Goodbye!

I am off to the beautiful Helsinki today!

I will tell you all about it when I get back!

Much Love.

Yaymie
xxx

Have You Ever Visited Finland Poll?

Click the link below to start….

Have you ever visited Finland?
(polls)

Hyvää Joulua!

Happy Christmas Eve to you all…
Tonight is the big night!
In Finland, Christmas Eve is the most important day of the holiday season, all the presents are given, the main meal is cooked and eaten and not forgetting… the decorating of the tree! The tree which today, many Finnish men would have gone out to chop down and drag back to their homes on snow sleds!
And Finns often need no excuse to have a Sauna, but of course, a Christmas Sauna is had by all!
In Turku, Finland’s oldest city, the 13th century tradition of ‘Christmas Peace’ was proclaimed at 12 noon to celebrate; well you guessed it, a message of peace at Christmas!
The Christmas gifts are usually given just before or after Christmas dinner.
Traditionally, the gifts are presented by Santa Claus when he knocks on the door asking if the children have been well behaved or not.
The traditional Christmas dinner in Finland is not turkey and roast potatoes, but boiled codfish – made white and fluffy, ham, vegetables and boiled potatoes, with a creamy sauce.
After the meal, the children will go right to bed, leaving the adults downstairs sipping coffee and chatting until around midnight.

The next morning, Christmas day, Finnish families will just relax at home reading books and playing games together, whilst eating leftovers from the night before.
(St Stephens Day) Boxing Day will be spent visiting friends and relatives and visiting any St Stephens Day celebrations in their local areas.
Christmas is the biggest holiday season in Finland yet it is still only a pretty quiet celebration spent with close family and friends.

So have a good Christmas everyone, both in Finland and everywhere else.
Hyvää Joulua!
Yaymie
xxx

Finnish Independence Day

December 6th… Happy Independence Day Finland!
December 6th 1917 was when Finland officially became independent from Russia.

The typical Independence Day celebrations in Finland include;
• Patriotic speeches
• Special church services
• Raising the Finnish flag in Tähtitorninmäki (Observatory Hill) In Helsinki
• Official religious service at the Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral
• Finnish TV channel YLE broadcasts the movie adaptation of ‘The Unknown Soldier’ based on the iconic novel by Väinö Linna usually they show the 1955 film or sometimes the 1985 remake.
• Traditionally, in the evening, Finnish families will light two candles at each window of their homes.
• Lots of blue and white decorations and flags are placed around.
• In the evening, a gala reception is held for approximately 2000 invited guests at the Presidential Palace. This event, known as Linnan juhlat (the castle ball), is broadcast on national television and is always a big hit with the viewing public

I hope you all celebrated!

Yaymie
xxx

70th Anniversary Of The Winter War

30th November marked the 70th Anniversary of the Winter War.
30th November 1939, little Finland embarked on a miraculous journey to take on the Soviet Union… And to much surprise – they won!

From around 1200AD Finland was under the control of Sweden, until it became a part of the Russian empire in 1809.

Finland gained Independence in 1917 but in the after affects of WW1, during both Hitler and Stalin’s reign of Germany and the Soviet Union, the pair both signed a “non-aggression pact.” Which consisted of numerous secret agreements, giving Germany rights to invade and take over Poland, and the Baltic states – including Finland were given to Stalin.
September 1939 Germany invaded Poland… and Russia moved into the Baltic States…
November 30th, Stalin moved his 360 000 strong, well equipped men to Finland, where they were met by 99 000, poorly equipped Finnish troops.
The statistics were definitely not in the favour of the smaller country, but still they prevailed.
For the 105 days of the Winter War the Russian casualties was a staggering average of 10,000 per day when Finns lost only 250 per day.
As the war ended on March 13th 1940, the number of Finnish deaths was counted at 25,000 and 55,000 wounded.
The Russian death toll was 126,000…
So November 30th 2009 marked the 70th Anniversary of when such an incredible event took place.
And even today, “many a Finn – usually after a few drinks – will state that for every one Finnish casualty, the Russians had 10!”

“Sisu” Indeed!

Yaymie
xxx

Apologies…

I am very sorry about the lack of updating the last couple of weeks.
I have had these pieces written up, but I was just unable to upload them, so I really do apologise. As I missed the dates I was planning these pieces to go online on.

Yaymie
xxx

NICE Festival 2009

The Nordic Intercultural Creative Events Festival in Liverpool, UK this week went down a storm!

So popular in fact, I myself couldn’t even get in to see the Moomin film on Saturday as It was sold out.

I was very disappointed but also pleased that Tove Jansson’s Moomins are still very popular in modern culture today.

However I did manage to get in to watch Helsinki Forever and Hanasaari A last week, and to much surprise of the cinema staff, that too was sold out!

The shorter film, Hanasaari A, 15 minutes long with no dialogue was magical.
I was personally a little sceptical when reading the information about that ‘experimental film about the demolition of a power plant’ didn’t think it sounded too exciting to be perfectly honest, but I really did enjoy it.

The animation of the demolition machines into almost dinosaur monsters eating the building was a particular favourite bit.

The colours of the sun and lighting etc worked beautifully and it was a glorious little feature, I would recommend watching it.

The main feature film Helsinki Forever was nothing like I expected, I’m not 100% on what it was I was expecting, but what I got most definitely wasn’t it.

It was a film that encaptured the spirit of the Finnish capital city from across the years.

The film was made up of vast amounts of archive film footage from around the last 100 years, with the majority of footage being in black and white.

It was a real joy to watch if you know Helsinki at all, as you will of course recognise lots of places, – like the man sat next to me in the cinema pointed out to his wife every single place he has ever seen, and what he did there ‘That was the hotel I stayed at dear’

but in addition to pointing out places you recognise you can also see these places as what they used to look like decades before, For example the small square on the corner of the Stockmann Department store, where Aleksanterinkatu meets Mannerheimine with the large statue of the Three Smiths.

Both are beautifully made films and highly enjoyable for anyone who likes Helsinki or Finland and its culture and past.

Yaymie
xxx

Mini Update 29/11/09

Hei,
This is just a quick message from me just to say:

I HAVE BOOKED FLIGHTS TO HELSINKI!!!!!!!

Going for a week in February,
I’ll even be there when the new HIM album comes out. So that should be fun!
The weather in Helsinki, Finland in February is often averaging at around -9°C, and cold spells of -20°C are not uncommon, with the coldest temperature ever recorded in Helsinki was -34.3°C in 1987 I will make sure to take plenty of warm clothes!

That is my little update,
Thank you all for reading,

Yaymie
xxx

The promised land of heavy metal?

Finland is the only country in the world where heavy metal is mainstream. Why is this?
A feature length documentary entitled “The Promised Land of Heavy Metal” strives to answer that very question, Narrator / Film maker / ex Finnish heavy metal rock star, Kimmo Kuusniemi takes the viewers on a heavy-metal trip to find out what it is that makes Finland so rockin!’
The documentary features interviews with Tarja Halonen (The president of Finland), Ville Valo (Singer from HIM), Mr Lordi (Singer from Lordi), Marco Hietala (Singer/bassist of Nightwish), Tony Kakko (Singer of Sonata Arctica), Ari Koivunen (heavy metal singer who won the Finnish version of the Pop Idol contest) amongst many others.

To find out more information and to purchase a copy of the documentary, click here

The Kimmo Kuusniemi / Promised Land Of Heavy Metal Official Twitter Page

Also, if you are interested in the Finnish metal scene, check out Metal From Finland

Yaymie
xxx

HIM Tour Dates…

<The UK is buzzing right now, as Finnish, gothic love-metalers HIM announced an upcoming UK tour in March.

It is the first official tour announcement for the new Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice album set for release in February.

The band already had five live shows lined up before the album drops;

• Helldone – A special four day even happening in the Tavastia venue in Helsinki, Finland. The Helldone event happens every year, in which fans flock to Finland in their hordes to witness the magic of HIM playing live in their home town.

This year, HIM are playing four shows rather than the usual one New Years Eve show. Tickets for these four shows sold out in minutes and left hundreds upon hundreds of fans heartbroken.

• Soundwave Festival – In Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, February 2010. Soundwave festival which has a jaw dropping line-up for 2010 which also includes bands such as Faith No More, Jane’s Addiction, My Chemical Romance, AFI, Placebo, Paramore, Anthrax, Taking Back Sunday, Alexisonfire, Trivium, Eagles Of Death Metal and many more.

• UK March Tour Dates:

13 Norwich, UEA

14 Manchester, Academy

15 Edinburgh, Picture House

16 Newcastle, Academy

18 Bournemouth, Academy

19 Birmingham, Academy

20 Nottingham, Rock City

Yaymie
xxx