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EXPLORING FINNISH CULTURE
New World Finn
Vol 11, # 1 • January - February - March • Winter – 2010
The Fate of Aino: A Woman Betwixt the Stars and the Sea
by Katja Maki
Aino took a deep breath of the birchladen
air and smiled. The scent of
the birch forest reminded her of
home, of the cottage she lived in
with Mother, Father, Sister and Brother. She
loved gathering birch branches for the vihta.
Her eyes and hands were expert at selecting
just the right supple branches with lots of
leaves. As she picked, Aino asked each
birch tree’s permission before removing
the branches she needed. Everything was
infused with spirit and she had learned that
taking without asking could bring down the
wrath of Tapio and Mielikki, the god and
goddess of the forest. Aino knew every tree
and wildflower in the forest; their names
were songs she sang as she went about her
work. She knew that Rabbit had just birthed
a new litter. That Bear, Sweet Honey-Paws,
was on the other side of the glen, foraging
for his meal.
She bundled up the vihtas into her apron
and began following the well-worn path
back home. As she walked, she thought of
preparing the sauna. The vision of the steam
pricking her skin and making her breath hot
made her hurry down the path.
Around the bend of poplars where
the mushrooms grew, she saw a figure
approaching. Even from such a distance, she
could discern the silhouette of an old man.
As he came closer, she saw his eyes light up
and a smile curl his lips. He looked eagerly
into her clear water-eyes that were as blue
and deep as the lake at the edge of the forest.
He sensed with growing excitement that the
depth of her lake eyes could cause drowning
if he was not careful.
Aino’s breath caught in her throat as his
rheumy eyes travelled over her body. A deep
unease settled over her like a dark cape.
“Ah, Aino, sister of Joukahainen. You
truly are the beauty of the north. The one I
have been searching for! Look at you! Are
you dressed for me, lovely one?” the old
man asked, reaching his hand out towards
her. “Are you waiting for me? Yes...yes...
wear your finery only for me! Put on your
golden crosses and pearls only for me!” he
crooned as he drank in her skin, translucent
as the milk from her mother’s cows. His
eyes followed the lengths of her hair which
flowed down her back like rivers of spun
gold.
Aino became incensed. Infuriated, she
Text and graphic art © Katja Maki, 2009
The story of Aino is continually unravelling, leading in unexpected directions, like a ball of wool dropped from the lap. With an imagination
steeped in classical epics, Elias Lonnrot created Aino by knitting together threads from a variety of old Finnish runes and fragments that
featured Aino-type women. Somewhere inside the roll of tangled wool, the eyes of the original Aino peer out. Although more a creation
of his fancy than any one rune, the story of Aino has become one of the most beloved. She is an imaginative field of possibilities, rooted
in the past, yet free to travel new paths.
In the following story, “The Fate of Aino,” Katja Maki has played with the threads of Aino’s story and created her vision of a young
woman who finds herself on the path towards marrying Väinämöinen. In her story, Katja has pulled the wool over Väinämöinen’s desire
for a young wife, and twisting the threads, has created a woman betwixt the stars and the sea. (Introduction by Taina Chahal)
looked into Väinämöinen’s rheumy hazel
eyes. He was just like the boys in the village,
always pawing at her, eating her up with
their eyes. No, he was worse! This ukko
was ancient, reeking of the decaying forest
from where he came!
“No, no, I don’t dress for you! I don’t
dress for anybody! I am not waiting for you,
old man! I will not marry you, old man! I
am staying with my Mother and Father!
This is what I think of your foolish wager
with my brother!” With that, she threw the
vihtas into the grove of birch trees. She then
tore off her golden jewels and pearls as well
as the ribbons adorning her hair, tossing
them angrily into the ferns and wildflowers
growing by the path.
She ran quickly through the forest back
to her home, tears flowing from her eyes,
her ragged sobs echoing through the trees.
She did not look back.
Her father was sitting on a bench
outside the window, whittling an axe
handle when Aino got home. He asked his
beloved daughter why she was crying.
“Oh Father. I am in mourning! I’m so
upset I even threw away all my jewellery!”
Aino cried without missing her stride.
The cause of Aino’s predicament and
distress sat near the doorway, carving a
bow. Her brother, Joukahainen. It was his
arrogance that had got the better of him
when he had challenged Väinämöinen to
a singing contest. He was so sure he could
beat Väinämöinen because, after all, he was
the best singer in all of the Northland! But
Väinämöinen had years of songs under his
belt and had sung him into a swamp with
the water gurgling up to his neck. Shamed,
to save his own skin, he had offered his
sister, Aino, as the prize. He looked up
guiltily from his carving and said, “Aino,
you’re crying!”
“Yes and no thanks to you and your
wagers!” With that, Aino ran towards the
door of the house where stood her sister,
who had left her loom and weaving of a
golden belt when she had heard her sister’s
sobs. “Aino, are you okay? Why are you
weeping?” she queried, concern filling her
voice.
Aino continued on page 6
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
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Ownership, Management, Circulation of New World Finn (ISSN 1535-5985,
USPS 019-721). Published quarterly (January, April, July, October) by Finnish
American Publishers, Inc.. Annual subscription - $22.00 USA ($28.00 first class
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N219 Claervue Shores, Cedar Grove, WI, 53013. Periodical postage is paid at
Cedar Grove, WI, and at additional mailing offices. This issue: January – March,
2010, Vol.11, No.1. Publisher: Ivy Nevala, PO Box 432, Cedar Grove, WI 53013,
Publisher email: nev@fastermac.net • phone: 920-668-8888 Editor - Gerry Henkel,
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net, phone: 218-525-7609. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to: New
World Finn, PO Box 432, Cedar Grove, WI 53013.
Contributor and Advertising Deadlines
Autumn Issue: Oct., Nov., Dec. • September
1st. Winter Issue: Jan., Feb., March •
December 1st. Spring Issue: April, May,
June • March 1st, Summer Issue: July,
August, September • June 1st
Opinions expressed by writers are those of the
author and do not necessarily express
the opinion of the publisher.
In This Issue
Page 1: The Fate of Aino: A Woman Betwixt the Stars and the Sea by Katja Maki
Page 3: Finland News
Page 4: Finnish Events in New York - Diane Saarinen
Page 5: Finnish Tapas Comes to Duluth - Felicia Schneiderhan
Page 8: Bill Lagerroos Column
Page 9: Ameriikan Poijat Celebrates 20th Anniversary - Arthur Koski
Page 10: Children of Bodom Bring Extreme Metal to North America
Page 11: Fiction – The Next Door Neighbor by Meritta Koivisto, Transladed by Margareta Martin
Page 12: Finlandia Prize for Fiction Goes to Antti Hyry
Page 13: Sargit Warriner Column; Jane Noffke poem
Page 14: Advertisements
Page 15: Anni Putikka’s Column
Page 16: Contemporary Finnish Culture in Chicago by Erika Mikkalo
Page 17: Donna Salli’s Upper Peninsula Play Performed in Two Languages
Page 18: Indestructible – Hunter and Eldri Gray’s Story
Page 19: A View From Finland by Enrique Tessieri
Page 20: Oren Tikkanen’s Column
Page 21: Finn Hall Named FFN Performer of the Year
Page 22: A Dialogue Between Finnish and American Writers - Sheila Packa and Tiina Pystynen
Page 23: Willie Lahti Poems; Finnish Demonstrators in Copenhagen
Page 25: Diane Jarvenpa Writes about “Lumi ja Kaamos”
Page 26: Book Review of “Elena Marikova”; Poem by Kathyrn Linhardt
Page 27: New World Finn Bookstore
Page 28: Finland’s National “sisu” Vegetable by Paula Erkkila
Correction:
In the last issue we featured an interview with Dave Takanen, the multi-talented musician.
We made a huge mistake! Throughout the article we wrote his name “Takkanen”. Dave told
us it didn’t matter - but it does to us: people need to have their names spelled correctly. Check
out his website, and order his CDs! www.finnbillys.com
Bookstore for Finnish North Americans:
What do you do in the winter (especially if you live in the wintry northern snow belt)? Reading is an excellent
way to pass your time. Check out the New World Finn Bookstore (see page 27) for some excellent books. Highly
recommended fiction: Down From Basswood by Lynn Laitala, Suomalaiset by Mark Munger, and Against the Wall
by Jarkko Sipila.
Winter Depression
“Winter depression is a disorder of the internal clock. The long darkness makes many people feel blue.” With these
two sentences Minna Pölkki begins an article about Seasonal Affective Disorder in the online Helsingin Sanomat:
“Following a couple of cold days, a thin layer of white frost is covering the village of Leppävirta in Northern Savo.
The scenery looks a little brighter, even though the days are getting shorter and shorter. Many people experience
depressive symptoms in the darkness of autumn. They feel like curling up under a blanket in the corner of the sofa
with a mug of tea in the hand, waiting for the spring.
“Not for nothing is November known in Finnish as Marraskuu - the dead month. This is a time of year that takes
its toll on everyone, and the prospects are that it will only get worse. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), also known
as winter depression or winter blues, is a diagnosed mood disorder, a subclass of depression. Its symptoms include
continuous drowsiness, sleeping disorders, sadness, as well as a craving for carbohydrates and sweets. Adjunct Professor
Jarmo Laitinen from the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Kuopio estimates that a small percentage of
the entire population suffers from seasonal affective disorder.” Read the entire article here: http://www.hs.fi/english/
article/”Winter+depression+is+a+disorder+of+the+internal+clock”/1135251313452
The Finland Society’s Intensive Finnish Language Course
The Finland Society (Suomi-Seura ry) will arrange on July 19 - 30, 2010 an intensive two-week Finnish language
course for descendants of Finnish emigrants who are planning to move to Finland. The foreign spouses of expatriate
Finns may also attend the course. Students should be over 18 years of age and preferably under 45 years old. The
course is held at Laajasalo Folk High School, which is located in a suburb of Helsinki.
Knowledge of Finnish is not required. The language of instruction is English. Finnish (50 lessons) will be taught in
small groups at three levels: beginners, intermediate and advanced. Fee: The Seminar fee is 850 euros, which covers
tuition, room (double occupancy) and board, study materials and a guided tour of Helsinki and an excursion to the artist
community of Lakeside Road Rantatie in Tuusula. Fee without accommodation is 580 euros. Application deadline is
April 1, 2010. (We will accept applications as long as space is available.) For more information and application forms,
please visit our website: www.suomi-seura.fi (seminars and courses) or contact Suomi-Seura ry/The Finland Society,
Mariankatu 8 B, FI-00170 Helsinki, FINLAND, tel. +358-9-684 1210, info@suomi-seura.fi.
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

Independence Day Greetings
From President Halonen
To Expatriate Finnish Communities
Finland is part of a globalising world. We are a Member State of the European Union and are
actively involved in international organisations such as the United Nations. Our economy and
civil society organisations have also become increasingly international.
More Finns are moving from one country to another. Living abroad for a longer or shorter
period is increasingly part of people’s lives. Some leave Finland or come to Finland for work,
studies or retirement. People move from one country to another in every stage of life.
You, Finns living abroad, perform important work as ambassadors for Finland and Finnish
culture. You play a key role in shaping the image that Finland has in your current living
environment. You actively keep in touch with Finland and share your experiences from abroad
with us. The work you do abroad and the networks you have created are invaluable. It is important
for Finland that your ties to your home country remain strong.
I send you my warmest greetings on the 92nd anniversary of Finland’s independence.
Suomi on osa yhä kansainvälisempää maailmaa. Olemme jäsenenä Euroopan unionissa ja
aktiivisesti mukana kansainvälisten järjestöjen kuten Yhdistyneiden kansakuntien toiminnassa.
Talouselämämme ja kansalaisjärjestöjemme toiminta on yhä useammin kansainvälistä.
Suomalaiset liikkuvat entistä enemmän maasta toiseen. Pidempi tai lyhyempi oleskelu
ulkomailla kuuluu yhä useamman ihmisen elämään. Suomesta mennään ja Suomeen tullaan
työtehtäviin, opiskelemaan ja eläkepäiviä viettämään. Ihmiset liikkuvat maasta toiseen jokaisessa
elämänkaarensa vaiheessa.
Te, suomalaiset maailmalla, teette tärkeää työtä Suomen ja suomalaisuuden lähettiläinä.
Olette keskeisesti vaikuttamassa siihen, millainen kuva Suomesta muodostuu
nykyisessä asuinympäristössänne. Pidätte ahkerasti yhteyttä Suomeen ja
välitätte ulkomailla saamianne vaikutteita. Työ jota teette ulkomailla ja
luomanne verkostot ovat korvaamattomia. Suomelle on tärkeää, että teidän
ulkosuomalaisten siteet kotimaahan säilyvät vahvoina.
Want Prosperity? Index Ranks Finland As Place To Be
For those who value their freedom of expression as
much as health, wealth, and prosperity, then Finland is
the place to be, with an index ranking the Nordic nation
the best in the world.
The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index, published in
October, and compiled by the Legatum Institute, an
independent policy, advocacy and advisory organization,
ranked 104 countries which are home to 90 percent of the
world’s population.
The index is based on a definition of prosperity that
combines economic growth with the level of personal
freedoms and democracy in a country as well as measures
of happiness and quality of life.
With the exception of Switzerland, which came in at
number 2, Nordic countries dominated the top 5 slots,
with Sweden in third place followed by Denmark and
Norway.
The top 10 were all also Western nations, with Australia
(6th place) and Canada (7th place) both beating the United
States, ranked 9th. Britain came in at number 12.
In Asia, Japan was the region’s highest ranked country
at number 16, followed by Hong Kong (18th place) and
Singapore (23rd place) and Taiwan (24th place).
Dr. William Inboden, senior vice president of the
Legatum Institute, said the lower rankings for Asian
nations were largely due to their weak scores for
democracy and personal freedoms.
“Many Asian nations have good economic fundamentals,
but the Index tells us that true prosperity requires more
than just money,” Inboden said in a statement.
World’s Largest Cruise Ship Built In Finland
It’s five times larger than the Titanic, has seven
neighborhoods, an ice rink, a golf course and a 750-seat
outdoor amphitheater. The world’s largest cruise ship was
finally finished in late October, and it began gliding toward
its owners (Royal Caribbean) home port in Florida.
The Oasis of the Seas met its first obstacle when it
exited the Baltic Sea and squeezed under the Great Belt
Bridge, which is just 1 foot taller than the ship – even after
its telescopic smokestacks were lowered.
Once in Florida, the $1.5 billion floating extravaganza
will have more, if less visible, obstacles to duck: a sagging
U.S. economy, questions about the consumer appetite for
luxury cruises and criticism that such sailing behemoths
are damaging to the environment and diminish the
experience of traveling.
Oasis of the Seas, which is nearly 40 percent larger
than the industry’s next-biggest ship, was conceived years
before the economic downturn caused desperate cruise
lines to slash prices to fill vacant berths. The ship has
2,700 cabins and can accommodate 6,300 passengers and
2,100 crew members. Company officials are banking that
its novelty will help guarantee its success.
The enormous ship features various “neighborhoods”
– parks, squares and arenas with special themes. One of
“Funny” Idea Leads to Laughable Name
them is a tropical environment, including palm trees and
vines among the total 12,000 plants on board.
In the stern, a 750-seat outdoor theater – modeled on an
ancient Greek amphitheater – doubles as a swimming pool
by day and an ocean front theater by night. The pool has a
diving tower with spring boards and two 33-foot high-dive
platforms. An indoor theater seats 1,300 guests.
Accommodations include loft cabins, with floor-toceiling
windows, and 1,600-square-foot luxury suites with
balconies overlooking the sea or promenades.
One of the “neighborhoods,” named Central Park,
features a square with boutiques, restaurants and bars,
including a bar that moves up and down three decks,
allowing customers to get on and off at different levels.
The liner also has four swimming pools, volleyball and
basketball courts, and a youth zone with theme parks and
nurseries for children.
Paul Motter, editor of Cruisemates.com, said ticket
prices are still high for the Oasis, running $1,299 to
$4,829, compared with $509 to $1,299 on the company’s
next most popular ship, Freedom of the Seas.
While environmentalists have said that the ship does not
do enough to reduce air pollution and burns more fuel than
a land-based resort, engineers at shipbuilder STX Finland
For the first 19 years of his life an unemployed US teenager was known as Calvin Gosz, but after selling his naming
rights to a Finnish consumer electronics retailer he is now called Verkkokauppa Com. Calvin Gosz, of Sheboygan,
Wisconsin, legally changed his name to Verkkokauppa Com in exchange for the asking price of USD 5,000 (ca. EUR
3,400). It all began when Calvin Gosz put his naming rights up for auction on eBay, but eBay later removed the offer
as inappropriate. “Calvin’s idea was so funny that we absolutely wanted to get involved”, said Managing Director
Samuli Seppälä from the Finnish consumer electronics retailer Verkkokauppa.com, explaining why the company
wanted to perform such a marketing trick.
After the purchase was finalised, Verkkokauppa.com sent Gosz a down payment as well as some money for the
name-change process. As soon as Seppälä has received legal documents for the name-change - for example a new
driving licence, the Finnish webstore company will pay the young man the remaining sum. HS: Elina Kervinen
President Halonen in NYC 2009, © Diane Saarinen, 2009
“Democratic institutions and personal freedom
measures are letting some Asian nations down.
Furthermore, countries which have low levels of economic
stability, such as Cambodia, finish even further down in
the overall rankings.”
Cambodia came in the 93rd slot while China, with
its tight political controls, came in 75th despite booming
economic growth.
And the world’s least prosperous country? According
to the Legatum Index, it is Zimbabwe, with Sudan and
Yemen close runners-up.
The index combines objective data and subjective
responses to surveys. More details can be found on http://
www.prosperity.com.
(Source: Reuters, by Miral Fahmy, and Ron Popeski)
said environmental considerations played an important
part in planning the vessel. It dumps no sewage into the
sea, reuses its waste water and consumes 25 percent less
power than similar, but smaller, cruise liners.
“I would say this is the most environmentally friendly
cruise ship to date,” said Mikko Ilus, project engineer
at the Turku yard. “It is much more efficient than other
similar ships.”
The Oasis of the Seas made its U.S. debut in November
at its home port, Port Everglades in Florida.
From an article at Huffington
Post by Matti Huuhtanen
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JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
3

Finnish Events in NYC
Text and photos By Diane Saarinen © Diane Saarinen, 2009
This turned out to be a very busy autumn in New York City. On September 21,
President Tarja Halonen visited Columbia University to open an exhibit, “100
Years of Women’s Voices and Action in Finland.” This exhibit recognized
milestones in gender parity and was separated into sections such as Women and Work,
and Women and Gender Equality.
After giving remarks and enjoying a champagne toast, President Halonen greeted those
who gathered to celebrate the exhibit. She then sought out Professor Lasse Suominen’s
Program of Finnish Studies students, where she spoke with them and even presented
Professor Suominen and his class with a copy of the Kalevala.
The exhibition “Women’s Voices and Action in Finland” was produced by the
National Council of Women of Finland. The exhibition and a related seminar at Columbia
University were organized by Columbia University European Institute, the Program in
Finnish Studies, School of International and Public Affairs, and the Consulate General
of Finland in New York.
Then, on September 25, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen attended a luncheon held
in his honor, organized by The Finnish American Chamber of Commerce (FACC) New
York.
On the morning of the luncheon, Prime Minister Vanhanen had already delivered a
keynote address at the United Nations on “Innovation, Entrepreneurialism and National
Competitiveness in a Global Age”. And earlier in the week, the prime minister received
an award from the Global Creative Leadership Summit organized by the United Nations
and the Louise Blouin Foundation. This award was in recognition of the Prime Minister
Vanhanen’s contribution to fostering technological innovations and responsible leadership
in the context of climate change.
In discussing Finland’s current economic challenges, the field of environmental
technology – or Cleantech – was optimistically highlighted during the prime minister’s
remarks to the FACC at the luncheon. His half hour speech included taking some
questions from some of the luncheon guests.
For information on regarding future events by the FACC NY, contact the Finnish
American Chamber of Commerce at 212-821-0225 or please visit www.facc-ny.com.
Finally, on October 29, members of the press were treated to a Finnish tasting event
at the residence of Consul General Ritva Jolkkonen. The Consulate General of Finland
in New York has launched their “Fresh! from Finland” campaign promoting Finnish
food culture. Chef Pekka Terävä, owner and main chef of the restaurant Olo in Helsinki
(which was recently chosen by The Guardian newspaper as the best place to eat Nordic
food) presided over the luncheon, having deliciously created:
• Gravlax with archipelago bread chips
• Sunchoke crème and lavaret roe
• Veal brisket with horseradish
• Porcini crème brûlée
• Sugar gravad lavaret with dill dressing
• Lamb loin tartar with truffle aioli
• Artic venison with lingonberry
• Sea buckthorn and skyr mousse with oatmeal chips
The “Fresh! from Finland” campaign (www.freshfromfinland.com) also stresses the
use of organic and local food. In addition to introducing these fine flavors of the Finnish
cuisine, the campaign also aims at promoting culinary and cultural travels to Finland.
The program in New York is carried out not only by the Consulate General of Finland,
but in cooperation with Valio USA, Benecol, iittala and Visit Finland. Representatives
from each of these companies were present at the luncheon and were, respectively, Mari
Meriluoto; Frank Campi; Sue Pregartner; and Helena Niskanen.
4
President Halonen with students at Columbia University exhibit
“100 Years of Women’s Voices and Action in Finland.”
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen attended a luncheon
held in his honor, organized by The Finnish American
Chamber of Commerce (FACC) New York
Chef Pekka Terävä, owner and main chef of the restaurant
Olo in Helsinki, and Consul General Ritva Jolkkonen
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

Finnish Tapas Comes to Duluth
Text and photos by Felicia Schneiderhan
© Felicia Schneiderhan, 2009
Ari Eilola, a Finnish chef trained at the Helsinki Culinary Institute Perho, was
traveling from Barcelona to Madrid when he stopped for a glass of wine. It
arrived before him – topped with a piece of cheese.
His encounter with tapas would later find its way across the world to Duluth,
Minnesota, where northlander Americans can dine on Gravlax and Finnish meatballs
while sipping cocktails at Kippis Tapas Bar, where Eilola serves as head chef and part
owner.
The tradition of a lid, or “tapa” for a drink, stems from a time when Spanish workers
would cover their beer with a topper, like bread, cheese, or ham. “Tapas” evolved into
small meals of olives, meats, cheeses, all in small portions, easily shared among workers
or friends.
Today, the tapas style of dining has spread throughout Europe, from Spain to France
to the Czech Republic, and to major U.S. cities. Tapas is also quite popular in Helsinki;
it’s an inexpensive way to begin a night out. In June of 2009, Finnish tapas made its way
to the U.S. when Kippis Tapas Bar opened at 11 East Superior Street, Duluth.
By day, the space houses the Takk for Maten Café, serving Scandinavian breakfast
and lunch. After 5 p.m., the lights dim and the menu flips and Kippis Tapas Bar takes over,
offering a diverse menu that Eilola describes as an “upscale Finnish Baltic bistro.”
When Kippis (which means “Cheers”) originally opened, adventurous diners would
enter thinking it meant “topless.” Today, newcomers find themselves greeted by friendly
staff eager to explain the origin of tapas and suggest items from the diverse menu. Diners
can order one or two items to start, or a full meal of small plates.
“A lot of the flavors come from my grandma’s and mom’s kitchens,” says Eilola,
who grew up in Raahe, on the western coast of Finland, before moving to Helsinki as
an adult.
His carefully integrated menu includes Gravlax, roasted rutabagas, and his
grandmother’s Finnish meatballs. The duck breast is cooked and glazed in the kitchen
along with all the sauces made from scratch.
“Why would I reinvent the wheel?” says Eilola. “I take this really traditional cuisine
that has been developed by peasants throughout centuries and put a twist on it.”
Eilola also benefits from the wealth of Scandinavian heritage in the area. “One of
our food suppliers had baked cheese. I thought, oh, that brings back memories. So we
topped it off with cinnamon, sugar, heavy whipping cream, and jam. I try to bring those
flavors I grew up with.”
He is also open to infusing more international flavors. Diners might be surprised to
find Mississippi catfish pate on the menu.
“One of our employees suggested it,” Eilola explains. “I can’t find a decent flounder
here, and I figured catfish is a bottom feeder. I like what they do with the pate, so we
put it in a lefse boat. If it goes with my culinary heritage – reminds me of something
I’ve tried – I’ll go with it.”
But as with the traditional Spanish tapas, the main event of tapas dining is not about
the food; it’s about the drink. “Tapas are a side dish, they’re not the main attraction,”
says Eilola, “People come for the wine.”
With that in mind, he chose the wines and an extensive cocktail menu first, then
developed culinary flavors to go with them. Kippis offers four seasonal house martinis,
one for each Nordic country, and a wide variety of meticulously-mixed cocktails.
On Wednesday and Thursday evenings, diners are treated to live music by local
artists.
Eilola, who has been in the U.S. since 2004, sees himself among the latest wave of
Finnish immigrants coming to the U.S. He recounts how he visited Ellis Island in New
York City when he first moved here and saw his grandfather’s brother’s name. “It’s like
I’m continuing that tradition of coming overseas. It’s a strange limbo experience. After
a few years here, you don’t feel so much at home in Finland, but you’re not at home
here, either.”
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JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
5

“I’m crying because I can’t wear my fine jewellery anymore. I threw them away!”
Aino’s voice caught in her throat as she dashed across the courtyard. She ran up to her
mother, who was skimming cream at the dairy. Her mother was dismayed to see her
daughter’s distress. “Aino, why are you crying? What’s wrong?”
“Oh Mother!” At last, she was able to tell someone of her distress. “I was in the forest
gathering birch branches for our vihtas. I was singing, looking forward to the sauna
when that ancient Väinämöinen came up the path, looking for me. He asked me to dress
only for him! Horrid old man, he’s so old and wrinkled! I got so upset at his lecherous
looking that I threw my ribbons and jewellery into the forest! I told him no way would
I dress only for him and not for anyone else either!”
Aino’s mother listened closely to her beloved daughter. Stroking her hair, she told
Aino, “ Don’t cry, my little bird! Don’t cry! True, true, Väinämöinen may be old, but
he is also a great wizard! Do you know how jealous the other girls will be of you? So
envious of your prestigious marriage to such a wise, honourable, and renowned man!
He is a good catch! Look beyond his decrepit appearance! He will be able to look after
you so well, especially when the time comes for your father and me to bid farewell to
this world!”
“No, no, I won’t marry him! Why did Joukahainen have to promise me to that old
goat? I won’t!”
Aino’s mother took Aino’s hands into her own and looked into the deep blue eyes
that were so similar to hers. “In a few days you will get over this! You’ll see! It is for
the best, dear! He is the best catch of all of the suitors who have come asking for your
hand. You’ll grow to love him! Your father is just over the moon about this!” she said
with a laugh.
Aino’s sobs rang even louder. “No, I won’t get over it! He is not a good catch! His
breath smells of mushrooms and rot! His skin is dry like an old pike skin left in the sun!
His squirrel skin coat hangs in tatters! I won’t have him!”
Aino’s mother smoothed her daughter’s bright hair and wiped the tears that were
continually falling. In a soft conspiratorial voice, she whispered, “Go to the mountain,
to where we keep our store-house. Once there, you will see a big trunk with a rainbow
coloured lid. Open it! Inside are some magical dresses that were woven by my sisters,
the Sun and the Moon. I lived in a different world at one time, my dear sweet daughter!
A wonderful world it was, but then I met your father. I was banished for loving a human!
My name was Star and I filled the night sky! But that was many years ago, a different
life!” A far-away look clouded her eyes.
“This is my life now,”
she continued. “I love
your father, you, your
sister and brother. This
is my home. Believe me
when I say you will learn
to love him, Aino! So go
on and take your pick of
the rainbow dresses and
adorn your hair. Help
yourself to as many
gold and silver jewels as
you like. Make yourself
beautiful, dear daughter.
That’ll help you feel
b et t er! T hen come
back and we will begin
celebrating! We haven’t
had a celebration here for
such a long time!”
Ai n o, e m o t i o n s
swirling, ran to the
courtyard to be alone.
She was angry at her fate
and disillusioned about
her future. How could
she leave her mother and
father to go and live with
an old man, hardly more
than a forest gnome? She
did not want the wealth
or prestige the marriage
would bring. She did
not want to be an old
man’s solace, to support
him when he faltered
as he inevitably would,
or become the shoulder
he would lean on for
support. She wanted to
live with her mother and
father, where she was as
free as the deer roaming
the forest, as free as the
salmon swimming in
the flowing waters of her
revered lake.
6
Aino - Continued from Page 1
As Väinämöinen’s bride, her life would change. Her carefree days would end. Her
hair would be braided, concealed under a scarf and loosed only for his touch. She would
become like an icicle in the freezing winter or like water imprisoned in a well. Her mind,
so full of sorrow, saw only a lifetime of darkness ahead. Even her mother, who used to
be a star, would not be able to shine a light into her abyss.
Aino had been surprised by her mother’s revelations. She wondered how her mother
could have given up her life as a star deity to live a mundane human life. Did her mother
ever sneak out to the store-house and try on the sparkling clothes she told her about? She
knew her mother loved her life but did she ever regret leaving her home in the sky? Aino
saw her mother working as hard as a slave, looking after her father, brother and sister as
well as Aino herself. Cleaning, weaving, preparing food, milking the cows, she never
had a moment of rest. Although her mother never complained, Aino kept wondering if
she ever missed her old life, a life where she had been independent and free?
Her mother had given all that up when she married her father. Aino did not want to
give up her freedom for a man – even if the man was as wonderful as her father. Aino
also knew no man could compete with her father’s wisdom and kindness. It incensed
her to think of her brother and what he had done, how he had misused his great powers.
But she had strong powers of her own! Her mother’s disclosure had shown her that she
came from a sky full of strong women. Imagine! She was the daughter of Star! Her aunts
were the Sun and the Moon!
Why had she not known about her history or the power of her women ancestors? Of
the strength of her aunts? The more she thought, the more she realized that she did not
want to be an old man’s slave and darling. Aino wanted to be a free woman just like her
aunts who boldly shone their light, illuminating the whole world. Aino decided to go to
the store-house and put on her mother’s former clothes. Perhaps putting on the garments
would help sort out her dilemma.
Once she got to the store-house, Aino opened the colourful trunk. Inside she found
six golden belts, seven sparkling dresses and pouches full of jewellery. After much
deliberation, she chose a dress of red and adorned herself with gold and silver pendants and
rings of amber and rose quartz. She put a blue band on her forehead and silver ornaments
of small birds into her golden tresses. She glowed in beauty and felt full of power. A silvery
light shone from her, illuminating the dark store-house. The light shimmered into a path
that led to the door. Intrigued, Aino followed the light. Out the door, through the forest,
up the mountain, she followed the glowing trail. Perhaps this was the linnunrata or the
pathway of the birds,
thought Aino. A path
made by the glittering
stars in the night sky
to guide the birds, a
passageway forged by
her mother, Star, and
her legions of sister
stars. Perhaps this was
how her mother had
come to earth many
years ago!
Aino followed the
path of the silvery light
to her aunt, the Moon.
All night long she
traveled the shadowy
glow the Moon cast on
the unfamiliar stone
fields and thick forests
of spruce and aspen.
During the day, the
light of the Sun guided
her past fields and
meadows. But Aino
wasn’t afraid. She
walked confidently on
the route set out by her
female ancestors. She
could smell the water
after the second day
and by sunset of the
third day she reached
the end of the land.
The sea stretched out
far into the horizon.
Exhausted after her
long pilgrimage, Aino
sat down on a writ rock
of ancient symbols.
The land seemed to
recede as the sound of
the waves and the calls
of the sea-birds lulled
her. Peering into the
darkening blue, she
could see perch and
trout milling about
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

the shore as the Moon began to shine on the waves. She knew this was the end of her
journey; her aunts had led her to this place.
Aino sat on the coloured stone for a night and a day. She watched and listened. She
sang laments from deep within her heart. Through the power of words that welled up
in her, Aino keened for the loss of her dear mother, her father and the life she had led.
Her crying voice transformed into the wind, carrying her sorrow into the deep waters,
causing billows of water to crest and then crash down into the depths.
The next day the Sun glistened on the water, enveloping her, filling her with peace and
warmth. The water was as clear as an aquamarine jewel, shimmering and translucent.
Aino saw Vellamo, the Water Goddess, and her mermaids cavorting in the caverns and
crevices at the bottom of the sea. The mermaids swam up to the surface and frolicked
in the waves. She heard them laughing as they rejoiced in their freedom, calling out to
their sisters in the sky. They reminded her of herself when she would run and play in
the meadows and forests near her home. The mermaids looked over to her and beckoned
for her to join them.
Aino stood up and discarded her clothes until she was as naked as a fish.
She dived into the water feeling its sensuousness flow over her body. She felt the water
embracing her like a glove. She saw her skin change into glistening gold and silver scales
as she dove deeper and deeper into the mirror world of the stars.
Aino took a deep swallow of the fragrant sea water and her heart blossomed. This
was her new home, the one she shared with Vellamo, the mermaids, the salmon and
trout. The red of the blood coursing through her veins blended with the blue of water.
Her jewel-like scales of gold and silver shimmered. Aino revelled in her new freedom
at the bottom of the sea. Aino’s aunts, the Moon and the Sun and the stars, watched over
Joulukauden Tervehdys!
Winter Solstice Greetings
to all New World Finn readers
*********
from HARRY SIITONEN
Berkeley, California
www.finnlabor.net
her as she played in the deep waters of the sea.
Aino’s mother cried for three days after hearing of Aino’s fate from a hare. She
cried so profusely that her tears created three rivers upon which three hills rose. On
top of each hill, a cuckoo sang from the branches of a birch tree. Their song recited the
story of Aino and told of her mother’s anguish. Aino wished her mother could see how
happy she was in her underwater world and that her aunts watched over her. But since
her mother had left the sky world for the human world, she was no longer able to raise
the veil between the worlds to observe her daughter’s joy.
One day, as Aino was dancing in the currents, she saw the old wizard, Väinämöinen,
fishing from a boat of copper. He trolled with a golden hook suspended from a silver
fishing line. He chanted strange words as he fished. She knew he was trying to catch
her. She laughed at his stubborn persistence and thought to play a little game with the
old man. She watched him fish for many days and nights. At times, she swam around
his hook and let him see her gold and silver colours and the wavy tendrils of her hair.
Finally, she let him catch her and just as he was going to hoist her up into his silken
fishing net, she jumped out of his clutches into the blue of her home. She let out a huge
laugh as she shouted, “No, you still cannot have me! I am as free as a salmon now!”
Aino’s fishtail sliced straight out of the water and seemed to suspend in the air for a few
seconds before she disappeared with a splash.
The old man’s copper boat rocked in the waves.
Katja Maki is an artist living in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and is sister to Della
Maki Bitove and Taina Maki Chahal. The three write a quarterly column called
“Three Sisters from the Northshore” for New World Finn. The 2 images of Aino
and her dress are thanks to the generosity of Della and her Bride Weeping faery.
Season’s Greetings
to all New World Finn readers
*********
from Ivy Nevala, Publisher
New World Finn
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
7

Our Formative Years: Are
We “Care”-fully Taught?”
BY BILL LAGERROOS
© Bill Lagerroos, 2009 Comments, questions: email Bill at walagerr@facstaff.wisc.edu
Early in life we human beings learn much that
“forms” us. We accumulate attachments,
allegiances, prejudices and hatreds.
For instance, during the late 40s, growing up in Queens,
New York City, I learned to be a Yankees fan. One of my
playmates, whose father had just acquired a small black
and white tv set, shared with me early some nuances: just
how graceful Joe Dimaggio was as he chased down fly
balls, how agile Phil Rizzuto was as he took part in the
“ballet of the double play”, and how Whitey Ford seemed
able to set a batter back on his heels when a teammate was
on base and caused him to strike or ground out.
My friend and his father told me about Lou Gehrig and
Babe Ruth before them. Here I learned about a past that
was greater than anything I had known till then. Imagine!
Triple crowns, and 60 home runs. Where else but from
Yankee stars?
My parents, from Michigan and Ohio, were quick to tell
me how great the Tigers and Indians were in those days
(‘48), with Detroit sluggers George Kell and Hoot Evers,
and Cleveland stars Lou Boudreau, Larry Doby and Dale
Mitchell. All three teams were winning more than 90 out
of 154 games each year.
It made little difference to this mindset of mine. The
truth and story that was deep inside my early self was,
that should the Yankees be behind, and the inning was
late, and if men were on base, Yogi, the persistent Berra,
the determined coiner of phrases like “It ain’t over till it’s
over”, would confront the pitcher and work the count. More
than once he pulled balls foul after foul down the right
hand lane, and after what seems like mythical planning,
eventually, more than once Yogi would land one fair.
Double? One bounce into the stands? Home run, hit
directly into the stands? Made no difference. Runners
advanced. The lead turned. Yogi, the wiry Yogi, by not
striking out at the bat, did what Casey, the mighty Casey
of poetry infamy, failed to do. Advantage Yankees.
I saw these stories on tv and read them in the New York
Daily News the day after. In black and white, in either
case. Must be true. Right? As broadcaster Mel Allen
proclaimed in those days “How ‘bout that?”
Our early formative learning is not just about
becoming a fan, but what sticks with you. One
of my favorite people during my Queens college years
was, strangely enough, a pastor representing the school’s
Lutheran Campus ministry. One story he told regarded
his two year old son. He noticed, as his off-spring sat in
the high chair during grace before dinner each night, that
he was starting to put his hands together in exactly the
same manner that he and his wife did. One day, the pastor
recounted, he tried to pull a fast one over on his son. He
put his hands behind his back and started to pray. Their
son would not settle for this. He put his hands together,
then raised them high while speaking authoritatively
to his father, “No, Daddy.” He then brought his clasped
hands under his chin. “Like this Daddy.” The pastor was
delighted. His eyes brightened with pride, and he said, “My
son has had his first lessons, and is on his way to being a
life long believer.”
Wife-Carrying Championship:
Maine Couple Takes The Win
Newry, Maine — A Maine couple has taken the crown
in the North American Wife Carrying Championship
over a course that featured a muddy water hole and two
log obstacles.
Dave and Lacey Castro of Lewiston came in first among
41 teams to win the mid-October competition at Sunday
River ski resort in Newry. They covered the 278-yard
course in 54.45 seconds.
For their effort, the couple won 97-pound Lacey
Castro’s weight in beer and five times her weight in cash
– $485.
8
Looking at a negative example, I mention the Hitler
Youth, a movement clearly dedicated to promoting the
German Fatherland. Hitler saw the Hitler Youth movement
as a tool to hardening boys for their future role of soldiers.
He wanted a generation of “victorious active, daring youth,
imune (sic) to pain.” (http://histclo.com/Youth/youth/org/
nat/hitler/hitler.htm) “He alone, who owns the youth, gains
the Future!” he said in a speech at the Reichsparteitag,
1935.
We folks in the US also strive to raise our youngsters
as good citizens of good character. The official Charter
of the Boy Scouts of America states: “The purpose of this
corporation shall be to promote, through organization...
the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others,
to train them in Scoutcraft, and to teach them patriotism,
courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues, using methods
which are now in common use by the Boy Scouts.”
We also learn prejudice early. Consider the musical
“South Pacific,” for instance. It is not just about
a lady washing a man right out of her hair on an island
not far from Japan during WWII. No, two of the show’s
subplots, based on stories by James Michener, have racial
overtones.
Two characters, Nellie and Lieutenant Cable, reject
significant love because of early raising. Nellie (Mary
Martin), despite the depth of her feeling for the
widower plantation owner Emile (Ezio Pinza), rejects
any opportunity for marriage because of her southern
upbringing. When she sees that she would be obliged, as
wife, to raise Emile’s two half Polynesian children, she
turns away. Cable, a college educated Northerner from a
wealthy family, who has been entirely taken in by “Bloody
Mary’s” daughter, despite the fact that we as audience are
enraptured with this relationship, does the same.
It is Cable, however, who expresses the basic message
from these subplots. He comes to grips with his situation
and sings the now well known insightful song.
You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
So it seems that good or bad, gift or curse, our early
learnings, pointing us towards early directions in life can
Teams from 11 states competed in the 10th annual race
in which a man has to carry a woman, or vice versa, over
an obstacle course.
As the North American champs, the Castros are eligible
to compete in the world championships in Finland next
July.
Wife carrying (Finnish eukonkanto or sometimes
akankanto, Estonian naisekandmine, Swedish
kärringkånk), is a sport in which male competitors race
while each carrying a female teammate – or vice versa.
The objective is for the male to carry the female through
be patriotic, religious, and cultural. But I do not think we
have fully mined what we might know about our earliest
upbringing. We do not fully realize the power of these
early teachings nor do we realize the potential of lost
opportunities.
Would it not be marvelous, for instance, if I had learned
Finnish as a young child? When my folks went off on
road trips with Finnish American drama groups, my
Finland born grandma and I spoke Finnish all weekend
long. I even learned stories about her girlhood on a farm,
gathering berries, going to church on cold Christmas eves,
and baking rye bread. Such a bummer that my folks and
I didn’t speak it for a short time each night through the
week in order to sustain my learning. Would not a language
of a second culture have been easily engrained within
me from “the start”? Without my having to “study and
cram” for end terms if I had taken a “course” in college?
Do we not understand that by merely being around,
grandmas everywhere instill everyday history almost as
if we are sponges, and that often college “courses” merely
supplement our lives? Far better we concentrate on “starts”
at an early age, and not “finals” and we do it by considering
the power of a grandma to relay to us what life and tongue
from a different time and place was like.
On the other hand, despite not learning Finnish, my
“hall culture” upbringing was a gift that few of my
schoolmates experienced. Article space does not permit,
but many of you have read my recountings of people
working together for community efforts, whether they be
creative hall programs, gymnastics, huge group picnics,
housewarmings and even help building homes, and more,
in the past. Suffice to say that I learned that people can
initiate movements on their own.
Secondly, when I was young, my folks often took
me to water and forest in New England. Usually these
were places with simple cabins. In some we did our own
cooking. In some we ate with other Finns, family style.
No matter. I swam, I fished. One morning I saw my first
Great Blue Heron, a bluegill in its beak, walking near lily
pads on one shore, and that same day I got a great look
at my first dragonfly, irridescent wings and all, when it
landed on the gunwale of the rowboat. I didn’t know their
names then. But that’s the point. I saw them when I was
young and I haven’t forgotten.
There was often a cabin with a room furnished with
wood walls and benches, and in which ladled water met
very hot stones. After being in such a room, I thrilled when
I ran to the end of a pier and jumped into Pasquiset pond
in Rhode Island, which some of you might know, as well
as Maple Lake pond, several years before that.
Those early years are so important – when learning and
even values formation was so simple, so intuitive, and so
effective. We’ve all lived through them.
As we reflect on our own experiences, what can we
learn from them? Can we improve our understanding
of how they can be used in order that we can become
knowledgeable citizens? And compassionate human
beings?
Can we not intertwine, not just our marvelous ethnic,
patriotic, cultural and racial heritages, but our early
experiences of awe and wonder into ways that not only
“leave no child behind”, but bring forth creatively sparked
youngsters who can encourage us all to move forward
together?
a special obstacle track in the fastest time. The sport was
first introduced at Sonkajärvi, Finland.
Several types of carry may be practised: piggyback,
fireman’s carry (over the shoulder), or Estonian-style
(the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the
husband’s shoulders, holding onto his waist).
Major wife-carrying competitions are held in
Sonkajärvi, Finland (where the prize depends on the
wife’s weight in beer); Monona, Wisconsin; Minocqua,
Wisconsin; and Marquette, Michigan.
The North American Wife Carrying Championships
take place every year on Columbus Day Weekend in
October at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry, Maine.
Source: AP and Wikipedia
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

Poijat Celebrates Twenty Years of Performing and Recording
By Arthur Koski
This is the twentieth anniversary of the Boys of
America (Ameriikan Poijat), a seven-piece brass
band founded in 1990 by Paul Niemistö, the
band’s director and euphonium player.
This seems like a good time to review what the band
has accomplished so far, and what it’s likely to do in the
future. We’ll cover some of the highlights of the Poijat’s
appearances, its recordings, and what its activities have
added to the rich traditions of Finnish America. The band
has become a very significant part of those traditions. This
type of brass band is called, in Finnish, a torviseitsikko.
The instruments and their players in the Poijat’s latest
recording, Immigrants, include E-flat cornet, Russell
Pesola; B-flat cornets, Marko Foss and Denise Pesola; Eflat
alto horn, Tracey Gibbens; euphonium, Paul Niemistö;
and tuba, Roger Gomoll.
I’ve known the group for 15 years, going back to
meeting them at FinnFest in DeKalb, Illinois, in 1994. I
met Paul a second time at the second Project 34 meeting in
Dallas. Later, we worked together on Finlandia Foundation
National’s (FFN) Performer of the Year program (POY).
Together with John Kiltinen, we produced the first
recording of music from a FinnFest, the FinnFest Pot
Pourri CD, a selection of international performers in
Marquette, Michigan, in 1996.
In 1997, the Poijat performed at the Scandinavian Ball
Ameriikan Poijat in Wisconsin in 1994
in Denver and kept the crowd dancing to their well-planned
program of traditional pan-Scandinavian dance music,
including waltzes, tangos, jenkkas, humppas, schottisches,
and polkkas.
So, what are some of the highlights of the past 20 years
of the Poijat? For one thing, the Poijat have played at most
of the FinnFests since 1990. This has included concerts,
dances, and presentations.
Brass band playing started in Finland in the 1880s
and came to Northern Minnesota with Finnish
immigrants not much later. The bands played at church
events, in temperance halls, in socialist organizations, and
other social organizations.
In Paul’s doctoral dissertation he says: “My motivations
for doing this work have been consistent throughout: to
collect and preserve information about Finnish brass bands
that may otherwise become lost, to measure the value and
influence that these bands had on the cultural life of early
Iron Range citizens, and to present the old Finnish brass
bands as a distinct and worthy cultural phenomenon with
its own repertoire, soundscape, and history.” (Paul received
his Ph.D. in music from the University of Minnesota in
2004.) He launched his doctoral studies in 1990, the same
year Ameriikan Poijat was formed.
He says his first introduction to Finnish brass bands
Ameriikan Poijat, 1990
took place not in Minnesota, but in 1981, in Finland. He was
attending a newly created summer brass festival in Lieska, Finland,
near the Russian border. On subsequent visits to Lieska Brass
Week, he learned much more about the torviseitsikko.
In 1987, a colleague from Kokkola, Sakari Lamberg, presented
a complete set of parts from old septet books used by one of
the earliest septets in Finland. A group of Midwestern brass
players who had expressed an interest in this music got together
and organized themselves as Ameriikan Poijat, using an old
Ostrobothnian spelling.
In 1992, during Finland’s 75th anniversary celebration, the band
toured Finland, appearing at the Kaustinen Folk Festival, Lieska
International Brass Week, the “Roots in Finland” Family Fair in
Turku, the Valkeakoski Music Festival, and the Finland Society
Grand Festival in Helsinki. During the Grand Festival, Poijat played
an entry march for Finnish President Mauno Koivisto before an
audience of 5000, plus an international television audience.
Another stop by Poijat in Finland in 1992 was in Salo, where
they were hosted by the Salo Fire Brigade Band, a septet founded
Poijat continued on page 10
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
9

Poijat Continued from page 9
around 1906. The bands played for each other,
and together. A telling comment from the Salo
band members in Paul’s dissertation was that
Poijat was a group of trained orchestral brass
players reading folk dance music as though it
were concert literature. This is what they are,
and how they treat the music, with dynamic
subtlety and lovely phrasing. You don’t think
“brass band” when you hear them; you think,
instead, about the music.
The 20th anniversary concerts scheduled
so far are January 9, 2010, at Christ Church
Lutheran in Minneapolis; March 20 a.m. in
St. Peter, Minnesota at the International Tuba
Euphonium Regional, and March 20 p.m. at St.
Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota: Finnish
Brass in America Concert. Also, on August 7
in Northfield, the International Vintage Band
Music Festival.
In 1993, Ameriikan Poijat toured Northern
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. In
1994, they toured through southern Wisconsin
and appeared at the 1994 FinnFest in DeKalb,
Illinois.
In 2005, Ameriikan Poijat was invited to
perform the entire brass septet repertoire of
Jean Sibelius at the International Sibelius
Conference held at the University of North Texas
in Denton.
Ameriikan Poijat have just released their fourth CD of Finnish music. This new album
is devoted to brass band music by Finnish American composers. Immigrants is a very
engaging compilation of works by Finnish American composers such as William Syrjälä,
husband of Viola Turpeinen; and Arthur Kylander, who was, for a time, an itinerant
laborer across the country. Tenor horn player Tracey Gibbens of Duluth, Minnesota,
arranged these pieces for Ameriikan Poijat.
Some of the dozen pieces included on the album are: Unelma valssi ( Dream waltz);
Muistojen valssi (Memory waltz); Raatikko, also called Nuorikon tanssi (the dance
of the young bride); Comrades’ Club March; Taistojen tielle (Battle Road); and three
medleys: Suomi, Suvisoitto kansan tapaan (Summer Sounds); and Surut Sävelissä
(Sad Melodies).
The design and packaging of the album are outstanding; there are six pages of text
with Finnish and English translations of songs and biographical information on each of
Bodom Mania Grips the United States
Children of Bodom Bring Extreme Metal to the U.S.
“Silent Night...”, growls guitarist Alexi Laiho,
starting the antiphon ritual.
“...BODOM NIGHT!” roars back the audience of
perhaps 2,000 packed into the Starland Ballroom in
this corner of New Jersey, and the band kicks into one
of their live warhorses, taken from the 1999 album
Hatebreeder.
Silence is very much NOT the order of the night.
The Espoo-based band Children of Bodom play
extreme metal faster and more precisely than anyone
out there. Tonight’s gig is definitely “out there”, in the
middle of nowhere, on the outskirts of the small town
of Sayreville (pop. c. 42,000) in Middlesex County,
New Jersey, a long way from the fleshpots of New
York or Jersey’s bigger cities. It is by faithfully playing
dates like this, out on the margins, that the group has
grown to be a million-seller and to feature in the U.S.
Top 40 lists.
The Starland in Sayreville is the second gig of a
21-date COB headlining tour that goes coast to coast across North America and winds
up in Honolulu, before the band head off for four gigs in the Far East and then trek back
to Moscow for a show on October 24th.
The front row fans packed against the rail growl and gurgle the lyrics. Further back,
by the mixing desk, stand the rock police, the fans who listen to the music with a more
analytical ear.
Analysis or no, even here many hands can be seen tripping across an imaginary
fretboard almost as blindingly fast as the nimble fingers of 30-year-old Alexi Laiho, who
was recently voted world’s best metal guitarist in a Guitar World readers’ poll.
There are 50-somethings in the crowd, too, some of them not accompanied by their
kids. “Bodom rule”, say 51-year-old Todd Marshall and 49-year-old Ariane Lenshoek.
“We’ve always been metal fans.”
Some of the fans are draped in blue-and-white Finnish flags. Finnish band knowhow
is present in abundance. “Yeah, Alexi’s old band Impaled Nazarene (Laiho was with
them from 1998-2000) really broke Finnish extreme metal in the States”, claims Dan
Phillips confidently. Roughly one-third of those present at the gig are women. Three of
them have donned home-made “Roope ‘N’ Roll” T-shirts for the occasion, as a mark
of respect for the band’s rhythm guitarist Roope Latvala. “It’s a dumb joke, I know, but
10
Alexi Laiho
Ameriikan Poijat, Canada, 2002
the composers. This is a piece of scholarship.
If you don’t already own the three earlier CDs, this one is likely to move you to look
into them. Finnish Brass in America (1994) is mostly Finnish-style dance music
with a few marches and concert pieces. Connections Finnish (1997) brings you work
by contemporary Finnish composers such as Atso Almila and Jukka Linkola, a Brass
Parade from New Orleans, the Colonel Bogey March, and other gems.
Potpourri (2004) includes the charm of Minnesota Tango Queens Elina Ruppert
and Eeva Savolainen, both professionally trained singers from Finland, now living in
Minnesota. This album includes the must-have American, Canadian, and Finnish national
anthems, and Porilaisten marssi, now the official march of the President of Finland.
These come in handy for organizers of Finnish-American events. They are available
from Nordic Connections, HYPERLINK “http://www.nordicconnection.com” www.
nordicconnection.com, and through Finnish book stores and gift shops.
we dig Roope”, says Becky Ondra, who has flown in
from Pittsburgh for the gig.
The 39-year-old metal veteran Roope Latvala is
remembered for his role in the 1980s thrash metal
outfit Stone, and has also played with Waltari and with
Sinergy, a band that featured a rather younger Alexi
Laiho on guitar, and Laiho’s ex-wife Kimberly Goss
on vocals and keyboards.
Becky Ondra and her friends each paid USD 40
for a more expensive VIP package that entitled them
to admission plus a meet & greet session with the
band earlier in the afternoon. The fans got a photo
opportunity with the band members and autographs
everywhichwhere - on skin, T-shirts, albums, and
posters. “The VIP ticket was well worth it. They are
so nice! And Roope liked our shirts.”
Sure enough, Roope Latvala is now out front
playing in a Roope ‘N’ Roll shirt given to him by
the trio.
As the gig wears on, it becomes clear that the Starland Ballroom’s P.A. system is not
exactly state of the art. Even though the band have their own mixing desk along for the
tour, the wooden building resonates to such a degree that from time to time everything
is drowned under the twin bass-drum barrage of percussionist Jaska Raatikainen’s kit.
The band plays older material, and not one number is heard from the new CD (released
on September 22nd) Skeletons In The Closet.
As a result, the fans in New Jersey don’t get a chance to hear for instance a workout
of the most controversial track on Skeletons, a cover of Britney Spears’ Oops, I Did It
Again.
This was apparently a bridge too far for some, and had outraged diehard COB fans
burning the band’s albums and T-shirts on bonfires – well, at least if one is to believe
some of the wilder online discussion forum threads.
After a set lasting just under 90 minutes, Alexi Laiho wishes the fans a “good night”.
Many drive straight home, but a good few hang out in the parking lot by the tour bus.
“I’m hoping they’ll come out and say hello. Or if I might get a plectrum or a drumstick.
Any kind of souvenir of the gig would do”, says a diffident Chris Curtis, one of Children
of Bodom’s younger American fans.
By Vesa Sirén in Sayreville, NJ for the ©Helsingin Sanomat
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

So this day finally dawned for me,
Aaro was thinking as he closed the
door to his farmhouse. Leaning on
his cane on the stairs, his eyes swept for
the last time the birch trees in the yard,
planted by him as a young man together
with his wife. Aila is gone, my home is
gone. To the Old Age Home with the poor
old man, Aaro mumbled when the taxicab
pulled up in the yard. Only a shopping bag
in his hand, that’s all. Just as when he first
stepped onto this property. Nothing but a
stony meadow and a few ragged bushes.
But let’s be off then.
“Nice place—Porola,” the taxi driver
addressed the backseat passenger, just to break the prevailing silence, but receiving no
reply, he left Aaro to his own thoughts.
“Well now, take care of yourself,” the taxi driver made another attempt as Aaro was
exiting the cab and surveying the two-story wooden building. What might Aila say if
she saw me here, Aaro wondered.
“Aaro Varala?” a friendly voice inquired from the door.
“That’s me,” replied Aaro.
“Hello and welcome to Porola.”
“Thanks,” said Aaro and started up the stairs.
Managed to survive worse places, always, Aaro thought, having survived wars, and
he followed the woman down the corridor without looking around.
Sitting in the sweltering office it occurred to Aaro that had he been in his own house,
he would have pushed open the window, let a breath of fresh air refresh him.
“No children, right?”
“None.”
“But you do have other relatives?”
“One cousin. Lives at Kemijärvi in assisted living. He’s got children and even grand
kids. And I do have a younger brother.”
“Well then!”
“In Canada. In Toronto, to be more precise.”
“Well, you won’t be bored here. We have nice boarders and all kinds of activities.
Crafts and Gym. Music...”
But I won’t be feeling the grass of my own yard under my bare feet any more, Aaro
thought. I won’t be watching Aila’s apple trees burst into bloom, won’t smell the fragrance
of the fresh earth in my nose as I dig up potatoes.
After the formalities had been taken care of, Aaro sat in his room, surveying the few
familiar things he had bought with him – framed photographs, a wall clock, and
his wedding Bible. Then his eyes moved to the door, the list tacked onto it: breakfast
8:30 AM, lunch 12 noon, snack 3 PM, dinner 4 PM, evening snack 6:30 PM; and on the
bottom line: “Gym class Tuesdays and Thursdays 3 PM.”
So an actual gym class – didn’t they used to call it calisthenics in the old days? And
food every couple of hours – no wonder you needed to exercise. Suddenly he remembered
how the Social Service worker had a long time ago taken a look inside his refrigerator,
seen the jars lined up and reproached him with a scolding expression about a grown
man living for days on end on nothing but yogurt. Wonder whether they make food here
as good as Aila’s, Aaro thought upon getting a slight whiff of some cooking floating
into his room.
When it was getting close to 7 PM, he got up off the bed, and leaning on his cane he
made his way to the common room. The evening news was on. Followed by a couple of
indifferent eyes he sat down in a vacant greenish-gray high-back easy-chair that looked
like a hippopotamus fallen on his behind. Aaro sent sideways glances at the group
assembled in a half circle in front of the TV, but since he didn’t want to seem too curious,
he fixed his eyes on the news anchor and didn’t notice that he was being observed by
a pair of small but sharp eyes that suddenly lit up as if a lamp had been lit inside the
observer’s head. After the news, four out of the six boarders got up, leaving behind only
Aaro and the sharp-eyed man who started watching the sports news. Aaro thought he
might try to get acquainted with his new fellow boarders and start with the fellow whom
he knew to be his next door neighbor behind the wall and who obviously liked sports,
as he did himself. He could start a conversation there, before they’d move on to discuss
which regiment each had served in during the war, in what section of the front, in order
to guarantee the strongest possible mutual bond for the new friendship.
“Good shot put,” he said, meaning the shot the Polish man had done, and went on:
“In case you didn’t realize, I’m your new next-door neighbor Aaro Va...” when the smalleyed
man bellowed: “Quiet!”
Reflexively Aaro straightened his bent back and pulled his cane into a ninety degree
angle. “He’s been a sergeant at least,” flew through Aaro’s brain as he was expecting
to hear next: “at ease,” and, a bit embarrassed, he looked at the man whose attention
must evidently not be disturbed by a friendly chat, like he had become accustomed to
in Monola village.
After three weeks had passed, Aaro had not exchanged one word with his neighbor
behind the wall. Even in gym class, the man only obeyed the orders given,
performed the movements precisely, and then disappeared without a word into his own
room. Nobody seemed to be bothered about the man’s behavior. Perhaps they’ve gotten
used to it over time, Aaro thought and tried to figure out what might have brought the
man to such a state--his nature or hard experiences?
So let’s stare at the sports as if no other living soul were in the room at all, Aaro
thought, a bit annoyed, even though he would have very much liked to say: “Atta boy,
show them,” when Tero Pitkämäki’s javelin flew farther than the Swede’s. “You can speak,
but not when she’s on the screen, though I don’t care for her reporting,” Aaro heard the
The Next Door Neighbor
By Meritta Koivisto
©Merutta Koivisto, 2009
Translated by Margareta Martin
man say and stared amazed at the sports
anchor who had just exited the picture and
then at his next door neighbor.
What an odd fellow. So we live here
based on pictures alone, Aaro thought. Just
like Simo in our village, the poor nutter
who at some incomprehensible command
of God circled around threes or any kind
of pillars whenever it was raining, and
it didn’t matter whether the skies sent
down snow, water or sleet, he had to walk
around the closest one. Maybe the next
door neighbor had received a shell shard
in his head in the war; Aaro weighed it in
his mind and even felt a bit sorry, but that
idea quickly hid in some cavern of his soul as he heard the man say: “I’m not crazy, if
that’s what you imagined. No shard in the head or any other place.”
Seems to be able to read one’s mind, Aaro thought. And his eyes showed a bit of
the kind of fear a runaway horse feels before the coachman has any inkling of it. What
might one dare reply to that, Aaro wondered, but again the other one knew the answer
even before the question had formed in his mind.
“You needn’t ponder about what you say to me.”
Some situation I landed in, Aaro thought uneasily. How can I think of anything if
that one can read my every thought. Think I’ll move along.
“Go on, if you want to,” came from the chair next to him, though Aaro could have
sworn that the man hadn’t even glanced at him, would not have been able to see him get
ready to leave, squeezing harder the cane that felt smooth and safe against his palm.
Aaro decided to be courageous and speak man to man, honestly and boldly, right to
the point.
“Are you a mind reader?” he asked.
“What gave you that idea?” the other man replied.
He got me there, poor me, Aaro thought fretfully and stared at the man.
“You look like you saw a ghost,” the next door neighbor continued.
Just what I was thinking, a ghost, formulated itself in Aaro’s head, but he didn’t dare
say one word aloud and tried to stop the passage of his thoughts so that the other man
would not find out more.
“What about that love affair?”
Good Lord, Aaro thought, in spite of all his efforts to stop.
“Because I was a bit too far to figure out everything.”
“Well, ...” Aaro stuttered, thinking he had arrived at the Day of Reckoning, even though
he had imagined it would be waiting for him only on the far side of the Big Gates, and
preferably in the front hall, so that his late dear wife would be beyond earshot.
“In order to give you a good start, I can assure you that we do have a stronger bond
of friendship than mere war tales which undeniably guarantee a strong feeling of mutual
belonging between new friends, that is....” The hairs on Aaro’s neck stood up. Hadn’t he
just three weeks earlier played in his mind with that very phrase about a strong sense
of belonging between friends? But he didn’t get beyond forming a response before the
next door neighbor went on: “The secret. That sports anchor...”
“Did she have a girl?” Aaro was swallowing.
“No, not after all; someone else had a daughter. She’s my love child, even though
she doesn’t know it.”
“Luckily,” Aaro let out. And since the next door neighbor looked expectant, he
thought it best to get this case finally off his chest.
“I loved Aila, my wife--that I want to say for starters.”
“I know.”
“Right. And liquor played a part, too.”
“Of course, but are you now blaming it on that, even though you know quite well
that a liquor bottle does nothing but stands on a table untouched until a hand comes and
twists the stopper and pours it down the gullet?”
“But after that I’ve not taken a gulp!”
“At least you learned something.”
“Because of Aila.”
“Not because of Aila.”
“Hey, wait a minute. Because of Aila I decided never to....”
“You’re wrong there. You might have known Aila but not cared about her.”
“Because of Love then, if you want to be so meticulous.”
“You’ve got to be meticulous in these matters; lack of precision only leads to
assumptions and they mostly lead to false conclusions but at least often to some kind of
distorted thinking. But I must say that I’m quite pleased that you didn’t plead honor or
a sense of responsibility. I can see you are an honest soul.”
“That’s what I’ve always striven to be; that’s why that matter has always weighed
heavily on my mind. Many times I thought about confessing to Aila, but I thought my
wife would feel bad over nothing, or--since you’re so meticulous--over my weakness.”
“You’re starting to learn something about yourself.”
“Is that the purpose of this?”
“It is.”
“When the End is near?”
“Yes.”
“Shall I go into the details now?”
“Yes, be as meticulous as possible.”
“Will that make me feel better?”
“Considerably, because each lie you let go of is like an iron rod pulled out of your
soul and upon removal it leaves a hole which at the same time fills with a lightness
lighter than air.”
Next Door Neighbor continued on page 12
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
11

Next Door Neighbor continued from page 11 neck. Bloodied eyes, red face, clothes reeking of perfume, breath stinking of liquor.
“As long as I don’t start levitating.”
“You won’t be fluttering anywhere yet. Besides, the sky is rather high up, so not to
worry.”
Aaro swallowed, pondered a minute and decided that it was time to speak. Surely he
wouldn’t start telling a total stranger things that he had never revealed to anyone.
“Tell me who you actually are.”
“Let it suffice that I know you and you know me.”
“How about a bit more clarification?”
“I serve you and you serve me.”
He’s spouting riddles like that man who in the end had to swallow a cup of poison as
payment for his speeches. Sheer occult science. Even Aila started reading about such,
Aaro thought, recalling his wife’s frequent visits to the bookmobile, but then he was
startled.
“Socrates was his name, since you’ve already forgotten it. And those weren’t occult
doctrines she was reading.”
“They weren’t?” Aaro got angry and started to get red in his face. “They had odd
debating societies, tried to get each other trapped, like you are now doing with me. Argued
about who’s the wisest and ended with the stupidest; that whoever says he doesn’t know
anything about anything is actually the wisest! And how did it end?”
Since no reply came, Aaro got anxious – the chair next to him was empty. In the
dusk he looked around but couldn’t see the man anywhere. Just as I was getting going,
he disappeared into thin air.
“I didn’t vanish; I was just looking through the window at the sun’s last rays before
they disappear behind the woods,” Aaro heard behind his back. “And I’m pondering
your love affair. Guess you never understood why Aila was looking for those verities
in books.”
“So tell me why, since you’re so wise, or is stupid the better compliment?”
“Because of you.”
“Because of me? Don’t speak rubbish. I was a good man even though I say so myself.
I never started a quarrel, did everything she asked without complaining, and didn’t utter
a bad word. Even though at times I wanted to, I kept quiet. I never offended...”
“Except once.”
“And when was that?”
“You know as well as I do.”
Aaro sank in his chair quiet as a beaten dog, but finally he said:
“But she didn’t know about it.”
“You think so? You spent a week in the city carousing, drank like a pig, four nights
out of five you slept in the tradesman’s widow’s bed even though you had known her
husband while he was alive, done business with him for more than forty years, bought
every nail for every house you built from him. And when on Friday you appeared at
your home door, guilt shone out of you as if it were written on a tag hung around your
Exploring Scandinavian Adventures at Nordic Spirit Symposium at CLU Feb. 5-6
The Nordic Explorers: From Polar Frontiers to the Silk Road
Scandinavians did not stop their far-flung adventures just because the Viking Age
came to an end. They pushed on as restless seekers, adventurers and explorers for
centuries. Their landmark accomplishments in the 18th to the 21st centuries will be
celebrated at the 11th annual Nordic Spirit Symposium, which takes place February 5-6,
2010 at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
“The Nordic Explorers: From Polar Frontiers to the Silk Road” will feature
distinguished speakers and polished performers, as well as lively visuals and videos.
The general public, as well as the Scandinavian community, is invited “to share the timehonored
spirit of a symposium, blending music, dining and the free exchange of ideas
to enhance the pleasure of learning,” according to Nordic Spirit founder and director,
Howard K. Rockstad.
First held in 2000, the Nordic Spirit Symposiums have focused on the Viking Age
several times, as well as World War II, immigration to the United States, current trends
in Scandinavia, and other subjects, featuring noted experts, scholars and authors from
Europe and North America.
This year’s theme will focus on adventurers such as Norwegian hero Fridtjof (meaning
“Daring Viking”) Nansen, born in 1861, the greatest of all polar explorers, who was
also a diplomat and humanitarian, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work
as a League of Nations High Commissioner. Sherrill Harbison will explore how the
concept of heroism changed in the 19th century and why the Arctic – with its Norwegian
poster-boy Fridtjof Nansen – was the perfect field for the last innocent hero-worship of
the 20th century. 18th century Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, inventor of the modern
naming system in botany, also wrote travel books about Swedish provinces. In 2006,
Roland Thorstensson and Anders Björling retraced two of Linnaeus’s journeys. While
Swedish traveler Sven Hedin might be seen by some as a “Foreign Devil on the Silk
Road,” he was the last of the great explorers of inner Asia in the late 19th and early
Finlandia Prize for Fiction Goes to Antti Hyry
The Finlandia Prize for Fiction 2009, worth €30,000, was awarded to Antti Hyry. His
novel about building a stove, Uuni (‘The stove’, Otava), was chosen by the art historian and
former director of the Finnish National Gallery, Tuula Arkio, from a shortlist of six.
Appointed by the Finnish Book Foundation, the prize jury (Professor Liisa Steinby,
literary critic Olavi Jama and Saara Vesikansa of the Tampere newspaper Aamulehti)
shortlisted the following novels: Salo (Gummerus) by Turkka Hautala; Ihmisen osa
(‘The human lot’, WSOY) by Kari Hotakainen; Uuni (‘The stove’, Otava) by Antti Hyry;
Kadotetut (‘The lost ones’, Gummerus) by Marko Kilpi; Ingen saknad, ingen sorg (‘No
yearning, no grief’, Söderströms/Tammi) by Merete Mazzarella; and Ranskalainen
12
Shall I continue the list?”
“No, guess I’ll go into those details now.”
“That’s what you promised.”
Aaro contemplated the floor, the shadows imprinted on it black and sharp. He wiped
a tear from the corner of his eye.
“Guess I wasn’t such a good man after all.”
“Don’t beat yourself up too much. After that trip you changed. You did good deeds,
and such a person is a good man; even Socrates would have agreed.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Aaro raised his head obviously revived.
“Since virtues cannot be practiced without knowing them. And they can’t be had
without knowing what they are.”
“Your memory is coming back, even though you only glanced at Plato’s works in
secret.”
“And Evil is a servant of Good!”
“Now you’re confusing – that’s from the Bible, not Socrates. But in your case it does
apply.”
Aaro was silent for a moment.
“But...”
“But what?”
“Just one question before I tell all.”
“Let’s have it; it’s getting late.”
“Will Aila forgive me even though my confession comes so late?”
“She will. She knew about Love.”
As evening started to turn into night, Aaro continued sitting in the hippopotamus
chair leaning on his cane, and he was getting to the last parts of his story when the light
was turned on in the room.
“What’s Aaro doing here mumbling in the dark all by his lonesome?” a friendly
female voice inquired at the door.
“Just reminiscing about Aila, my dear wife.”
This short story was published first as “Seinänaapuri” in Suomen
Lääkärilehti (Finnish Medical Journal) 25/2007, v.62.
Meritta Koivisto has received several honors. Among them, her short film
Ampiaispaini (Wrestling with a Bee) won first prize in 2000 at the Short Film
Festival in Switzerland and first prize at the Blue Sea Film Festival. Her first
novel Lontoolainen rakastaja (The London Lover) was published in 2006.
20th centuries. Daniel C. Waugh will share
the landscapes he himself traveled, retracing
and photographing routes Hedin traversed a
century earlier.
Performing artists are always a favorite
part of the Symposium line-up. This year,
Magnus Martensson, music director of the
Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra of New
York, will perform comedy and music in the
style of the famous entertainer, Victor Borge,
in a program titled “Excuse Me, Does My
Piano Count as One Carry-On?”
Known in Finland as Minnesota Satakieli
– the Minnesota Nightingale – Diane
Jarvi will perform at the Saturday evening
dinner. Singer of folk and world music, poet,
songwriter, guitarist and player of the kantele
Diane Jarvi
(Finnish folk harp), she was Finlandia Foundation National Performer of the Year in
2000. The dinner will take place in the Lundring Events Center at CLU, beginning at
7 p.m. Reservations required.
The Nordic Spirit Symposium is sponsored by the Scandinavian American Cultural
and Historical Foundation and California Lutheran University, and is made possible by
generous grants from the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and the Royal Norwegian
Consulate General in San Francisco. For further information, call (818) 788-4552 or
e-mail seeallan@sbcglobal.net.
ystävä (‘The French friend’, WSOY) by Tommi Melender.
In his tenth novel, the 400-page Uuni Antti Hyry (whose first book, a collection of
short stories, was published 51 years ago), gives an account of the construction of a new
stove in an old house. The contemporary characters live their lives in a small village
in the north-west of Finland as they always have; work, rest, mealtimes, walks in the
forest, observations on nature, past life and the passing of time. Arkio said she became
hooked by Hyry’s unhurried, detailed narrative about moderate, good life, spiced with
laconic humour.
Books From Finland
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

Kotinurkka -
The Corner of the Home
by Sargit Sohlberg Warriner
Visiting a friend in Helsinki last November,
I enjoyed seeing the first snowflakes of
winter blanketing Helsinki in white. There
was a wonderful calmness all around. My friend
remarked, with a sense of a relief in her voice,
how this snowfall was a welcome change from the
constant grayness of the previous month.
We strolled to a favorite coffeehouse located
in Senate Square in downtown Helsinki. What
a pleasure it was to enter! The aroma of freshly
brewed coffee filled the room and the small
candles flickering on the window sills added to the
atmosphere. The delicious coffee was served to
our small marble table along with three chocolate
sweets wrapped in golden paper.
The view from our table was picturesque. We could see streetcars passing by and
pedestrians clutching their umbrellas; and, in the distance, behind the statue of Tsar
Alexander II, stood a majestic white church. This church has had several names. The
original structure was built when Finland was the Grand Duchy of Finland, and the
church was named after Tsar Nicholas. Then, after Finland gained independence, the
church was renamed Tuomiokirkko, known informally by locals as the “big church”
(Suurkirkko). Today it is called the National Cathedral.
There had been several early churches in Helsinki but fires and wars destroyed them.
Interestingly, many of these structures had been located in close proximity to the present
day National Cathedral. In 1726, one such church was erected to replace a previous
church, which had burned down during the bitter fights of 1713 when a large portion
of Helsinki residents escaped to Sweden. This Lutheran church was named after the
Queen of Sweden, Ulrika Eleonora. Eventually, the Ulrica Eleonora church was also
demolished to make way for the new National Cathedral.
The history of the Ulrika Eleonora church must have fascinated Helsinki residents
for generations, because detailed information about its structure and interior as well as
all the changes and additions the church went through during the early 1800s have been
well documented. Indeed, my friend informed me that in 1997, the church was recreated
in its original scale as an ice sculpture at the approximate site where the original church
had stood. She also mentioned how small it was inside. Perhaps only one hundred
worshippers could attend a service at the same time
The National Cathedral, however, can easily accommodate hundreds. It is perched on
a hillside, and it looks to me as if it is hovering over downtown Helsinki. The church is
also easily visible from the ocean as you approach the city. “The church is more than a
place of worship” my friend commented, “it symbolizes something permanent and solid.
It is a part of the historic events that have taken place in and around Senate Square.”
Poem by Jane Noffke
On The Boats
You will say that I, who have no children,
Cannot know the depth of a parent’s love.
But I knew my mother’s desperation
And my father’s quiet resolve.
I know the simple courage it required
To hold my shaking body close to his,
To remove my arms from his neck,
To hear me cry, “Don’t go, Daddy, please don’t go,”
To wipe the tears from my cheeks
To tuck me back in bed
And then
To go.
To go alone into the still black morning,
To leave us for a season “on the boats,”
To shovel coal in the belly of a Great Lakes Freighter
To take what work he could when there was no choice.
He went because he loved us
And because love is not easy.
He went because he was our father
And because he knew what that meant.
© Jane Noffke (Photo of Jane and her father provided by Jane Noffke)
Helsinki’s National Cathedral:
More Than
A Place of Worship
In 1812, Helsinki became the capital of
Finland. The population of the new capital
started to grow rapidly, and a larger Lutheran
church was soon needed. In 1816, architect
Carl Ludvig Engel was commissioned to design
Helsinki’s important public buildings including the
buildings of Senate Square. He kept in mind the
growing need for a magnificent cathedral to unite
the architectural look of the other buildings. He
could also foresee the possible problems involved
in clearing the massive rock base in order for this
new church to be built.
During the construction of the National
Cathedral many of Helsinki’s citizens were eagerly
following the progress of the building site. Some must have dreamed of attending the
first service at the new church. It took twenty-five years to build. Many of the people
following its contruction did not live to see it completed and nor did the architect himself,
who died in 1840. The first service was held at the National Cathedral in 1852.
Of course, while the future cathedral was under construction, a temporary church
was needed. Carl Ludvig Engel was also commissioned for this project. This church
was to be built of wood and situated outside of the town limits. He emphasized that this
building was to be a temporary construction.
Interested in saving money, the city decided to use the interior from the Ulrika
Eleonora Church as much as possible. What could not be used, including the painting
that had graced the altar, was auctioned to the highest bidder. The temporary church
was dedicated in December 1826. Today it is called the Old Church (Vanha Kirkko),
and far from being temporary, it was recently totally renovated.
The town grew to include the Old Church, and today it stands in a small park
downtown. Helsinki residents have voted it the most charming church in Helsinki.
I certainly think so. Years ago, my own wedding ceremony was held there. I
wonder how many of our local guests knew that the pews they sat on as well as the gold
embellished pulpit were originally from the small Ulrica Eleonora church. My friend
told me that she had not visited the Old Church prior to my wedding ceremony, but she
felt the lightness and beauty that Carl Engel had created as soon as she stepped in the
church.
Today, however, we were enjoying the view of the National Cathedral building. As my
friend looked out from the coffeehouse’s window, she mentioned how spacious it looks
and feels inside. She continued by saying how much she admires the beauty and majesty
of the building itself. As we watched its two cupolas dotted with golden stars shine so
beautifully through the snowfall, I pointed out the wide, massive steps of the church that
face the Square. Did she know how many are there? There are forty eight steps in all,
although it felt that there was at least double the number when I climbed them.
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
13

14
The Kantele Shop
Emails of appreciation:
Hello Gerry,
I just got back from vacation, and
the kantele and bag were both waiting
for me. The very night I got it, I brought
it to a friend’s party and played Happy
Birthday on it for her! Thank you so
much for your “Guide for 5 and 10 String
Kanteles” on your web site. That is very
helpful for getting started. Now that I’ve
started experimenting with chording, I
am pleasantly shocked at how intuitive
this instrument is. I have a music degree,
but find right away there is little need for
it - your fingers just kind of find the sound
you want to hear. I had thought the 10string
would be a “baby” instrument until
I could get a “real” large one, but I see
the 10-string is perfectly adequate for a
tremendous amount of music! Thank
you, M.F. – Chapel Hill, N.C
Gerry,
T h a n k you f o r t h e b e a u t i f u l
instrument! It has such a wonderful, full
sound...such resonance! Being a bit of
a woodworker myself, I truly appreciate
the fine craftsmanship. I will treasure
this kantele, and am glad that I was able
to order it from you. Warm regards, L
Pike
www.kantele.com
1541 Clover Valley Dr
Duluth MN 55804
218-525-7609
Diane
Jarvi’s
newest
recording is
Wild
Gardens
Also available:
Paper Heart, Foreign
Winds, Revontuli,
and Flying Into Blue
$15.00 per CD
$1.50 shipping
Send Orders to:
Lupine Records
PO Box 19274
Mpls., MN 55419
FINLANDIA FOUNDATION ® NATIONAL
Past Issues of New World Finn Still Available
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September, October, November, December
2001: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August-September
Quarterly issues were published beginning in October 2001.
2001: Vol. 2 October-December (No. 4)
2002: Vol. 3 Nos. 1, 3, 4
2003: Vol. 4 Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4
2004: Vol. 5 Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4
2005: Vol, 6 Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4
2006: Vol. 7 Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4
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Finlandia Foundation ® National
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NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

Name
Street/Address
The Journey Ahead
to the New Year
By Anni Putikka
Translated by Ivy Nevala
“It Surely Was Easier in the Early Days!”
We didn’t have: supplemental child payments, pensions, rent assistance
We just had: our own work, help from neighbors. accusations, and the poor house.
We didn’t have: TV, stereo, Nintendo, or VHF
We just had: village musicians, bands, youth choirs and drama clubs, athletic groups,
and the village library. News was spread by the tube radio, the regional newspaper, and
the village gossips.
We didn’t have: alcohol and other drug treatments clinics, mental health clinics,
misuse of alcohol, drug sniffing dogs, work regulations
We just had: drunks, despondent drinkers, village nuts, those brought to the insane
asylum, and the lazy, who were called lazy.
We didn’t have: bureaucrats, adjustable interest, dividends. junk bonds
We just had: the rich and the poor, and those who didn’t have anything.
We didn’t have: diseases of the circulatory system, psychoses, syndromes, dementia,
or lactose intolerance.
We just had: the weaknesses of aging and senility, hip problems and rheumatism. We
didn’t have to linger and died because of old age, accidents, chest or head diseases.
The above was submitted by Anni Putikka from Teuvan Joulu, 2006, along with
the following article:
What are one’s first thoughts about the year’s beginning and end? In the beginning
of the year, the end seemed far away, but now that the year is coming to a close,
it seems to have gone quickly. But I’ll be writing about my childhood years.
Our elders believed in the Bible’s admonition, “Those who don’t work don’t have to
eat.” One’s bread was honored, men took off their caps at the table, thanks were given
to God, and the young took on the habits of their elders.
Children learned to work from the time they were small, taking care of younger
children. Apparently I was a dependable child, because when I was just two years old,
Mother left me with my baby sister when Mother had to do the barn chores. She checked
on us occasionally. Once she found me with my sister’s pacifier in my mouth, sleeping
in my own bed. Another time I had climbed onto the table without breaking any of
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A subscription mak a good gift--one that will keep on giving all year!
the dishes set out there and sat there looking at the sugar bowl, a wedding gift for my
parents. I now have that sugar bowl. I gave the same responsibility to my own children,
not even thinking about doing anything differently.
When I was eight, I walked behind the horse tilling the field, while Father spread
manure. Then when the field was ready, he sowed the seeds by hand and I again had to
cover the seed. Driving the horse developed my muscles and by the time I was ten, I was
able to milk. In fact, when my parents had to be away, they depended on me to do the
milking and prepare a meal. Of course, Grandma was close by, available to help. After
school there were child care and chores such as carrying firewood into the house and
into the barn. When my sister was old enough, we did the chores together.
Father made our skis, and after they were finished, he heated tar until it was fluid
and penetrated the wood. Then he built a fire in the snow, and when the wood created
a roaring fire, heated the skis, applying more tar as it dried, while we enjoyed the fire in
the darkening evening, breathing the aroma of the tar. Then wax was spread on top of
the tarred bottoms. Of course, we needed poles too, so he put a sharp point on the end
of the pole so we could grip ice and hard snow. The poles were finished with strips of
rubber and leather, for us to hold on to the poles. The first time we skied to school on
our skis, we were almost tardy, so we jumped off our skis, carrying them and running
the rest of the way. On the way home, there was no hurry, so we had time to get used
to skiing. After we made a trail across the fields, the trip became much shorter and a lot
of fun as we learned to speed along. At home it was time to brush the snow off the skis
so they were ready for the morning’s journey.
In the morning, after a breakfast of boiled potatoes and pork gravy, we left for school,
with probably a sandwich in our knapsacks along with our books, because at that time
there was no school lunch program. During recess we had fun playing in the snow on
the small hill behind the school. When the bell rang, girls and boys lined up in separate
rows, all with rosy red cheeks.
When we were children we couldn’t be all thumbs (peukalo keskellä kämmentä).
Because Grandma’s sister had a hat factory, she sewed caps for us, and when I was old
enough, I got the patterns and made both winter and summer caps for my sister and me.
I was quite young when my aunt taught me to crochet, doll clothes at first and later bed
covers. Then I was taught to knit mittens and sock. Evenings went by fast, chores and
schoolwork taking so much time there wasn’t much left for handwork. Later still, it was
time to learn to card and spin wool, spin linen, and weave both into fabrics.
This season reminds me that in the winter the red mountain ash berries remained
on the tree after the leaves fell, and it was fun watching the birds eating them. Every
fall Father left some oats unthreshed and on Christmas eve made a sheaf of them for
the birds. We delighted in seeing them eating the oats and feeling sorry for them for
having to be out in the cold. Christmastime we enjoyed skiing on the sparkling clean
snow and often stopped to admire the beauty of the surroundings the Lord had created
for us. Let’s remember to stop our rushing and not be blind to nature. Let’s enjoy the
beauty before we are old and gray-haired!
Nazi Himmler Was Enthusiastic About Karelia and the Finnish Kantele
Finnish anthropologist Yrjö von Grönhagen met German SS leader Heinrich Himmler
in 1937 at Himmler’s home, along with German music researcher Fritz Bose. The
scientists were led into Himmler’s study, and they were surprised at what they saw.
Hanging on the wall of the study was a copy of a photograph that had recently been
taken by Grönhagen, of Timo Lipitsä, a Karelian runonlaulaja, or “poem singer”. The
photo, which had been given to Himmler a year earlier, hung over Himmler’s desk as
if it were an icon.
Von Grönhagen (1911-2003) and Bose (1909-1975) brought new gifts from Karelia.
The Nazi leader was especially enthusiastic about the kantele, a traditional Finnish
stringed instrument. Bose played for him, and the kantele was given to Himmler, who
immediately ordered ten more for the SS.
The information is from a book by author Heather Pringle, The Master Plan:
Himmler’s Scholars and the Holocaust, which was recently translated into Finnish.
The work by a respected Canadian writer of popular science touches upon Finland and
the other Nordic Countries, especially the rock paintings in Sweden’s Bohuslän Province,
while describing in detail the activities of the Third Reich’s Ahnenerbe research institute.
Ahnenerbe, or Deutches Ahnenerbe, Studiengesellschaft für Geistesurgeschichte (“Study
society for primordial intellectual history, German Ancestral Heritage”), was established
in 1935 for the stated purpose of studying the legacy of Germany’s Aryan forefathers. Its
real purpose was to create myths. According to Pringle, its leading researchers dedicated
themselves to falsifying the truth, and to churning out carefully tailored information to
support the racial doctrines of Adolf Hitler.
Ahnenerbe was interested in Finland and Karelia in the early phase of its activities -
specifically through the activities of Yrjö von Grönhagen, who was born in St. Petersburg.
A Frankfurt newspaper published Grönhagen’s article on the Kalevala, and soon a
meeting with Himmler was arranged. Himmler also wrote a greeting into his travel
diary: “Germans and Finns always remember that they once had the same fathers.”
Grönhagen and Fritz Bose made a research expedition into Russian Karelia in 1936,
taking along the illustrator Ola Forssell. Grönhagen returned to Karelia again in 1937
and 1938, alone both times.
The intense interest that Himmler felt toward the Nordic region as a target of research
irritated Hitler: “It is bad enough that the Romans built magnificent buildings while our
forefathers were still living in clay huts; now Himmler is starting to dig up these clay
hut villages, and gets excited about every fragment of a clay pot, and every stone axe
that he happens to find”, Hitler once said to Albert Speer.
By Pirkko Kotirinta HS
Mail to:
Ivy Nevala, Treasurer
New World Finn
PO Box 432
Cedar Grove, WI 53013
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
15

Contemporary Finnish Culture
in Chicago: A Guide
ESSAYS BY ERIKA MIKKALO © Erika Mikkalo, 2009
Presuming to interpret or criticize the arts means taking language, a symbolic
means of communication, and attempting to decipher or decant the essence of a
direct sensory form of communication. Each sense is spoken to by a respective
craft: sight by the visual arts – a redundant naming; the aural fed music; taste, the
culinary arts, and the olfactory, the work of the perfumer, or the occasional experimental
installation. Touch is neglected, with the possible exception of some interactive tactile
or textile pieces, and the booming or sideways vibrations of some musical compositions.
(One of the most inspiring films I’ve viewed is a documentary regarding Dame Evelyn
Glennie, a deaf percussionist who discerns pitch and timbre by how the different
vibrations fall upon her body. I hesitate to use the word ‘inspirational,’ as
it appears that Dame Glennie’s lack of hearing perturbs others much more
than it bothers herself.)
This fall Chicago hosted exemplary Finnish producers of both visual
and auditory art, the painter Jenni Rope and the composer Kaija Saariaho,
although both display discerning implementation of common elements:
rhythm and restraint. The result is work that
is beyond the confines of minimalism but
that conveys its impact through restraint.
‘Tasteful’ is too trite an appellation, faint
praise, and ‘charming’ seems an insult. Both
serve as a reminder that the most effective
communication is rarely a shout.
Coprosperity Sphere exhibited Jenni
Rope’s Forest in October. Austere
shapes suggest a passageway, a tower, a far
away hill. Other monochrome forms lean
against the wall. A shape that is either a
lone sail or half a mountain peak slices
the floor – the fin of a shark? Marshes and
Jenni Rope
temples could be inferred through other
juxtapositions. Little Red Riding Hood would
not be afraid on this trail, but perhaps alienated. An arriving wolf would stare
at her shoes rather than snarl in her face. There is a temptation to project
Finn reserve as affect affecting the aesthetic. Some of Ms. Rope’s patterned
pieces from five years earlier contain a rhythm and accessibility that
Marimekko would be happy to claim. Process is revealed by the range and
interrelation of the individual pieces – thirty-two panels of assorted media
– rather than an ebullience of palette or extravagance in brushwork. The
collection has more cumulative impact than any single element – definitely a
forest, simultaneously organic and angled, not an arboratoreum, a Linnaean
assortment of individual trees, but definitely the woods.
Jenni Rope draws and paints in Helsinki, where she also produces book
art and animated pieces. Her work is internationally exhibited, and Forest
is moving on to Tokyo and Berlin. More narrative examples of her craft are
available through her independent publishing house, Napa Books, including
comic books of many artists’ work, DVDs of Rope’s, and flip books by
others.
Finnish illustrator Terhi Ekebom and architect Tuomas Siitonen are
credited as visitors in the forest, and a Finnish Art Film Show featuring the
works of Timo Vaittinen, Karri Kuoppala, Anssi Kasitonni, Sari Palosaari,
Nicolas Schevin, Anna Virtanen, and Elina Minn was included in the
exhibition.
On Thursday November 19 the International Contemporary Ensemble
performed four works by Finn composer Kaija Saariaho, Brad Lubman
conducting, at the Museum of Contemporary Art: Terrestre, Six Japanese
Gardens, Lichtbogen, and Solar. Ms. Saariaho was in attendance and
answered questions mid-show. The Chicago MCA’s stage is generally a
sure bet for an engaging or entertaining evening. Earlier this year I enjoyed
the Hypocrites’ enthusiastic albeit not entirely coherent interpretation of
Frankenstein, and other events have included butoh set to Elvis, an Italian
woman painting on the side of a live mare, a synchronized British insult
Finnish Manifestations In Chicago
16
Jenni Rope and
Kaija Saariaho
Display ‘Sensory
Delights’ In Chicago
troupe, and exquisitely formed performers executing German philosophy as verbal
jujitsu.
Composer George E. Lewis described
Kaija Saariaho’s music as synesthestic,
that the noises form landscapes or other
visual compositions in the sensory
territory between the listener’s ears (NYT
Nov. 25). Ms. Saariaho did not agree with
Mr. Lewis’ interpretation, but I definitely
experienced a pictorial response to
respective pieces.
Six Japanese Gardens (1994) in
particular virtually demands some
manifestation of order and growth,
stillness and tension, as demonstrated by
the trimmed bonsai and raked trails of the
title’s subject. As I closed my eyes, on the
lids’ interior images of moss alternated
with those of stone and day was followed
by night. Also, the program notes detail
the origin of Lichtbogen (Lightbow)
Kaija Saariaho
(1986) as a response to the monuments of
light formed by the aurora borealis.
The opening selection was Terrestre (2002), a flute-intensive chamber piece further
enlivened by energetic percussive elements characteristic of the composer. Claire Chase’s
flute solo garnered sincere and sustained applause. The composition’s inspiration is
the poems of Saint-John Perse, a collection entitled Oiseaux (Birds) in particular, and
perhaps it is a risk of reading the program notes, but it seemed inevitable that the flute’s
song echo some ornithological element, reeds weaving amidst the percussion.
Six Japanese Gardens followed, a sole percussionist incorporating electronic waves,
as well as sampled natural sounds, song, and percussion recorded in Japan. Ms. Saariaho
took questions from the audience prior to intermission. One listener inquired on how
the various elements were interwoven in the immediately previous piece, speculating
that it must have been quite demanding to combine so many technical elements. The
conductor immediately diminished such concerns: “He has a foot petal.” Another
audience member recollected that a visiting Finnish conductor once reminisced that he
and Kaija Saariaho gave a concert to an audience of two, one member of which was his
mother. The composer conceded that this was indeed the case, and that her zeal to bring
experimental music to new audiences once led to a performance in a kindergarten, and
that on another occasion an orchestra was engaged for an event that they entirely forgot
to publicize. But the arts persist.
As the crowd dissolved for intermission, a man in the row behind me shared his
knowledge of all things Finnish with his companion. “Aki Kaurismaki is one of my
favorite directors. Have you seen Man Without a Past? No? If you view his work, well,
you get the impression that the Finns don’t think that much of themselves...” I smiled.
Solar was the final piece performed, but no less engaging than the three previous.
A high volume set of notes quickly bifurcates and then trifurcates and then again.
Subsequent layers of sound soothed, but come back to the main theme, departing to
return in a way that seemed almost flirtatious, but more vital. I look forward to further
discovery of Kaija Saariaho’s music as well as performances by the ICE.
ICE appears with the John Jaspere Company in “Truth, Revised Histories, Wishful
thinking, and Flat Out Lies” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, April 9–11.
Below: Page from Jenni Rope’s My Forest gallery catalogue
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

Donna Salli’s Play About Finnish-Americans in Upper Michigan
Rock Farm Performed In English and Finnish
The Rock Farm, a play about heritage, love, family and the magnetic attraction of
home, made its American stage premiere October 9-10 in Chalberg Theatre at Central
Lakes College in Brainerd.
Written by award-winning Brainerd poet and CLC English instructor Donna Salli, the
short play is her love song to Finnish-American roots. She is from the Upper Peninsula
of Michigan, born to parents of full Finnish descent still living in Wakefield.
Salli said that the play is about family, flavored with humor and worry. The characters...
are products of the culture and society Salli grew up in and were inspired by a time and
place that many in the audience will recognize, said Salli.
The Rock Farm or Kivistön Tila in Finnish has been translated into Finnish and was
first performed a year ago in Joensuu, Finland. Salli attended during an exploratory trip
pursuing the possibility of study aboard exchanges for
CLC and Finnish students.
The play was performed twice at each showing in
two distinct styles. The first version was performed in
English by a cast of local volunteers, and the second
version was in Finnish, translated and performed by
Theater Fiasko of Finland. Erik Steen of Brainerd
directed the English version and Tuire Hindikka of
Theater Fiasko directed the Finnish troupe.
In a short talk before the afternoon performance,
Patrick Spradlin, head of the CLC theater department,
described how the play came to be performed in
Brainerd:
“This story starts about 3 years ago. Ann Toumi,
an English instructor at Central Lakes College, was
Ann Toumi, American/
Finnish Liaison
Erik Steen, director of Rock Farm in its English version; Donna Salli, playwright, Tuire Hindikka (Joensuu), director of Rock Farm in Finnish
in Joensuu, Finland. She met Tuire Hindikka, director
of Teatteri Fiasko, who suggested that CLC host them
European Photo/Video Artists Address Borders
and Globalization at Nash Gallery In Minneapolis
A selection of internationally renowned Finnish and European-based artists who
deal with issues of dislocation and migration or challenge manifestations of mental and
physical borders in a globalized world will have their work shown at the Katherine E.
Nash Gallery beginning January 22. The exhibition is titled: almos(t)here: New bearings
from contemporary artists in Europe. The artists approach these global and political
issues from varying angles – some artworks are rooted in personal experience, others are
based on investigation and direct engagement with different communities and people.
Many of the artworks in the exhibition throw into question ideas of national spaces,
territory, and borders. The video installation 2 x 3 Borders by Pauliina Salminen and
Andres Jaschek creates a link between subtropical and arctic regions located in the border
areas of six countries. Ursula Biemann’s video essay X-Mission explores the logic of
the refugee camp as one of the oldest extra-territorial zones. In their three-screen video
installation Borderlands, Minna Rainio and Mark Roberts explore the once politically
for performances. Not much later – in October 2007 – Fiasko arrived in the states and
performed an original production based on the Kalevala. They were there for one
week.
“While they were in Brainerd, Tuire stayed with Donna Salli. She read some of
Donna’s essays on Finnish American culture, and suggested to Donna that she turn her
writing into a play. The play that came out of it was Rock Farm. Donna sent the play to
Finland to be translated into Finnish, and to be performed.
“The original plan was to have an American theater group go to Finland and present
the play in English, and to also have the Fiasko group do it in Finnish. Due to financial
reasons, however, the plan was changed so that the Finnish group came to the US.”
Donna Salli was born in 1954 in the U.P. of Michigan to parents of full Finnish
descent. She shares the “writing gene” with her sister Doreen, likely passed down from
their great-grandfather Kaarlo Korpela, who was a writer in Finland.
Donna earned a BA in English from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and
an MFA in Poetry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. A recipient of a
Mentor Series Award in Poetry from the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, she
teaches English and directs the learning assessment program at Central Lakes College
in Brainerd, Minnesota.
Donna’s poems and creative nonfiction essays have appeared in such publications
as Lake Country Journal Magazine, Loonfeather, Lake Superior Magazine, The
Finnish-American Reporter, Hellas, The Hawaii Review, Kansas Quarterly, The Little
Magazine, Primavera, Quarterly West, and the Star Tribune. Her work has been
anthologized in Dust & Fire: Women’s Stories and Art by Women from Bemidji State
University Press, 2001; North Writers II: Our Place in the Woods from University of
Minnesota Press, 1997; Red, White, & a Paler Shade of Blue: Poems on the Finnish-
American Experience from Tamarack Press for FinnFest USA ’96, 1996.
Sources: Based on a Brainerd Dispatch news article, Central
Lakes College press releases, and edited by Gerry Henkel
charged, today remarkably anonymous yet richly metaphoric border between Finland
and Russia. Maria Ylikoski’s video portrait Tuula explores migration and dislocation
through the personal narrative of a Finnish-American woman. Katarina Zdjelar’s video
piece Don’t Do It Wrong investigates how social rituals build and promote a sense of
belonging. Her video There Is No Is highlights the physical aspects of speech through the
difficult vocalization of foreign words. In Adel Abidin’s video Common Vocabularies, a
seven-year-old Iraqi girl learns a vocabulary of war, one that has become commonplace
for Iraqi children today. Jaakko Heikkilä’s panoramic photographs engage with the issues
of nationalism, history, and diaspora in relation to Armenian diaspora.
Almos(t)here is curated by Minna Rainio, the Government of Finland/David and
Nancy Speer visiting professor at the University of Minnesota. She will be teaching and
creating programming in Minneapolis at least through the end of 2010. The opening
reception on January 22 will include remarks by the Consul General of Finland,
Ambassador Ritva Jolkkonen.
Gallery: Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Regis Center of Art, 405 21st Ave. S. Minneapolis
http://nash.umn.edu/events/, 612-624-6518
New World Finn is a cultural journal that depends on its readers for financial support. If you like what
you read here, please subscribe - for yourself and for your friends. A subscription form is on page 15.
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
17

Since the first Finns came to North America (in the 1600s in Delaware), they
have always had warm and friendly relations with Native Americans. This story
by Hunter Gray is another example of this fact. Here he relates his experiences
as an academic and as a human rights organizer, an experience he has shared
with his Finnish- and Sámi- American wife Eldri since the early 1960s.
Indestructible
By Hunter Gray (Hunter Bear) (Formerly John R. Salter, Jr.)
I’m an organizer – a working social justice agitator. I’ve been one since the mid-
1950s and I’ll always be one. In many respects, it’s one of the toughest trails
anyone could ever blaze.
As a boy, I shot my huge Coming of Age Bear -- deep in the vast Sycamore Canyon
wilderness area in Northern Arizona. At that point, I then became a man. The fiery
spirit of the Bear and its abundantly fine qualities – intelligence, courage, stamina,
instinct – are with me always and have served me very well and faithfully on my swift
and rocky River of No Return.
My father, born Frank Gray and later named John R. Salter via an adoption, was
an essentially full-blooded American Indian (Mi’kmaq/St. Francis Abenaki/St. Regis
Mohawk – far Northeastern tribes) and my mother an Anglo from an old Western
family. Our identity lies on the Native side of things. I grew up in the Navajo country
of Northern Arizona and Western New Mexico. Beginning in the mid-1950s — after I
finished a full hitch in the United States Army — I was active in Native American rights;
was a radical activist in what remained of the old-time Industrial Workers of the World;
worked with the militant and democratic left-wing International Union of Mine, Mill
and Smelter Workers (Mine-Mill). I learned much that was valuable as a labor organizer.
And for my entire adult life, I have been a socialist. I’ve worked, among other things,
as a farm worker, forest fire fighter, soldier, trapper, laborer of several kinds, college and
university professor, writer. But I’ve always been an organizer wherever I am – getting
and keeping people together for action.
Although, in the 1950s, I encountered Finns here and there in what was left of the
really old-time IWW in the Pacific Northwest and in Mine-Mill in the Intermountain
West – always appreciating the inherent toughness and enduring commitment to militant
labor and radicalism of these extremely solid people – it wasn’t until I spent some very
interesting time in the Duluth-Superior area in late 1960 and early 1961 that I encountered
very large numbers of Finns. And, early on, I got to know a great many Finnish-Americans
in labor and radical circles and their families extremely well.
From my Native perspective, I had no difficulty recognizing an inherent family and
national tribalism in all of this – and I had also, early on, (long before I got to Duluth-
Superior), become cognizant that the Finns are not “Nordic”. I learned a good deal about
the substantial ethnic discrimination visited upon the Finnish immigrants and their
descendants in the United States (sometimes, still, into the present day), the legacy of
the Finnish churches and those of the vigorous co-op and radical movements.
Like myself and our family, and virtually all other Native Americans, I’ve always
felt that Finnish hearts were in the rural and often wild country, where one can look up
and see, in the clear air, the Sun and Stars – and listen to the Wind.
At one point, I was asked to talk at length as principal speaker at a large affair
sponsored by the Finnish Wobblies and socialists in Duluth. Here, where until the end of
the ‘30s, the IWW had maintained a very effective and well organized workers’ education
program – the famous Work People’s College, the IWW Finnish daily, Industrialisti, was
still being published. It died later in the ‘60s and, if there were efforts to revive it, they
did not endure. I have some of the fascinating and impressive curricular materials from
Work People’s College (The Työmies Society published its Finnish language newspaper,
Työmies-Eteenpäin, into contemporary times.)
This was my first talk at a mass meeting of Finnish people. About two hundred and
fifty of all ages were gathered to hear me – on a very cold late 1960 winter night in an
ancient but very warm labor hall. Two good friends of mine were chairing this gathering
– a young guy my age and a much older man – and each told me that, although everyone
present knew English, the old people would never concede this to a relative newcomer
such as myself. Consequently, everything would have to be translated into Finnish.
As a Native, I could understand this situation congenially and empathetically.
I talked for over two hours on labor defense matters, mixed with a discussion of
the incipient civil rights movement – and everything was meticulously transposed into
Finnish by my age peer. Many of the older faces looked at me impassively until my words
were translated. Then, and only then, did they nod, almost imperceptibly. When I was
finished, there was light applause and some people tapped their feet back and forth on
the hard, wooden floor.
Used to more enthusiastic responses from non-Indians, I suddenly felt I’d bombed
out on this one. People were moving toward strong coffee and rolls. Still at the front
speaker’s table, I turned to my two friends – the co-chairs. “How did I go over? Did I
go over at all?”
And they laughed, heartily. “You went over very well,” said the older man.”You were
the best speaker in months.” I still looked puzzled.
“You’ve learned something new tonight.” said the guy my age. “You got a lot of Finn
applause.” In its own unique way, very Indian indeed!
Not very long thereafter, I married my wife, Eldri – who had been born at Moose
Lake, Minnesota – and is Finnish and Sámi with some Scandinavian. We did this
at Duluth-Superior and then we went off to Destiny – and that began in Mississippi.
I am academically trained in sociology. We arrived in Mississippi in late summer,
1961, and I taught at (Black) Tougaloo College, just north of Jackson. I was Advisor to
the Jackson Youth Council of the NAACP, a member of the executive committee of the
Jackson NAACP, a member of the Board of Directors of the Mississippi State Conference
of NAACP Branches, and a primary organizer of the Jackson Movement of 1962-1963.
18
Eldri and Hunter
I worked closely with SNCC, CORE, and later also with SCLC and Highlander Folk
School. (I also conducted some of the first poverty/racism surveys in several Mississippi
rural counties and testified to my grim findings before hearings conducted by the
Mississippi Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).
I served as the Strategy Committee Chair of the developing and ultimately very
large-scale and blood-dimmed Jackson Movement which reached its climax in the
spring and summer of 1963. I participated in the most direct sense in many of the
bloodily-suppressed and increasingly massive non-violent demonstrations. Along with
many others, I was beaten and arrested on a number of occasions; was targeted in the
sweeping anti-Movement injunction, City of Jackson v. John R. Salter, Jr. et al. (which,
of course, we defied); and was seriously injured (along with a colleague, Rev. Ed King)
and my car destroyed, in a rigged auto wreck.
Following the sanguinary Jackson Movement epoch, I became, at the end of the
Summer of 1963, Field Organizer for the Southern Conference Educational Fund. I
worked across the hard-core South. I was the primary organizer of an ultimately quite
successful large-scale, multi-county civil rights grassroots organizing project in the
isolated, poverty-stricken, Klan-infested Northeastern North Carolina Black Belt. In
1966 and 1967, I organized militant grassroots anti-poverty movements — i.e., Peoples’
Program on Poverty — in the Northeastern North Carolina Black Belt. In those hardfought
Southern years, my wife and I learned much, much indeed from the grassroots
about courage and commitment and vision – and we have carried all of that with us for
all of these decades.
We left the South in the summer of 1967, went to the Pacific Northwest where I was
active in many social justice endeavors. In 1969-1973, we were on the bloody South/
Southwest Side of Chicago — where I directed the large-scale grassroots organization
of multi-issue block clubs. We worked with African American, Puerto Rican, Chicano,
and some Native American people and we fought the police and the Daley Machine
— and organized more than 300 block clubs and related organizations.
Concurrently, on the North Side of Chicago, I was a key organizer of the regional
all-Indian Native American Community Organizational Training Center and served
for many years as its Chair. I was active in the Plains in Native rights campaigns. And
I served as the controversial social justice director for the 12 county Roman Catholic
Diocese of Rochester, New York (1976-1978), where Native rights and union labor and
anti-racism were among the key thrusts that I and others initiated and carried through
successfully.
Then we were back in the Southwest for several years — in the Navajo country (the vast
Navajo Nation), teaching and holding other posts as well at Navajo Community College
(now Dine’ College), and involved in anti-uranium campaigns and related endeavors.
For most of the 1980s deep into the 1990s, I was an active organizer of many effective
Native rights campaigns in the Northern Plains — e.g., Grand Forks, ND and the utterly
racist reservation border town of Devils Lake, ND.
In 1994, I retired as a full professor and former departmental chair (and former chair
of Honors) from the American Indian Studies Department at University of North Dakota.
In due course, we returned to the Mountain West — and are presently based at Pocatello,
Idaho where we are quite involved in various rights campaigns and very much in the
not good situation regarding some problematic city and state police.
As I wrote recently in my essay, Outlaw Trail: The Native As Organizer (published
in Visions and Voices: Native American Activism, 2009):
“. . . .if you are an aspiring social justice Organizer -- “bright eyed and bushy-tailed”
-- recognize that you can’t practice that always critically needed vocation and have the
things about which Thorstein Veblen wrote so well and indictingly in his classic attack
on conspicuous consumption, The Theory of the Leisure Class. You’ll get your skull
cracked, your hide cut, and you’ll often get fired. But I’d rather have Those Memories
than Money.”
I
’ve got an Indian side and a white side. If you have to ask where does the loyalty
go, I’d say the ultimate loyalty goes to the human race, but the immediate loyalty
goes to the Native side. In other words, I stand with the Indians.
And the Finns stand with the Finns – and also humanity. And, as far as our rapidly
expanding multi-cultural family is concerned – and I’m sure this holds true for many
similarly situated – we and the Finns stand together. And each flint tough, far beyond
the reach of any erosion. Indestructible. Now and forever. And always toward an always
better world, over the mountains yonder and far, far beyond.
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

A View From Finland
with Enrique Tessieri
© Enrique Tessieri, 2008-2009
Enrique Tessieri writes about Finnish identity and life in
Finland for the New World Finn. He has written on a wide
range of subjects for many publications - Buenos Aires Herald,
Apu magazine, City Magazine Helsinki, Kotimaa, Finland
Bridge and others. Enrique graduated from American and
Finnish colleges, and has worked as a journalist (print and
radio) in North America, South America, and Europe.
The Finnish Dream
Some Finns believe that they have achieved the Finnish dream when they own a
house by a lakeshore in an urban center. The house-by-the-lake ideal is so deeply
ingrained in the Finnish psyche that it is likely that future generations of Finns
will also strive for that house by the lakeshore.
There are many reasons why Finns want to own that house by the lake. Possibly it has
to do with the history of Finland, which has seen its fair share of upheavals such as war
and migration. A house symbolizes something permanent and the lake could represent
the beauty that blesses the home.
In the same way that only a minority succeed at achieving the American dream by
becoming successful millionaires, only a handful of Finns ever get the opportunity to
build that house by the lake.
Official statistics show that 44% of Finns live in apartment houses, 40% in houses
and 14% in row houses. Unfortunately, these figures don’t reveal how many houses are
located by lakes.
High cost
Despite the ongoing recession, the high cost of housing still continues to be the single
biggest obstacle that stops Finns from attaining the Finnish dream.
Demand for real estate normally rises whenever interest rates fall and the economic
situation improves. During good economic times, real estate prices usually rise so rapidly
in Finland that supply cannot keep up with demand.
Ineffectual housing and zoning policy are some reasons why prices surge so
quickly.
Just like no object can escape the monumental gravitational pull of black holes
in space, the same is the true for Finland’s housing policy, which is a complex maze
of vested interests of banks, construction companies, municipal politicians and high-
Tales From A Finnish Tupa
by James Cloyd Bowman and Margery Bianco
from a translation by Aili Kolehmainen
University of Minnesota Press
Tales From A Finnish Tupa is an illustrated collection of folktales from a Finnish
tupa, or cottage. First published
in 1936, this book presents tales
of magic like “The Mouse Bride”
and “Antti and the Wizard’s
Prophecy,” droll stories such as
“The Pig-Headed Wife,” and
fables from the collections of Eero
Salmelainen and Iivo Harkonen,
sharing Finnish wisdom on topics
from the end of the world to how
the Rabbit earned his self-respect.
The book features hand-rendered
illustrations in full color.
James Cloyd Bowman (1880-
1961) was an English professor.
He published a number of folklore
books for children, including
Pecos Bill: The Greatest Cowboy
of All Time and Mike Fink:
Snapping Turtle of the O-hi-o-o,
Snag of the Massasip.
Margery Bianco (1881-1944)
was a renowned children’s book
writer of-more than twenty-five
books, including The Velveteen
Rabbit, or, How Toys Become
Real.
The New York Times wrote that the book is, “An outstanding addition to folk literature
available for children. . . These stories have the tang of common sense, the wonder
that the folktale invests in all the homely, everyday things of life, and a keen sense of
fundamental values. A book to captivate boys and girls, one that will interest students
of folklore and one that storytellers will find invaluable.”
ranking civil servants.
Finland’s has encouraged people to become homeowners with the help of tax breaks
and the fact that there are just too few homes for rent. In many cases it is cheaper paying
a mortgage than rent. Around 58% of Finns own a home while 32% rent.
High costs and a near-toothless housing policy have meant that dwelling spaces in
Finland are crowded by European Union standards. In 2002, floor space per person stood
at 37 square meters (398 square feet), up from 33 square meters in the mid-1990s.
In the early 1950s matters were, however, far worse. A Fodor’s travel guide writes
about the housing problem in Helsinki: “Be prepared for a plethora of coffee (coffee
parties are the order of day and night) and a minimum of living space. In the present
housing shortage the government allows but one room to a person, and that sofa you sit
on is probably your host’s bed after hours.”
The sauna
Finns spend a lot of time in their homes even if they are small. The kitchen and
sauna are by far the most important quarters. The high cost of drinking and eating out
explains why Finns prefer to party at home with friends on a Saturday night.
Certainly bathing with friends over the weekend would be unthinkable in some
cultures where nudity (even among the same sex) is a taboo. Enjoying a sauna bath
is like a rite of passage that crowns and reinforces familial bonds or friendship. It’s a
brief or long encounter when we attempt to feel Nirvana through the soft heat and long
pauses of silence.
Like the automobile it the United States, saunas are a good yardstick to measure
how living standards have risen in the country. Finland has today about 2 million saunas
compared with 1.5 million in 1990 and half a million in the 1930s.
If a typical Finnish family has 3-4 members and the country’s population is 5.2
million, it means that everyone in this country has access to a sauna.
Who we are
If sauna is a strong component of the DNA of Finnish culture and building a house
by a lake a cherished ideal, what do these two matters reveal about who we are and
where we are heading as a people?
One matter they show is that we are obsessed by cleanliness and the search for
security in a region that has seen its fair share of strife.
Possibly one quality that makes us Finns is that we are migrants at heart. If this is
true, it explains why we long so much for that home by the lake.
Yearning is, in my opinion, nothing more than spiritual adrenalin that gives us strength
to face new hardships. It emboldens us to move on with the help of memories of former
landscapes we once called home.
Thus the house by the lake could also signify the fruits of patient longing and
sacrifice.
Finnair Opens Via Spa at Helsinki Airport
Four Different Saunas, Cold Water
Paddling Pool Refresh Travelers
On December 11, Finnair, the national airline of Finland, which celebrated its 40th
anniversary of service between New York (JFK) and Helsinki earlier this year (www.
finnair.com), opened Via Spa as part of its new modern Via Lounge at Helsinki Airport.
Via Spa will offer unique spa and wellness services to the carrier’s transit passengers
traveling via Helsinki to Finnair’s more than 50 destinations worldwide, especially to
Asia.
“The high quality Via Spa will offer Finnair customers first-class spa and wellness
services. For instance, the spa will offer four different types of sauna,” says Markku
Remes, Finnair’s Customer Experience Development Manager. “There will be a spruce
sauna and a stone sauna from the Alps, a steam sauna, and a traditional Finnish sauna,
which actually provides a view over a mineral water pool to the airport’s runways.”
Via Spa’s innovative concept is based on the ideology and research of the German
spa pioneer Paul Haslauer and offers new-generation, naturopathic treatments. All of
the spa’s products are pure, organic preparations. Available services include (shorter)
treatments designed especially for transit passengers, as well as a cold water paddling
pool and a mineral water pool to alleviate travel fatigue and the effects of jet-lag.
Notes Michael Maass, Finnair’s Sales Director for North America: “A big step in
the transformation of the Helsinki Airport terminal extension already took place in
September when new shops opened their doors along with the 400-seat My City Helsinki
restaurant world. At the same time, we opened new departure gates and a seven-line
security check area for arriving transit passengers.”
The Via Spa and Via Lounge are located at the end of the new Helsinki Airport
terminal extension. The stylish Via Lounge has room for around 250 customers and
includes six private shower rooms, a buffet, a Via Bar and various relaxation areas.
Passengers may also enjoy the free WI-FI network, work stations outfitted with computers,
and multi-purpose facilities. Services are provided in cooperation with Finnair’s longterm
partner SSP Finland Oy.
The Via Lounge is open from 6 AM to midnight, and the Via Spa is open from 10
AM to 10 PM.
Access to the Via Lounge is free for Finnair Business Class passengers and Finnair
Plus Platinum/Gold/Silver card holders plus one guest, and to oneworld Emerald/Sapphire
card holders plus one guest. Other customers who wish to use the facility are charged
45 Euros per person.
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
19

Music, Etc.
with Oren Tikkanen
20
Besides writing music columns for New World
Finn, Oren has produced numerous recordings of
Finnish American music. He also performs regularly
on mandolin, guitar, and bass with various bands.
Rauno Nieminen
The trains in Finland are superb — comfortable, fast, and frequent. Some of
the train stations, however, are not particularly appealing for someone who
has to wait. Circumstances had developed in such a way that I had six hours
to pass in Tampere before I could catch the specific train which would reunite me with
my traveling companions and the documents, phone numbers, etc, which would be
necessary at our next stop.
On the surface, the Tampere Train Station is just fine if one is breezing through. But,
oh, those “benches” in the waiting area — wide, thick, polished slabs of thick wood, with
a matching wooden cylinder running down the middle lengthwise as a backrest. Against
one of these structures I leaned the crutches that the doctor in Helsinki had loaned me
for my messed-up knee. I eased my sore, osteo-arthritic hip onto the gleaming wood. It
was as hard and unyielding as it appeared, and when I tried to relax, I found the seat of
my pants sliding forward on the gleaming wood. I braced my feet more firmly on the
floor, and my knee throbbed.
Thus began my six-hour sojourn in Tampere. Was it John Denver who said, “I spent
a week in Toledo one Saturday night”? I understand, John.
Someone else said, “Form follows function.” I tried to analyze the design of those
benches, and came to the conclusion that they were intended to be uncomfortable. Finland,
like the rest of the world, does not want the train stations to be places in which street
drunks, vagrants, homeless people, and other undesirables can find shelter and hunker
down. Indeed, this was confirmed when I tried lying down on the bench — within seconds,
a very large man in a dark-colored nylon jumpsuit uniform was at my side asking if I
was all right, and then telling me that lying down was not acceptable. I sat back up and
began sliding forward again, chanting my mantra, “A miracle of Finnish design...”
The people at the information desk told me that there was no travelers’ aid lounge,
and suggested I find a bar across the square where I could sit comfortably. No, they
did not know which bus I could take to the public library — that other great refuge for
homeless wanderers. So I slid back and forth on the bench, alternately crutching out
into the wind and drizzle for a few blocks to loosen up the cranky joints. I repeated to
myself another aphorism: “Adventure is discomfort properly regarded — discomfort is
adventure improperly regarded.”
Eventually, I found a building with a restroom that, unlike the train station, did not
require a one-euro coin every time I needed to pass through the door. There was also
an indoor atrium that had a coffee shop, easy chairs and couches. There I sat and read,
occasionally looking around for more of the large men in black or navy-blue nylon
jumpsuits who seem to be quite common in Finland these days. They didn’t appear
to have guns, but they did have handcuffs and large, heavy flashlights — the kind that
can be used as nightsticks. I’ll be clear about this: privatized security forces do not
heighten my sense of security. However, my luck had improved, or perhaps I was neat
and clean enough not to be identified as a drunk or a Roma or anyone else that needed
to be “moved on”.
Through the haze of discomfort and tiredness, I could see that Tampere is a vibrant
Pekko Käppi and Rauno Nieminen playing a jouhikko duet
Rauno Nieminen playing two traditional Finnish flutes
at the same time. Photos by Oren Tikkanen
town, with several universities, interesting architecture, art, music, and history. Indeed,
the painful Civil War history of Tampere seemed to be very present, and I hope to learn
more about the Battle of Tampere and its aftermath. A few days later, a Finnish social
work professor remarked that Finnish social work began by establishing services for the
great numbers of children who were orphaned when their worker-parents were killed in
the Battle of Tampere. It is good to see that the Finns have worked things out so well,
and that they are keeping a clear eye on their own history — unlike some. I must go
back to Tampere — perhaps when modern orthopedic procedures have overcome my
infirmities.
Eventually, the right train pulled in, I hobbled aboard, and positively luxuriated in
the lovely, cushioned, reclining seat of that coach — bliss!
The stimulus for these small “adventures” was a chance to spend a couple of days
with Rauno Nieminen, folk musician, master instrument craftsman, scholar, and
literally “the man who wrote the book” on the jouhikko. Joining us was Rauno’s protégé
and member of Rauno’s “Jouhiorkesteri” group, Pekko Käppi.
Rauno teaches instrument-building at IKATA, the Ikaalinen College of Crafts and
Design. IKATA is a fascinating place where students learn everything from accordionbuilding
and glassblowing, to fashion design and gunsmithing. Rauno’s department is
called “lutherie”, with students and faculty building kanteles, electric basses,
jouhikkos, octave mandolins, and most visibly, electric guitars — anything that
makes music by primarily plucking a string. IKATA has approximately 500
students, and offers a three-year course, but also welcomes foreign students
for shorter periods of study. Indeed, Rauno pointed out some Spanish students
in his shop who were building — predictably — electric guitars. I told Rauno
that one of the bass guitars he built had visited my house, in the company of
the Myllärit band from Petrozavodsk, when they came for sauna about 10
years ago. “Oh yes,” he said, “I remember that bass.” I assured him that the
bass did not go to sauna.
If anyone is looking for hands-on Finnish education in the creative crafts,
it may be worthwhile to check out the IKATA website, in Finnish and English,
which is easily found by googling “IKATA.” The College itself appeared to be
modern, well-equipped, and pleasant, and I can vouch for the cafeteria lunch:
hearty, healthy and tasty Finnish food.
Ikaalinen, a typical small Finnish town in the countryside of Häme, is about
an hour by bus from the big-city bustle of Tampere, and is a major center of
Finnish accordion music. In fact it is the site of the Finnish Accordion Institute,
which acts as an archive for accordion history, and as a clearinghouse for
information about accordions and their place in Finnish culture. When Rauno
and Pekko took me there, I was pleased to see a large painting of our own
Viola Turpeinen, and I was tickled by the accordion-shaped birdhouse in the
back yard.
Ikaalinen is also of course the setting for “Sata-Häme Soi”, the huge
international accordion-focused music festival held every June. I see that over
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

Finn Hall Named Finlandia Foundation’s
Performer of the Year for 2010
In their October meeting, the Board of Trustees of Finlandia
Foundation National (FFN) selected Finn Hall band from Minnesota
as the Finlandia Foundation National Performer of the Year (POY)
for 2010. Finn Hall’s one-year POY term starts on January 1,
2010.
Finn Hall is a group of musicians dedicated to preserving and performing the feel and sounds of
the old Finn Halls. Their performance remains true to the original tunes – music of earlier generations
– and also includes dance numbers of the mid 20th century, such as tangos and humppas. Dance music
of other Nordic cultures is in their extensive repertoire, too.
Finn Hall has gone back to the “old country” to learn traditional and contemporary dance music,
at the same time deepening their personal connections with living musicians and the places from
which band members trace their heritage.
Finn Hall core members are: Al Reko – accordion and vocals, Dennis Halme – accordion, Cheryl
Paschke – violin and nyckelharpa, and Ralph Tuttila – mandolin.
Finn Hall friends, who regularly perform with the group, are Gordon Oschwald – bass, and Kip
Peltoniemi – guitar. Also when available, Johanna Doty joins on violin.
Finn Hall has been together as a band for over ten years. Frequent performers at FinnFests
and Grand Fests in US and Canada, they have toured in Finland and performed at the Kaustinen
International Folk Music Festival several times. Most recently, Finn Hall was featured at the FinnFest
09 cruise to Alaska.
Finn Hall has produced two recordings; Muistelmia (Reflections) in 2002 and Tule Tanssimaan
(Come Dance) in 2009. For further information go to their website: www.finnhall.com
Through the Finlandia Foundation National’s POY Travel Grant Program, Finn Hall is available
for the Foundation’s chapter programs.
Tikkanen continued from previous page
37,000 people attended this past summer, just about a month after I was there – another
reason for me to get back to that part of Finland. Sata-Häme Soi has a website, and there
are several videos from the festival on YouTube.
Pekko and I spent the night at Rauno’s and had a pleasant time jamming in Rauno’s
workshop and inspecting the instruments that he’s building. Rauno showed me
his latest mandolin, and after assuring me that his fingers have grown too stiff to play,
proceeded to dash off some blazing hot licks. I was entranced by the jouhikko duets that
the two of them improvised, and I again marveled at the evocativeness of this raw, raspy
Baltic bowed-lyre. Talk about “roots music!” Ancient stuff, perhaps not to everyone’s
liking, but well worth a listen. Pekko has some great videos on YouTube, and there are
some by other players, as well.
During our sauna, I reminded Rauno of our first meeting at the California Finnfest
USA in 1986. At that time, we played a tune called in English, “Brightly Shines the
Moon” on our mandolins. It is usually identified as a Russian melody, and when I had
teasingly asked him if it were Finnish, he replied, “East Finland.”
This led him, after sauna and his wife’s delicious pineapple “pannukakku”, to dig
through his slides from those days. Watching someone else’s slides is sometimes one
of those stereotypical social duties that must occasionally be endured, but not this time.
Rauno had images of many people I’ve met, Finnish and American, some of whom are
gone now, and I found it pleasant and, at times, moving. How strange life can be — a
Student from Spain at IKATA (Nieminen’s instrument making school) working on an electric guitar she is building
fellow in a small town on the other side of the world has some of my memories on a
shelf in his closet.
Over the years, Rauno worked out a way of making exact replicas of old
instruments, and eventually systematized it into a 10-step (or was it 12-step?)
procedure by which, he tells me, one can duplicate any musical instrument, whether
it is “a 300-year-old jouhikko, or a ’59 Les Paul electric guitar.” He wrote this up as a
dissertation and was awarded a Ph.D. in — I think — musicology.
One can glimpse Dr. Nieminen on Youtube in a couple of videos. One is of him
playing the triangle in the “Crawfish Kings 10th anniversary jam.” Another is with
Pekko Käppi and other members of the Jouhiorkesteri in Thunder Bay, Ontario in a clip
called “Cool Train at Hoito, part 1.” The jouhikkos start at 5:40 in the video and play
for about a minute. There is also a very short clip of the band playing at the Rainforest
Festival in Malaysia this past summer.
Better yet, one can go to their website and order their CD’s. Pekko Käppi also has a
website and pages on Facebook and MySpace. My thanks to those fellows for opening
another window into the mysterious musical world of modern Finland.
I send a wish that everyone’s holiday season will be peaceful, joyous, and filled
with music.
P.S. Congratulations to my old friends in Minnesota’s Finn Hall Band on being chosen
as the Finlandia Foundation’s Performer of the Year — 2010!
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
21

Out of curiosity, I
began to wonder
if any similarities
might exist between
my p o e t r y a n d F i n n i s h
contemporary poetry. After all,
my grandparents had immigrated
from Finland and I grew up
listening to the language. We
shared the same ancestral root,
and the landscape I live, in
northern Minnesota, echoes
the landscape of Finland. I was
going to Finland anyway to visit
my grandparents’ birthplace, and so I looked for poet or writer in Helsinki to have a
conversation. Eric Hieta, an American teaching at the University of Turku, helped: a
few days before my flight, I received an email from Tiina Pystynen, a writer and graphic
artist born in Finland in 1955.
Since 1987, she has published novels, non-fiction, illustrated poems and
autobiographical graphic novels for adults. Her writing is sensual and explores female
experiences of love, motherhood, and sexuality. In Finland, her work is appreciated for
both its comedy and poetry. Among her works (I’ve translated the titles from Finnish) is
Memoir of the Queen of Widows, an autobiographical picture book for adults about the
life of a family after a father’s suicide. She is also the author of A Lonely Woman’s Love
Stories, about a lonely woman’s love life, and The Cage of Shame, about the process of
psychotherapy from a patient’s point of view. Dances of Love and Desire, her latest book
published by WSOY in Finland, is a fascinating exploration of great visual artists’ erotic
work, pornography, and female sexual experience. She has created a visual dialogue to
portray the emotional landscape of sexuality with honesty and humor.
22
I
didn’t know her; she didn’t know me. She is a mother and a grandmother, and she
wrote about female experience, and about love and desire. Calyx Press Duluth had
recently published my book of poems, The Mother Tongue, that explores coming of
age, women’s sexuality, and how one’s relationship with one’s mother influences both.
We immediately recognized the similar themes.
We met in Helsinki and talked as we walked through the Akateeminen Kirjakauppa,
the Academic Bookstore, and then on to the Kiasma gallery. We have differences, of
course. She has far more publications. She is heterosexual. She and I have worked with
people with mental illness. She had been an occupational therapist and I am a social
worker. She uses drawings in her work and creates graphic novels and illustrates her
poems. She is interested in family life, love, sexuality, and the diary form. Her work
has not been translated to English, but the illustrations are easily accessible. In dialogue,
we explored our experience as women writing about sexuality.
Talking Back
“When I started to study drawing, copying Old Masters in
art museums and libraries, I found erotic art from the Stone Age
to contemporary times. How strange the things that lovers do in
the darkness of night and how ridiculous. I was fascinated by
the thought of a feminine answer to masculine pornography. I
wanted to make something that would please me as a woman,”
Pystynen said.
We agreed that women seem to have a different experience
with erotica or pornography. Females are often the object
of desire (or exploitation), and women who write about
sexuality must contend with assumptions and stereotypes. The
fundamental purpose shifts, in my opinion, because women
are not after mere sensation. We are after a full connection
with the emotional landscape. The erotic, for women, seems
to begin with talking and dialogue. And dialogue that begins
in honesty.
I asked her if she thought pornography was offensive to
women. It’s long been a matter of public debate and many
women find it demeaning. I myself considered it to be exploitive.
The models seemed too young. But Pystynen examined cultural
images, visual art, with her own fascinating spare colored pencil
drawings. The human figures are nude and imperfect, they are
awkward with each other, genitals aren’t always connected to
the body.
“In pornography, the human being is replaced by an orifice,”
she said. “Everyone has to define her or his attitude toward
sexuality. How can we do it without anything to compare our experience to?”
“Pornography is not the best way to do it but the softer, erotic work tended to
romanticize too much,” she said. It presented “beautiful people making love in candle
light on sheets of silk with sweet music in the background. It was not realistic and it
makes one feel envious. Making love doesn’t look beautiful to me...it looks ugly and
ridiculous.” Tiina decided to make her own images. “I understood that drawings or
prints could be a wonderful alternative to the flat and dull commercial pornography,
just as it used to be in the 18th century. My illustrations, the graphics and drawings in
the book, are my own versions of the great masters, mainly men. I copied Old Master’s
erotic images, modified them more or less for myself and the characters from art history
talk together about the everyday pleasures and problems of modern lovers.”
No surprise really, that the erotic for women starts with talking.
Pornography and Erotic Justice
Obviously, pornography has always been one of the features of human expression.
Crossing Borders:
A Dialogue Between a Finnish
and and an American Writer
by Sheila Packa, © Sheila Packa, 2009
Sheila Packa, left; Tiina Pystynen, right
Pystynen demonstrates her
feminist sensibilities by taking
it on as a subject. In her book, her
dialogue is incisive, humorous
and compassionate. Pystynen
said that our culture doesn’t
yet have the words for women’s
sexual experience. The words
that we use to describe genitals
are perjorative and actually
don’t convey what we need to
convey.
“Art and literature should
process our bodily experiences,”
she suggested. She cites her literary influences, Virginia Woolf and William Blake. What
drives her writing is the need to explore the difference between what we are expected
to feel and what we actually feel. “I wanted to show in these pornographic images my
own experience of embarrassment, timidity, shame and fear along with lust, love, joy
and closeness.” She has a commitment to honesty and to sharing her own experience.
Personal experience was something she engaged with a deeply artistic intensity.
Women, and men as well, enter adulthood with very little knowledge or experience
with one’s own sexuality. One is confronted with, and sometimes bombarded with, the
images of others. Yet we keep so much silence around it out of shame or confusion or
secrecy. In metaphor and in all writing, isn’t it time that women started to claim their
own experience and emotion? Audre Lorde, a black feminist poet, wrote an essay about
the “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” that talked about the strengthening effect
of women claiming their own sexuality.
“Pornography is not meant to be taken literally!” Pystynen said. In her work, she takes
the pornographic and makes it figurative in her amusing drawings. She wasn’t exploiting
anybody. In this situation, one puts aside the concern about how the pornography was
made.
My book’s midsection was the “Torrent,” a collection of erotic poems. The poems had
emerged at the age of 50, between an intersection of falling in love and exploring a visual
art exhibit of lesbian pornography that had become a collection of postcards, Drawing
the Line from the Canadian artists collective Kiss & Tell: Susan Stewart, Persimmon
Blackbridge, and Lizard Jones. The exhibition of photographs, toured Canada, the United
States, and Australia in 1988. Kiss and Tell asked viewers to write comments on the
walls alongside the images (men wrote theirs in a book in the center of the gallery), and
these comments were then published with a selection of the photographs in a pull-out
postcard book. Poetry that is written in response to visual art is called ekphrastic. Many
poets have used visual art as a source. I myself began writing this particular erotica as
an exercise in writing ekphrastic poems but the poems themselves shifted in both image
and intent. It was erotic, but about love and art, and it was set in the context of a life,
within a family, a community.
Of course, pornography is fantasy. Projecting fantasies
on others is admittedly complicated. In my writing, the
photographs I found explored the full range of experience,
from cuddling and kissing to bondage and sadomasochism.
The latter of course with its association with violence has many
repercussions; I know it especially from my social work that
boundary violations have emotional consequences for women.
Some find the more extreme sexual activity simply playacting,
and some find it abusive. Some people take things too far. Some
people get emotional and physical wounds that change their
life. The work represented the entire milieu of experience that
young women enter in life.
I recalled one reader exclaimed that some of my poems
seemed so intensely personal; she was uncomfortable with the
lack of privacy. As readers we sometimes forget the distance
between the work of art, the made object, and the artist. The
poems actually were not necessarily detailing any of my
personal experience. All good poetry is connected to the
body. Writing the poems had taught me that the erotic could
make good metaphor. The ecstatic poet Rumi combined the
erotic with the divine. Some of the poems from my book were
featured in a collaborative exhibit with printmakers at the
Northern Prints Gallery show, “Erotic Justice.” Erotic justice is
a phrase used by Hildegaard of Bingen and recently, Matthew
Fox, author of Creation Spirituality and it offers a vision of
wholeness, an integration of the erotic into all aspects of life.
Art and Fear
Tiina and I talked about concerns that we had each had about making the work public,
or the fears that her mother or husband had at the publication and the visual art exhibit
of her original drawings. It isn’t so much about personal disclosure as about perceptions
of others. Maybe as women our early conditioning from childhood to please others is
an obstacle that must be overcome. “To be good” takes on a different meaning at this
point, as artists, as adults. Artists and writers might stir up controversy – we don’t always
know what will do that — or the work might be met with silence.
Our walk had taken us to the modernist museum and gallery, Kiasma. We went to
the featured exhibit, a video installation by Pipilotti Rist, “Elixir.” We viewed a huge
screen (broadcast against 2 walls and the ceiling) of the passionate playfulness of a
nude woman with water, saliva, menstrual blood, vaginal secretions, smashing over-ripe
papaya, biting an apple. A small wild boar entered the scene on the video, eating an
Dialogue Between Writers continued on the next page
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

Willie Lahti:
3 Poems from the Past
Several moments between treeline and hayfield
drifting clouds. summer wind across hayfield. clover in bloom.
rusty barbwire. grey cedar fenceposts older than me. aspen leaves
shimmer yellow to green to yellow. sluggish creek water. beaver
pond. bare feet on gravel road. barn swallows cut graceful arcs
through cobalt sky. fields a perfect green. silvery aspen bark.
beaverwater brown. minnows mark circles on the surface.
filing the teeth on my chainsaw. early april. ground still frozen.
chickadees haven’t yet gone north. last fall’s dead leaves still on
ground. stand of aspen. timberjay on tractor fender. dead dry
timothy. clearing to the east. aspen bark. beaver pond. muddy
water.
minnows mark the surface
after work
thursday 2 in the
morning early perseid
is sending silver
horsehair streaks up there above
oak leaves of minnehaha
creek me and jake just
off work couple girls and a
12 pack to keep us
company we stumble &
laugh through the dark of summer.
Cassandra wants to marry Robert Redford.
“It’s a secret” she whispers.
Ma gone to heaven twenty years ago. Dad is retired
near Lake Harriet. Two sisters married. Brother died of
a brain tumor.
“You’ll never die of a brain tumor” she says to Roger.
He’ll never be Robert Redford either
Dialogue Between Writers continued from previous page
All Poems above ©Willi Lahti
apple. The audience lay on pillows on the floor viewing the extravagant images. In the
next room, through white sheer curtains, was a silent video projected on a suspended
sculpture of the quarter moon. It was very beautiful, and it took a few moments of
examining it to realize that the images were of aroused female genitalia. Here was a
female artist exploring a similar topic, writ large.
Is there a danger of putting the work out there? Is there an apple, that if bitten,
causes one to be evicted from paradise? Is there a Pandora’s box that once opened, can
never be closed? Is there a line that we should draw? No. One must trust the artistic
process. I don’t think that as an artist I can step back from the material. Usually, artists
and writers would say that you don’t choose your material; it chooses you. Artistic
work requires a passionate engagement and a deep exploration. I think that good art
does ‘break something open’ in the sense that we are changed by the experience of it,
that we see anew and think differently because of it. I look for a transformation, a new
knowledge and experience.
Tiina Pystynen, despite the concerns of her family, let her work be published. Trying
to please everybody would not be good for her work. There is a larger consideration
than individual feelings and that is a commitment to honesty and to the art. Next door,
at the Ateneum Museum, the National Art Gallery featured a large exhibit of work by
the artist Picasso. Here is an artist that explored all mediums and crossed all boundaries.
The exposure to these artists is expansive, freeing.
As a poet, I am interested in objects of beauty. It’s purely subjective, of course. Beauty
Left to right: Henrik Nyholm, Markku Korhonen, and Janna Lintula
“A Marvelous Feeling”
Finnish Demonstrators at Copenhagen
Copenhagen – Janna Lintula, 20, of Helsinki, danced for joy in the midst of a crowd
of demonstrators in the center of Copenhagen on Saturday morning, December 12. “It
was just this that got me to come here,” she acclaimed as she looked at the flood of
people with sparkling eyes.
Lintula and a couple of hundred other Finns came to the Copenhagen demonstrations
to show that youth are concerned over climate change and want to make a difference.
The goal is to pressure world leaders gathered at the climate conference for fast action
in slowing down climate change.
“We are here to increase the pressure,” said Henrik Nyholm, 22, of Helsinki. The
possibility of making an impact was also emphasized by Markku Korhonen, 22, and
Hannu Koski, 22, also of Helsinki.
Organized by the environmental organization Friends of the Earth, the outpouring of
people from around the world to Copenhagen marked the beginning of the demonstration.
Thousands of demonstrators in blue raincoasts poured into Government Square on
Saturday morning. In the afternoon march, organizers claimed up to 100,000 participants.
Police estimates were 50,000.
In the middle of the crowd, a large white bedsheet appeared. condemning the activities
of Finnish timber concerns in South America. Thus, Finland’s Left Alliance youth
brought their objections to the climate conference.
English translation from online Helsingin Sanomat by H.
Siitonen, original article by Heli Saavalainen
(Another concern of protestors is “Fake Forests”: Forests soak up warming gases and
store them away from the atmosphere, so countries get credit under the new proposed
system for preserving them. It is an essential measure to stop global warming. But the
Canadian, Swedish and Finnish logging companies have successfully pressured their
governments into inserting an absurd clause into the rules. The new rules say you can,
in the name of “sustainable forest management”, cut down almost all the trees – without
losing credits. It’s Kafkaesque: a felled forest doesn’t increase your official emissions...
even though it increases your actual emissions. Source: Johann Hari, The Independent,
December 11, 2009.)
always has something unfamiliar or unusual in it, beauty is arresting, beauty draws you
to itself, it gives you a gift. You can bask in it, experience bliss, feel the sublime.
We ended our day at the Cafe Ekberg, with tea and champagne rolls. I asked her
what her goal was in her writing. “I would like to make it easier to be a woman,” she
answered. And the next project? Something about the muse.
Notes:
Pystynen, Tiina. Lemmentanssit: Raukkautta Ihminen Rakastaa. Werner
Soderstom Ojakeyhtio, Helsinki, c2009.
Packa, Sheila. The Mother Tongue. Calyx Press Duluth, c2007.
Sheila Packa is a poet and social worker who
lives in the Duluth, Minnesota, area.
She has a new project ready, a chapbook and audio CD with
cello music. ECHO AND LIGHTNING is a chapbook of about
rapture. The poems are a song of ascension, a single story of winged
migration. More information can be found on her website.
Renew Your Subscription To New World Finn Today
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JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
23

Lanttu continued from page 28
or shredded ones are very pleasing to the taste buds, and
can be added to salads. Boiled lanttus mixed with salt,
spices, and a vegan buttery spread and spices are mouthwatering
and nutritious. Lanttus enhance the flavor of
soups and stews. Some people mash up carrots, potatoes,
and lanttus. Canadians use it in mincemeat pie, and as a
filler in cakes, and chefs are beginning to improvise new
and innovative recipes.
So, when synchronistic good tidings of my newlygranted
Finnish citizenship arrived, it further enhanced
all the ballyhoo about my lanttu root. My ardent reaction
crescendoed and decrescendoed in rhythm with waves of
joyfulness interspersed with tears and the heart-swollen
pride of my ancestral legacy and privileged birthright, the
honorable gift of Finnish citizenship.
Can you imagine how astounded I was in the midst of
this intensely emotional hullabaloo to discover that my
dear lanttu was first developed by Finnish farmers! The
happenstance of my newly-harvested lanttu and my newlydeclared
Suomalainen kansalaisuus was no coincidence
after all!!
The partial disconnection between my immigrant
parents and the old country, that koti-ikävä home sickness
of which I was so acutely aware, suddenly disappeared. I
came around full circle, especially to hug, in absentia, my
maternal grandparents. There, on the shores of Hanko, my
grandfather still sings farewell to my mother. My visionary
healer grandmother, who waited in vain for the return of
my mother to Finland, rises from her watery grave in the
Lamujoki River to welcome me. She has been the guiding
light of my life from the beyond, and always comes to me
in times of great need, and sometimes during the oddest
moments. It was her inspiration that compelled me to
switch from history into the field of medicine. To honor
her, I pursued my Finnish citizenship.
24
Apollo, aka Appaliunas or Apalunas, the Greek and
Roman god of the sun, music, medicine, poetry, dance,
and reason, flew every winter on the back of a swan to
Hyperborea, the perpetual land of sunshine, beyond the
north wind, somewhere in the vicinity of Finland’s Suomi.
Some legends coupled with ice age history suggest that his
mother Leto tried to birth him and his twin sister Artemis
in Hyperborea, but was forced to back-migrate to the swansurrounded
island of Delos, because of the advancing
glaciers. The vengeful and jealous Hera was bribed with
a nine yard long necklace of amber, presumably from the
Baltic, to release Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth.
As for the sweet-smelling woodlands’ lilies of love,
with their poisonous flowers and berries, I wondered if
the tear shapes are the visual itkuvirret (crying verses) of
countless generations of our grandmothers.
The granite bedrock, born of fiery magma, most of
it from the Precambrian geologic era, is the solid firm
ground of Suomi that continues to rise and rebound 2.7
square miles per year from the massive and crushing
weight of the glacier.
After my lengthy and enthusiastic discourse on our
national symbols, I came to my senses, and apologized
to poor Irma, who patiently and politely waited for me to
finish my impassioned soliloquy. While my
When I called the Maistraatti citizen registration
office in Helsinki, I couldn’t restrain myself from
inquiring as to whether there was a Finnish national
vegetable. Of course, the answer was no, and to be truthful,
I suspect no country has one.
I was informed that the national bird is the laulujoutsen
(the whooper or singing swan), the flower is the kielo
(the lily of the valley), the stone is graniitti, and most
importantly, the sacred national tree is the rauduskoivu
(the silver birch).
In an attempt to impress them, while making my
first proposal as a new citizen, that the lanttu
be declared as a national sisu vegetable, I
expounded at length about the virtues of the “When I visit
enthusiastic lanttu proposal was of curious
interest to my captive listener, there was
holy birch.
my winter not much she could do about my proposal.
After the glaciers melted, our water-hungry
birch was the first tree to grow, including
establishing itself on rocks and boulders. It
welcomed our stone-age ancestors with a
cornucopia of gifts. Our bountiful koivu birch
garden, I
smile fondly at
my robustlystanding
I realized I would have to devise a better
strategy to realize my goal of anointing
the lanttu as the national sisu vegetable;
hence, this article for starters, and then on
to the Association of Finnish Culture and
gave us food in the form of tea, syrup,and juice, kaalikas patch, Identity.
and further provided medicine, ointments,
compresses, xylitol tooth cleanser, and soap.
It has provided clothing in the form of shoes,
leggings, hats, clothes, and even backpacks. It
and believe it or
not, the feeling
is reciprocated.”
Shortly after my harvesting of one
exalted lanttu, and the happy news of
my Finnish citizenship, the January 2009
gifted us further with bowls, plates, serving
New World Finn arrived, and naturally
platters, salt containers, baskets, forks, brushes, and my interest was immediately peaked, when I spotted the
roasting and pot hanging sticks. Birch has contributed subtitle “A Season of Rutabagas” in Erika Mikkalo’s essay,
to transportation by providing us with skis, sleighs, rafts, Contemporary Finnish Culture in Chicago: A Guide.
canoes, boats, oars, boat poles and stands. Hunters made I soon fell off my lofty lanttu pedestal and into the
lassoes, snares, decoys, and bows and arrows. Fishermen depressing labyrinth of Erika’s “abjuration” of her poeting,
used birch nets, floats, and fishing gear. Farmers used and her half-hearted art tour, that might at best provide
birch scythes, and dried their hay on birch poles, and some free wine to depress the spirit even further. To
built fences and fence fasteners. Cows were fed birch leaf make matters worse, we took a wrong turn into the dark
fodder, birch handles were used to extract frozen lichen for blind alley of some undecipherable poetic snippets from
reindeer, and corrals were built from birch. Tent shelters, Hollo.
huts, houses, floors, ceilings, walls, furniture, and mats Now, please enlighten me as to what this boredom and
have provided shelter and comfort. Dyes for wool and depression have to do with the marvelous lanttu.
leather, art materials, including decorative birch gnarl, Is “A Season of Rutabagas” synonymous with the
toys, paper, and horns have enhanced our lives. Birch hard economic times we have been ‘rammed’ into the
has warmed us around the fire. It has been used for tar ground with by the robber barons, whose heists in the last
burning. And, last, but not least is the vihta, the birch decade have succeeded in the greatest transfer of wealth in
sauna switch for cleansing the body and spirit.
American history, from the poor, middle, and upper middle
On a more poetic note, I waxed on that birch leaves classes to the very rich? And, of course, who suffers the
dance and rustle with the wind. They please our eyes with most but the poor, who become the perfect scapegoats to
their quaking movements, and our ears with their swishing ‘ram’ further into poverty.
Sibelius-sounding symphonic music.
Hm, ‘ramming’ sounds a lot like the Swedish Vikings
To further elevate the soaring stature of our national and the other Scandinavian Vikings and the ‘ramming’
joutsen bird, I couldn’t resist throwing in that eons ago, of their weapons, while looting and ruthless plundering,
doesn’t it? That brings me to a question that’s been on my
mind for a while: Were those vicious Viking robbers and
killers capable of building their fantastic and well-crafted
ships, or did they use the unique ship-building talents
of Finnish slaves? As I recall, one of the post-Viking
Swedish Charleses, Charles XI, kidnapped 2000 Finnish
shipbuilders, and sent them to southern Sweden to build
his war fleet.
Anyway, why do we have to implicate the lanttu in this
mess? Of course, the lanttu and its relatives, and its sister
roots are there to graciously help us. Naturally, Finns are
experts at using root vegetables, as Erika noted, especially
during the many famines that occurred during the several
hundred years of the recent middle-ages’ mini-ice age. To
make matters worse, devastating starvation was frequently
caused by being jostled about between the Novgorodians
and the Swedes or the panicked rich. In fact, I owe my
very existence, my life’s blood, to the punajuuri sugar beet;
I wouldn’t even be here if my mother and grandmother
had not staved off starvation searching and begging for
the punajuuri during the Finnish civil war and its vicious
“white terror” aftermath.
But, Erika, please don’t buy the lanttu, just because it
happens to be cheaply priced; consider it for its culinary
attributes. And as for that grocery clerk’s abusive chatter
about whacking off the glorious green and edible leaf tops
of lanttus with an ax, how dare she talk so blasphemously?
I must emphatically “abjure” this sick joking.
Oh please don’t declare the lanttu and the turnip to
be ugly, and then imply they are as ugly as the common
working man, who doesn’t deserve such disrespect. And
then to add insult to injury, you pitted the mother turnip
against its kaalikas daughter, whom you described as
looking “even more proletarian than turnips, a mottled
purple top leaching into parchment-colored hide.” I simply
must “abjure” this appalling description.
Thankfully, a ray of hope and light, a virtual group of
jack-o’-lanterns, penetrated through the maze of darkness
of your seemingly-doomed Chicago Tuonela. Sparks of
illumination broke through the discouraging blackness
with your inspiring “Delightful” and “Amazing” Japanese
essayist guisers. In ancient tradition guisers used to be
masked children who chased away ghosts and demons.
A parade of Japanese culinary artists and connoisseurs,
who exhibit a high degree of respect for the aesthetics of
vegetables, could further provide more enlightening lanttu
jack-o’-lanterns. Can’t you see them now, leading us out of
a gloomy underworld of pessimism and depression, into
a world of joy and wonder?
By all means, fulfill your desires and exit from the
subterranean depths of the windy city, schmooze with
the Japanese, write us about their admiration for the
beauty and the gourmet preparations of vegetables, and
particularly, our lovely lanttu, and reinvigorate your poetry
and essays.
To elaborate further on jack-o’-lanterns, they originally
were hallowed out lanttus or turnips, until cast aside by
the pumpkin. These lanterns were considered to represent
a damned soul, but you could find your way out of the
underworld with your glowing coal-fired Scottish lanttu
“tumshie” lantern, as Jack, the damned Irish blacksmith,
once did.
In Switzerland, during the festival of Riebschili, young
children continue to march through Zurich carrying lanttu
lanterns.
You know, Erika, I think I finally figured it out. The
main Finnish attraction in your guide to Finnish culture
in Chitown ended up being our glorious lanttu, but it
presented itself to you as Cinderella in disguise. There
she sits on her obscure position on the vegetable racks,
meekly tolerating mockery and patiently waiting to be
discovered and elevated to the true princess she really is,
Finland’s national sisu vegetable!!!
Now that we have emerged from Chicago’s Tuonela,
saved from damnation by our Finnish lanttu
lanterns, brace your self for a scary ride through the
abusive and ridiculous American rutabaga carnival, before
we move on to what else the Swedes stole. I’ll get one of
the more abusive affronts out of the way first, but there’s
only more derision to come on the seemingly endless
horizon of the greedy corporate-sponsored contempt of
plants, animals, and human beings.
Would you believe that there is a winter International
Rutabaga Curling Competition at the Ithaca, New York,
Lanttu continued on page 26
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

Lumi ja Kaamos
Outside the snow fell, thick and soft. It already covered the steps and hung
heavily from the roofs and eaves..... The clocks stopped ticking one by one.
Winter had come.—Tove Jansson
One epically dark February winter night (or was it day, in Rovaniemi, Finland, it
can be difficult to discern), I sat in some bleachers drinking “Reindeer Milk”
(a heated slurry of something alcoholic mixed with something else alcoholic)
and watched reindeer racing down the city streets. It was a Northern Lights Festival and
this reindeer race was an event not seen in Rovaniemi for almost thirty years. The whole
crowd gazed on in silence as the first of the reindeer made their way past the stands.
It soon became clear, this was not an easy task. You try informing a reindeer that its
purpose for the evening is to make its way through the capitol of Finnish Lapland, past
Renaults and Ladas, past teenagers on cell phones, past hotels and bars, and anteeksi,
please do so at a high speed with a bunch of your friends. Oh, and by the way, the winner
will become tomorrow’s dinner.
They sauntered, they stumbled, some seemed to be taking in the sights. Some were
coaxed, others were dragged. A few folks sitting in the cold went to find more “Milk”
for fortification.
Like so many events, especially those inter-species ones we humans like to invent, it
began with hiccups and giggles, but after a bit it took a turn. Reindeer began running,
darting, sprinting and ripping through the night,. Some came as fast as canon shot. Several
were so quick it left doubts as to whether they had ever passed, except for the new tracks
left in the snow. There was an odd thrill as each new racer flew by. You wanted all of
them to just keep running, lose their handlers, join the forest, search for lichen, sleep
with just the wind and the moon in the trees, unencumbered by man and his appetites.
An urban landscape wouldn’t be my first choice to observe reindeer. I kind of doubt
the reindeer found it much to their liking either. But to watch them bolt with amazing
bullet speed from the city out into the black night was like watching a strange dream. No
logic asked for or needed. Just a winter night filled with red faces, some polite yelling
and the powerful burst of reindeer hooves.
When I was a young child my dad would silently wake me early on a Saturday
morning in the dead of winter. He would bundle me in extra layers, drive me out
to a park and strap bindings onto my red rubber boots. Teeth chattering uncontrollably,
the snowy wind wiping my sleepy face, I stood next to my father who felt speech
wholly extraneous and unneccesary. And off he went down the hill. So began my skiing
lesson.
In the beginning it was all despair and humiliation. Staying vertical with long, narrow
sticks on my feet while sliding down a slick hill seemed, I don’t know. counter intuitive.
I fell so many times that I stopped listening to my dad’s quietly spoken “You can do
it,” and internally adopted my version of a Finnish aphorism, “This is impossible.”
Eventually, I didn’t fall, I snowplowed with agonizing speed. A nice Hemingway novel
could be read before I made it down one hill.
My father never asked me if I would like to learn to ski. It was understood that this
is what you do in winter. You come out to where the sky and snow convene and move
Jingo Viitala Vachon recounting stories from her life
in the documentary Amerikan Jenny
Seasons of the Year
with Diane Jarvenpa
© Diane Jarvenpa, 2008-09
Besides being a songwriter/singer, Diane has published her poetry
in numerous journals, including Milkweed Editions, Exit 13, Water-
Stone, and Poet’s On. Diane was a winner of the Minnesota Voices
Project for her book of poetry Divining the Landscape in 1996,
and is the winner in 2007 for her book, The Tender Wild Things.
your body through it. You angle yourself to point at the horizon, pitch your wooden tips
down, feel the pull of gravity. And become a whip of shadow, a small, sleek brush upon
the frozen ground, a tracery of life on a barren, white hill.
Our family was split about winter’s charms. My brothers and my dad thought the
whole idea of winter was to embrace it, incorporate, it and prevail. Snow was inevitable,
a plentitude, an augmentation. Though none of them semed to like to shovel the stuff.
Eino Leino said, “Life is always a struggle with eternal forces.’ And for me winter is
often just that. A driving force of weather sytems, arctic fronts and hostile takeovers. As
a child it was easy for me to stay inside, to do as my mother did in winter. Read. Read
and wait for the snow to melt.
Jukka Vieno said,’You saw white everywhere, found no lily in the snow.” My father
found many hyperboreal lilies in the snow. They were silence, the icy thorns of branches,
the slow pace of evening as darkness came over the hill. We found them when we skiied
together in parks, ski resorts and around the neighborhood. During the day he was a
fast skiier, as though he were trying to line himelf up for flight. When it grew dark, he
switchbacked in great swooping S’s and I would follow. Often he would disappear into
the night and I would race to catch up, listening for his deliberate push through the snow.
He taught me that, yes, it’s cold as hell, but there is a dreamwork going on in winter,
don’t be stupid, always be careful, but don’t be afraid. Enjoy the dream.
You watch the snow
as it’s science invents new ground,
a silent thrust of ice dust.
When noon sky is blackest
and days beat slowly,
you take up this light into your hands,
its great thick ocean hush
of diamonds and glacial grit
and let it fall, let it melt,
let yourself kneel
in this cold heaven.
For some of us, this season is a bitter, cold one, for all of us, in certain ways, our clocks
stop or slow down a bit. In spite of my druthers, I will attempt to find some strange dreams
and lilies hidden before me in the snow and deepest dark. May you find some too.
YLE Continues to Show Series of North American Finn Documentaries
TV watchers in Finland have had many opportunities in the last few years to get to
know a few of their unique and extraordinary “cousins” in North America.
Through the camera work of YLE film documentarian Erkki Määttänen, the stories
of numerous Finnish American and Finnish Canadians have been brought to life on
Finnish television.
Two documentaries most recently seen have featured Michigan’s Jingo Viitala Vachon,
and Thunder Bay’s Urho “Jänkä” Blomberg.
The story of Blomberg (filmed when he was 81 years old) titled Jänkä’s Dream,
affectionately traces his journey from his birthplace near Rovaniemi to his current home
in Northwest Ontario. Using animated maps and historic film, Määttänen shows how
Jänkä began his long journey at the end of the 1940s around the world to many ports of
call – throughout the Mid-East, South East Asia, Australia, the Mediterranean, Alaska,
Urho “Jänkä” Blomberg entertains on his accordion
outside the Hoito Restaurant in Thunder Bay
Mexico, and eventually Canada.
The film titled Amerikan Jenny features Jingo Viitala Vachon, one of Upper Michigan’s
prized Finnish-American celebrities. In this video, Määttänen captures the wonderful
humor and story of 91 year old Jingo. She talks about her life both in Michigan where
she grew up, and later when she lived in the South West with her husband. Numerous
photos and films from the past, plus recordings of her playing guitar and singing.
There is one thing in common between the Jänkä and Jingo: both are fluent in 3
languages – Spanish, English, and Finnish.
The YLE series of Finnish Americans now numbers nearly a dozen documentaries
including stories about other Upper Michigan Finns (the Haapala brothers for example),
younger Minnesota Finns (Diane Jarvenpa, Jim Johnson, Kip Peltoniemi, Mimmu
Salmela), and Manhattan-based Finnish singers Jaana Kantola and Paula Jaakkola.
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
25

Lanttu continued from page 24 What arose my suspicion, after first getting caught up Book Review
farmer’s market? Yes, they spread out wooden planks
and unceremoniously roll rutabagas like bowling balls,
in all the silliness and ridiculous assertions, interspersed
with serious considerations, and some historical briefs Elena Marikova
while pretending they are giant curling hockey pucks.
The lanttus in my garden are squirming in their soil, as
that might actually be true, was a denunciation of the
rutablogger.blogspot.com, affiliated with Mr. Macaroon’s by Herbert Eggie
I write, and every time that I bring up this topic. In fact,
while telling someone on the phone about this, I looked
Rutabagan newsletter. Mr. Coconut Cookie’s blog was
accused of hurling “defamatory language at Finns.” Reviewed by Ivy Nevala
out at my kaalikas patch, and all the leaves were standing Well, Mr.O’Brien did include a pleasant innocent-
up in alarm.
looking pastel painting, described as Ilmarinen sowing In present-day vernacular, this book is “a good read.”
This only confirms what Raoul France, a Viennese rutabaga seeds, and then insultingly, outrageously, and It’s not the type of book you’d pick for leisure reading.
biologist, asserted in the early 1900’s, that “plants have irreverently entitled it “Tuo on paskapuhette” (“This is The author has always written, as a pre-teen and as
the attributes of living creatures”. The authors of The bs”). This was in his Sunday, March 25, 2007 Rutabagan. an editorial staff member of the student newspaper at
Secret Life of Plants quote him further as stating that The first paragraph states, “In the Finnish Journal of City College of New York. Before writing his first novel,
plants have “the most violent reaction against abuse and Ethnobotanical Studies for April, University of Jyväskylä a very ambitious one, Mr. Eggie spent many years in
the most ardent gratitude for favors”.
Professor Vittu Perkele Jumalauta suggests that preliterate research about these tenuous times pre- World War II.
The already thrown rutabagas are then subject to rutabaga cults may have contributed significantly to early What prompted the author to write a spy novel involving
further abuse by being hit by the next group that is rolled oral versions of The Kalevala, the Finnish national epic little known Finland being eyed by both Hitler and Stalin
down the pike. I wonder where they throw them after poem (first published in 1835).”
and intelligence groups in Finland and in the US State
this barbaric contest. At this point I feel obligated to How dare this weirdo upstart so grossly defile the Department, with the United States in general being more
contact the PETV, People for the Ethical Treatment of sanctity of our ancestor’s sacred song stories??
concerned about Hitler than Stalin? Mr. Eggie said he
Vegetables, a branch of the PETPAT, People for the Ethical He has also invented a “Carved and Dyed Finno-Ugrian loves Finland, its culture, and people. He has been very
Treatment of Plants and Trees. Incidentally, both of these Rutabaga Deity (c.270 B.C.E.)”. He positions this icon in sympathetic to Finland in its struggles and travails with
organizations are in the process of trying to revive PETP, front of his news briefs. Well, there you go, another snipe its huge neighbor.
People for the Ethical Treatment of People.
at us, from Mr. Mary Juana Coconut Cookie O’Brien. He read numerous books about Finland in English,
If the Ithaca’s Farmer’s Market was using this abusive Now it appears that all this joshing around may be a visited the country numerous times and talked to his
practice as an advertising gimmick, once the cameras show subterfuge for his introduction of genetically-modified wife’s relatives and numerous others who had followed
up next December, and the PETV demonstrators descend rutaba-gas, and if that’s a joke too, it’s a pretty sick one the historical events. Furthermore, as he researched his
upon them, their name will be smeared. Their excuse is from a genetically-modified Frankenstein BS O’Brien. wife’s genealogy, he learned about the country’s history
that it started out with the vendors trying to warm up, All I can do now is to send my expert organic farmer and culture.
so they started hurtling frozen chickens back in 1997. friend from the foothills east of Albany, Oregon, to conduct The reader learns a great deal about Finland’s history,
I suspect they stopped the chicken rolling, because the a special investigation. She’ll be able to get to the bottom from the days of being a vassal of Sweden. to the Civil
PETA folks protested.
of this chicanery. Or could it be marijuanery, or a hybrid War that divided the country, and tumultuous days of
Supposedly, the chickens were replaced by the extra of the two. Well, you sir, Mr. O’Brien, have now beaten Finland’s leaders trying to forestall a war. Europe and
rutabagas sitting around at Cornell University. Instead the Ithaca folks for the gold, and the bronze will be given the United States were worried about Hitler’s and Stalin’s
of delivering their excess inventories to the poor, they to Mr. Gilhooly.
plans to keep the US and Europe guessing when and
decided to throw them around, under the auspices of a Mr. Hybrid O’Brien refers to a blog that jokingly brags how the two dictators would act. Timo Koskinen is a
fake student organization, Campus Tirade (a bad-mouthing about the possibility of Rutaba-Gas. In the full article, Finnish intelligence agent who is given the job of trying to
verbal abuse word) for the Holy Rutabaga. To add more written in 2007, the supposed CEO of Rutaba-Gas LLC, exterminate Stalin, the method to be determined by him.
respectability to this brutal Romanesque circus, gold, impertinently states: “Nobody likes rutabagas. American Along the way he meets an attractive Russian translator
silver, and bronze medals are awarded.
farmers grow tons of rutabagas, but nobody really eats for the Russians when they deal with Finns. Romance
The official anthem for this charade, sung by the them. They’re perfect for making fuel.” All this was ensues, and soon Koskinen’s marriage is in trouble.
Vociferous Cruciferous Chorus, is Handel’s “Rutabaga supposed to be an April Fool’s jest.
Further intrigue involves two US State Department men
Chorus”, the melody of which they claim later was used Well, it’s no joke, folks. I’m very alarmed that a Professor who come to the US Embassy in Moscow to see what they
for the Messiah’s Hallelujah Chorus. They imply that Benning of my medical school alma mater, Michigan can do to forestall a Hitler-Stalin pact. There are intrigue
Handel wrote it to honor the new root crop that potato State University, noted for its innovative progressive and murders in the US Embassy, which hires Russians
afficionadoes were railing against.
agricultural, medical, social, and rural and urban outreach, to work in its building. Mr. Eggie includes episodes of
The silver medal for the worse travesty came in as a in conjunction with Great Lakes Bioenergy Research attempts by Russian citizens who risk their lives to try
close second to the curler’s worst gold medal. I’m referring Center, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, are to find ways to get rid of Stalin, a difficult task since he
to David Gilhooly’s erotic clay sculpture entitled, Frog working on developing a genetically-engineered rutabaga has created such an atmosphere of fear and reprisals that
Seducing a Rutabaga in an Overstuffed Armchair, 1974. that produces oil in its root, instead of carbohydrates. some people are willing to save their own lives even if
This freak piece of rutabaga pornography is described as This is definitely a mistake, which veers away from the others are killed. His use of detail to describe walking in
“Frog in blue jeans and a sleeveless shirt with a turnip on commendable traditions of MSU.
Tampere, riding a train in Finland and the USSR, and the
its knee in a stuffed rose-colored armchair with wooden The American gold medal for lanttu abuse now goes streets, buildings, and atmosphere in the USSR give the
feet; made during the time Gilhooly was in Canada.” to Professor Benning and the honorary gold to Mr. Mary situations authenticity.
Please tell me what could possibly have happened in Juana O’Brien aka Obie Coconut Cookie the Third. All parties included in the assassination attempt agree
Canada, when he was there. Hello? Is this for real, or am This is making me sick, folks. Erika, it’s your turn to that the best way to get to Stalin is to use a beautiful woman
I just seeing things that aren’t there?
help me now. How can we continue to allow these foolish as the lure, since the dictator is a known womanizer. The
Erika, help! Bring a jack-o’-lantern, and take me back narrow-minded scientists and pranksters, who have no plot thickens.
to Chicago!
vision of the future consequences of their franken-foods As I read, I felt that it would have been helpful to have
Maybe if I go to Cumberland, Wisconsin’s August and franken-biodiesel oils, to prevail? How can we allow shorter chapters and more informal conversation. The
rutabaga festival, my shattered faith in normalcy will be such freaks, who are completely out of touch with the conversations at times seem stilted, but neither of these
restored. They respectfully laud our wonder root: “The basic harmony of nature that our ancestors were in tune criticisms kept me from enjoying the book. I recommend
rutabaga is such a wonderful crop that in Cumberland, with, to chart the future of this planet for us? And why the book to get a flavor of those tenuous times in Finland
Wisconsin, they hold a festival for the vegetable every do we need all this oil anyway, when there are plenty of and Europe.
year. The Rutabaga Festival is a great celebration that safe alternatives around?
The book is available from www.universe.com. The list
honors the rutabaga.”
Thank Suomi’s Kave/Louhi and Sapmi’s Matarakka, price is $31.95. ISBN 978-1-4401-6392-0, 636 pp.
Crossing the border into Askov, Minnesota, one hopes and all the mythological men who worked together with
one can attend an ordinary Danish-American laudatory them, that there are many very dedicated groups like
lanttu gathering, and that they have been inoculated
against the Ithacan lanttu abuse virus.
Biodiversity and Food, Inc., who are monitoring and
exposing Monsanto and Cargill and their GMO scientists,
Alone
Are you ready for another carnavalistic excursion into
the belly of the beast? But before we enter this surrealistic
realm, I need to ask a St Urho’s expert whether it’s possible
that a Swedish/ Novgorodian St. Urho’s imposter might
have taken a trip to Forest Grove, Oregon, a number of
decades ago. I’m wondering if he might have accidentally
fathered a genetically-modified son by the name of Obie
MacAroon III aka M.J.O’Brien, “ARSI President for
who are endangering life on this planet. Friends of the
Earth, along with the European Union have also taken
strong stances against franken-foods. However, how long
the EU will maintain their stand remains in question, since
they are a neutralized, rickety, weak-bodied structure, who
are easy prey for the transnational robber barons and their
rapidly metastasizing cancerous greed.
Before my garden wilts, and I get sicker of this
“You are not
alone”
Is what they tell me.
Then why do only shadows stand beside me?
“You are not afraid.”
Is what they whsper.
Yet I shiver and I cry.
Life”.
defamation of our beloved lanttu, I’m elevating it back “You are not empty.”
I’m sure you figured out by now that the R in ARSI to the lofty status it deserves. I once again nominate it Then why do I not feel full?
stands for Rutabaga. Yes, we’re about to enter into the
Advanced Rutabaga Studies Institute. I’ll leave it up to
you, as to whether you are entering a Rutabaga Chamber
of Horrors, where nothing seems as it really is, and where
to be Finland’s national sisu vegetable. I want to see our
Balto-Finnic farmers get credited for their ingenuity. If it
turns out Switzerland also has a valid claim to its creation,
we can share in its creation.
“You do not go unnoticed.”
Then why am I
alone?
reality merges in with distortions, subterfuges, wild
fantasies, and insults.
Kathryn Linhardt ©Kathryn Linhardt, 2009
26
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI

New World Finn Bookstore
Your source for fine books about Finnish life and culture
NWF BOOKS, PO BOX 432, CEDAR GROVE WI. 53013
New Offerings
Against the Wall by Jarkko Sipila. Translated by Peter Ylitalo Leppa. Winner of the 2009 Finnish
Crime Fiction of the Year. Ninth in Sipila’s series, the first to be translated into English. $11.00.
Hand in Hand by Tauno Yliruusu, translated by Richard Impola. A story about how an aging
couple faces death and wanting to leave the world together with dignity after a long comfortable
marriage. $8.50
Cookbooks & Customs
• A Finnish Christmas Cookbook by Warriner & Krumsieg. New edition of traditional
recipes.$14.95
• Finnish Cookbook, Beatrice Ojakangas. Finnish recipes adapted for American kitchens. Includes
recipes for 14 different kinds of Finnish bread. $17.00
• Finnish Touches, Recipes and Traditions (Fantastically Finnish revised and expanded).
$14.95
• Suomi Specialties: Finnish Celebrations, Recipes, & Traditions – Sinikka Garcia presents many
Finnish holidays, customs, and celebrations. $12.95
• The Best of Finnish Cooking: Previdi. Authentic Finnish recipes adapted for the American kitchen.
Main courses, soups, salads, appetizers, sandwiches, and desserts. $12.95.
Translations by Richard Impola
• Juha - Considered Juhani Aho’s finest. Drama of classic novel has inspired 4 films. Translated by
Richard Impola. $19
• Winter War by Antti Tuuri. Narrative account of Finland’s Winter War, 1939-40. Based upon diaries,
stories told by veterans, and documents, all combined by Tuuri as a continued story of one man’s
experiences in order to re-create the war as it was lived by the men who took part in it. $20
• Seven Brothers - Finland’s dassic novel by Aleksis Kivi. Next to the Kalevala, the best-known work
of Finnish literature. Used as assigned reading in a half dozen colleges and universities. $14.00
• Our Daily Bread - by Kalle Paatalo, Finland’s most popular writer. The first novel in a series of five.
Growing up in backwoods Finland during the depression. $20.00
• Before the Storm - by Kalle Paatalo. Life before the war. $15.00
• Storm Over The Land - by Kalle Paatalo. The families from Our Daily Bread during the trying years
of WWII, on the home front and the battlefront. $15.00
• After the Storm - by Kalle Paatalo. Recovery and Reconstruction in Finland after WW II. The fourth
book in a five-book series. $18.00
• Winter of the Black Snow - by Kalle Paatalo. Post-war problems arise in the rural areas of Finland as
agricultural surpluses and unemployment increase. Last volume of the five-volume series. $18.00
• Under the North Star by Väinö Linna. Part 1 of Linna’s classic trilogy, “Täällä Pohjantähden AlIa.”
Depicts conditions in Finland 1884-1907, telling the story through the experiences of ordinary Finns
in the rural village of Pentti’s Comers. $19.95
• Under the North Star 2, The Uprising by Väinö Linna. Landless farmers’ frustrations and the Civil
War in Finland. $20.00
• Under the North Star 3: Reconciliation by Väinö Linna. Final volume of the trilogy, ending in the
post war years of WWII. $20.00
• Sisu Mother by Lempi Kähkonen-Wilson. A young Karelian girl’s life is drastically changed as the
family is evacuated twice during the wars, and she marries and raises her own family amidst many
obstacles, including numerous moves to far away lands and a mentally ill husband. $14.95
Literature, Travel, Folklore, History
• Finnish Folklore by Leea Virtanen and Thomas DuBois $19.00
• Life was Good, Mutta Voi Voi by Gordon Johnson. What was life like for the Finns and the following
generations who lived in the northern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan in the first half
of the 20th century? A well-written account of their work, school, church services, entertainment,
humor, and “Americanization.” Many photos. $16.95
• Finns in Wisconsin by Mark Knipping. Revised and Expanded, with a detailed account by Kristiina
Niemisto of Köyhäjoki, Finland, if her hardships in the New World. Contributions of the Finns to the
development of Wisconsin. Many photos.$16.00.
• Hiding Places by Petri Tamminen. With whimsy, Tamminen describes how a person can hide in
ordinary places (crowds, industrial sites, bookstore) $18.50
• The Winter War by Engle & Paananen. The Soviet Attack on Finland, 1939-1940. Paananen
uses her expertise in military affairs: at age 15, Paananen joined the Home Guard in Tampere.
Photographs. Jussi Aarnio cartoons.$19.95
• The Nelson Brothers, by Allan Nelson; R & S Bartley, Editors. Two socialist brothers go in different
directions trying to fulfill their philosophy, striving for workers’ rights and equality. $24.00.
• Nikolai’s Fortune, Solveig Torvik. Story of 3 generations of mothers and daughters who move
from Finland, Lapland, and Norway, to the U.S. always in search of a better life. Part history, part
memoir, and a heartrending description of the power of prejudice. $24.00.
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The Kalevala Translated by Eino Friberg,
Illustrated by Björn Landström $45.00
Kalevala Runos 1-3, performed by
Börje Vähämäki (CD audio recording) $15.00
• Guarding Passage by Beth Virtanen. Highly acclaimed book of poetry.
$14.50
• St. Croix Avenue Fictional Duluth, Minnesota in its early years. Trns.
Miriam Leino Eldridge $20
• Suomalaiset, People of the Marsh Takes place in Northeastern MN,
Northern Michigan, and Ontario during 1908-1918 and deals with the
immigration of the Finns, WWI, labor history, and the tragic lynching of
Olli Kinkkonen in Duluth (1918) $20.
• Nordic Immigration to North America - U. of Wisconsin - $8.00
• Forbidden Fruit & Other Stories -Juhani Aho is considered one of the
masters of Finnish literature. His 19th century characters are forest-clearing
pioneers and other rural people who often find themselves clashing with
technology. $12.95
• Shavings by Juhani Aho. A perceptive, intelligent story of a man born
into a religious family in Savo. $10.00
• Blueberry God by Reino Hannula. Hannula said he thought about his
“teen-age surrogate Ash Street Hall parents...they contributed to Gardner’s
history. They contributed to its culture. How could I let these indomitable
men and women drop into oblivion without some effort on my part?” $8.00
postpaid.
• Down from Basswood by Lynn Laitala has 24 different characters tell
27 interrelated stories. Although the stories occur in a specific place (Ely,
Minnesota area), they are not unlike the stories of millions worldwide who
were displaced for economic and political reasons during the twentieth
century. $9.00
• The Legend of St. Urho by Asala. Finnish American folktales about St.
Urho, including the story of how the legend began. $12.95
• Helmi Mavis: A Finnish American Girlhood by Mavis Hiltunen Biesanz.
$12.95
• In Wartime Finland: Memories of a World War II Childhood by Hilja
Nast, translated by Richard Impola. $9.95
• Red Moon over the White Sea by Laila Hietamies. $19.00.
• The Thirty Years’ War by Henrik Tikkanen. A soldier carries on WWII
by himself, years after it officially ends. Tikkanen gives many nods to
American culture and military. $9.00
Karelian Fever In US & Finland
• A Grave in Karelia by Komulainen. Based on the author’s experences at
a work camp in Russian Karelia in the early 1930’s, his escape and return
to the U.S. $10.00
• Karelia by Hokkanen. Finnish American couple in Russia, 1934-41. A
book you can’t put down to finish some other day! Their story was withheld
for a long time because of fear. $12.95
• Karelian Exodus: Finnish Communities in North America and
Karelia During the Depression Era Documented and well researched
articles. $22.00
• Of Soviet Bondage by Mayme Sevander $14.00
Children’s Books
• Peikko, the Foolish Ogre – Finnish Folk Tales for Children $10.00
• A Mother’s Story - Based on Lemminkainen story from the Kalevala.
Written and beautifully illustrated by M.E.A. McNeil. Supported by a grant
from the Finlandia Foundation. $23
• Magic Storysinger (H) stories from the Kalevala, winner of the Aesop
Award from The American Folklore Society. Color illustrations.$16.95
• Finland, a Book to Color $5.00
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• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Cemetery by Margaret
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• Jean Sibelius, Compositions for Piano by Heidi Saario (CD audio
recording) $15.00
• Mastering Finnish textbook - Börje Vähämäki $22.00
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• Finnish-English, English-Finnish dictionary $14.00
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JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH • 2010 WINTER NEW WORLD FINN
27

Yes, once again, we Finnic people have
been upstaged by the haughty Swedes,
who have renamed and plagiarized
our precious sisu-hardy lanttu, which Baltic-
Finnic farmers developed in the 1600’s, as a
hardy cross between the nauris turnip and
the kaali cabbage. At least the Swedes could
have promoted it as “the finn”, instead of
“the swede”, the name by which it is known
in Europe. To make matters worse, in North
America it is called the rutabaga, an uglysounding
version of a Swedish word, which means root ram, or a ram’s balls, by those
who are more sexually sarcastic.
Hannu Ahokas, the ethnobotanist expert on the luja (strong, sturdy, tough) lanttu, in
an article in the Acta Botanica Fennica 172, 2002, opines that our more frost-tolerant,
disease-tolerant, deeper, and longer-growing hybrid: “may have evolved at least twice: (1)
in Ingrian or Estonian territory where rutabaga was earliest called kaalikka or kaalikas
and (2) in Finnish territory where differences between kaski turnip and rutabaga were
explained by names of rutabaga: juurikas (with plenty of adventitious roots), lanttu (sunk
in the soil) and sinikka (referring to the epicuticular glaucousness of a rutabaga). The
kaalikka and lanttu word stems have moved towards the east, southeast and south, one
or both appearing locally in Russia. The former term evidently moved along with the
Orthodox Ingrian people, dating the kaalikka name earlier than 1656. Consistent with
the old local evolutionary explanation, Prof. Elias Til-Landz could distinguish rutabaga
as Brassica radice-rapi from turnip types in his second floristic book in 1683 which
appeared in Finland.”
Obviously the Finnish words, lanttu, kaalikas, juurikas, and sinikka are more
beautiful-sounding, more accurately descriptive, and more respectful. Leave it to the
pushy-minded Swedes to blatantly mischaracterize the magical and gentle growth of the
lanttu, deep in the protective womb of its blessed soil, as the ramming of a root.
The lanttu was introduced into Sweden by the Finns, and from there spread into
other parts of Europe. Apparently, the New Delaware Finns brought it to America. It
migrated from Ingrian Russia into Siberia.
So, back to the merits of the much disparaged, demeaned, and joked about lanttu,
which unfortunately, parallels the many centuries-long denigration of the Finno-
Ugric Uralic peoples. Here’s a vegetable we Finns can identify with, both its defamation,
but most importantly its strong sisu hardiness. Were it not for our lanttu sisu vegetable,
our “finn”, many Europeans would have succumbed to starvation during World War
I. When the grains failed and the weaker potato and turnip were unable to thrive, our
stalwart lanttu came through to the rescue. Understandably, after excessive consumption
of lanttu in order to forestall death, coupled with the horrific memories of the war, our
“finn” masquerading as “the swede” became very unpopular, and gratitude faded away
into contempt.
In terms of its ancestry, our beloved lanttu, Brassica napobrassica, as a member of
the Cruciferae family’s Brassica tribe, is a descendant of the sea cabbage. As a result,
the kaali cabbage tribe has inherited the sea cabbage’s succulence, which allows it to get
by on very little water, and to store what it gets. The waxy glaucousness of the cuticular
28
Stolen By The Swede
Part 1
Finland’s National Sisu Vegetable
By Paula Erkkila
©Paula Erkkila
skin makes the sinikka’s storage possible.
The kaalikas’ relatives include the kaali
cabbages, Brussels sprouts, cauliflowers,
broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, nauris turnips,
cresses, and radishes.
Interestingly, in recent years our Finnish
Mendel, Hannu Ahokas, has been propagating
a new form of the lanttu, a kupulanttu, which
is a cross between a Chinese cabbage and a
cabbage. Its leaves are rosette-shaped.
Hopefully, Mr.Ahokas works along the
lines of my country’s amazing Luther Burbank, as opposed to the increasingly myopic
scientific approach of the corporate-sponsored genetic engineers, who are not to be
trusted with our food supplies. Burbank developed over 800 new varieties of plants for
the purpose of helping humanity. His Russet Burbank “Idaho” potato of 1871 was used to
help Ireland recover from the devastation of its 1840-1860 potato blight. Unfortunately,
industrial agriculturalists’ sole purpose is to make profits.
In case you’re wondering, I’ll elaborate how I came to be so engrossed in lauding and
coming to the defense of our much maligned, forgotten, and unfamiliar-to-many
lanttu. Well, it started with the exhilarated excitement I experienced, as a relatively new
vegetable and fruit gardener, when I pulled out my first-grown lanttu. I was beside myself,
proudly admiring its sacred and divine beauty, and its ivory tan body, topped with a
royal purple crown. Many large splendid light green end leaves, with a series of smaller
bipartite leaves underneath, emerged gloriously from its ringed neck. Never before had
I caressed such smooth shiny waxiness in any store-bought sinikka. My juurikas had a
perfect elongated bulbous body with several adventitious roots near its base. I proudly
displayed to everyone I could, the marvel of the newly-born wonder root of my garden.
When I visit my winter garden, I smile fondly at my robustly-standing kaalikas patch,
and believe it or not, the feeling is reciprocated.
Naturally, my mind wandered into a reminiscence of my relationship with the lovely
and tasty lanttu. My first memory dates back to the three years of my early childhood
spent in the loving hands of Bill and Pearl Brailey’s Cornish foster home in Negaunee,
Michigan, while my poor mother recuperated from tuberculosis at Marquette’s Morgan
Heights TB Sanitorium.
Pearl Brailey was Negaunee’s famous pasty queen, and one of the secrets to her
success was the addition of cubed lanttu to her Cornish miner’s meat pies. I enjoyed
consuming her pasties, amidst the smell of saffron bread and tea. Unfortunately, I lost the
strong Finnish accent, some older cousins had laughed about, and whatever rudimentary
Finnish I knew, but the lanttu stayed with me. My mother used Pearl’s recipe, I did,
and I passed it along to my daughter. As a vegan, I substitute soy or other vegetable
proteins for meat, and don’t use the suet. The pasties taste just as good. My favorite
treat is sliced and fried yellow-fleshed lanttua, complete with the skins. Sometimes, I
mix them with sliced potatoes.
To celebrate my wonder root, I baked my first lanttulaatikko casserole, using a vegan
modification of Beatrice Ojakangas’ recipe, and it was a very tasty success. Raw strips
Lanttu continued on page 24
NEW WORLD FINN TAMMIKUU - HELMIKUU - MAALISKUU • 2009 TALVI