introduction

Welcome to my little piece of the blogosphere. I started this blog while we were adopting our daughter as a way to keep faraway family and friends up-to-date on the progress. Over the years it has morphed into more of a journal of life in our house . . . as seen through the eyes of a Canadian suburbanite living in a small village in mid-western Finland. Check out the pages above for more info on us, as well as our adoption, and it would please me well if you left a comment to say hello!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

easter saturday

Since Finland has a state church, Christian holidays are well recognized. On Thursday, schools were let out early to recognize skärtorsdag/Holy Thursday, commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus.Some businesses also closed early. On långfredag/Good Friday, everything is closed and many churches have special services. However, as far as secular traditions go, Saturday is the big day for kids in these parts. It is the day they get to dress up and go around collecting candy (similar to trick or treating). The main differences are:

  • the children usually dress up as witches (which actually look more like old ladies than the North American idea of a witch)
  • the children hand out homemade Easter cards or branches decorated with colourful feathers to the homes they visit
  • this is done at any time during the day (usually between 10am and 3pm)

Of course, since I haven’t grown up with these traditions myself, they don’t come so easily for me. . .  I haven’t allowed my kids to dress up as witches (even though they’re cute witches with freckles and such) because I just can’t reconcile that symbol with Easter. And, I usually forget about the cards and branches so they’re usually done at the last minute (today I was away with Sam, so the little ones had nothing to hand out . . .).

Without further ado:

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My Easter chicken – she used an old milk canister for collecting.

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My Easter pirate (which also isn’t very Easter-ish).

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That’s it for now.

Hope you are enjoying your Easter SaturdaySmile

Barb

Created by Barb at 10:26 PM
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2 friends had something to say . . .:

Tezzie said...

:D Adorable Easter chicken and pirate <3 Munchkin insisted on being an Easter Cat, and I figured that it was kinda Easter-ish, what with witches having cats and all...but when Boy announced he wanted to be an Easter Knight, mamma drew the line; he got to go as a Påskgubbe instead :) He didn't seem to be too heart broken, since he still got plenty of loot!

Hope your Easter is fabulous...and let's hope this gorgeous weather stays a while :D

April 23, 2011 11:39 PM
Craig and Phyllis said...

It is so interesting to read some of the traditions from Finland. Thanks for clueing us in on some of those.

Have a very Blessed Easter!!

April 24, 2011 3:34 AM

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Saint Petersburg: Sankt-Peterburg, Russian pronunciation: is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd (1914–1924) and Leningrad (1924–1991). Founded by Tsar Peter I of Russia on 27 May, 1703, it was the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years (1713–1728, 1732–1918). Saint Petersburg is home to more than two hundred museums, many of them hosted in historic buildings. The largest of the museums is the Hermitage Museum, featuring interiors of the former imperial residence and a vast collection of art. Celebrating the 300th anniversary of its foundation, Saint Petersburg was selected as the main motif in a recent Finnish commemorative coin, the €10 Mannerheim and Saint Petersburg commemorative coin, minted in 2003. The reverse of the coin features a view of Saint Petersburg, with the Peter and Paul Fortress and its three turrets. In the coin the words "St. Petersburg 1703-2003" can be seen.