This is Finland

Timo Aallikko pictured as a happy new owner of a little bulldog puppy Burt (Wheelback's Big Easy).

Photo: Outi Heikkilä-Toni

The people

If you are not from Scandinavia, then you propably don't know much about us - the Finns. It is often though that we are a part of Russia. Wrong! Neither are we a colony of Sweden.

It is said that the Finns originate from Russia, where they lived for hundreds of years ago in the banks of the river Volga. From there our people immigrated to the west, to Baltia and Scandinavia. Part of the people stayed in Baltia, and part of the people sailed across the Gulf of Finland to the part of Scandinavia that nowadays in known as Finland.

Finns and Estonians are relatives to each other. The languages spoken in these two countries - Finnish and Estonian - are both so called Finno-Ugrian languages. Many Estonians understand finnish, and Finns usually understand some Estonian. Hungarian language sounds completely different from Finnish, but the basic grammar of the language is the same. However, Finns do not understand Hungarian, and neither do the Estonians.

So the Finns and Hungarians are distant relatives to each other, too. We have the same origins in the banks of the river Volga (or so do the history researches say), but hundreds of years have formed the cultures in our countries very different from each other. However, it could be said that the finnish temperament resembles more the hungarian temperament than estonian temperament. There is a certain melancholy undertone in Finns, it is often said that we are not so open and do not socialize so well with people as for example our neihgbours, the Swedes. We are not so good in "small talk". There is also something called the finnish "sisu", which means that we not not give in easily. People often refer to the word sisu as they talk about the Winter War in 1941 and how the Finns defended their country from Russian invasion.

Finns are often described as hard-working, reliable, a bit serious and shy people. Of course we are all not like that, there are differences is people's personalities as everywhere in the world. There are also differences in people in different parts of Finland. Our history with Russia effects the eastern part of Finland and our history with Sweden effects the western part of Finland.

Finland is a bilingual country. Approxiamately 6 % of Finns speak Swedish as their mother tongue. There are also other official languages in Finland. The Sami people are the original people living in the northern part of Finland (as also in Sweden and Norway), so it is natural that the people living in Lappland and speaking Sami have the right to their own language.

As Finland is situated "in the corner of Europe" and our language is very difficult to understand, we did not have many immigrants before joining the European Union in 1992. After this the amount of our immigrant population has risen, and at the moment about 3,5 % of our population of little over 5 million inhabitants are immigrants. The biggest group on immigrants comes from Russia. There are also many Estonians, Swedes and Somalis in Finland.

Finnish culture is very straightforward. We tend to say what we think, or we don't say nothing at all. Finns do seem to get on quite well with norwegians, dutchmen, poles, hungarians and japanese. Nowadays finnish people travel a lot around the world, we are interested in other cultures. Most Finns talk English, and some also Swedish and other European languages. Elderly people speak German. Not many finns speak Russian.

Finns are quite well educated. This is due to the educational system with equal opportunities for all. Most people have completed comprehensive school, and nowaydays most young people also continue their studies in Upper Secondar Schools or Vocational Institutions. Education is very highly valued in Finland.

Every country has their famous citizens. Some decades ago Finland was known for athletes like Paavo Nurmi, composers like Jean Sibelius, authors like Tove Jansson (author of the famous "Muumipeikko" character which is very popular in Japan) and architecs like Alvar Aalto and Eero Saarinen (who designed the monumental Gateway Arch in St Louis). We are proud to add a new name on the list. Nobel prize winner, president Martti Ahtisaari represents well the values that finns should be proud for - honesty and hard work. It is a well-met challenge to try to perform things well, may it be negotiating peace in the most restles parts of the world or breeding dogs. We want to do things well, and honestly.