This is my first blog post ever, so bare with my because it might be a little unorthodox. I want to begin with painting a picture into your mind, which will hopefully help you understand the modest yet fierce nature of a Finn from my own perspective.
Imagine it’s 7AM, you just woke up and it’s completely dark outside and -25 degrees. The Finn waking up might mumble something along the lines of “Perkele” and proceed to get up and start the day regardless. He pours a cup of pitch black coffee into a cup and proceeds to complete whatever morning tasks he has to do before heading to work. It might not be the easiest task to wake up that early to a dark and cold winter morning, but he does it anyways because he knows that it needs to be done in order to uphold the beautiful society that the Finns have built,
That made up story might not be so far from the truth for many Finns, as in my experience we are a very modest yet fierce and proud nation. This has been proven by our history, for example Finland has been under oppression for many many years, yet we still have prevailed as a nation. In my opinion, our history has shaped Finland as a nation in such way, that the core values of our society are for example caring for eachother, contributing to the society and respecting everyone. Yet we Finns rarely flaunt or show off, despite being of the most safe and clean nation in the world, and for me this is what Finnishness is all about.
Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect society, and Finland as a nation has it’s flaws as well. Things like depression and alcoholism are quite common in Finland, and are a part of Finnishness as well. Finns also have a quite humouristic approach to coping with such problems, even though we are often percieved as very serious people.
This is what first came to mind when thinking about Finnishness, described in my own words. It is also good to remember that there are as many views on Finnishness as there are people in Finland, but this is my experience.
For the ending I’d like to add some photos of the beautiful landscape in Finland, which in my opinion has to be mentioned when talking about Finnishness.
Land of a thousand lakes.
Views from Saaga tunturi.
Reindeer in Lapland wilderness.
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