki, more than 2 hours less than in London. Even at noon the sun is only 6.5º above the horizon, so usually still behind buildings and trees, even when it isn't cloudy.

Some great photos by Mikael Rantalainen of Finnish winter sunrise/sets can be found here. Makes me want to get my camera out and look for likely spots...

Strangely (as you may have learnt in your school geography lessons) the sun continues to rise later (by a few minutes) until about the 6th of January even though the days start getting longer, because of the earths inclination and elliptical orbit.

Yule (Joulu), the pre-christian celebration of the winter solstice has been long absorbed into first the christian and now the the pseudo-christian commercial holiday we have now (although a few days later) and in the celebrations of the new (calendar) year.

1000/100

Sometime today we should get our 1000th visit (according to Sitemeter anyway, as we are on 998 as I write this) - well if you are not all too busy buying your christmas turkey/joulukinku and last minute gifts that is... 

Of course we haven't really had 1000 visitors in the last 6 months (please file under lies, damned lies and statistics - I'll explain in the new year sometime) and I doubt you've been here more than once a day each (once a week? once a month? Gee - I wonder why we bother sometimes...) which would mean we would have at least 7.6 readers at the most anyway. 

I was hoping this would also be our 100th post  - but too many people are googling himmeli and joulutortu at this time of year, so the thousand has come up a few early on the 95th post. So much for synchronicity - maybe I should change the title to 998/95.

Kiitoksia kaikille...

20 - Joulukuusi

kuusipuu via

Oi kuusipuu, oi kuusipuu ja lehväs uskolliset! Myös aina joulun aikahan sä saavut meidän majahan. Oi kuusipuu, oi kuusipuu ja lehväs uskolliset! - Mauno Isola

If you will not have your own Christmas tree, why don't you decorate this one instead?... Click here! You can see that also the Tiernapojat can be included in... Hmm.

Lost in Translation

-  I think I might try making some mince pies for Christmas for people to try. I'll have to make the mincemeat from scratch though.

- Ihana. Can you get all the ingredients here?

- Most of them are fairly easy; but I haven't seen candied peel or suet anywhere. What do you think?

- Mitä heleveti on suet!?

- It some sort of shredded fat. In the dictionary it translates as tali, if I ask in the shop do you think they'll have it?

- Ehkä... in a pet shop. That's what we call the ball of fat we put out for the birds!

- Perhaps we'll stick to joulutorttuja...

But is it as good as a mince pie? via by Robmcm

PS: Somehow I managed to scrape a 5 in my latest Finnish exam. 

Well actually I know how really: a) it was a fairly easy exam (compared to the course ); b) they lowered the pass mark for this grade as it has so many new grammar concepts in it. I would have got a 4 normally, which is still better than I expected. They are actually going to split it into two modules in the future (i.e. 8 weeks to cover instead of 4) this make sense as we had to cover - passiivi present & it's three past tenses, i-monikko one the plural forms (there are at least three I know of; this one applies to the 6 local cases, partitiivi and genitiivi, and is probably the most complicated thing to learn the rules for), the imperative, and more sentence types e.g. prediktiivi; all in only nine lessons. Actually maybe the sentence types are the hardest thing.  Although it was the passive I messed up on in the exam, so maybe... oh, never mind.

Anyway, this was the last part of the intensive basic grammar course I was doing, so next year I am looking for something more about actual spoken and written communication.  I'll probably will go back and do their advance course (levels 5-8) sometime though...

19 - Joululahja

Viivi handing over a joululahja to Wagner... not sure that's a good idea. Viivi & Wagner cartoons by JUBA.

Have you wrapped your gifts yet?

18 - Joulupukki (the real Santa Claus)

Joulupukki via

Okay, I don't want to hear any of your nonsense about Santa living at the north pole.

Joulupukki (which is the name for the official santa/father christmas/st. nicholas type gift-giving entity in these parts) lives in Finnish lapland, with his workshop near Korvatunturi (which means ear mountain - so that is how he hears what all of you good/bad boys/girls have been up to; as well as his tontu keeping an eye on you of course).  It's obvious if you think about it - where do reindeer live? Lapland! And what pulls Santa's sleigh...? Exactly!  These days he also has an office in Rovaneimi - from where he starts off to deliver christmas presents at 7pm on Christmas eve - if you don't believe me you can see it broadcast live.

Also that stuff about coming down chimneys at midnight is wrong too, as every Finnish child will tell you joulupukki often comes into the home on christmas eve about 7pm (so still a bit magical to do that everywhere at once...) after the Chrismas meal and hands over the goods in person  - none of that skulking around eating mince pies, drinking sherry and not being seen around here than you very much.

Of course this could all been started by eating the wrong kind of mushrooms, but at least these days joulupukki doesn't have horns, or demand presents from frightened children as he was said to in the past.

So it just remains to be asked: Onkos täällä kilttejä lapsia?

17 - Joulusauna

Who would have guessed the Finns like to have a sauna on Christmas eve?

(Although in the morning rather than evening - too much eating to do later...)

(Sorry Konna - the picture with the pig in the sauna [NSFW] was funnier, but the pig wasn't the only thing on show!)

16 - Jouluvalot

Christmas lights on Aleksanterinkatu: From Around Helsinki Winter 08/09

A is for Aleksanterinkatu. Typically un-ostentatious christmas lights on Helsinki's main shopping street (well, one of them - Stockmann is down the bottom somewhere).  And an old school tram. Nice.

15 - Joulukukat

Joulukukkia, Helsinki

On aika ilahduttaa ystäviä kukilla, 'joulu sellaisilla'. Näitä ovat esimerkiksi hyasintit, joulutähdet, orkideat, amaryllikset ja tulppaanit. Jouluasetelmiin käy sammalet ja jäkälät, joulukoristeiden kera... Tämä jokavuotinen joulushow on edessä ensi viikonloppuna - ja sitten 'kukkarundille' iloa jakamaan.

It is time for Christmas flowers: hyacinths, Christmas stars, orchids, amaryllis and tulips. Green moss and 'jäkälä' (= grey reindeer moss) are useful 'incredients' in creating the perfect Christmas flower arrangements... This yearly tradition is planned for the next weekend - and then 'on the road again' to deliver Christmas joy.

14 - Joululaulut I

Rajaton Joulu - This is what we listened last night at the Kulttuuritalo (The Culture House designed by AlvarAalto) / Joulukonsertti Kultsalla eilen illalla Rajattomien siivittämänä.

13 - Lucian päivä

Lucia-juhla. Lucia-neito Ingeborg Spiik seurueineen Tuomiokirkon portailla.

Lucia-party. Miss Lucia Ingeborg Spiik & co at Tuomiokirkko, Helsinki.

Kuva/Photo by: Volker von Bonin/ Helsingin kaupunginmuseo 1962.

Pyhä Lucia (lat. Sancta Lucia) on katolisen kirkon pyhimys, joka koki marttyyrikuoleman noin vuonna 304. Mitään muuta Luciasta ei varmuudella tiedetäkkään. Lucian päivää vietetään Pyhän Lucian muistoksi 13. joulukuuta ennen kaikkea ruotsinkielisissä kulttuurissa (joten näinollen myös Suomessa). Perinteeseen kuuluu Lucia-neito (yleenä nuori blondi), joka on pukeutunut valkoisiin vaatteisiin, punaiseen vyöhön ja kynttiläkruunuun, ja pitää kädessään kynttilää. Ajatuksena on, että Lucia tuo valoa talven pimeyteen. Juliaanisessa kalenterissa talvipäivänseisaus osui Lucian päivän tienoille, ja tämän vuoksi päivää vietetään myös valon juhlana.

Lucia is a saint of the Catholic church, who died as a martyr ca. 304. Not much else is known about her. Lucia's day is celebrated in swedish speaking cultures (therefore also in Finland) on 13 December. Tradition has a Lucia girl (usually young blond), who is dressed in white dress, red belt and candlelit crown, and holds a candle in her hand. Meaning of the day is to bring light into the dark days. The day is also celebrated as a day of light, as in the Julian calendar the winter solstice was on this day.

12 - Piparkakkotalo

Awww, sweet. Via.

Every architect's favourite christmas decoration, er, food, er, whatever... piparkakotalo: the gingerbread house.  While this is a twee, rustic version of the domestic terrain, there is nothing to stop you making yours a cutting edge expression of contemporary design - with icing. 

11 - Himmeli

Via

More straw decorations, but this time more geometric and less figurative, and quite un-christmas looking to UK eyes. They can be as large and complex as you imagination (and time and skill) allows - take a look at this video on how to make your own.

Traditionally hung from the ceiling over the christmas table to ensure a good harvest next year - the bigger the himmeli the bigger the harvest perhaps?

10 - Tuohi Pukki

A fancy straw goat: via

The tuohi pukki (straw Yule goat) is a traditional Nordic decoration, usually at home under the christmas tree guarding the presents, and actually one of several straw based decorations (more on that tomorrow).  Strangely pukki (goat) is also the name for Santa here  (joulupukki) -  according to wikipedia "... the Yule Goat was originally said to be an ugly creature that frightened children, and demanded gifts at Christmas..." 

I suppose at some point the St. Nicholas/Santa Claus/Father Christmas legend got overlaid on that, resulting in our modern gift-giving version of Joulupukki... but more on him at a later date.

9 - Joulutorttu

Joulutorttuja, joulutorttuja...

Luumuhilloa tähdenmuotoisessa voitaikinapläjäyksessä... Tarviiko sanoa muuta - Nam ;)

Bet you wish you had some (plum jam in starshaped puff pastry) but I ate them already...

8 - Olkilyhde

Somewhere in Viikki, Helsinki (by unknown photographer - if you know who took this photo, let us know!)

Leikatusta kaurasta valmistettuja lyhteitä käytetään lintujen ruokkimiseen talvella - Erityisesti joulun aikoihin. Talipallot on myös kuumaa kamaa kun linnuista ja 'roikkuvista' oravista on kyse. Oravien herkkua ovat myös pähkinät, joita ne syövät lintulaudoilta roikkuen puun oksilta takajalkojensa varasssa.

'Olkilyhde' pl. 'olkilyhteet' (=sheafs of wheat) are prepared for feeding the birds in the winter - especially during the Christmas time. Balls of fat are also hot stuff when birds and 'hanging squirrels' are in question. Squirrels also love various nuts which they get from bird feeders (re: Squirrels hanging from tree branches).

7 - Adventtikynttilät

Candles on the window sill in Helsinki

Adventti tarkoittaa joulua edeltävää vajaan neljän viikon jaksoa kristillisessä kirkollisessa kalenterissa. Kirkkovuosi on keskiajan lopulta lähtien alkanut ensimmäisestä adventtisunnuntaista. Ennen joulua on neljä adventtisunnuntaita (nöyrtymisen, hengen, kunnian ja pyhä adventti). Suomalaisilla on tapana sytyttää adventtikynttilöitä - 'Advent Wreath' ei ole tunnettu Suomessa. Englannissa on tapana polttaa alakuvassa olevaa luomusta, johon sytytetään viides 'Kristus' -kynttilä, joka sytytetään jouluna.

Advent is a four week season in the calendar of the Christian. It is the beginning of the liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday. There are four advent Sundays. The Finns lit candles each Sunday - such a thing as the Advent wreath is not known here. The Advent wreath is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of Advent. It is usually a horizontal evergreen wreath with four or five candles. Beginning with the First Sunday of Advent an additional candle is lit during each subsequent week until, by the last week before Christmas, all four candles are lit. Some Advent wreaths include a fifth, "Christ" candle which can be lit at Christmas.

Advent wreath somewhere in the Uk... Although only two should be on today.

6 - Itsenäisyyspäivä

Suomen lippu ja kynttilät

Joulukuun 6. päivää on vietetty itsenäisyyspäivänä vuodesta 1919 lähtien. Joulukuun kuudentena päivänä vuonna1917 Suomen edukunta hyväksyi senaatin 4. joulukuuta 1917 antaman Suomen itsenäisyysjulistuksen.

Independence Day was first celebrated in 1919. However Finland was declared as an independent state, on 6 December 1917.

The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna/Edvin Laine

President Tarja Halonen with her husband.

Suomessa itsenäisyyspäivä on rakenteeltaan hyvin perinteinen. Tämä näkyy esimerkiksi siinä, että televisiosta esitetään jokaisena itsenäisyyspäivänä Väinö Linnan romaaniin perustuva Edvin Laineen Tuntematon Sotilas, Puolustusvoimain paraati ja linnanjuhlat vieraiden pukuarvosteluineen. Lippu liehuu salossa ja kynttilät palaa...

The day in Finland is somewhat traditional. Flag is raised up and candles are burned for the memory of people who gave their life for the country. The movie 'Tuntematon Sotilas' (=The Unknown Soldier) based on Väinö Linna's iconic novel, particularly the version directed by Edvin Laine in 1955, is shown on television. In the evening, a gala reception is held for approximately 2000 invited guests at the Presidential Palace. This event, known as Linnan juhlat ("the party at the castle") is broadcast on national television and has been a perennial favorite of the viewing public - People can critisice the horrendous outfits the guests are wearing...

You should know who these hosts/guests from last year are...

5 - Lumi (I'm dreaming of a white christmas)

this is the view I want from the kitchen window again on christmas morning...  (although if someone could arrange to swap the ugly apartment block for a nice view it would be much appreciated) from Around Helsinki Winter 08/09

Unfortunately the last few winter's / Christmases in Helsinki have not been particularly snowy: so-called black or dark christmases; but the average over the last 40 years (or 1 emmdee span) gives a 75% chance of snow.

So fingers crossed then that global warming (a.k.a global weirding) hasn't messed up my chances of building a joulupäivän lumiukko ...

Anyway, I'll leave you with BaBaBaBing to get you in the proper mood.

4 - Glögi

Glögi is a hot, fruity, spicy drink served at christmas-time in Finland (and various other Nordic countries), and similar to mulled-wine or glühwien.

Usually served in a glass with raisins and almonds, it comes in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties so can be enjoyed by all the family through the christmas and new-year period - great when the weather is cold and dark, preferably in front of a flickering open fire. Mmmm!

We like the 'Marli' non-alco one best, and of course you can always mix with wine or even kosu if you need your pikujoulu party to go with a bang. Kummenna 1 osa glögiä ja 3 osaa vettä tai punaviiniä kiehumispisteeseen, älä keitä.  Lisää halutessasi rusinoita ja manteleita.

If you want to make your own, you could try this recipe from the Nordic Recipe Archive; or if you can't pop out to you local K-Kauppa you can buy alcoholic Glögg (note Swedish spelling) in Ikea all over the world - just add almonds, raisins and perhaps dilute it to taste, as I find their version a little strong.

Hic! Hyyväääjoouluuaa! Kiiiippisssh!

those vital ingredients...

3 - Pikkujoulu

This is not pikkujoulu with the office I work at... although the plan is similar... Oh no.

Pikkujoulut on ennen varsinaisia joulunpyhiä järjestettävä vapaamuotoinen, usein jouluteemainen illanvietto/juhla, joita järjestävät tyypillisesti erilaiset yhteisöt, yritykset, yhdistykset, organisaatiot ja suuret kaveriporukat. Pikkujoulun vietto poikkeaa varsinaisesta joulunvietosta usein vapaamuotoisuudellaan ja varsinaista joulua vähäisemmällä hartaudellaan. Usein Pikkujouluja 'saa hävetä'. Suomalaiseen pikkujouluun yhdistetään muun muassa usein runsas alkoholinkäyttö... Sillälailla.

Pikkujoulut (pl. of Pikkujoulu) are pre-Christmas parties or little Christmas parties organised by offices, organisations or by groups of friends. The food & drinks might be fairly similar than at Christmas, but the partying is usually heavy & you feel embarrassed in the morning... The Finnish pikkujoulut has a stong association with alcoholic beverages... Hmm.

2 - Tiernapojat

Stamp design from the 70's featuring Tiernapojat

If you haven't been in Finland around Christmas time, you might easily ask 'What is this about?'... If you are a Finn - boys & men with painted faces & swords are not so weird...

Tiernapojat, toiselta nimeltään Tähtipojat on vuosisatoja vanha suomalainen jouluperinne.
Joulunäytelmän ydin on tietäjien vierailu Kuningas Herodeksen ja Jeesus-lapsen luona. Sana tiernapoika tulee ruotsin kielen stjärna eli tähti-sanasta. Ensimmäiset maininnat Tiernapojista on jo 1700-luvulta. Joulunäytelmän nykyinen versio on valmistunut ilmeisesti 1800-luvulla, sillä tarinassa kiitetään Suomen suuriruhtinas Aleksanteria. Tiernapojat-näytelmän henkilöt ovat kuningas Herodes, Murjaanien kuningas, Herodeksen palvelija Knihti ja Mänkki eli tähdenpyörittäjä.

'Tiernapojat' or 'Tähtipojat' (=Starboys) is a century old Christmas tradition in Finland. It dates back to 1700 & 1800. The story of the Christmas play/musical's is the visit of the wise men to see King Herod and baby Jesus. The word tiernapoika comes from the Swedish word 'stjärna' ('tähti' = star). The main characters of the play are King Herod, King of the Moors, Knihti - the Servant of King Herod (perhaps from word knight) and Mänkki - Star Twirler.

'Saako tulla laulamaan?' = May we come in and sing?
(Yleisön kutsuttua tiernapojat sisään, laulaminen alkaa.
After the audience has invited tiernapojat in, all four step inside, line up and begin singing.)

1 - Joulutonttu

Joulutontut toiminnassa / Santa's little helpers in action (by Mauri Kunnas)

Joulutonttu ilmestyi suomalaisiin uskomuksiin 1800-luvun lopulla. Jouluna haltiatonttua muistettiin kupillisella ohrapuuroa. Ennen uskottiin, että jos ei hoitanut omaa tonttiansa ja jättänyt kuistille ruokaa tontuille, tontut saattoivat pistää tontin säpäleiksi tai tuhota kasvimaat. Aikamoisia heppuja nämä tontut! Tarujen mukaan hiippalakkipäiset pikkuihmiset eli joulutontut jakoivat ennen vanhaan lahjoja omatoimisesti, mutta nykyään ne mielletään joulupukin apulaisiksi. Joulutonttujen kerrotaan tarkkailevan piilopaikoistaan lapsia selvittääkseen, ovatko nämä oleet kilttejä... Ehkäpä monen aikuisenkin sietäisi käyttäytyä joulun alla (jos ei muuten kykene)... Tontut ja joulupukki tuovat sitten jouluaattona lahjoja niille, jotka ovat olleet kilttejä.

'Joulutonttu' appeared in the Finnish beliefs in the late 1800. People honoured the elfs by offering them a steaming bowl of porridge, as it was believed that if you didn't take care of your own house and plot and if you did not leave food for the elfs, they might make havock in the yard or destroy the allotmets. Interesting creatures these tonttus! According to the myth the little creatures with pointy ears gave out presents themselves. Nowadays they seem to help the Santa. Have you seen the santa's little helpers around this year? Admittedly they are busy this time of the year, but they are still around, asking: 'Onko täällä kilttejä lapsia?' (= Is there any nice children here?)... Also the adults should try to excersise their best behaviour during December...

Joulutonttu could even be behind you as you are reading this first joulukalenteri blog... There's no point to turn aroundthough - They would have vanished already!

Is he peeping into your life?

Joulukalenteri

Selection of joulukalenteri at Stockman

The traditional 'adventtikalenteri' or 'joulukalenteri', created first by the Germans, consists of two pieces of cardboard on top of each other. Twenty four doors are cut out in the top layer, with a number ranging from one to twenty four on each. Beginning on the first day of December, one door is opened each day, counting down the days remaining until 'Joulu Aatto', from twenty four to one... Familiar to all of you I'm sure (however some of you are used to the 25 door -system)... Get into the habbit of checking this web site every morning and Finnish Christmas wonders will be brought to you!

P.S. Is there Santa Claus himself behind the calenders doing some Christmas shopping for the Mrs Claus?

The original iconic modern building?

From Australia & New Zealand - April 99

Jorn Utzon, the Danish architect who was the (original) designer of the Sydney Opera House died earlier today.  As well as being one of the most controversial projects of its day (with scandals over cost over-runs, design arguments, and eventually leaving the project before completion) this is perhaps THE original modern design icon (my definition: a modern building the general public associate with a city), long before Guggenheim, Scottish Parliament or Birdsnest.  Admittedly it has been fairly criticized for poor acoustics and lack of backstage space, and I'm sure we architects could come up with a list of other candidates, but could the general public?

By coincidence, before I read the news, I had been sorting and uploading some of my older photographs; including some from my trip to Australia and New Zealand in 1999, when I was in Sydney for a few days. So the picture of the opera house is a badly scanned one of my own. At the time I remember not wanting to be disappointed by it, and from the outside I wasn't; the interior (not completed to Utzon's design) was another story though, and I was pretty much underwhelmed. My friend Nikki is in the picture just reaching the top of those steps, I wonder where she is now?

To add some local interest, before setting up his own office in 1950 Utzon worked with our local hero, Alvar Aalto, as well as his Swedish contemporary Gunnar Asplund.  

His masterwork, flaws and all, is without doubt his lasting memorial.

Top tip: learn to ski

Well at least their wipers aren't frozen to the windscreen today: Around Helsinki Winter 08/09

As I write this I can see out my triple-glazed window various snowploughs, diggers, mini-tractors, bobcats and quadbikes with mr.plough attachments that are beavering away clearing snow from roads, paths bus stops and apartment building car parks. Somewhere (I imagine) someone is digging their car out, as the snow plough pushes a metre high wall of snow between the road and the drive. The postlady cycles past on her bike. Mothers pull toddlers along on pulkkat (sledges) on their way to nursery, bundled up in near identical romper suits. Life goes on.

Fake snow artists need not apply: From Around Helsinki Winter 08/09

Yesterday morning Hiiri and Konna could tell by the trackless snow that they were the first to leave the house.  The paths had not yet been cleared by the little machines so they had to trek through the 20-25cm snow to the Metro in the snowbright morning darkness- which was running as normal of course. I decided to go for a walk instead of blogging about yesterday's myrsky - who knows how long this will last or when the next lot will be, and good practice for Lappi in the new year.

Over-equipped as usual: From Around Helsinki Winter 08/09

As we live right on the eastern edge of Helsinki, in a couple of minutes I was out next to open fields and drifts half a metre deep.  Luckily I had dressed for the weather (in fact probably over dressed as the wind had completely gone), and had my nordic walking sticks and a flask of hot soup in my pack.  I keep having to stop to take photos, which is a procedure involving: take off stick straps from wrists, prop sticks in snow, remove right ski glove (try not to drop in snow), put on thin glove instead (drop ski glove in snow), take off backpack waist and chest strops, (knock over sticks) find camera, fumble in gloves, take pictures; then reverse process before walking another 10m and wanting to take another picture.  Eventually I work out my camera will fit in my coat pocket, considerably simplyfing this process.

Across the fields: From Around Helsinki Winter 08/09

Back into the woods and immediately see my first skier of the day - and I feel an inadequate ulkomalainen  trying to wade through the snow instead of having skis (although all the falling over would be more embarrassing of course).  The trees are coated in snow, just like those unfeasibly foam coated ones from bad tv snow scenes, and I have a few comedy moments as I brush under low branches sagging with snow which slides off on to me.  I decide it is probably bad manners to trample the fresh ski tracks (as these are easier for following skiers) and plow my own furrow alongside. Looking through the trees I can see foamy, pearly snow grottoes.  It starts to snow again. 

Snow foam and grottoes: From Around Helsinki Winter 08/09

I come across a strange concrete structure - maybe part of the wartime city defences - snow clinging to the grain of the boardmarked concrete.  I am now at the foot of the roskismäkki, the hill of the old rubbish dump (now environmentally beautified) which overlooks the new Vuosaari harbour complexe, but it is time to turn back. I stop for now cold soup and hard bread before I trudge back towards civilization, and as I hit the main, lit track a tractor goes past flattening and compressing the snow and creating two narrow grooves, ready-made ski tracks; and is soon followed by several afternoon skiers. Back home and it is already 3:30 and getting dark - just time for hot shower, hot food and off to the Metro to get to school - level four starts tonight... 

On concrete: From Around Helsinki Winter 08/09

Lumimyrsky - a snowstorm in a teacup

From Porvoo 11/08

Sunday saw the first serious snow fall of the winter in southern Finland, even the Finns officially decided this was a lumimyrsky - a snowstorm. (Although the ones I was with just said 'Pah! This is just normal Finnish winter weather!'). We had been staying at a cottage in Rönnäs near Porvoo where the snow had been of the decorative type only, and were heading back during the day, stopping off at picturesque Porvoo for kahvia ja pullat as the snow fell (sata lunta) and the snow ploughs and gritters got to work on the main roads. 

Picture postcard shopfront: From Porvoo 11/08

We were dropped off at Konna's dad's place to pick up his keys, as he is going to Cyprus for the rest of the winter.  Out of the window we watched the wind shaking the street lights as the snow flew past horizontally. We trudged across the car park to Itäkeskus and the bus station, there was already ten centimetres of snow blanketing the uncleared lot. The bus was the first sign of anything not running smoothly as usual, running a few minutes late as it slithered in and out of the uncleared bus stops. Back at home the snow piled up on the windowsills and was blown across the glass like unconvincing fake spray snow. We heard on the news of a few flight and train delays.  'Imagine if we had been in England' we said, 'we would have got stuck in the first lane trying to leave the cottage, or if not there on the main road where the snow plough hadn't run through yet. And can you imagine London buses trying to run in 10cm of snow? Or the trains?'