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27 syyskuuta 2018

Postcards from Finland

Maggie from the blog Normandy Life inspired me to send a postcard from Finland, 
as did Nick V from Australia.
And it would not be me if the idea didn’t go a bit further.
So I’ll send you two BIG postcards with some facts about my northern home country.
This is not a history lesson, only to give you some fun info.


We have only 5.5 million people speaking two official languages: 
Finnish (87.9%) and Swedish (5.2%). Sámi is the mother tongue of about 1,900 people. 
70.9 % are Lutherans and about 1.1% Orthodox by religion.

The Finnish language is one of the most challenging languages in the world. 
It’s no wonder, when a noun can have over 200 forms or when one of the longest words is epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydellänsäkään!
Google translator went dumb but this means something like this:
She is a person who has a habit of using disorder and chaos, 
but not even that was of help!

Finland is a long country. From the southern Hanko to Utsjoki Lapland
the distance is more than 1300 km.
We have clearly four seasons, pure nature and clean air.
And Santa Claus is really Finnish and lives in Lapland, Korvatunturi.

The whooper swan / Cygnus cygnus is our national bird,
national flower is Convallaria majalis and national animal is the brown bear / Ursus arctos.

The Finnish Design and architecture are world famous.
Maybe you know Alvar Aalto, Tove Jansson & her Moomins, Marimekko,
and Oiva Toikka just to name a few.

Finland’s Rovio Entertainment is the creator of the phone app Angry Birds. 

Finland has been a member of the European Union since 1995.


Finland is The Land of a Thousand Lakes, but in fact there are whopping 
187,888 lakes and a total of 179,888 islands.

Finland is THE place to see the Northern Lights. Each year, the Aurora Borealis
appear more than 200 times in the skies above the Finnish Lapland.

The Saimaa ringed seal / Saimaannorppa is a subspecies of ringed seal Pusa hispida. 
They are among the most endangered seals in the world, having a total population 
of only about 380 individuals.

We love our Formula drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Walter Bottas.
Here I must tell you that the brand new biography of the silent Räikkönen
sold 100 000 copies in a few weeks - and that is a lot in our small market!
Icehockey is our hottest team sport - not football.

Finland has the most heavy metal bands per capita: Children of Bodom, Nightwish
and Eurovision Song Contest winners Lordi.

About Finnish classical music I could mention Jean Sibelius, Kaija Saariaho,
Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Karita Mattila.

Far from Buenos Aires, yet we love tango!
Tangophiles travel from all the world to The Seinäjoki Tango Festival in July since 1985.

We have over 3 million saunas and over half a million summer cottages.

We are heavy drinkers, also of coffee: the average Finn consumes 12 kg of coffee a year.

Our long time president Urho Kekkonen was the man who  guided us through
the years of the cold war 1956-1982. The present president is Sauli Niinistö since 2012,
in the photo with his beautiful young wife Jenni Haukio.
They recently hosted the Trump-Putin summit in  Helsinki.

#MOSAIC MONDAY

A COUPLE OF LINKS:


This stamp was released in 1989 when the Finnish mark was still in use.
I wish you enjoyed my postcards from Finland.
- riitta

Photos: taken by me & my friend P & free from Wikipedia & the press
Facts: Wikipedia & VisitFinland

28 kommenttia:

  1. Good morning dear Riitta,
    thanks for the overview of your home country. It is a wonderful land and your descriptions make me want to visit Finland.
    Have a sunny thursday and
    hugs
    Eda

    VastaaPoista
    Vastaukset
    1. Thank you Eda. We are a small tough nation due to our climate and geographic situation next to our Eastern big neighbour :)

      Poista
  2. Kattava esittely kotimaastamme. Tätä oli kiva lukea ja katsella valitsemiasi kuvia. Kiitos

    VastaaPoista
    Vastaukset
    1. Meillä on monta hassua piirrettä - mutta on ihanaa olla suomalainen <3

      Poista
  3. Dear Riitta,
    what a wonderful and interesting post about your Country! Thank you for lovely photos and all the informations!
    Have a happy day,
    Love and hugs, Claudia xo

    VastaaPoista
  4. Beautiful post with lovely pictures!

    VastaaPoista
  5. Hienosti teet tässäkin maatamme tunnetuksi :)

    VastaaPoista
    Vastaukset
    1. Pitää yrittää Kirsti. Niin ikäviä uhkia velloo uutisissa taas...

      Poista
  6. A beautiful promotion for Finland Riitta, with interesting information and fun facts of your country. I hope to see once the Northern Lights when I come up that way.

    VastaaPoista
  7. So Beautiful gut different.

    VastaaPoista
  8. Beautiful land. I have never been in Finland but we should visit it. Thank you very much for your post...

    VastaaPoista
  9. Dois belos postais da lindíssima Finlândia.

    Um abraço e continuação de uma boa semana.

    Andarilhar
    Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
    O prazer dos livros

    VastaaPoista
  10. Juuri niin, on ilo ola suomalainen! Kiitos upeasta postauksesta ja kuvistasi!

    VastaaPoista
  11. Todellakin upeat postikorttikuvat!!
    Aitoa Suomea!

    VastaaPoista
  12. Olipa hauska lukea meistä <3

    VastaaPoista
    Vastaukset
    1. Thank you all for visiting <3 Finland is a good country and we Finns have many peculiar characters :)

      Poista
  13. I certainly enjoyed it!
    One thing I didn't know: so many rock bands!

    VastaaPoista
    Vastaukset
    1. Well, heavy metal is not exactly my kind of music - but Lordi’s Hallelujah was great! In addition Apocalyptica & Teräsbetoni. Teräsbetoni’s Jarkko Ahola has a great voice.

      Poista
  14. Me ha encantado riitta, tal vez algún día pueda ir a conocerla. Me preguntabas que ciudad de España puedo recomendarte, toda España es preciosa ¿ pero en que mes tienes pensado venir ? Un abrazo.

    VastaaPoista
    Vastaukset
    1. El verano español es demasiado caluroso para mí. Creo que Marzo-Mayo sería mejor, u en otoño Septiembre-Noviembre. Los finlandeses suelen viajar al sur en estos meses para escapar lo peor de nuestras estaciones :) Hasta hoy he visitado Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona y Andalucía con Málaga, Sevilla, Granada, Córdoba, Gibraltar....

      Poista
  15. I enjoyed your postcards and information very much. Finland is a country I would love to visit one day. When we lived in Ecuador, we had Finnish friends.

    VastaaPoista
  16. A very interesting post about Finland! I enjoyed this, must visit one day...

    Happy Mosaic Monday and a wonderful week!
    - Heidrun

    VastaaPoista
  17. Fabulous postcards and information about Finland, you should be working for the tourist board! Thank you for taking Nick's great idea and sharing all this with us at Mosaic Monday this week.

    VastaaPoista
  18. Riiitta, it was so good of you to share about Finland so much in so little space. I find your country exciting and enjoyed your mosaic

    Have a nice week

    Much love...

    VastaaPoista
  19. I love your postcards from Finland! I love learning something new every day -- keeps the little brain cells happy! Thank you!

    VastaaPoista
  20. What a great post! Wonderful and interesting postcard from Finlad. And great idea to do.

    VastaaPoista

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