Church Boat and Seurasaari Bridge

Long time ago the church required people to maintain this kind of church boats (kirkkovene) so that they could easily go to a church in a land that has many lakes, islands and a long shoreline on the Baltic Sea.

Today the boats have more historical and recreational significance. One of the best known summer events of the country is Sulkavan soudut in South-Eastern Finland. About 8000 people take part in the world’s biggest rowing competition where they travel a distance of about 60 kilometers. In a boat like this it takes somethings like four hours and it will take much longer if you do it alone. This year the competition will be held on 9-12 July.

Handmade Mignon Eggs Since 1896

There is no suprise inside a Mignon egg unless you expect it to be an ordinary egg. It is just chocolate inside a real eggshell and the chocolate is one of the best I've ever tasted.

Finns have been enjoying this Easter delicacy since 1896 when Karl Fazer brought the idea from Germany. Technically speaking in the European Union this can’t be called a chocolate product so it is “nougat made with almonds and nuts poured into a real eggshell.”

In the heavily automized self service society of Finland it is surprising that these eggs are still handmade. A person can do about twenty eggs per hour. In a country of 5 million people, 2 million eggs are produced every Easter.

I bought a lot of these and one of the intentions was to take photos of them. Before I had shot a single egg,  I noticed that I have only one left. Normally it is really easy to remove the eggshell but of course this time it wasn’t and then it can get pretty messy. I was not able to follow my original idea, let’s hope there still be some eggs left in the shops after the Easter.

Finnish Orthodox Church

Interior of Uspenski Cathedral, the main Finnish orthodox church.

Finnish orthodox church is one of the two state religions although only about 1% of the people belong to it. It was part of the Russian orthodox church till 1923 but today there is a clear separation. For example, Russians living in Helsinki are planning to build their own church here that wouldn’t be part of the Finnish orthodox church.

For Finnish orthodox, Easter is the most important event of the year.

Cycling In The Snow

There are many who cycle all year around.

The majority of of the bicycles have been placed into winter storage.

Laskiaissunnuntai

Waiting for the turn at Taivaskallio. I've used to seeing just a hill full of children going down so this looks a bit too organized.

Laskiainen has the same roots as Catholic carnival and mardi gras. For many Finns it means being outdoors with the kids and sleds are an essential part of the fun. Many other activities are organised for children like horse sleight rides. At Taivaskallio there was a long queue for a short ride in a fire engine.

People eat pea soup and laskiaispulla which is is a bun with whipped cream and either strawberry jam or almond filling. One of the ultimate fights in Finland is which of the the two is the orthodox filling for a laskiaispulla.