St. Urho's Tay — Wednesday, March 16

It's that time of year again when Americans with Finnish roots celebrate Urho's miraculous rescue of the grape crop. The words he uttered: “Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, Mene taalta hiiten!” (Grasshopper, grasshopper, go home!) so alarmed the little critters that they all disappeared. 

You might practice saying the words — you never know when something like that will come in handy. For sure, dig out your purple and green clothing to wear on St. Urho's Tay, interestingly timed one day before another fun March celebration. 

Lots of ways to celebrate:

Beforehand: A Grasshopper Hop in Crosslake, Minnesota—March 5. So we missed that. 

Finland, Minnesota, kicks of festivities this weekend, March 11-13, their 41^st annual event: a Miss Helmi talent and beauty contest, food, music, parade!

 

On the actual day, March 17, the day is commemorated by folks in Butte, Montana, (crowning of St. and Miss Urho, live music and bag pipers) and in Donna, Texas (dinner).

Menahga, Minnesota, celebrates March 18-20 by crowning their own St. Urho King and Queen, a magician/comedian, pancake breakfast, horse drawn wagon rides, mojakka feed, the changing of the guards, St. Urho’s Day parade, bar stool races on Spirit Lake and live music. And on Sunday, enjoy the Blueberry Pines snow sculpture contest (if snow remains).

In Finlayson, Minnesota, on March 19, you can enjoy a parade, various tournaments for volleyball, basketball and cribbage, a pancake breakfast, antique snowmobile show, kid games, a medallion hunt.

Squaw Lake, Minnesota, also celebrates March 19. 

If nothing else, kick back and appreciate a nice glass of wine.

Nikki

Celebrate St. Urho’s Tay today

(This poem is written in “Finn-glish.” It’s most fun when read aloud.)

Ode to Saint Urho

             by Gene McCavic and Richard Mattson from Virginia, Minnesota

Ooksi, kooksi, coolama vee,

Santia Urho is ta poy for me!

He sase out ta hoppers pig as pirds,

Neffer peefor haff I hurd tose words.

He reely tolt tose pugs of kreen.

Braffest Finn I effer seen!

Some celebrate for St. Pat unt hiss nakes,

Putt Urho poyka kot what it takes.

He kot tall and trong from feelia* sour

Unt ate kala moyakka** effery hour.

Tat’s why tat kuy could sase toes peetles

What krew as thick as chack bine neetles.

So let’s give a cheer in hower pest vay.

On Sixteenth of March, St. Urho’s Tay!

Translation:

One, two, three — five,

St. Urho is the boy for me!

He chased those hoppers big as birds,

Never before have I heard those words.

He really told those bugs of green.
Bravest Finn I’ve ever seen.

Some celebrate for St. Pat and his snakes

But Urho, boy, has got what it takes!

He grew tall and strong from feelia* sour

And ate kala moyakka** every hour.

That’s why that guy could chase those beetles

That grew as thick as jack-pine needles.

So let’s give a cheer in our best way,

On the 16th of March,

St. Urho’s Day.

* feelia is a sour yogurt

**kala mojakka is a stew made with fish (other spellings include culla moiakka and calla moyakka). And it has its own website.

Nikki

Were you wondering what “Tay” means?

Back in the day, some Finns in America had a hard time learning to pronounce English words, and the result was sometimes called “Finn-glish.” For example, the letters “p” and “b” were often interchanged. They meant to say “day” but what came out was “tay” because “d” and “t” sounded the same to them. 

Nikki

St. Urho’s Tay — a Finnish-American celebration

My main topic is saunas, but St. Urho’s Tay is March 16. It’s a madcap celebration for people with Finnish roots — or Finnish friends.

The next posts will delve into this fun day while the sauna stove is heating.

The origins of St. Urho’s Tay, these Finnish-American festivities, are clouded in history — or maybe not. But that’s beside the point, which is simply to have as much fun March 16 as the Irish do the following day, on St. Patrick’s Day.

The legend in short: Grasshoppers suddenly overran the country, threatening the grape crops (and others). No one could get rid of them — until Urho, a Finnish boy, used very powerful magic words “Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen” (Grasshopper, grasshopper, go to hell!).

Amazingly, the hoppers disappeared.

This year the big day falls on a Sunday. To support the occasion, wear nile green and royal purple, colors which represent the grasshoppers and grapes. Enjoy a bottle of nice wine. Or sip on a grasshopper cocktail, a minty creamy concoction. Chocolate-covered insects have much less appeal, however. 

Nikki