Getting Hot

Have you ever tried a sauna? There aren’t many of them in Britain, but in Finland they’re extremely popular; nearly every house and flat has one.

A sauna is usually a small wooden room with benches around the sides. Stones are placed on a heater in the middle of the room until they are really hot. People then sit on the benches and pour water over the hot stones. This makes the whole room really hot (about 100ºC) and creates steam, which makes the people sweat. This may sound strange to us, but it’s actually extremely healthy, getting the skin very clean.

After having a sauna, Finns like to cool off. In towns and cities they might have a cold shower, but in the country they often jump into a freezing lake, or even a pile of snow!

Getting Excited

When they’re not relaxing in a sauna, just about all Finns love to celebrate. They have New Year (January 1st), Easter, May Day’s Eve and May Day (May 1st), Midsummer’s Eve (June 20th), Independence Day (December 6th) as well as Christmas Day and lots of summer festivals.

One of the most popular festivals of the year in Finland is on May Day’s Eve. It is held on the first weekend of May and celebrated by massive street carnivals. Finns, young and old, go into the streets and blow up bright balloons and wear funny masks to celebrate the beginning of spring.

Perhaps the biggest celebration for Finns is on Midsummer’s Eve on June 20th, marking the longest day of the year. Everyone who lives in towns and cities heads for their country cottages, where they burn huge bonfires at midnight, dance and roast sausages.

Midsummer is very popular with kids as they are allowed to stay up late to help build the bonfire. They also get to drink a special kind of yeast and raisin-flavoured lemonade called ‘sima’.

Finland is the land of summer festivals, and every small village, town or city has its own special celebrations. These vary all over the country, but include strawberry carnivals, beer and wine festivals, bird-spotting contests, shoe-throwing contests and even wife-carrying competitions!

Getting away from it All!

We all know how important reading is. How else would you have learned all of these fabulous facts about Europe without reading the 'We are from' website?!

Well, the Finns are also great bookworms, and love to read about any topic or subject they can get their hands on. When they have spare time and want to relax, many Finns like nothing more than going to a coffee shop or bar and reading a book. They even read in the sauna to pass the time while they sweat.

Despite their love of books, Finns also spend a lot of time outside. They love nature, and most of them travel into the countryside at weekends and in the holidays. There are small wooden cottages everywhere in Finland - by the lake and sea, in the forests and on small islands. The cottages can be very basic – they often don’t have a television or even an inside toilet! The Finns don’t mind though; they go there to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet.

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