Finland , Discover the nature
of Finland, Hotels in Finland, , Appartments, Studios, Travel Agents, Finland,
, skiing, Finland, mountains, sport, Enterntainment,
Finland
Finland Culture
Culture You can also get cultural info on Finland from the
Finnish
Embassy in Washington, D.C.. The Yahoo listings also have pointers to other sites
in Finland
and on Finnish
culture. The Alvar Aalto
Page Finnish
Art - Finnish
Cultural Heritage - Finnish
National Costumes - Kalevala
- The Mofile Place Finland
Festivals - Is
Sisu Alive and Well Among Finnish Americans? - Virtual Finland Finnish
Customs and Manners The
Gastronomy of Finland Arts
and Entertainment The
Finnish Woman Finnish
Costumes Finnish
Wedding Customs Sauna The
Sauna as a National Symbol - Bare
Facts of the Sauna - Finnish
Sauna Society - The Finnish
Sauna Finnish
Sauna - SaunaSite Other
Sauna Links Tove Jansson, the author of the Moominland stories,
probably has the highest international profile among contemporary Finns,
although you cannot escape the design work of Alvar Aalto in public buildings,
towns and furniture. Jean Sibelius, one of the greatest of modern composers,
wrote recognisably Finnish pieces for the glorification of his people and
in defiance of the Russian oppressors. Sibelius and the nationalistic painter
Akseli Gallén-Kallela fell under the spell of Karelianism, a movement
going back to the folk songs Elias Lönnrot compiled for the national
epic, the Kalevala in the 1830s. The Kalevala is an epic mythology
that includes creation stories and the fight between good and evil. Aleksis
Kivi founded modern Finnish literature with Seven Brothers, a story
of brothers who try to escape education and civilisation in favour of the
forest. Finnish is a Uralic language and belongs to
the Finno-Ugric group. It is closely related to Estonian and Karelian,
and has common origins with Samoyed and the languages spoken in the Volga
basin. The most widely spoken of the Finno-Ugric languages is Hungarian,
but similarities with Finnish are few. With 6% of the population speaking
Swedish, Finland is officially a bilingual country. Finlandssvenska,
or 'Finland's Swedish', is very similar to the language spoken in Sweden,
but local dialects have many Finnish words. Finnish food has elements of both Swedish and
Russian cuisines, but with a lot of variations and local specialities.
Potato is the staple food, served with various fish or meat sauces. Some
traditional meals include game: try snow grouse, reindeer stew, glowfired
salmon or raw pickled salmon. Strong beers, wines and spirits are sold
in licensed bars and restaurants and by the state network, aptly named
Alko. Coupled with strict import restrictions, this makes alcohol prices
prohibitively high and merry-making a serious business. Finnish humour
often ties in the locals' love of a tipple with their legendary reticence
to make small talk.
