An emoji for "Eating one too many Joulutorttu"

Recently I learned that Finland has produced emojis that explain, and subtly poke fun at, themselves. In fact they are the only country to do so, and made about 30 emojis to explain some of the unique but hard-to-describe customs.
 
This emoji, for Dec. 18 is a joulutorttu, a Christmas pastry. (It looks like ones we ate, not knowing which ethnic group should get the credit.) 

This emoji of the joulutorttu is meant to exemplify "the feeling of having (eaten) one too many." 
 
According to the website This is Finland  "Every year you burn your mouth on the first one – beware of the plum jam in the middle! The sweet taste and nostalgia make up for it."

After stocking up at two church bake sales featuring Scandinavian treats and a cookie exchange at work, I understand the feeling. I have eaten more than one too many!

Nikki

Hyvaa Joulua

It's time to wish my friends a Merry Christmas, Finnish-style. What fun words to pronounce.

A Finnish cousin sent an email a few days ago, noting that the greetings were coming from where Santa Claus lives. 

The header said "Santa Claus has left the Korvatunturi." Thanks to Google and Wikipedia, I now know that "Korvatunturi" is a fell in Lapland, located in the Urho Kekkonen National Park, featuring thick pine forests, frozen lakes and gazillions of reindeer. So Santa would have the best reindeer to choose from, and alternates in case one of their antlers stops picking up the signals properly.

I also wanted to revisit the Christmas peace, joulurauha, a tradition I learned about last year.

Declaring a Christmas peace goes back to the 13th century. Once this tradition was common to all the Nordic countries, but only in Finland has it been maintained, almost uninterruptedly, to this day.

A special ceremony is held in Turku, Finland, to declare a period of Christmas peace. It begins at noon on Christmas Eve and lasts for 20 days. 

May this year's joulurauha last much longer and be world-wide. 

Nikki

 

Bronze Age sauna unearthed on the Orkneys

Imagine a sauna 6,000 years old, now being excavated. Because the ones we most often think of are wooden, it's hard to conceive of a sauna surviving a single century, not to mention 60 centuries.

But steam bathing was used world-wide over the years, for a variety of needs — body cleansing and mind-purification among them. With their understanding of wood and fire, it's natural that they would consider building a sauna with stone. For one thing, the heat would last much much longer.

An archaeological dig in the Orkney Islands of Scotland has unearthed network of buildings. With a water-holding area and places for fires, steam could be created. Why?
Here's the text (for the pictures, click the link):

“The fact that tap water was thousands of years away from being invented didn't stop ancient people who wanted a good soak in a steam bath. Archaeologists studying the Links of Noltland in Scotland's Orkney islands believe they have found a 6,000-year-old sauna, complete with a water tank, The National reports.

“The sauna is one of 30 buildings investigators are hastening to uncover and learn more about before the site potentially succumbs to erosion. Thankfully, the sauna remains remarkably intact, allowing researchers a glimpse into the lives of the people who lived at the site between 4,000 and 1,000 B.C.

“ 'We know this was a large building, with a complex network of cells attached to it and a sizeable tank of water in the central structure, which would likely have been used to produce boiling water and steam, which would have been used to create a sauna effect,' Rod McCullagh, the deputy head of archaeology strategy at Historic Scotland, told The National.

“He added that 'What this would have been used for we don't know exactly, but the large-scale, elaborate architecture and sophistication of the structure all suggest that it was used for more than just cooking.'

“The sauna could have been used in rituals, for example, or for healing and hygiene. Likewise, it could have been a place for women to give birth, or for elderly people to use while dying, or perhaps it functioned as a room to prepare the dead for burial. Then again, ancient people might simply have used it for a good ol' soak.” Jeva Lange

For this news, I thank my friend Barry Radin, who kept me abreast of this interesting development about the sauna.

Nikki

The Beatles and the sauna

The Beatles tried a sauna?? You're kidding?

The anniversary of this important sauna event occurred Aug. 21. But, because we were traveling, I missed doing anything about it. Here is the note I received from Joe Young:

“Fifty years ago today the Beatles made their only appearance in Minnesota, at a concert Aug. 21, 1965, at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington (now the site of the Mall of America). Ray Crump, equipment manager for the Minnesota Twins (Met Stadium’s baseball tenants who would next month clinch the American League Pennant, but then lose to the Dodgers in the World Series), was charged with the task of squiring the mop-topped lads around the stadium clubhouse, Ray’s bailiwick, before the concert. At one point he asked them if they wanted to relax pre-performance with a sauna. They did.”

It was the Beatles' first sauna ever! KARE-11 interviewed Ray Crump about his memories of the day, which included his taking pictures with them.

Interestingly, though they were young kids from Liverpool, they knew of Harmon Killebrew and wanted to know which locker was his.

Thanks to my friend Joe, we will now be able to nail the answer when — in some bar bet or trivia contest — we are asked, “Where did the Beatles enjoy their first sauna?”

By the way Joe Young has the most amazing puzzle blog, www.puzzleria.blogspot.com. Each week he swaps a “pizza puzzle menu” of appetizers and main slices. I've never got a single one, but they're still amazing.

This is #1 in a series of famous people in the sauna.

 Nikki

Sigurd Olson and his sauna

 

At the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards in Duluth in late May, I had the good fortune to be placed next to Kristin Eggerling who’d been nominated for her children’s biography “Breath of Wilderness: The Life of Sigurd Olson.” 

We chatted, found common ground (both graduates of Augsburg College!) — and exchanged books.

How serendipitous to be reminded of Sigurd Olson’s contributions to the north woods.

After devouring her book, I looked on my shelves — and found 2 copies of “Singing Wilderness.” The public library had them all. I chose “Runes of the North,” a collection of legends, reflections and adventures following voyageur trails in the Quetico-Superior to Hudson Bay, Yukon and Alaska.

Of course Sig Olson had something to say about saunas: a whole chapter in “Runes.” 

I liked how he built his sauna — primitive, “one step removed from the first excavations in the hillsides of Finland.” He nestled his 10-by-10-foot log structure in a grove of cedars and aspens, among the birds and paved a trail to the lake with large mossy stones.

And I loved his lyrical recounting of a September sauna with his son, selecting spruce to burn, cedar for switches. They enjoyed the full course — three steams, three swims in the lake, enjoying the temperature differences.

“The water was like silk to us and we did not feel the cold, were conscious only of floating without effort and drifting in a medium as warm as our own bodies.”

Afterwards, they finished a pot of coffee noticing the changing light of the sunset on the water, the smoky smell mixed with cedar, the loons' wild laughing and mournful calls, the breeze ruffling the trees, a sliver of new moon and a few stars.

“There was nothing of great moment to talk about, but within us was a feeling of well-being in which the affairs of the world seemed far away and unimportant. Ours was a sense of fullness and belonging to a past of simple ways. … This was the time of magic when the world was still, the the feel of dawns and of awakenings at night, of hush and quiet. Life was simple and complete.”

Perfectly said.

Plus, he began — and ended — his book with quotes from the Kalevala.

Nikki

Pesäpallo — Finland’s 2nd favorite pastime

Sauna is, of course, the top Finnish way to relax.

But I just learned about pesäpallo, a wildly popular major sport played in Finland. Some years ago I visited a Finnish festival in Embarrass, Minnesota. During the afternoon they played pesäpallo, but I never took the time to watch. Now — I wish I had.

The name pesäpallo makes it seem like baseball, but it’s entirely different — with a fast pace, a zigzag pattern for base running in a vast pentagon-shaped field. It’s clearly not baseball as we know it. In fact, Finns apparently define our baseball as “the lukewarm version of pesäpallo!”

To start with, the pitcher stands next to the batter and the catcher is midway to second base, which is sorta where a major league baseball’s first baseman might play. Second base is out in a MLB right field. First base is about where third base would be. Third base is where left field is.

The outfield in pesäpallo more than doubles the size of a MLB outfield — an entire MLB field fits into a pesäpallo infield! According to a Wall Street Journal story, one player racked up 10.5 kilometers during a game.

To play, the pitcher tosses the ball up, at least one meter above the batter’s head, psyching him with an assortment of heights and locations.

The hitter’s team stands behind the home plate area— to better heckle the opposing pitcher. Batters hit nearly every pitch, so the four fielders are running all the time.

Four, yes, the left — and right — shortstops, along with the left and right fielders. There aren’t relief pitchers, but designated hitters are called “jokers” (like a “wild card”). The game is played with two periods of four innings each.

Pesäpallo is the second most popular sport for boys, trailing only ice hockey. It’s the most popular sport for girls and it’s cheaper to boot.

And it sounds like fun! Especially if you can have a sauna afterwards.

Nikki

A DIY sauna kit

A few years ago, I received a do-it-yourself sauna kit that included a book of matches, a selection of rocks and a small bottle of water. Which are the bare essentials that make a sauna what it is — heat, rocks, steam.

It was the funniest gift — every time I’d come upon the pieces, whether in my desk drawer or on our 0-season porch, I’d grin. It was a great reminder that a sauna can be enjoyed in many places.

Recently, we traveled to North Dakota’s Badlands — with massive boulders, great vistas and unusual landforms, and even this shelter. I’d brought that kit with me, planning to add it to the pix I was taking of the scenery. But I forgot. Yes, I could photoshop the kit in, but it’d be so much funnier if it had really been in the photo instead of just in the car.

Here are two of the places we liked in the north unit of Teddy Roosevelt Park. To add the kit, you have to use your imagination. But — can you imagine taking a sauna here?  It’s still a DIY project.

       

Nikki