Sports and saunas

Ice hockey, sauna, beer and beautiful landscapes of Finland are the first things to come to my mind when thinking of the word finnishness.

Ice hockey

You would be surprised that the Finnish baseball is actually the national sport. But instead of that almost everyone in Finland breaths the sport called ice hockey. Every year huge part of our population gathers around the pubs, bars and TV’s when Finland is taking part of the International ice hockey world championships. In those two weeks all the media is focused on our national team called “Leijonat”. In that period of time everyone turns into professional analyzers of this great sport. In social media people share photos, memes and highlights of the tournament. Except the matter we have never won the Olympics Finns are pretty good playing this sport. Finland has won three times total the International ice hockey championships, 1995, 2011 and 2019, which was this year!

Finns celebrating at the market square.

Sauna

Sauna might be the most Finnish thing to do and experience, especially in the winter time with the hole in the ice called “avanto”. Nothing beats the feeling going to frozen water after warm sauna. You feel like a newborn after that. Some also says that there is three or even four saunas per capita in Finland. And when you think about all the private and public saunas, cottages and apartment buildings that has a sauna you are not so surprised about the quantity of them anymore.

The quantity of public saunas in Finland.
Sauna and Avanto.

Beer

Alcohol is also combined a lot to these two subjects above. Watching ice hockey with your friends at home or in a public place you could feel an urge to have a beer in your hand. When in sauna you might also need a one good cold beer to accompany you with. If you think closely there is always a good time for one good beer to have with your friends or by yourself. Also “Kalsarikännit” as a word itself is actually invented in Finland which came a viral hit in the world few years back. Yeah, nothing more Finnish than drinking yourself wasted home alone. Beautiful.

Nature

Finnish nature is actually mostly forests and lakes. You actually might have heard about the country of a thousand lakes. That’s Finland. They say Finland has also the one of the world’s cleanest waters. Can’t argue with that. Also almost everywhere you go you always have a forest not far away. There is also a plenty of places to go hiking in Finland. Especially the northern part is full of national parks, paths, forests and mountains to experience.  When arriving to Lapland you cannot miss the reindeer’s hoarding around. Just be cautious when driving a car.

The northern lights in Lapland.

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