Finland Celebrates 100 Years Of Independence

Finnish Ambassador to the United States Kirsti Kauppi speaks about Finland 100, the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence, Jason DeRusha, Kate Raddatz and Mike Augustyniak report (6:15). WCCO Mid-Morning – Jan. 12, 2017

[Caldera]

For those wondering about the importance of sauna for finns. It has cultural, historical, religious and just general personal hygiene importance to the finnish heritage.

Cultural aspect:
With 3 million saunas in a nation of 5 million, it's going to be hard to find even a cheap appartment that doesn't have some type of access to a sauna here. When visiting, it is traditional to offer share some time in the sauna, often with something to drink such as beer to relax and unwind. The rules of sauna vary a little depending on the place. For example in the military all ranks are stripped and negated, except for the unofficial 'sauna-seargent', who maintains, prepares and looks after the sauna as well as enforces the rules, otherwise everyone is equal, even the mightiest general. Because of this importance, sauna is often among the first things finns will look for, or just builds one when going abroad.

Historical:
The origins of sauna is a little unclear. However in the middle ages the concept of a 'sauna' was concidered a little boorish, so the more cultured europeans shunned the idea. Finland being slightly isolated from the high cultures of France and other major European cultural powerhouses was left to toil with her own ideas and as such the concept of sauna remained in Finland even if most others shunned it. Wether the concept was also invented by Finns, or wether they just adopted it from elsewhere is unknown.

Religious:
Before christianity, the Finnish Paganism was the indigineous belief among the finnish population. This religion was heavily rooted in nature as well as privacy. Finnish Paganism had no churches and very few holy sites and the few that were, were lakes, forests and rocks, not chapples made by man. However, there is one exception to this and that is the sauna. It wasn't uncommon for people to retreat into a sauna for meditation and self reflection. After Christianity became the newest thing around the block however, things didn't change too much. Finns would still prefer their own private saunas to a packed church and thus the Finnish Lutheric Christianity takes a lot of inspiration and influence from the old Finnish Paganism, including traditions, names and the importance of sauna for private moments.

Hygiene:
Since saunas are so important, not only are they used for washing up, they would be clean enough for a large portion of finnish people to even have been born in a sauna. It's only the last couple of generations where majority of the people would have been born in a hospital. It really wasn't a long time ago when this family occation would have most likely have taken place in a sauna as it is a clean place that is easy to clean up after such a messy business. It's also a familiar and a relaxing environment, making it not the worst place to deliver the child. Nowadays however this has dropped out of practice for more a modern hospital environment.

When you combine all of these factors together, it's not hard to see that sauna is clearly very important to the finns, but even this isn't enough to fully state just how important.

[irishofit]

Thank you for reminding me about this important anniversary. I love Finland! My best wishes to all Finns all over the world!

[lgfrades]

My greatgrandparents came to Minnesota from Finland in the late 1800s. I am so proud to help celebrate their 100th anniversary as an independent nation. Finland used to be under Sweden and Russia, and it is really important to all Finnish Americans that they are independent now and thanks to Minnesota for giving Finns a second home. 🇫🇮

[hankdasilva]

I can usually forgive my fellow Finns for the thick accent, but you'd kind of think an ambassador would speak English more fluently. But to be fair, she seems to be quite old, and the older generation naturally didn't have nearly as much contact with English while growing up as the younger ones do.

[komulainen]

im from finland and im proud abaut it:)

[Kone]

Both pronunciations are ok. We are not very picky about pronunciation. Same goes with Suomi-Finland. Most Finns don't expect that you pronounce the Suomi same way that Finn´s do.

[housti]

We call your hockey team Finnesota Wild (Granlund, Koivu & Haula) and Winnipeg Jets is Finnipeg Jets (Laine, Armia) :D

[allysonlahnala]

Today is actually Finland's Independents Day

[ViceMightBeTaken]

Eurodance is the unofficial most popular song genre in Finland

[MaMa-khxh]

Every Finnish can say it correctly. It is sauna.