National Symbols of Finland

During our trip, I have been on a quest to find the national symbols of Finland. Helsinki is the capital to a population of about 5 million people in a country of 100,000 lakes and a midnight sun. There are two languages spoken here: Finnish and Swedish. Swedish is spoken by only 5% of the country and is the language of my family here in Finland. The national bird is a swan, the national animal is a bear, the national tree is the birch, and the national flower is the lily of the valley (I missed most of its blooming), the national fish is the perch, and the national stone is granite. The flag has a blue cross on a white background. The blue stands for water, the white stands for snow, and the cross for the Christian foundation of the country.

The Front Museum and Hangö

Pic 1 Lars Erik with his semi tractor trailer
Pic 2 Ship leaving haarbor for Germany
Pic 3 Water carousel at beach in Hango
Pic 4 Austin with WWII missile
Pic 5 Barbed wire boundary at museum
Pic 6 large cannon from WWII

Today, we set off to see the southernmost city in Finland called Hango which is a tourist town in the summer with miles and miles of coastline. When we arrived, we took a tour of the harbor where Lars Erik who drives an 18 wheeler picks up trailers to carry all over. He drives an average of 3000 km a week or about 170,000 km per year. We saw a tanker leaving the harbor going to Germany to pick up another load! After that we took a driving tour of the area and stopped at a local beach to let the kids swim. Of course today was overcast and cool and then on the beach it was windy. So needless to say, they did not stay in long, but Austin was the first in! They had a rope carousel out in the water that would swing you around when you caught a rope. Since Austin was the right size, it whipped him all around through the air while it only dragged the other kids through the water! After that, we stopped at a restaurant that Lars Erik knew had good food--a truck stop--and it was good!

Before we got to Hango, though, we stopped at a museum that was part of the Winter War with Russia in 1939-40 and led to Finland's cooperation with the Germans against Russia in WWII. The original foxholes, trenches and barracks are still there along with some mines and cannons. Just over the rise of land was the boundary line between Finland and Russia devised in the treaty to end the war. Though the Finns were poorly prepared for war in manpower and equipment, as I teach in my history classes: When fighting for home, family, and land, the home team has a definite advantage and determination to keep and preserve what is theirs. And in this case, too, Finland prevailed.

Though the US has used the draft system and young men must still register for the draft, it is mandatory in Finland that young men must serve in the army for 6, 8, or 12 months to learn an army job in the event a large army is needed for the country's defense. If the time is not served, the young men must serve an equal time in jail or must leave the country. They are not eligible to receive any more benefits as citizens (which are many) if they do not serve the time. Then as time goes on, a few weeks may be required for additional training. Lars Erik, who is trained in large cannons, will train for his last time for a few days in August.

Our wonderful time in Ekanas is over. Tomorrow we leave for Helsinki for a couple of days before we return home on Tuesday, June 30. Where has the time gone?

A Busy Day in Ekanas

Pic 1 Ekanas Harbor at 10 p.m.
Pic 2 View of sailboat from dinner cruise
Pic 3 Kids ready for the dinner cruise
Pic 4 Birthday dinner on cruise
Pic 5 Coast at "sunset"
Pic 6 Summer missions concert in Ekanas

On Friday, we spent the day at the beach town of Ekanas. We left Davis and Austin with Lars Erik at a park to play on the playground near the beach while the rest of us went shopping. After finding a few nice items, we met back and had lunch at a dockside restaurant.

At 5:30 p.m. we boarded a small cruise ship called the Sunnan II for a 4 hour trip around the islands of Southern Finland in the Gulf of Finland. We had a leisurely trip with bright warm sunshine (it has been around 80 since arriving in Ekanas on Wednesday) through some interesting scenery with boats, huge rock islands in the archipelago, and even some men streaking down their boardwalk as they came out of the sauna at their villa to dive into the cold water (I'll save those pictures til later!) We had a nice dinner to celebrate my birthday and continued to cruise. The lowering of the sun was again glorious as it was becoming overcast.

After we landed, we went back to the park from the afternoon to see a concert we had seen students advertising as we walked through town earlier. Much to our surprise and that of some highly intoxicated young people, the concert-drama presentation was performed by a group called 'Summer Action', a Christian outreach group who were from various countries and are working in Ekanas doing missions work for the summer. They did a series of Christian rock songs, drama, and interpretive dance and gave testimony and an invitation at the end. Though some of the audience detracted from the program at times, I know that some seeds were planted and that God will receive the glory for their efforts.

Raseborg--Back in Time

On Thursday, we went to some old castle ruins nearby called 'Raseborg', built in the 1370's. It became important to Finland's history at the end of the Middle Ages. Because the land has continued to rise (as explained in blog 'Stones, Rocks, and Boulders'), the water level was near the base of the castle which is built on a humongous boulder and is constructed of rocks (surprise!). Raseborg has 3 towers, an encircling wall, and divided rooms on several levels used for jails, storerooms, living areas, guard and watch towers, and even a bathroom. It was used to protect the important trade route over the Gulf of Finland to Reval, Germany and to collect taxes as boats passed the castle. It has been controlled by Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Germany and kings and other rulers have lived in it. It lost its importance as the land continued to rise and was no longer convenient to control and collect the taxes. Though it is in ruins, it was very interesting to walk and climb around the ruins and imagine what may have transpired within its walls.

Arrival in Ekanas

After dragging way too much luggage for 5 people across three train stations and Austin almost getting left because he was the last in the group to get on the train because the rest of us were trying to get a mountain of bags on a full train, we arrived in Helsinki and Mom's two cousins met us and drove us to their town about 1 and 1\2 hours away. We went to Johann's home where he owns a horse farm and boards them as well as providing a space for training. After visiting for a while, we went back to Lars Erik's for dinner and bed. His wife's name is Eivor and his son, Dan, is 15.

The next morning we went on a walk down a dirt road not farm from Lars Erik's house and saw a lot of picturesque forests, fields, flowers, and scenery. So most of this entry is just a lot of pictures showing them!

Churches in Finland

Pic 1 & 2-Larsmo church and the center of the dome
Pic 3, 4, 5-Korsnas church-pulpit and soldiers' memorial 'for home and fatherland'
Pic 6-9 Narpes church horse barns, immigration memorial, bell tower, and organ
Pic 10 & 11 Pojo church and bell tower
The dominant denomination in Finland is Lutheran. Most Finnish people go to church for christenings, confirmations, funerals, and major holidays. Not many people attend their local church on a regular basis. Most churches are in the shape of a cross. The priest speaks from a pulpit which is raised above the congregation. There is a separate altar which many times is in the shape of a circle. Most of them have a large boat suspended or displayed in the church symbolizing the seafaring who come to the church to worship. All of them have a cemetery and tribute to the soldiers from their community who died in the Finnish-Russian War in 1939 and WWII. There is also a detached bell tower for most of the churches. The first church and service we attended was in Jakobstad for William's last day of school.

The second church we looked in was in Larsmo. It was built in 1787. My grandfather's family worships here.

The third church we looked in was my grandmother's church in Korsnas which was built in 1747 and was remodeled in 1862. There is a corner stone on the belfry that dates to 1713, but I don't know what that is. We attended church on a Sunday evening and there were about 20 people there.

The fourth church we visited was my grandfather's father's church in Narpes. It was built in 1435. Outside, the small houses were used when people came to church on\with horses in the winter. There is also a large stone with a bronze relief dedicated to those who immigrated and died in a foreign country.

The fifth church we looked at was in Pojo, where we are now in Southern Finland in which these cousins have been married and confirmed. It is different than the other churches in that it is not in the shape of a cross. We looked inside tonight while a choir was practicing for a special program commemerating the 650th anniversary of the building of the church. Hopefully we will go to the program on Sunday.

Coffee in Härrstrom

Pic 1 Åbacka home in Harrstrom
Pic 2 Oldest fishing house in Harrstrom
Pic 3 Windmills in Harrstrom
Pic 4 Original bridge in Harrstrom
Pic 5 Davis's fish
Pic 6 Caroline's Harrstrom sweater


On Tuesday afternoon, we were invited for coffee at Caroline Åbacka's home in Harrstrom, a small village near Korsnas. Caroline is a lifelong friend of Lena's and was one of the girls I knew when I was here as a teenager in 1976 and 1980. She and her husband live on his family's old homeplace and they have restored the 1920's house of his grandparents. When the house was built in the 20's an additional part was added from another house making it quite large. They have done an excellent job in modernizing the interior but keeping the original feel to it.

The Åbacka's have a fox and mink farm, raise long haired cattle, and farm land as well. When I think of Finland, they are the 'typical Finnish family' in my mind. Caroline made a delicious cake and blueberry pie for our coffee. Caroline modeled a sweater she had knitted for her 40th birthday. It is in a pattern which is unique to Harrstrom. It is special to have a sweater like this because it cost so much to have one custom made. Each village or town has their own pattern or designs and colors to represent their community in sweaters and traditional costumes. And the people who make them are very few. We visited and looked at an atlas to find where some relatives live in Florida and Tennessee so they can stop and visit us for a while some time when they come to the US! Caroline is also a trained florist and has some beautiful flowers and plants in her yard. The kids fished from the bridge with Caroline's daughter, Felicia, who is almost 12. Davis caught a nice sized fish (but I don't know the name of it!)

We took a little drive to see some of the historic places in Harrstrom-the old windmills, the old bridge, and the oldest house in Harrstrom. We had a very nice afternoon!

Last Days in Korsnas

Pic 1-Bo, Lena's husband, making some yummy waffles for a late supper.
Pic 2-Ralf showing us one of his baby silver foxes.
Pic 3-Boat building in Korsnas.

Our time in Korsnas has come to end but with no less busyness than the rest of the trip. On Saturday, we all went to visit my grandmother's sister, Maj-Len, and to give her one of the birdhouses the kids built at the museum last Sunday. Her husband is a boat builder and we got to see his shop with some boats in progress. Then, my Aunt Viktoria took us out to a very nice waterside restaurant in a nearby village called Molpe for a Midsummer Day's lunch. On Sunday, we were back to Susanne and Harry's in Edsvik for a lunch with her two older sons, Robert and Ronald, and their girlfriends. We had cucumber soup! which was fitting since they are the ones who grow the cucumbers. Then we went to return the car which had loaned to us to Åsa and visited again with her family including Anna, Ralf, Tildy, and Johnny. Ralf took the boys and me to see his mink farm and he also raises silver fox for the fur business. Later we went to Lena's villa for a late dinner of Svenska pleta, waffles, and pankakor. Yummy! Monday we began to pack to leave Korsnas and the kids rode their bikes to the villa. Later Mom and I joined them with a pot of chili for supper and left over pankakor. Yummy! Tuesday we finished packing and had a nice afternoon at Caroline Åbacka's home in Harrstrom, another village not too far from Korsnas. (I'll tell more in the next entry about Harrstrom.) Lena made the kids a dinner of their choice for their last night at the villa--Finnish spaghetti with brown sauce topped with ketchup. They love it!

On Wednesday, we left Korsnas about 10:30 a.m. going to Vasa to catch the train to southern Finland to two of my grandmother's nephews, Lars Erik and Johann, in an area called Ekanas. We have too much luggage and it was difficult moving it all to the next train when we had to change. We arrived in Helsinki about 5 p.m. and drove to Ekanas about 75 kilometers away. I'll fill you in on our time here as we go along, but it is less than a week before we return to the USA. It is hard to believe that 5 weeks which seemed so long in May has been as quick as it has been.

Land of the Midnight Sun

Picture 1 A boat marker on an island near Jakobstad about 9 p.m.
Picture 2 Austin on the rock outside Lena's house at 10:30(posed)
Picture 3 Austin on the rock at 11:30
Picture 4 Dramatic midnight sky on Midsummer Eve (Davis took this picture)
Picture 5 Early morning about 4:30

Since we arrived in Finland on May 28, we have had sunlight for basically 24 hours a day! With Midsummer Day, or the first day of summer, or the summer solstice having just passed yesterday, I thought I would share a variety of pictures with you to show you how bright it is during the evening and night.

A white night is when the sun does not sink below the horizon and is an arctic phenomenon. Of course, this is due to the earth's position in relation to the sun--the northern hemisphere receives more direct sunlight because it is tilting toward the sun. At the Arctic Circle, which is only a few hundred miles away to the north, the sun stopped rising or setting on June 6 and will stay above the horizon until July 7 when it will set for the first time in 31 days. It is hard to imagine until you experience it.

I have stopped the kids several times at 9 or 10 p.m. and said 'think about how bright it is now and what time it would be at home if it were this bright.' For instance, we have just come from the villa at 10:30 p.m. and it looks like 6:30 p.m. at home would look because the sun has dropped below the trees. At 9 p.m. you still need sunglasses outside in direct light because it is like 4 p.m. I have been awake at 4 a.m. and can clearly see my watch with the blinds closed. At 6:30 a.m. it looks like 10 a.m. It is incredible. I cannot say to the kids 'Come home when it gets dark'! We make them come inside so they do not wake the neighbors at 10 or 11 p.m.

Of course the opposite is true in winter. Only 5 or 6 hours of daylight and then it is not high above the horizon...in other words the sun is not overhead.

Enjoy the pictures.