Fall / Herbst – Original & Art / Kunst

Hundreds and thousands of migrating birds gather each year in September on the large fields of Viikki Bay in Helsinki, close to where I live. Helsingin Sanomat, the main Newspaper in Finland, took a video of a tremendous cloud of Canada-Geese a few hours ago.

Elections / Wahlen

On Sunday we will elect the new “Eduskunta”, parliament. Yle News, which is the English branch of Finnish broadcasting YLE, has interviewed all party leaders on the most pressing questions. Am Sonntag wird in Finnland das neue Parlament gewählt. 200 Abgeordnete in direkter Wahl. Yle News, die englische Ausgabe des Finnischen Senders YLE, hat alle…

Penkkarit

Wenige Tage, bevor in Deutschland die Karnevalsumzüge starten, gibt es jährlich in Finnland, und vor allem in Helsinki, eine eigene Art Umzug: Penkkarit. Auch hier werden Süßigkeiten unter das Volk geworfen und die Teilnehmer und Fahrzeuge sind “verkleidet”. Allerdings handelt es sich nicht um Narren, sondern um Abiturienten, die sich nun auf die letzten Abiturprüfungen…

Haitari music

Summer is inevitably also coming to Finland and with it comes music festivals all over the country. The Finnish music scene is very diverse. Haitari, the accordion or rather the Russian bayan-type version of it, is found regularly in Finnish Folk music. Here are five different musicians with very different performances. I like them all.…

Itsenäisyyspäivä

Okay, this is too late. Unfortunately I was travelling on 6.12. when Finland celebrates independence day. But as independence doesn’t end on that day, I’ll post this music piece today. Composer is, of course, Jean Sibelius, it’s called, of course, Finlandia. During the last years of Finland being a part of Russia, this music was…

Double or half?

I just realized with full force that I do have now double citizenship.   Something I never intended nor expected to happen in my life. Or am I half German and half Finn now? At least I don’t feel anymore like a real German, but I am not a Finn, either, and never will be. Although,…