My Finland 100 : 91- 100

Finland became an independent state on 6 December 1917. Already there have been numerous events staged throughout the country to celebrate this centenary year. The theme of the centenary year is ‘Together’. 

As I have been a resident of Finland for the past ten years I wanted to do a little something. For this I decided to post 100 images to my Instagram account on social media with the hashtag #finland100_igchallenge .

Anyone familiar with the Instagram application will be aware of the vast amount of wonderful photography posted every day online. There are so many amazing images to be found featuring Finland's stunning nature and landscapes. I imagine my photography may be lack lustre in comparison and as a result may not be noticed. So I decided to simply look closer in and around my new home for another approach. I have posted a variety of images found around my own house and neighbourhood. I didn't know much about Finland before I moved here, so I view this as an opportunity to show others a few things I discovered about or associated with Finland and it's culture. I have included everyday items, nostalgic items, locations, food and also some Finnish-themed artworks which I painted myself while living here. In other words, a bit of everything!!

The images are in no particular order of importance or preference, and now I'll finish with 91-100!

91/100
...a much aquired taste, Salmiakki is a salty liquorice sweet/candy from Finland which I tend to keep well away from.🍬 . Instead I prefer it's alcohol-infused cousin in liquid shot form (served cold!)
🍷😀 ...'bottoms up! .. Have a good Saturday!!!

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Dec 16, 2017 at 8:41am PST

92/100
...Sunday sounds! Hailing from Kitee in Finland, Nightwish have to be the most successful Finnish band internationally ever. The ultimate in symphonic metal! ..Play extremely loud!!! 👊😎

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Dec 17, 2017 at 4:43am PST

93/100
'Pohjola' is the Finnish word for North. This and many other soapstone sculptures were made by Finnish artist Hilda Flodin for the facade of the Pohjola Insurance building in Helsinki. Her sculptures were inspired by Finnish folklore and blend in perfectly with the wonderful art nouveau style seen throughout the city. They're one of my favourite features in the capital. I painted one of the sculptures with a little 'tongue in cheek' addition of some mobile phones. I called it 'Holding for Hilda'. 

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Dec 18, 2017 at 5:41am PST

94/100
'The Snow Tree' (acrylic-on-canvas, 2009)

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Dec 20, 2017 at 6:19am PST

95/100
..this is the Joulupukki in Finland also known as the Julbocken or Yule goat, a very old Christmas tradition in northern europe which won't be found in my old country Ireland. The joulupukki can even be found on some Christmas beers up here. ...so cheers!!! 🐏 🍺😀 (ps. Santa Claus is also called Joulupukki in Finland)

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Dec 21, 2017 at 3:03am PST

96/100
...fakenews and ad-free technology and my favourite era of mobile phone evolution. Nokia have now moved on to creating smartwatches amongst other things. A long way since kiddies' shoes! (see 15/100).

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Dec 22, 2017 at 1:28am PST

97/100
.. Vodka Veekend! #finnishvodka #tgif 😀 🍸

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Dec 22, 2017 at 1:18pm PST

98/100
Postcard from Karis!
...The best little town in Finland!

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Dec 23, 2017 at 2:26am PST

99/100
... Christmas in Finland means glögg with vodka!! ..kippis! ..skål!! 🍷😂

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Dec 25, 2017 at 9:26am PST

100/100
Merry Christmas from the home of Santa Claus! ...Hyvää Joulua!! ...God Jul!! ...Have a good one!!🎄🎅👍

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Dec 25, 2017 at 11:17am PST

Click below for more:

1- 10

11- 20

21- 30

31- 40

41- 50

51- 60

61- 70

71- 80

81- 90

91- 100

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Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.

- Alan

 

Mayweather in Finland!

I just wanted to throw a blogpost in quickly as it seems the winter in Finland may finally be over, well at least until after autumn. And no, this post has nothing to do with the recent boxing fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas, so apologies to any boxing fans who stumbled onto my blog here. I hope it was a good fight. I didn't see it myself unfortunately, I was fast asleep in bed!

Getting back to May-weather, last Thursday saw the arrival of Vappu, Finland's annual Mayday celebrations which actually begins on the 30th of April and can continue until May 1st or even longer for some folk depending on whether or not you have a strong head! It's traditionally a very Finnish affair with students past and present wearing their white graduation hats. I've been told that in the past students also had a blue hat which was worn during the winter months and then swapped for a white version on Vappu to celebrate the arrival of spring, summer and happy days. There are various styles of hats symbolising which area, academy or field you studied. For example if you qualified as an engineer you would normally have a long string and tassle attached to your hat. I think I prefer the normal white sailor type hat myself.

The traditional Finnish student hat

Of course as I studied in Ireland myself I don't have this white student hat. To my knowledge students in Ireland don't have student hats, maybe one or two junior schools wear them as part of a uniform but definately not used as graduation wear for Secondary School (High School). Nope, all we received was a certificate and a jolly good wave goodbye! Some third-level colleges and universities may have special graduation garments and hats similar to those found in the United States of America. These are usually rented though, so you would never see them worn annually on May day.

Anyway, with the absence of a white hat I decided to grab my old school tie instead and throw it on just for Vappu. Don't ask me why I still have my old tie, just a bit of nostalgia I suppose! I wasn't going to any Vappu parties so it didn't matter if it offended anyone or looked silly. With my striped-maroon St. David's school tie fitted on and a few drinks ready for some cocktail-experimentation I felt a bit like Harry Potter. My first trick was the exploding champagne bottle!!! Maybe I've just started a new trend for expats, wearing an old school tie on Vappu!

This years Vappu weather couldn't have been more confusing. I was planning a nice garden barbeque with friends for last Thursday, but then after a few pleasant sunny days this arrived on Wednesday morning and continued for most of the day. The final snow show!

  

With no option but to cancel my bbq plans I decided simply to enjoy a bottle of bubbly and some drinks indoors. This didn't stop those in the big cities from partying hard though  and to everyone's surprise the snow melted away like magic and sunshine brought joy to the land of Moomin and trolls. From what I heard there were actually a few new trolls crawling the streets of Helsinki on Thursday night! But overall throughout Finland people had a great day out. Lots of fun, balloons, good weather and of course champagne! Here's a video by a young mexican lady who went to the Vappu outdoor celebrations in the town of Lappeenranta in eastern Finland. She's explains what Vappu is all about in a more photogenic way than I could ever do!





You can read more about Vappu in Finland on my previous blogpost called 

Vappu! - May Day in Finland. 

- Simply click on the image below!

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Date with the Saami people!

Renée Zellweger chews her finger 
in the title role of Bridget Jones’s Diary.

From Universal/Neal Peters Collection

Living in Finland for over two years now I am still amazed at just how large the country is. Finland has a similar population size to my home country Ireland, but is actually four times larger in area coverage.

Of course a large area of northern Finland is open to severe weather conditions in the winter months and therefore considered uninhabitable by some. Add to this the lack of daylight and it paints a grim picture of how anyone could survive winters in this northern region of Finland where temperatures can drop to between -45°C and -50°C.

I live in the most southerly area of Finland and winter here can be hard enough to bear. I honestly cannot understand how anybody can live in the north of Finland.

However this northern area of Finland we all know as Lapland has a large community with busy towns and modern infrastructure. And with a population of about 184,000 it seems that long cold winters hasn't deterred anyone from living there.

Of this quite large population living in Finnish Lapland around 7,000 belong to the Saami community. These are the people who most of us are used to seeing in photos and on TV wearing traditional red, blue and yellow lined clothing and usually occupied by reindeer herding and age-old crafts like carpentry and sowing.

However, nowadays you are more likely to see a Saami rushing around after reindeer on a turbo-quad vehicle with an iphone gps attached. And why not? These are people who welcome the use of modern devices where needed, yet they still maintain and respect old traditions.

I don't know much more about the Saami people and I'm not qualified to write any detailed information, but since moving to Finland I have discovered that they are very much a part of a detached culture to most Finnish people. They have their own language, they even have there own TV broadcasts I believe. You can read more about the Saami here.

Homeland of the Saami people

The Saami Flag

This leads me on to Hollywood star Renée Zellweger.

What???....... What has she got to do with Finland you may ask?

Well, nothing really.

But I was a little surprised to see her photo on Wikipedia's page about some of Finland's most northerly inhabitants, the Saami. Well actually the Saami people live in the nordic area more commonly known as Lapland, which encompasses parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

It appears that Renée Zellweger's mother, Kjellfried Irene (née Andreassen), is Norwegian-born and of Saami origin.

And today, February 6th marks the Saami National Day.

I wonder if the Hollywood star has this date written in her diary, definately a day to toast a proud part of her heritage.

And finally a little bit of modern Sami music. I'm not familar too much with the Sami culture, I think it would be great to head up to Lapland one day and say hello to all the gang. Here's some music I found on YouTube which appealed to me.

You can find out more about the Saami people and Finnish weather at these interesting links.

http://saamiblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/runes-and-serpent-worship-among-sami.html

http://baiki.tripod.com/glossary.htm

http://www.finnguide.fi/calendar/calendarevents.asp?month=2&p=8

http://www.fmi.fi/weather/climate_4.html

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Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.

- Alan