Social Rituals in Finland !

I love Finland because of the athmosphere it gives to you when you wake up and go outside. Everybody seems to be calm and in a good mood. There is an incredible silence and landscapes are awesome. I recommand to all of you to visit this country and to give an interest to the culture.

There are two officially languages in Finland which are Finnish for the majority of the population and then swedish. Finnish people speak very very well english and I was totally chocked that every people I met there is billingual. This could be because in Finland all entertainment is in english like the TV or the cinema. You can show easily an american movie in the original language and with finnish and swedish subtitles. Since they are very young, a finnish person hears a lot of english and it contributes to give him a lot of basics in english. I hope that we will have this kind of thing in France! This could be help a lot the students and people.

The big symbol of Finland is of course the flag !

 It is white with a blue cross. The white represents the snow and the blue cross is for the Christianity. It is called “siniristilippu” in finnish.

There is a lot of national celebrations but the best I live here is the “Vappu day”. It is like the “Queen’s day” in Holland and it is an AMAIZING day. It is on the first of May of each year and every body is outside and together. All the graduated student have their white cap and have a pick nik or chilling together.

Vappu is a big carnival-style festival in all the cities of Finland. One tradition is to drink “sima” what is home-made low-alcohol mead while eating cakes or something sweet.

"Vappu Day"

It is now time to talk about saunas in Finland. There are more than 2 millions saunas in the entire country and it is incredibly popular due to the health benefits it gives.The majority of the finnish people have a sauna at home and can share this healthy moment with friends and family. I heard that a business meeting can also be continued in a sauna. So that seems totally crazy for a french !

I did some sauna because I have one in my building. I don’t really like it but it is true that you feel better after that.

A sauna is a room made with wood where you can sit or lay. There is coal in a hot pan and it comes pouring water on it to create steam. The temperature can reach 100°C. Then, on the winter after this sauna you can go outside and swim in a frozen lake. Will you be enough brave ?