My May in Finland: Finnish celebration of May Day - Vappu, Ukrainian band Balaklava Blues playing for democracy and more
May has passed and I´m here with an overview of my doings, new findings and tips from this month!
Vappu
May began with the celebration of Vappu. It´s a mixture of various traditions, and for a foreigner it´s not easy to find an explanaition for all of them. Firstly, it means partying hard with a lot of beer. Celebrating starts on Vappuaatto, the last day of April. Important Vappu place is Kauppatori (market square) in Helsinki where there is a fountain with a statue of Havis Amanda, also known as Manta. On Vappuaatto at 6pm there is a ceremony, when ylioppilaslakki (high school graduation hat) is put on the head of the Havis Amanda statue. With this act, all people put on their ylioppilaslakki. Then the event continues with drinking beer, fermented limonade sima, eating makkarat (sausages), munkit (donuts) and tippaleipä (funnel cake).
It was my first Vappu in Finland. First May was on Monday, so we used the longer weekend and spent it at the countryside. I noticed the first signs of Vappu coming already on Thursday. In shops there were many kinds of balloons for children - it´s also a typical Vappu thing that kids get balloons. There were so many nice kinds, I think I would pick a balloon with a Moomin.
We celebrated Vappu with sima and tippaleipä. I also tried to make homemade sima! The basis of sima are lemons, sugar and water. I tried to do it a bit healthier and replaced some sugar with honey. Then the yeast is added and after a few days the sparkling drink is created. To each bottle one must put some raisins. When they go up, it means that there are already bubbles and the drink is ready. It´s fun to make ones own limonade and follow the process. I might try it also with different fruit.
At the countryside
We spent some time at countryside with Petri´s mum and her husband. We had luck for warm sunny weather. We were even present in very important moment when the ice completely dissapeared from the lake Saimaa. Petri´s mum and her husband were everyday going to the shore to check the situation and when the ice was gone, we had a together toast.
When we are at countryside, one thing is for sure. We will have delicous food. We had a feast on Vappuaatto, and I contributed with salad made from freshly picked goutweed. Spring is ideal time for using wild plants in the kitchen.
We were also doing some countryside work, such as ranking leaves, preaparing area for growing korvasienet (brain mushrooms, false morels), draining roads to make them drivable.
In the coniferous forest, we found the most beautiful flower of spring kangasvuokko (spring pasque flower).
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| Kangasvuokko (spring pasque flower) |
Mushrooming
Mushroom season has started with korvasienet (false morels, brain mushrooms). We found a bunch in Nuuksio and more of them in Evo. I like them a lot and discovered them only in Finland. Finns are not afraid of mushrooms and pick even those which are challenging for preparation. Korvasienet must be boiled twice before further cooking, each time for ten minutes. Otherwise they are highly poisonous. Even the steam coming from the pot is bad, so it´s necessery to leave the room and open windows while they are boiling.
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| Korvasieni (false morel) |
On one walk in Nuuksio, this conspicuous orange jelly fungus on a twig caught my eye. I think it´s very beautiful. It´s Pikkusarvikka (Calocera cornea).
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| Pikkusarvikka (Calocera cornea) |
Culture
We visited an exhibition in Kämp Galleria of Duane Michals – The Portraitist. I very much liked the style of the photos which were telling a story. He made portaits of many famous people such as Meryl Streep, Andy Warhol, Barbra Streisand. These are just a few examples. Below many of the photos were messages, thoughts and poems written by hand.
Then we were on the World Village Festival where we had a chance to see a performance of the Ukrainian band Balaklava Blues. Their music is inspired by Ukrainian traditions and spiced up with their own style. I enjoyed it very much! It wasn´t only about the great music, they were playing for democracy and between songs telling about the war in Ukrainia. I think it´s very good when artists use their voice to draw attention to important world issues.
On the way to the festival, there was in a park a big flee market. People were having on the grass and small square blankets with clothes, books, dishes, electronics and many other kind of items for sale. It´s a nice concept of re-use. Second hands and flee markets are great in Finland because Finns are environmentally conscious. This is something I very much like about Finland.
Food
In Esplanadi (Esplanlade park) in Helsinki was a food festival of Asian cuisine. We happened to be there by chance, and we didn´t hesitate to taste some specialities. We enjoyed noodles with vegetable and tofu right there on a park bench, and we also took some spring rolls with us home.
In the World Village Festival, we tasted African cuisine: big plate with fried vegetable, bananas, beans and rice. As a dessert we had pistachio baklavas and coffees from a special stand with coffee and tea.
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May was on the wave of asparagus. For us the green one which I like much more than the white one. Petri has a very good technique of frying firstly the end parts, then adding middle parts and as the last comes the asparagus tips. This is how all parts are well cooked and stay crunchy.
We also bought at Hakaniemen tori (Hakaniemi market) rhubarb and I made a pie from it. Very simple one using puff pastry and rahka (curd).
With warmer days I remembered a fruit salad. I prepare it from pineapple compote and fresh fruit of different sweetness. I like to add chopped celery stalks which gives to the salad interesting edge and extra crunch.
Finding of the month from the candy section are the new Tutti Frutti Forest Animals from Fazer. The shapes of jelly bonbons are so cute, there is for example moose, squirrel, lynx, fox, hedgehog. Flavours are blueberry, apple, gooseberry, strawberry and unfortunately also salty liquorice. These Forest Animals candies dissapeared very fastly, in the bag are left only wolfs and badger of salty liquorice flavour.
And of course ice cream season is on! Sunny day in Finland = ice cream.
Interesting observations
By the sea shore in Helsinki I saw this nesting tube for Mallard. There is very little sheltering vegetation on the littoral, so it´s a good idea.
Tips for watching
Iron lady (2011)
In this movie stars Meryl Streep who portrays the personal life and career of Margaret Thatcher.
Tom Jones (2023)
This is a miniseries of four episodes. It´s based on a book called "The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling" by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. The book was firstly published in 1749.
Before sunrise (1995), Before sunset (2004), Before midnight (2013)
This is a trilogy of romantic movies. It´s expecional in a way that it follows one story in about ten years intervals and the main couple is acted by the same actors. In the first movie, young French woman meets a young American guy in a train going to Vienna. We can track their fates, lives and relationship, and how they developed and changed.
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