Hogans Blog: reindeer

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Season's Greetings

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve here in Finland and it is the day for Christmas dinner and celebrations all over the country. It's gonna be a particularly cold Christmas here this year with plenty of snow. So lots of shovelling should work up a good appetite for Christmas dinner. I will of course miss my family back in Ireland and all the great craic that comes with an Irish Christmas. But circumstances allow me to once again enjoy a more peaceful and picturesque Christmastime here in the land of the reindeers, and I'm looking forward to some fine Finnish cuisine being served up by my brother-in-law and his culinary wife. A selection of smoked and marinated fish, a large oven-baked ham, meatloaf, carrot and potato casserole with side-dishes of cognac-mustard and gingerbread should be all present at the Finnish Christmas table. Add to that a few bottles of wine and a crate of beer and we'll all be smiling!

And if I have any energy left after all that I might just do it all again on Christmas Day, the day of celebration back in Ireland.

But for now, to whoever is reading this blog I wish you a special Happy Christmas wherever in the world you are, and a very Happy New Year 2013!!!

Alan

Alan Hogan

Born in Ireland, Alan Hogan is a visual artist now living in Finland. He paints a variety of subjects in a unique style which mixes traditional values with a hint of contemporary and sometimes melancholy undertones. A graduate of art and design from DIT Ireland, Hogan worked for many years in the Irish print industry before moving to Finland in 2007. This is where he re-ignited his passion for painting, with several exhibitions already displayed including the popular ‘Helsinki Design Week’. He is currently a member of various art groups in Finland including the Helsinki International Artists’ Association. Alan Hogan lives in the bilingual town of Karis in southern Finland, where he continues to paint and sell his art. If you have any feedback, requests or questions for the artist, please send an email to his company studio 'The Art Garage' at theartgarage@rocketmail.com. You can also find this artist on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/hoganfinland

Saturday, February 6, 2010

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.