Happy Independence Day
@ 11:53 am 
Today, Finland is 90 years old. I suppose in 10 years, people will be really celebrating, when Finland reaches 100 years.
One might be wondering why it is such a serious holiday. When Finland became independent, it got off to a very rough start and didn’t have much time to celebrate. Civil war followed shortly after becoming independent, as well as the Great World Wars. Read Hank’s history article for more details or the Wikipedia article. The picture is from Wikipedia.
Many people in Finland watch The Unknown Soldier (”Tuntematon Sotilas”) on TV, and/or watch the Presidential Ball and all the celebrities, diplomats, sports people, and so on going there. Some people will take candles to the graveyards where people who have fallen in the wars are buried.
Happy Independence Day!, Hyvää Itsenäisyys Päivää!, God Självstandighets Dag!
Happy Independence Day Finland! Interesting articles too. Good thing Finland got away from Russia. Just think, Stalin, Cold War, and now Putin. Looks like you all made the right decision at the right time.
Comment by RealTrue — Thu, Dec 6th, 2007 @ 12:08 pm
It’s such a lame way of celebrating - watching others to do it… Of course the season is the worst possible, not really a time for outdoors barbecue for example. Still, I think we can be quite proud of the country: we got through some awful times and could now be where the Baltic countries are, rebuilding a civil society out of sheer ruins, instead we have a fully developed Nordic society which means that where we are is pretty much how far the humanity has ever progressed - as bad imperfections and problems we do have. Still, nothing too bad at all for such a small nation. Happy Independence Day!
Comment by mjr — Thu, Dec 6th, 2007 @ 1:59 pm
Itsenäisyyspäivä. One word. Självständighetsdag. One word, too.
Comment by . — Thu, Dec 6th, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
Happy Independence Day!
Comment by TT — Thu, Dec 6th, 2007 @ 8:08 pm
What, not a tax records post today?
Why are all those flags out there anyway?
Comment by Herkku — Thu, Dec 6th, 2007 @ 11:40 pm
Happy independence day Finland! There’s much to be proud about during the war times.
mjr said, we have a fully developed Nordic society which means that where we are is pretty much how far the humanity has ever progressed
Keep dreaming. LOL
Comment by Anonymous — Fri, Dec 7th, 2007 @ 1:05 am
Hyvä Itsenäisyyspäivä !!!
Comment by Sandun — Fri, Dec 7th, 2007 @ 12:24 pm
Also, “itsenäisyyspäivä” and “självständighetsdag” aren’t spelled with a capital letter. You’ve been here for a while, so you should have already picked up on basic stuff like that.
Comment by Adelphi — Fri, Dec 7th, 2007 @ 1:36 pm
And don’t forget that the paikallissijas are inessiivielatiiviillatiiviadessiiviablatiivialltiivi (koirassakoirastakoiraankoirallakoiraltakoiralle). Ettäjottakoskakunjosvaikkakuin is handy keep in mind when forming those alisteiset sivulauseet (always a comma, if not after all).
Comment by Anonymous — Fri, Dec 7th, 2007 @ 2:43 pm
Hmm… Seem as though that Presidential Ball link has a rather ominous article on the other side of it…
Comment by stercus — Sat, Dec 8th, 2007 @ 12:29 am
I tried to attach a link to Ville Valo arriving at the ball. This should work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DkbjGsEz0pts&sa=X&oi=video_result&resnum=5&ct=thumbnail&usg=AFQjCNGzv3ZANQTa2Mr15lbLLo0mGUSQrA
Comment by Sirkuspelle — Sat, Dec 8th, 2007 @ 8:58 pm
Nationalism is destructive. It sets one group of people against another. Nationalism creates artifically differences when none actually exist.
Finns are acutely aware of their collective national identity: one people, one language, one mind; as one Finnish University prof. summed it up for me once. Hank is not unusual. First and formost he sees himself as a Finn. This is who he is. No desire to search his soul to find out who he really is, and what he stands for. No, instead Hank is a Finn. He is what he was told what he is by his teachers at school and by big brother society. Hank is a Finn! He believes himself to be honest (more honest then sub-human ulko’s), straight talking, trustworthy and all the other self-claimed positive stereotypes that Finns so desperately want foreigners to swallow. That’s why Finns find it so hard to cope with outside criticism. Criticism of the fatherland was not part of their indoctrination. Verbotten. So imagine just how hard it is for them to cope with a sub-human ulko that dares to criticise perfect Suomi.
Finns, cast of your chains. Think for yourselves. You don’t HAVE to conform. There should be more to your own identity as an individual than your Finnishness.
Comment by Anonymous — Sun, Dec 9th, 2007 @ 2:30 pm
Anonymous, what was the name of this lecturer? It wasn’t a certain Heikki Tala by any chance?
The whole one language - one mind thing is a load of rubbish generally spurted out of the mouths of only extremists and members of right-wing organisations. As for Hank, I think (I could be wrong) he is finlandssvensk also (please correct me Hank, if I am wrong!!) - so it would be odd if he subscribed to that notion.
Comment by JG — Sun, Dec 9th, 2007 @ 3:28 pm
Anon, #12: As a Finn, I find it quite presumptuous of you to tell Hank and other the Finns on this blog how Finns are and what Finns think and believe. You critisise Finns as having stereotypical views of themselves and foreigners by coming up with stereotypical views of Finns and non-Finns?
Can you see the inherent internal contradiction in your post?
Comment by Drakon — Sun, Dec 9th, 2007 @ 7:16 pm
People should be proud of their country, but not more than the world they live in. The world is our home, not some picture on a human drawn map.
Finnish World War 2 veteran left his home country, moved to the USA to build a better life for himself, for his family and for his new country. He survived in the war against all odds and nearly all of his mates had died. The documentary team went to see him at the USA. He then told them something I will never forget:
“When do we stupid people realise that wars have no winners… only losers”
We don’t often hear the veterans telling us stories about the wars they have seen. All of them say it’s so horrible they wish nobody would have to see it ever again. What the veterans want is not patriotism, but understanding between different nations and people. They did not fight so that we could fight again. They fought so that we wouldn’t have to. You understand the message when you hear it from the veterans. Go talk to them before it’s too late.
Comment by who cares really — Mon, Dec 10th, 2007 @ 1:54 am
@12 We have cast our chains and think for ourselves. Nobody is telling us what to do and how to think. We never asked you for your advice on how to run our things, so you are welcome to tell it to someone who is your subordinate. Thats what all this independence is all about. Freedom.
Comment by Hank W. — Wed, Dec 12th, 2007 @ 3:38 pm
Hank W:
“We have cast our chains and think for ourselves.”
You don’t understand at all, the brainwashed Finn that you are. You are supposed to think independently like sahib tells you to.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Wed, Dec 12th, 2007 @ 11:23 pm
Darn, did It rain on somebodys parade?
http://areena.yle.fi/toista?id=959560
the “good stuff” is towards the end.
Comment by Hank W. — Thu, Dec 13th, 2007 @ 12:10 am
Nazi Hank speaks
How dare a sub-human ulko criticise Finland.
Hank:you gotta mortgage? Its going to be worsen than the early 90’s this time
SELL, SELL, SELL, SELL,
Comment by Anonymous — Thu, Dec 13th, 2007 @ 1:35 am
I’m looking back at the prices in 1977 and forward to the prices in 2037.
Comment by Hank W. — Thu, Dec 13th, 2007 @ 6:53 pm
First, clear any debts that you might have. Second, get out of paper fiat and into the yellow shiny stuff.
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