Food and culture in Finland
Finnish Foods | Finnish Domestic Life and Special Occasions | Finnish Meals and Customs | Finnish Daily Meals and Sauna Ritual | Finnish Food Glossary
Six hundred years of Swedish rule and a hundred years of Russian domination have left their stamp on the language and food customs of Finland but the character of the people remains unique.
The difficulty in understanding Finns becomes apparent when descriptions
vary from "honest yet stubborn" to "slow and very quiet." Of course there
are regional and individual differences, but certain general
characteristics are evident. Finns are noted for their strength and
athletic prowess, and Finn names will be found in the lists of pioneers
clearing sites and building towns and highways in the United States. In
Canada the Finns are famed for their work on the Canadian Pacific Railway
and the Welland Canal. Their apparent slowness may be attributed to their
meditative and philosophical natures, and their noted long periods of
silence readily explained by saying, "There is nothing to talk about."
Most of all, Finns possess a quality that can best be described by their
own word: sisu, which is courage, stamina, and stubbornness rolled into
one package. Others call it more simply "guts."
It must have been sisu that gave 420,000 Karelian Finns the endurance to
move from their homes en masse during the Russian invasion of their
beloved province of Karelia during World War II. It must have been sisu
that caused the rest of the Finn population to open their homes to these
refugees, to feed and clothe them and donate their own money and precious
possessions to help the Karelians eventually build new homes. And surely
it is sisu that provides the Finn with the kind of moral and spiritual
sustenance to live in a rugged country visited by summer only two months
of the year.
The Finns call their country Suomi, literally "marshland." Laced with more
than 60,000 lakes, less than 8 percent of the land is fertile. This small
arable portion consists mainly of the coastal regions. The rest of the
land is largely stony or covered with forests. Crops are therefore
limited. Principle ones are those that form staple foods: potatoes and a
fine variety of grains including rye, oats, barley, and wheat. Flax is
also an important crop and rural women are famed for their hand looms that
produce rugs, cloths, mats, curtains, and clothing from the linen threads.
The exact ethnic origin of the Finns is obscure but they are believed to
be of Mongolian descent. Their height and fair skin, however, makes them
appear to be closer to the Teutons.
Although 98 percent of Finns now speak Finnish, it was the publication of
Finland's epic Kalevala in 1836 that led to the establishment of Finnish
as the official language. Finns learn Swedish and Finnish at school and
many also learn German, English, or Russian. Estonians and the Hungarian
Magyars are the only other peoples who speak languages from the
Finno-Ugric root, but only the Finns were part of the free world while the
others were under Communist domination. Perhaps this too has something to
do with sisu.
It is said that there are three things for which the Finn will be most
homesick: the sour rye bread, the sauna, and the luminous summer nights
when the sun forgets to set. Ruisleip – the sour rye bread baked flat and
crisply hard with a hole in the center (western Finland) or thick, round,
and crusty (eastern Finland) – is the staple of every meal.
The sauna is the eagerly anticipated Saturday night relaxation of Finn
families and is much enjoyed by many others who have come to appreciate
the pleasure of this warm steamy ritual.
Both ruisleipa and the sauna may be duplicated wherever Finns live, but
the strangely mystical light of summer nights, when the sun does not set
below the horizon, can only be appreciated in Finland and cherished in the
memories of those who have witnessed it.