Sisu anyone? by Jori Ballance

It was a cool rainy October day, many years ago. I remember taking shelter in an ancient grove of trees in British Columbia. The old giants that had lost their battle with the wind and elements were lying on their side amongst the ferns, soft green moss coated and comforted them and their fallen comrades.

The stillness was broken by the sound of water dripping from Old Man’s Beard into the puddles on either side of the muddy trail. The funky smell of decaying plant matter infused the moist salty sea breeze creating an elixir that involuntarily made a person inhale slowly and deeply. There was a faded, hand-painted sign that was nailed to an enormous fallen Sitka spruce that kindly stated the obvious, ‘We ask that you not use the trail in extreme weather conditions.’

Timeless Suomenlinna - A historic travel piece

The Spring (May 2013) CFF newsletter is out.  There are 16 pages featuring historic pieces, personal opinions, poems, recipes, travel pieces and much more. It is released 4x a year and is part of your membership.

Here is a travel historic piece by Jori Ballance:

The Helsinki skyline slowly receded as we sailed away from the Kauppatori Square. We were aboard the commuter ferry Suomenlinna II, on our way to spend the day exploring the popular island fortress of Suomenlinna.    
     The mid-morning sun struggled to warm us against a brisk South Harbour breeze but managed to set the market stalls ablaze with colour.

Karelian Finlanders - Fort Nyen Skans - 1800s

1721-1922: Two Centuries of Finnish Labour Migration to Imperial Russia

 Long before the Swedish Crown lost the Neva River region to Peter the Great in the Great Northern War of 1700 – 1721, this region, inhabited by Karelian Finlanders, was anchored by the Swedish Crown’s Fort Nyen Skans surrounded by the growing city of Nyen, which then was the largest city near this stretch of the Swedish-Russian border. 

Tzar Peter began to build his Fort St. Peter and Paul on old Finnish inhabited land, around which then Imperial Russia’s new capital, St. Petersburg grew up. 

Some of Tzar Peter’s workforce consisted of Finlanders brought from the surrounding areas. The Finlanders who managed to survive those harsh labor conditions ended up as part of the new city’s earliest inhabitants. 

By the end of the 1800s St. Petersburg’s Finnish community had grown into more than 30,000 Finlanders. 

Additionally, due to the same war, several Siberian communities, including Omsk, Tomsk, Barnaul, Irkutsk and others, received a large number of prisoners-of-war. Among them were large numbers with homesites in Finland. 

Up to the revolution these sites had active Lutheran parishes with church buildings marking their presence both past and present.

It is only after the death of Peter the Great that Johannes Vitus Bering, the Dane in Russian service, was sent to explore Siberia’s North Pacific coastlines, to then on his second expedition sight the Alaska coastline near Kayak Island.

Contributed by Marika Enckell

The Farm House Parlour

During the Canadian Friends of Finland Runeberg Celebration Jan, 31^st we were shown a picture of  Runeberg's parlour with its antique furniture. The following discussion about the fact that the parlour was used mainly for receiving guests reminded me of an experience in my childhood. I often visited a farm in Lapinjärvi parish in southern Finland. The farm was larger than many other farms in the area. It was run by my Aunt Martta after her husband had died from a heart attack.

One Sunday winter afternoon in 1937, when I was 12 my aunt intended to visit some neighbour farms by horse and sled. She invited me to come along for the drive. There was ice on the roads. Suddenly the horse slipped and fell. It couldn't get a foothold and remained lying in its harness. 

There was a small farm house nearby and my aunt told me to run to the house for help. I ran towards the closest door which was the main entrance of the house. Aunt Martta shouted at me, "Not the main door, you idiot, go to the kitchen door."

I should have known not to go to the front door. Although growing up in a town, Loviisa, I had seen some of the smaller farm houses. If they were not very poor they often had a parlour, which, especially during the winter, was not heated. In the room there sometimes were one or two pieces of often inherited antique furniture. There may have been a piano, which didn't fare all too well in the cold. The family's activities took place in the roomy kitchen which held a large table with benches, used for taking meals and other activities.

We got assistance from the farmer and the horse was helped on its feet. After that the farmer's wife had served coffee, while excusing herself for not inviting us into the parlour. We thanked them and we continued our trip. 

Posted by CFF member and board director Ulf Fagerlund

One of Finland's most recognized tunes - Säkkijärven Polkka

Säkkijärven polkka, the program's signature tune, has a history of its own and is probably one of the most recognized tunes in Finland.  It played an important part during the Continuation War (1941-45) and is said to have saved most of the infrastructure in Viipuri.  The Russians had laid many mines which started exploding as the Finns reoccupied the city. The Finns discovered that most mines were equipped with a radio receiver and three tuning forks that detonated the mine when a specific musical chord was transmitted by radio.  The YLE studios ( the Finnish Broadcasting Company), experimented with ways to counter the Russian signals and started sending interfering signals through stronger transmitters.  From the 3rd of August 1941, special radio transmitters played Säkkijärven polkka continuously until the following spring.  About ten radio triggered mines were manually destroyed in Viipuri, although a few buildings and a bridge were destroyed before the discovery.  

Säkkijärven polkka is based on a traditional  Finnish tune from Säkkijärvi village (now part of Russian Karelia).  The performer was Viljo Vesterinen, the famous accordion artist, recorded by the Finnish Broadcasting Company in June 1939.  The tempo of the music was fast enough and the melody varied enough to foil the frequency used by the Red Army.  The polkka was played about 1500 times before the mines had been detonated or their batteries were spent.

Historic Finnish Dates - 1155 - 1150

Historic Finnish Dates

I found this on the internet - if you click above it takes you to the site. I thought it was an interesting overview of early Finland.

1155 The First Crusade to Finland, launched by Swedes and led by the English bishop Henry and the Swedish king Erik (later canonized and made Sweden's patron saint, St.Erik, and Finland's patron saint, St.Henry, respectively ).

1156 According to the legend, bishop Henry is murdered by the peasant Lalli on the frozen surface of lake Köyliö.

1229The bishop's seat is moved from Nousiainen to Koroinen in the vicinity of modern Turku; the year is considered to be the founding year of Turku, which becomes the capital of the eastern half of the kingdom.

1249 After a pagan uprising, the Second Crusade to Tavastia (a province of western/central Finland) is launched by Birger Jarl and the pagans are defeated.

1293 The Third Crusade by Sweden's marsk Torgils Knutsson to Karelia, a province of eastern Finland, establishes the borderline between Catholic West and Orthodox East for the centuries to come. The castle and town of Viipuri/Viborg are founded to defend the border.

1323 The peace of Näteburg (Pähkinäsaari) between Sweden and Russia. Finland's eastern border is defined for the first time. It has been noted that Finland's borders were established in the Treat of Schlysselburg (today Petrokreport) in Finnish Pahkinasaari. (need to figure out how to get dots over the A's!)

1350 The first Swedish national law replaced the local provincial laws.

1362 Finns receive the right to participate in the election of the king.

1387/97-1523 The era of the Kalmar Union, with Finland, Sweden, Denmark Norway and Iceland united as a single kingdom.

1495-97 War against Russia. During a siege of Viipuri, just as the Russians are about to get over the city walls, St. Andrew's cross appears in the sky and the frightened Russians flee from battle. In reality, what happened was probably the exploding of a gunpowder tower.

1527 Reformation. Finland becomes Lutheran with the rest of Sweden.

1550 Helsinki founded by Gustav Vasa, but remains little more than a fishing village for more than two centuries.

A Pistol to Finland's Head - 1944 - 1956 by Ulf Fagerlund

On September 19, 1944, Finland and Russia signed in Moskow an armistice treaty which ended the Continuation War. One of the stipulations of the treaty was the agreement that the Soviet Union lease the area of Porkala on the Gulf of Finland for 50 years. The lease in fact lasted only from 1944 to January 26th 1956. The period is called the Parenthesis.

Porkala was the second naval base that the Soviets established on Finnish territory in the 1940’s. The Soviet Union also leased Hangö Udd after the winter war of 1939-1940, but the Finns reconquered it six months after the beginning of the Continuation War in June 1941. In 1944 the Soviets demanded the lease of Porkala instead in order to establish a naval base at Obbnäs in the archipelago. Its strategic importance, for the protection of the newly constructed naval base of St. Petersburg, was realized already by Peter the Great in the eighteenth century. The Russians had repeatedly tried to construct a block of the Gulf of Finland between Makilo, south of Porkala peninsula, and the island of Nargö, off the coast of Estonia at the narrowest point of the Gulf. But Finland and Estonia actually managed to construct it in top secret collaboration in the 1930’s. The lock held throughout the two wars, ultimately with Germany as an ally on the Estonian side.

The distance from the naval base at Obbnäs to Helsinki was a little over 20 kilometers, and the closeness of the base to the capital, defered to as a “pistol to Finland’s head, raised international concern.

The lease covered about 1000 square kilometers, a large part of which was inhabited by Swedish-speaking Finns. It included parts of several communities, namely two thirds of Kyrkslätt, a third of Sjundeå, practically all of the small community of Degerby (except for three villages) and smaller parts of Ingå and Esbo. The area affected had a population of 7000 persons which had to be evacuated. The inhabitants were officially informed by the Finnish authorities of the evacuation on September 19th, 1944, and thus had nine days in which to pack up and leave with all their belongings, including their grain stores and root crops still in the fields.

The Finnish state paid the farmers and houseowners compensation for their lost property and helped them to some extent with their resettlement. When the evacuees moved back in 1956, the state demanded repayment of the compensation. The people of Porkala were only a fraction of the total 400.000 persons displaced because of the two wars.

On September 28th the borders on both sides of the area were closed to traffic. The railway line between Helsingfors and Hangö, crossing the area, was kept in use, but all windows in the wagons were equipped with shutters and these had to be closed while passing through. Boat traffic in the part of the archipelago affected was forbidden. However, occasionally Finnish boats would stray into the area and were apprehended. The release of them usually involved cumbersome dealings with the Russian military authorities.

During the spring and summer of 1955 changes occurred in the political situation in Europe. As a consequence the strategic importance of Porkala diminished. In the fall of 1955 the decision was made to relinquish the Russian lease of the area and Porkala was returned to Finnish authorities on January 26th, 1956. The citizens of Finland also rejoyed when in that year the country became a member of United Nations and joined the Nordic Council.

A majority of the former owners moved back. The destruction which had occurred during the Parenthesis was enormous. The landscape was changed; many buildings had been destroyed while others had appeared and the fields were fallow. Those buildings that remained were painted in a specific hue of blue. All this became evident when the snow melted during the spring.

Today the concrete bunkers remind visitors of the Russian presence. The fields are as beautiful as ever, the houses are new or renovated. In 1997 the small Degerby Igor museum was built and, according to tourist sources, the interest in the Parenthesis is growing.

In 2006, 50 years have passed since the border was opened and, when my wife and I recently visited the museum, a guide was able to provided details of the period in five languages.

The Parenthesis of 1944-1956
Ulf Fagerlund