Spring Can Really Hang Me Up the Most….

It never fails, as soon as Spring takes her first halting steps, i am gripped with by a wistful homesickness that gnaws a chink into a wall that has successfully hidden a profound longing. I miss my homeland in a way that cannot be satisfied by spending hours scanning photos of landscapes, lake-front cottages (kesämökki), and the Helsinki market (tori)…and yet, here i am, pathetically feeding my homesickness.

The granite emerges from under the snow and beckons to be clambered upon in order to feel the spring breezes declare victory over winter.

There is something about the way the Finnish air feels at springtime. It's like the caress of a friend who knows & loves you. Though the lakes are still far too cold to dip into, there is the giddy anticipation of sunlit summer nights and Saturday evening saunas; languid rows on the lake, with frequent stops just to listen to the gentle lapping of the waves against the hull of the boat while peering into the clear waters for a glimpse of little fish.



Finns welcome Spring in such jubilant way. Vappu is perhaps the most raucous celebration, usually headed up by university students engaging in a panoply of mayhem & tomfoolery. There is much drinking, singing and laughter. Joy abounds as the Finns shed their winter cocoons and prepare to welcome the approaching summer.



Children are treated to balloons and the first opportunity in a long time to go outside without their thick winter jumpsuits. Parks are teeming with people, music, color - unbridled jubilation.




Grammar schools end the school year with heartfelt ceremonies where children sing about the beauty of spring (Suvivirsi). My heart quivers with the same joy i felt as a child, whenever i hear this song. The connection that the vast majority of Finns have to their Creator is so inherent in their DNA that it is easy to take it for granted, and yet, i don't believe that there is a Finn alive who does not sense this connection without being profoundly moved.

As summer approaches, Finns begin looking to abscond to their summer cottages (kesämökki). There is a sacredness to the cottage vacation which does not permit the intrusion of business. Finns spend a healthy span of time completely untethered from their offices and work obligations. Colleagues would not dream of disrupting that time with work-related phone calls or e-mails. Businessmen shed their suits and ties in favor of a well worn pair of Nokia gumboots (kumisaappaat) and A-shirts. Life is simple and precious. The time is spent fishing, berry & mushroom picking, "cooking up" the sauna, rowing, and roasting sausages (HK'n sininen) over a campfire.

Finnish forests are full of wild strawberries and blueberries, cloudberries and cranberries, chanterelles, brittle gills and porcini. Poisonous mushrooms abound as well, so it is always best to pick with a knowledgeable companion.

There is nothing quite like sautéed fresh mushrooms in heavy cream, served over dill-boiled yellow potatoes & grilled lake fish, followed by bowl of berries in lightly sugared milk.

The simplicity of cottage life and the quiet immersion into nature's rhythm balances and restores a person unlike anything else.

There are no agendas or schedules, one simply goes with the flow. Anxieties and stresses evaporate upon exhaling, replaced by breathing in tranquility and contentment.

The aim is just to be, authentically, simply and thankfully: Just Be.

The beauty of it all is that everyone in Finland truly understands and permits this to happen. There is a joke that the Russians invaded Finland one summer and marched triumphantly into Helsinki only to find that everyone had gone to their cottages for summer holidays, rendering the victory rather pointless, so the demoralized Russians returned home. While some will insist that vacations are permitted in the States as well, i would contend that they are tolerated and usually come at a price many would rather not pay: from the formidable amount of office related pre-vacation prep to the hellacious volume of post-vacation e-mail, the paltry two-week escape suddenly turns from a blessing into a curse. To me this communicates a kind of disrespect or a passive-aggressive jealousy of the intending vacationer…yet, i realize that much of it happens just as a matter of course because of the way we conduct business and how our values and priorities are set up. But enough of the unflattering comparisons and back to my idyllic homeland.

Summers are preciously short, so not one moment is wasted. There are festivals all over Finland to satisfy every music preference, outdoor museums and theaters. As a land of the midnight sun, children can play in the parks well into the night and sidewalk cafes bustle with life till all hours. The otherwise serious and retiring Finns pack the dance halls (tanssilava) and gather around massive bonfires (kokko) during St. John's Festival (Juhannus), also known as Midsummer.

While summer is undoubtedly a beautifully mystical time in Finland, and therefore the best time to be there, i would never pass up an opportunity to go home. I can only hope that gas prices will fall so low that even paupers can afford a plane ticket across the Atlantic…In the meantime, there are always Google images.