Suomalaisuus

It's that time of year again. Tonight the clocks go back and it is the official end of summer. On the plus side though, at least we get an extra hour in bed. In fact bed sounds like a good place to be at the moment. It's incredibly cold outside - at one point today it was minus eleven. What is that all about?  It's only October for goodness sake.

The children and I sat this evening and wrote a list of positive things. Those little things that make us smile. On my list this evening is the fact that it's our saunavuoro this evening. We don't have our own sauna anymore, so I've been looking forward to our turn all week. I've always found the sauna to be good place to sit and reflect on everything. It's a calming place somehow, in the midst of whatever else might be going on.  And there is nothing more integrally Finnish than a sauna.

I had the opportunity this morning to talk with a group of women in Somero about what it really means to be Finnish. Suomalaisuus is a genuine concept. You can meet another Finn anywhere in the world and you know that you will share something in common with them. You know without even asking that that other Finnish person will also have picked mushrooms and blueberries, walked in forests, been skiing and ice-skating, complained about the weather in November, eaten ruisleipää and korvapuusti, spent summers in a mökki (summer house), swum in a lake, gone to the sauna, spent evenings in front of an open fire, chopped wood (special mention to Heikki on this one), and told people that they don't speak very good English, when actually they probably do.

Even though I wasn't born here, I will be eternally grateful that I my roots are in Finland. All cultures should be valued, their differences are what make the world so interesting, but it is also natural to be attached to the culture which you identify as your own. The one to which you belong. Right now I am going to the sauna, both to relax after a challenging week and also to reflect what it means to be Finnish. Enjoy the last evening of the summer everyone, wherever you are. The next one is just around the corner.