#north ostrobothnia

[mothmiso]

Finlande (2) (3) (4) by Samuel Raison

Via Flickr:

(1) Kokkojärvi (2) Kokkoperä (3) Linaigrettes dans la tourbière. / Cotton grass in the bog.     

[antephotos]

Räisälänmäentie, North Ostrobothnia, Finland

[thatlittledandere]

I love learning about regional differences within countries or even regions. It's an American internet so even I know that New Yorkers are on a whole 'nother level of exceptionalism and being from Brooklyn specifically Means Something. Tell me, how does the rest of Brazil feel about people from Rio? What sets the Quebecuois apart, aside from speaking French? Does South Africa have stereotypes about people speaking all the different languages they have? Does being closer to North or South America mean something in Mexico? Italy hasn't been one cohesive country for very long, how shattered is it still? Etc etc etc tell me about regional stereotypes in your dear homeland Ethiopia make it a fight if you have to. I want to HEAR

[becdecorbin]

#Etelä-pohjanmaan vaakuna heräsi henkiin

voi elämäääää

pohjanmaan vaakunat on muutenkin riemastuttavia. halutko yhden kärpän, kolme vai kenties kuusi?

straight ahead draws of Stoat

[flagwars]

Congratulations to Pyhäjoki for winning the Finland City Flag Wars!

It seems that my followers can’t get enough of the goose on Pyhäjoki, North Ostrobothnia’s flag! It defeated Raseborg with 55.6 percent of the vote. If your favorite Finnish city didn’t make it into the competition, they might get a chance with the Finland City Heraldry Wars, a tournament I will eventually hold. I will announce my next tournament soon, but I will be taking a bit of a break from tournaments before then and continue holding bonus polls in the meantime. Let me know if you think Pyhäjoki deserved the win and what flag or heraldry tournaments you would like to see in the future!

[inariedwards]

Museum news from Finland:

Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia donates its Sámi collection to the Sámi Museum Siida

The Sámi Museum Siida is the national museum with the responsibility for preserving the material and cultural heritage of Finland's Sámi people. The Sámi objects in the Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia's collections were mainly acquired between 1900 and the 1960s with the last ones added to the collections in the 1980s.

The first part of the donation, which includes the textile items of the collection, will be transferred to representatives of the Sámi museum in the collection facilities of the Museum of North Ostrobothnia on Tuesday, 16 January 2024.

– As the new collection and exhibition facilities of the Sámi Museum Siida are now completed, this seemed like a good time to donate the objects of Sámi origin back to the Sámi community, says Pasi Kovalainen, Director of Cultural heritage work at the Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia.

– The Sámi objects and their return have a profound meaning for the Sámi community. The donation is a significant addition to the oldest part of the Sámi Museum Siida's collections. We thank the Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia for this important decision, says Taina Pieski, Siida's Museum Director.

The collections of the Museum of North Ostrobothnia that include objects of Sámi origin date back to the early days of the only professionally run museum in Northern Finland. The objects were collected by Samuli Paulaharju (1875–1944), a folklorist and museum curator from Oulu. The collection was destroyed almost completely by two fires in the museum buildings in 1929 and 1940. After both fires, replacement items were collected in Lapland.

The collection of approximately 400 items now donated consists of Sámi textiles and utensils, including a goahti (traditional Sámi hut) and several sledges. The oldest items include a cheese mould from Enontekiö dating back to 1797 and rare crossbow stocks, the oldest of which dates back to 1730.

As a large part of the Sámi cultural heritage is still held by museums outside the Sámi region, the transfer of the collection is important for the Sámi community.

The Sámi material culture is both practical and beautiful in its diversity, and the museum objects contain a wealth of intangible knowledge about their manufacture and use. This knowledge is best preserved in Sápmi by the Sámi themselves. Through the study of artefacts, it is possible to revive the old craft traditions and techniques of the Sámi community, knowledge of materials and the vocabulary related to the production and use of the objects. The revitalisation processes are a form of communal and intergenerational transfer of learning and knowledge, and they contribute to the transmission of Sámi material and immaterial culture to future generations.

The transfer of Sámi collections to the Sámi Museum Siida over the past decade is a concrete demonstration of genuine cooperation between museums and the increased understanding of the importance of cultural heritage for the Sámi community.

[homunculus-argument]

Considering that Herald of Darkness is playing in my head on an infinite loop right now, I wanted to bring up something about the character of Ahti the janitor - first appearing in Control (2019) and again in Alan Wake 2 (2023): About the mystery of the weird shit that this man says.

The ones who have asked a native finn about the things Ahti says have probably heard the explanation that they're clumsy literal translations of finnish phrases, proverbs and sayings, that do not quite translate that well into english. Which brings us to the next question: Is he aware that he isn't making any sense whenever the proverb or expression doesn't translate? Or is his own english skill too limited to grasp that his best attempt to say what he means doesn't come through?

I'm going to be bold and say that he's definitely doing it on purpose. That's 100% something that a finnish boomer man who doesn't take himself too seriously would do. If we presume that he is an ordinary mortal human man, I would find it plausible that he started out doing his genuine best to express himself, but after it became apparent that he either cannot make himself understood, or the people around him don't respect him enough to try harder to pick up on him, he figured he might as well have fun with it.

Finns are generally stereotyped as blunt, timid, obedient to a fault and having no sense of humour at all, but if we assume that Ahti is natively from the region of North Ostrobothnia like his voice actor is, it's presumable that he would have the Ostrobothnian wry and dry sense of humour. A man like that would definitely think "well, you're all going to think I'm a weird foreigner who makes no sense anyhow, so weird and incomprehensible it is."

My favourite finnish expression, "ihmisiä pitää hämmentää ettei ne pala pohjaan" is a cooking pun as two of the words have a dual meaning. The less-literal, more abstract interpretation is "you must confuse people sometimes, so that they don't get burnt out in life", but I could picture Ahti saying the more literal meaning: "You must stir people sometimes, so they do not burn stuck on the bottom of the pot."

[beardedmrbean]

In early September, the daily Iltalehti opened an election compass on the US presidential election – a series of 12 policy position statements that readers could agree or disagree with to see which of the two candidates most closely align with their own views.

The question presented on the war in Ukraine asked whether the US should focus its policy on continuing armed support for Ukraine or on pursuing a quick peace.

Tallying up the results to date, the paper reported on Thursday that the difference between answers from tens of thousands of respondents was very slight, but a tiny majority (50.83%) of respondents were in favour of pursuing a quick path to peace, a policy espoused by the Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Iltalehti points out that pressuring Ukraine to come to the negotiating table has been seen, at least among Ukrainians, as supporting Russia's aims.

Although opinion polls in the US are extremely even at the moment, a substantial majority of respondents to Iltalehti's poll, just under 85 percent, favoured the election of Democrat (current Vice President) Kamala Harris.

Three-quarters of respondents to a poll published earlier this week by business lobby Eva said that if it was possible, they'd vote for the Democrat candidate in next week's US presidential election, while just one in ten said they would opt for her Republican rival.

Continuing guaranteed care

More than half of Finland's welfare regions plan to continue offering the current primary care guarantee, even though the law will no longer require it from the beginning of next year.

In a survey carried out by the Uutissuomalainen news group, 14 of the wellbeing services counties that provide healthcare and social services in Finland, said they aim to continue to guarantee residents access to non-urgent primary healthcare within a maximum time period of two weeks.

The regions pledging to continue providing the guarantee were those in West-Uusimaa, East-Uusimaa, Vantaa and Kerava, Pirkanmaa, Päijät-Häme, Kainuu, Kymenlaakso, South Karelia, South Savo, North Savo, Central Finland, Ostrobothnia, Lapland and Southwest Finland.

In contrast, in Satakunta and Kanta-Häme, it is estimated that general access to primary care will take longer. Similarly, the City of Helsinki reported that its target is to guarantee access to non-emergency care within 30 days.

Officials in Central Uusimaa, North Ostrobothnia and North Karelia, responded that service levels cannot be determined until next year's budgets are drawn up. The welfare region covering South Ostrobothnia did not take a clear position on whether or not it will continue to provide a care guarantee.

The wellbeing services county of Central Ostrobothnia did not respond to the survey.

Two notes, not one

Ilta-Sanomat carries an STT report that the Russian Embassy in Finland has sent two diplomatic notes to the Finnish Foreign Ministry regarding the confiscation of Russian state property in Finland, rather than the one first reported on Tuesday.

Mikko Kivikoski, Deputy Head of the Foreign Ministry's Department for Asia and Oceania, says that the notes were delivered on Monday and Tuesday. In addition, the Russian Embassy has been in contact with the Foreign Ministry by phone.

On Wednesday, Russia summoned the Finnish Ambassador to Russia, Marja Liivala, for talks in Moscow concerning the seizure of Russian state property in Finland.

According to Kivikoski, Russia raised the same issues in those talks as the Russian Embassy in Finland had previously raised with the Finnish Foreign Ministry and Finland's National Enforcement Authority.

"They have asked for more information about the National Enforcement Authority's actions and presented the protest, which they have also raised publicly in their press releases," Kivikoski told STT.

Hedgehogs under threat

Maaseudun Tulevaisuus tells readers that the global population of hedgehogs, those cute prickly little garden visitors, has declined dramatically and may soon become an endangered species.

The decline in their numbers is due to the deterioration of the their habitats, according to new a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The paper quotes University researcher Mervi Kunnasranta of the University of Eastern Finland as saying that no precise information available on the number of hedgehogs in Finland. However, reported road fatalities of hedgehogs and observations of hedgehog numbers by hobbyists suggest that their numbers have also sharply declined in Finland.

According to the IUCN report, hedgehog populations have declined in half of the countries where the animals live. Numbers are estimated to have fallen by between 16 and 33 percent over the last ten years.

The fall is the result of habitats being degraded in particular by intensive farming and increased construction.

The hedgehog is a protected species in Finland. The deliberate disturbance, capture or killing of protected animals and interference with nests, dens and eggs of affected species is a criminal offence.

"Miserable driving"

Snow and sleet, sleet and even "a decent snowstorm" are in the forecast for the rest of the week in Finland, points out Iltalehti.

Snowfall is expected especially in the north and central parts of the country, but may also occur in some areas in the south.

The paper describes potential driving conditions are "miserable" for the rest of the week. The traffic management agency Fintraffic has issued a reminder to those setting out on the roads to be aware of the slippery conditions.

"It is a good idea to change to winter tyres at as soon as possible, and to allow more time than normal for travel. Remember to maintain sufficient safety distances on the road to avoid rear-end collisions," says Sanna Piilinen, Head of Fintraffic's Road Traffic Centre.

[seafearing]

Finnic Swan Folkstories for Grömky.

Underneath the cut since this is really fucking long. Please no reblogs, this is a messy compilation lol.

Finnic peoples have always considered birds to be sacred. According to folklore, the entire universe was born from bluebill eggs. (The bluebill lays six golden eggs and one iron egg on the knee of Ilmatar. When Ilmatar shifts her knee, the eggs drop in the sea and become the earth, the sky, the stars, and the sun.) The most noble of birds were consecrated as messengers between different worlds. Birds were fortune tellers and "soul birds."

Map of Finnic peoples (Sometimes referred to as Baltic-Finnic peoples)

The Petroglyphs

The Finnic peoples who made the petroglyphs in Karelia's Äänisjärvi (Onega) have sometimes been called "the waterfowl people."

The first petroglyph is called "the swan and the egg." 44% of the petroglyphs in Äänisjärvi (Onega) are of waterfowl and most of them are of swans.

The Swan

The swan was the most sacred of all birds, especially the whooper swan, "laulujoutsen." In Finnish it translates to "song swan." Whooper swan is also Finland's national bird.

According to Karelian beliefs you shouldn't hurt a swan, and someone who hurt a swan would die soon.

The swan was the bringer of the spring, and as such it was of Godly origins, and so killing a swan was a crime that would lead to death. According to Sortavala folklore the swan was related to humans, and as such couldn't be eaten.

Because the swan has a long neck, it's possible that people thought it could see places where others couldn't. Because it is half submerged and half on the surface, it could look into the land of the dead, which was on the other side of the bottom of the lake according to some beliefs.

In Kalevala

Swans were one connection between Tuonela (the underworld) and this world. The Swan of Tuoni swam in the black river Tuoni in Tuonela. The dead crossing over to Tuonela through the river Tuoni would see this swan watching them from a distance.

Tuonelan Joutsen (The swan of Tuonela), Akseli Gallen-Kallela 1904-1905

The Story of the Tuoni Swan in Kalevala

The swan is swimming in the dark river of Tuoni. Anyone who tries to shoot the swan will be faced with death.

Lemminkäinen is tasked with shooting the swan of Tuoni. He leaves to shoot the swan, taking his bow and arrows with him. But then, the blind man preys upon him and throws a water snake through him and Lemminkäinen is thrown into the stream. The bloody boy of Tuoni slashes Lemminkäinen to pieces and tells him then to try and shoot the swan in the river.

Later, the mother of Lemminkäinen drags the pieces of his son from the river and brings him to life, though Lemminkäinen does not survive in all the folk stories.

Lemminkäisen äiti (The mother of Lemminkäinen), Akseli Gallen-Kallela 1897

This well known Finnish painting depicts the scene after the mother of Lemminkäinen has dragged the pieces of her son to the shore. You can see the river Tuoni with the swan of Tuoni in the background.

Notes

Kalevala itself is composed of Finnic folk stories.

It's a mixture of Karelian and Finnish folk stories, along with Ingrian and other Finno-Ugric folk stories, so it's not actually just Finnish folklore like people tend to assume.

Elias Lönnrot compiled the Kalevala in 1828–1835 of folk stories around Finland (Ostrobothnia, Finnish-Karelia [pre-war: North Karelia, South Karelia, Ladoga Karelia, Karelian Isthmus], Savonia, Kainuu), White Karelia, Olonet's Karelia, Ingria, and other areas.

Today, there is a prevailing perception that the Kalevala is a mixture of both Western and Eastern poetic traditions.

Post-war (1944) map of Eastern Finland, the Karelias and Ingria. Pre-war (1917-1944) Ladoga Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus were a part of Finland. Before 1917 Finland was a part of Russia as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland.

Lönnrot translated many Karelian poems into Finnish already in the recording situation and edited them into his own work. In that sense, it can be said that there has been cultural appropriation of Karelian poems.

During Lönnrot's time, the concept of "Finnish people" was broader than it is today. It also included Karelian, Ingrian and other Finnic peoples. When Lönnrot was compiling the Kalevala, Finland and the other Finnic areas were under Imperial Russian rule. The Kalevala played an important role in the forming of the written Finnish language and started a phenomenon in Finland called Karelianism that mirrored the national romanticism in Europe, culminating in Finland gaining independence in 1917 after the Russian Revolution.

The Kalevalamitta (the Kalevala meter, folk poetry that uses a form of trochaic tetrameter that leans heavily on alliteration) that the Kalevala is written in is thousands of years old, though on the basis of linguistic and historical grounds, it can only be said that it was born some time b.c.e. as it cannot be dated accurately. Great poetry singers like the White Karelian Arhippa Perttunen (1769-1841) could remember up to 6-10k verses of poems and spells, and the tradition was passed down through these great poetry singers in the communities for thousands of years. It's estimated that about 1/4 of Kalevala's poems come from Arhippa Perttunen. The tradition was already largely dying out when the recording efforts started around 1830 and continued to the 20th century. Around 80 000 verses were recorded, and they are all digitized into a database here.

The use of the Kalevalamitta slowly began to disappear from the area of Finland after the 16th-century reformation, when the Lutheran church banned the song tradition as pagan. Instead, the European style of poetry based on weights and rhymes spread to the area. The Kalevalamitta song tradition first disappeared from Western Finland and later from the rest of the area of Finland. In White Karelia, the Kalevalamitta song tradition was preserved the longest, but it has died out as well around 2017.

Nevertheless, Kalevalamitta poetry is still very present in culture, since common (and ancient) Finnish lullabies "Nuku nuku nurmilintu," and "Tuu tuu tupakkarulla," and children's songs like "Lennä lennä leppäkerttu" all use the Kalevalamitta and are in constant use in Finland.

Wow did u actually read this. Impressive!

So there! This thing is compiled of many (possibly unreliable lmao) sources on Karelian/Finnish/Kalevala folklore regarding swans and it's been hastily put together and translated so <3 and this might be really bad or whatever, I'm no academic.

2/5 of Finnish people have Finnish-Karelian roots due to the war, so a lot of Finnish-Karelian traditions like the Karelian pies are very common throughout Finland, and Kalevala is a big part of Finnish national identity due to a lot of complicated matters. But that's an entire essay of its own. Okay, bye!

[covenawhite66]

Different tardigrade species have adapted to specific habitats all over the Earth, from mountains to oceans to ice sheets.

A previously unknown species adapted for sand dunes – and offer new evidence suggesting some tardigrades find habitats to colonize by riding inside snails.

The newly discovered tardigrade hails from Rokua National Park in the North Ostrobothnia region of Finland, where researchers found it living on lichen and moss in a dune forest.

Tardigrades are tiny, incredibly tough animals that can withstand a wide range of dangers, including many that would obliterate most other creatures known to science.

[mothmiso]

Finlande (2) (3) (4) by Samuel Raison

[sootyships]

i want to buy this book for my mom also but. 😭

WHY is it so

it didn't even have a sad ending or anything i'm just. so overcome with emotions. it's just so—so—

You have family, they leave you places. And you have to decide how tied you are to them. If you want to continue to be.

I will one day inherit forest in central Finland, where my father's mother was from, and I will inherit the lakeshore house in the municipality my father's father's family has so long lived. The lakeshore house and its lakeshore sauna are new, relatively speaking. My grandparents bought them, to have a house ready for their old days. The farm itself, that went to the oldest brother, and is on its way to his children in turn. And my mom's farm, the one her parents bought from the family who had long lived there, and still live on the surrounding plots around the main plot that now is ours? (Except for the back fields, those my aunt sold.) What my mom has will go to either me, or the middle brother. Middle brother would probably be best, because he has no father, in a practical sense, but that depends on if he is even interested. The rest of us will inherit things from our fathers, either way, so we have less need for the farm. Of course, the lakeshore house has no fields, but I'm not much for agriculture. Maybe a little garden—I tried growing things on my balcony. We added a heirloom strand of rhubarb from up north in the garden at the farm, that I had grown from seed on my balcony. The farm house has a stable, too, if I ever wanted to keep any animals. There's no room for animals at the lakeshore house, but it has a garden. Even if I think I like the one at the farm better. And I lived at the farm most of my childhood. The rest was mostly in Ostrobothnia, and here will my youngest brother have a farm from his father.

I'm definitely the sentimental sort. The houses of my great-grandparents that were sold, the places my mom remembers from her childhood, knowing that they're all gone, torn down or made their own by others, it's to me a shame.

... So the book felt very familiar. Personal. Even if I have no farm that's been in the family for hundreds of years through the famines and wars to inherit.

[nyxraex]

Star Stable Online - OC [Picrew]

Saga L. Ojanperä | 5th Soul Rider | Aideen Reincarnated

Nickname(s):

Shutterbug (by Imane Highcantle)

Horse Lady (by Xin)

Little Flea | Little Dove (by Ydris)

Bug (by Wynna Sunbeam)

Age: 21 DoB: 15th of April, 20XX Constellation: The Rune (Jorvik), Aries (West) PoB: Oulu, North-Ostrobothnia; Finland Resides: Valedale Village, Valedale; Jorvik Height: 197cm | 6'6" Weight: ~95kg | ~209.4 lbs

Family: - Timo Ojanperä ( father ) - Suusan Ahola ( mother ) - Unnamed biological father - 5 younger sisters - 2 unnamed paternal aunts - Jaakko Ojanperä (older paternal first-cousin) - Unnamed maternal uncle ( estranged ) - Unnamed maternal grandparents ( estranged )

Horses: - Starfinder [ Soul Horse | Jorvik Warmblood | Mare | 11 yo | 19.8 hh ] Personality:

[ TBA ]

Trivia:

- Was thought to have albinism, but after multiple visits to different Doctors it was concluded that she just ended up inheriting some dormant genes causing the lack of pigmentation in her skin, hair and eyes. - Her name consists of 1 name per parent's choice: [ Saga | mom who wanted to give her a name that isn't from her culture ] [ Loviisa | dad who wanted to honor his late maternal grandma ]

[blur-from-the-north]

September 15, 2018. Somewhere on road in North Ostrobothnia, Finland. Olympus T-100.

[flagwars]

Finland City Flag Wars: Finals

[europeposts]

Kuusamo

Town in Finland

Kuusamo is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in Koillismaa, the northeastern part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 14,961 and covers an area of 5,808.92 square kilometres of which 830.81 km² is water. The population density is 3 inhabitants per square kilometre.

Region: North Ostrobothnia

Sub-region: Koillismaa

Snow-covered trees in Kuusamo

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Kuusamo is a major center for winter sports and receives approximately a million tourists every year. One of the largest ski resorts in Finland, Ruka, is situated in Kuusamo. Ruka is also the host of many international competitions in ski jumping, cross-country skiing, and Nordic combined. The 2005 World Championships of Freestyle Skiing was held in Kuusamo. Kuusamo Airport is located 6 kilometres (4 mi) northeast of Kuusamo's town centre.

The Church of Kuusamo, Memorial to civilians killed in the Second World War

View from the Iivaara hill towards Lake Iijärvi in Kuusamo, Finland

Kuusamo lies in the east of Finland in the Northern Ostrobothnia region on the border with Russia. The town of Kuusamo is only a small part of the municipality. The neighboring municipalities of Kuusamo are Suomussalmi in the south, Taivalkoski and Posio in the west, Salla in the north and Russia in the east. The nearest large towns are Rovaniemi, 192 kilometres (119 mi) northwest, Oulu 215 km (134 mi) southwest, and Kajaani 247 km (153 mi) south. The distance to the capital Helsinki is 796 km (495 mi).

Marshland near Liikasenvaara, The Kuusamo centre, Kuusamo Market Square, A cottage at the Rukatunturi fell

Ruka in winter, The Ruka village, National road 20 in Kuusamo, Rukatunturi ski jumping hill

Kuusamo is the venue of several international winter sports competitions. In Ruka skiing there is a stadium with the Rukatunturi-hill (HS142) and a smaller-K64 ski jumping hill and lighted trails and a biathlon facility. Since 2002, the World Cup kick-off in ski jumping and Nordic combined and cross country skiing World Cup races in Ruka Nordic Opening in late November at a joint event in Kuusamo instead. 2006's 16,000 spectators, the competition. Ruka in 2005, the Freestyle Skiing World Cup instead.

Kuusamo - Wikipedia

Kuusamo, Finland by Shaun Young