Finland - A Complete Journey

    We have decided to return to our studies with an in depth approach to everything associated with Finland. 

Animals that are unique to this country: We discovered some fascinating facts on this web page: https://theculturetrip.com/finland/articles/10-beautiful-animals-youll-find-in-finland/

• The rarest species of seal in the world (360 living) is the Saimaa Ringed Seal. 
• These seals are severely endangered due to climate change and human interference. 
• These are the only animals found only in Finland at Lake Saimaa.
• The national animal of Finland is the Eurasian Brown Bear.
• Ancient society Finns believed that bears are related to humans and are divine beings and would have a week long celebration to honor the bear if it was killed. A skull would be hung atop a fir tree to summon the bear's soul from heaven.
• Reindeer are kept in herds and their meat is used and their skins act as insulation in the cold. 
• Reindeer are protected animals by the government.
• Most grey wolves are found in Eastern parts of Finland, although some worry about the safety of children and adults living in the community when wolves are near.
• The Golden Eagle is endangered due to humans creating homes and the logging business. There are only 500 nesting pairs remaining. They are usually found in Lapland and tend to hunt baby reindeer, rabbits, and grouse.
• Lemmings are small fury rodents who like to gather near cliffs and lakesides. They can even be found during the cold winter months.
• A Raccoon Dog (tanuki in Japanese) are similar in build to a fox, however the coloring on their fur reminds us of a raccoon.  They are nocturnal animals.
• Many owls live in Finland however the most unique is the Snowy Owl. They are silent flyers and are white in color. They blend in with the snow in areas of Lapland where they are often found. 
• The Black Woodpecker has black feathers and a red crest on its head. Often found in the south and not in the north where many of the previously mentioned animals are found. 
• Wolverines are often hunted by farmers. They like to chase moose and are deemed a symbol of perseverance and have attractive fur. They are hard to find in the wild, however they do exist in the parklands created to preserve animals. 

Barron has a neat puzzle called Puzzle Collection on his Nintendo Switch and he felt this represented Finland's Woodland creatures.

National Treasures: The Lily of the Valley is the National flower and the Silver Birch is the National tree. We were lucky to find a neat mural near our new favourite PizzaPizza shop of a Silver Birch, although there are some great stores that sell sticks of Birch during this holiday season and crafts from such trees. 

There is something very beautiful about the forests in Finland, particularly in a village called Orajarvi in the Lapland area where there is a forest filled with art from various artists. This nature exhibit is called OrankiArt. If you are ever in Pello, Finland we hope you can discover the mysterious magic that such artists have stirred within the forest. A lovely youtube video is found: https://youtu.be/HdkXzYWdBec and more information is found at: http://orankiart.fi/ as well as some pictures of the art, simply click on the pictures on the left tab of the screen, http://orankiart.fi/nayttelyt.html   What art would you place in the forest? Barron mentioned that he would make ornaments and I would give a tree a mirror to discover themselves and explore areas along with a paint brush and art supplies. 

Language: The main language (also known as the official language) is Finnish and Swedish. The indigenous language is called the Sami (sometimes referred to as Saami) or Karelian in some regions. Finland's national anthem is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PX7cPorwX5M

A delightful place to begin is with Vapu's page and free program, she is a wonderful teacher: https://herfinland.com/finnish-for-kids/  On her page her starter kit (free if you provide your email) told us many useful information such as:

We also found a neat YouTube channel called FinnishWithAnna where we learnt the Finnish Alphabet called Suomalaiset akkoset: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYz_rWFlTnM 

This group always makes the best clips for children on countries, this is their Finland video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc9CcJoiGF4

Geography:  We found the best resource on Finland:

https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/finland-facts.html   which we used to retrieve the shared facts below:

• Finland is a country in Northern Europe. To the West (left on the map) is Sweden, to the North (straight up) is Norway and to the East (right on the map) is Russia, and to the south (below/underneath) is the Baltic Sea.
• There is a group of Islands to the south that belong to Finland (although it used to belong to Sweden until 1809) called the Aland Islands, however most of the people speak Swedish. The capital of it is Mariehamn. There are at least 6,700 islands and 30,000 people live on 60 of those such islands. Most however choose to  live in the only town.
• The population of Finland is currently 5,562,014 according to: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/finland-population/
• Barron outlined the map of Finland and labelled it.

Currency: To purchase items the Finnish people use the Euro. We never knew what a Euro was until we found this wonderful resource: https://youtu.be/uCOZdi5Qm2w

Foods:  Some popular foods are:

• Kalakukko which is fish, pork, and bacon baked in a bread dough.
• Ruisreikaleipa is a round flak disk shape rye bread, resembles a bagel.
• Hernekeitto is a mushed pea soup cooked with mustard and onions and is traditionally eaten on Thursdays along with a thick sweet pancake (oven baked) with jam.
• Runebergintorttu (Runeberg Cakes) is a pastry (cake and bread crumb) sort of like a muffin would be. It is a cake that has raspberry jam on top of it. 

Famous Finish People from the past and present:

1. Erik (Eriksson) Tulindberg was given the title as the first Finnish classical musician. He was born Feb. 22, 1761 and passed away Sept. 1, 1814. He was a musician and a composer and an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of music in 1797. He loved to play violin. Source: https://swedishmusicalheritage.com/composers/tulindberg-erik/
2. Robert Wilhelm Ekman was a Finnish painter of the 19th century.  He was born August 13, 1808 and exited February 19, 1873). He was an important teacher and painter who often created romantic portraits. Source: https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Robert-Wilhelm-Ekman/5E5EB9ED81EA79DD
3. Finland has created several famous scientists such as Mikael Agricola who was a clergyman. He founded literary in Finland and translated the New Testament into Finnish and made hymns and prayer books. He was born in Perna Finland in 1510 AD and died April 9, 1557.  Source: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/finnish-scientists.php
4. Santa Claus who is called Joulupukki. On the morning of Christmas Eve a special rice porridge is made with sugar, cinnamon, butter, and milk called Kokonarput and whoever finds an almond in their porridge is lucky. For more neat information travel to: https://adventures.com/blog/christmas-in-finland/
5. A lovely children's author is Tove Marika Jansson. She was born August 9, 1914 and passed away June 27, 2001. She spoke Swedish. She was an illustrator, comic strip writer, and author.  She studied in Sweden, Finland, and France. Her popular books are the Moomin books which she began in 1945. She was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Metal in 1966 for these works. These books were then made into comic strips. She also writes novels for grownups. Her webpage is truly one of a kind: https://tovejansson.com/

Special Delights: We learnt that there is a night train that travels from Helinski to Lapland called The Santa Claus Express: https://www.eurail.com/en/get-inspired/trains-europe/night-trains/santa-claus-express#:~:text=The%20Finnish%20double-decker%20night%20train%2C%20known%20as%20the,then%20goes%20on%20to%20Kemij%C3%A4rvi%2C%20its%20final%20destination.

We were told in Vapu's newsletter that a neat game to play is Molkky which is similar to bowling: https://www.molkky.world/molkky-game. If you sign up at the end of the page you can receive a free .pdf on the history of the game. This is a screenshot of one of the pages: 
 

Barron played bowling with some toilet roll and canned pasta labels that we created and our new ball from a lovely home hardware shop at the beaches. We scored the sweetest treat at our local Dollarama, a mini bowling set. It is a great treat for less than five Canadian dollars. The company Montoy makes the best toys, if you are in Ontario, Canada and you find their products they are worth the valued price, educational, and rather one of a kind. We adore this company.

Barron and I believe that something sweet would be to learn a lullaby in a new language (perhaps surprise a family member when they need comforting) The most delightful Finnish children's song is called Tuiki Tuiki Tahtonen and Barron sang it very well. I struggled a bit. It is similar to the North American version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. You can enjoy it at: https://youtu.be/Vrn9dma0cm0  Sing along with these lyrics:

Tuiki Tuiki Tahtonen
Iltaisin Sua Katselen
Korkealta Loistat Vaan
Katsot Alas Maailmaan
Tuiki, Tuiki Tahtonen
Iltaisin Sua Katselen
Kaikki Lapset Maailman
Tahtosia Katsovat
Miettivat Miks Loistaa Ne
Maahan Asti Valaisee
Kaikki Lapset Maailman
Tahtosia Katsovat

Barron drew a lovely masterpiece for this lullaby in his neat Nintendo Switch game Art Sqool: 

We also found a neat way to learn facts about Finland through music. This video is interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCEo0vinR_U 

Barron selected a really nice plate at the Dollarama and we found two cute bowls (reminds us of Andy Warhol) and we thought they would be cute to enjoy some Hernekeitto sometime soon since Finland is souper (super) wonderful to us.  A really lovely Finnish shop with such unique mugs is found: https://www.kuksa.shop/en/lapland/catalogue/

We concluded with a Christmas craft inspired from Finland of two Tonttjua and added a little trail sign for snowshoeing as we discovered that snowshoeing is a winter activity that is often enjoyed in Finland. We recreated a winter sign that we found at https://www.nationalparks.fi/snowshoeing. We were thinking what a neat trend to begin: flower garlands on trees, especially the lily of the valley flowers placed upon the branches of the trees as they are so lovely and resemble snow drops.

Loppu! (The End!)