उप्पो-Nalle

Uppo-Nalle is a series of Finnish children's novels by the Finnish author Elina Karjalainen.

The main character in the books is Uppo-Nalle, an animate teddy bear. The bear was named Uppo-Nalle (Finnish for "sunken bear") because he was originally found underwater during a river cruise. Other characters in the books are a girl named Reeta, her grandmother, and their dog named Laulava lintukoira (Finnish for "singing bird dog").

Pippi Longstocking

Pippi Longstocking (Swedish Pippi Långstrump) is a fictional character in a series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and adapted into multiple films and television series. Pippi was named by Lindgren's then nine-year-old daughter, Karin, who requested a get-well story from her mother one day when she was home sick from school.

Nine-year-old Pippi is unconventional, assertive, and has superhuman strength, being able to lift her horse one-handed without difficulty. She frequently mocks and dupes adults she encounters, an attitude likely to appeal to young readers; however, Pippi usually reserves her worst behavior for the most pompous and condescending of adults. She turns white around the nose whenever she gets angry, and considering her superhuman strength, this fortunately happens very rarely. Pippi's anger is reserved for the most extreme cases, such as when a man ill-treats his horse. And like Peter Pan, Pippi does not want to grow up.

After an initial rejection from Bonnier Publishers in 1944, Lindgren's manuscript was accepted for publication by the Swedish publisher Rabén and Sjögren. The first three Pippi chapter books were published from 1945 to 1948, with an additional series of six books published in 1969–1975. Two final stories were printed in 1979 and 2000. The books have been translated into 64 languages.

Pippi

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The Sámi people, (also known as Lapps, although this term is considered derogatory) are the indigenous people of northern Europe inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Their ancestral lands span an area the size of Sweden in the Nordic countries. The Sámi people are among the largest indigenous ethnic groups in Europe. Their traditional languages are the Sámi languages, which are classified as members of the Finno-Lappic group of the Uralic language family.

Traditionally, the Sámi have plied a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. However, the best known Sami livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding - which about 10% of the Sámi are connected with and 2,800 actively involved with full-time. For traditional, cultural, and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved only for Sámi people in certain regions of the Nordic countries.

Gakti or gákti, as it is written in Northern Sámi, is a piece of traditional clothing worn by the Sámi in northern areas of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The gákti is worn both in ceremonial contexts and while working, particularly when herding reindeer. The traditional Sami costume is characterized by a dominant color adorned with contrast colored bands, plaits, pewter embroidery, tin art, and often a high collar. In the Norwegian language it is called 'kofte', most probably due to the word "gákti" being somewhat similar to the word 'kofte' in the accusative, genitive, locative and comitative case (gávtti/gaftti, gávtti/gaftti, gávttis/gafttis, gávtiin/gafttijn).

A pattern of a Metal goldwork (embroidery) collar for a traditional Sami peoples male garment (costume) from Åsele, Västerbotten, Sweden. The Sami gákti is a National costume (folk costume) and the metal tread most commonly used for the embroidery is Pewter.

The colours, patterns and the jewellery of the clothing can tell if a person is single or married and where the person is from. There are different gákti for women and men; men's gákti have a shorter "skirt" than women's. Traditionally the gákti was made from reindeer leather, but nowadays it's more common to use wool, cotton or silk. The gákti can be used with a belt (pleated, quilted or with silver buttons), silver jewellery, traditional leather footwear and a silk scarf. It is also a tradition that if your buttons on the belt are square, it shows that you are married. If they are round, you are single/not married yet. If a married couple divorce, and the ex-husband continue to use the Sami costume made by his ex-wife, he signals that he still wants her.

Two Finns dressed up in fake gákti outside of Rovaniemi, Finland. Though at first glance authentic, the patterns on these gáktis are not traditional anywhere in Sapmi

The Finnish tourist industry is notorious for displaying fake "sami culture" for tourists. Ethnically Finnish actors dress up in fake "gáktis" and perform fake "traditional rituals". This activity has been met with fierce protests from ethnic Sámi since it creates a false image of Sámi culture, diverts tourist industry money from ethnic Sámi to ethnic Finns (thereby exploiting the Sámi presence in Lappland without giving anything back to the Sámi) and is dishonest towards tourists.

The Four Winds hat (in Sami čiehgahpir) is one version of traditional man's hat of the Sami. The basis is a simple blue cylinder, decorated with a red band with braid patterns, but the top is a large, four-cornered star, colored bright blue with parts bright red and yellow. The decoration in an actual Sami hat is, like the rest of the Sami costume, indicative of the person's place of origin or even his clan, much like the Scottish tartan.

Sami
Gakti

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Pettson and Findus is a series of children’s books written and illustrated by Swedish author Sven Nordqvist. The books feature an old farmer (Pettson) and his cat (Findus) who live in a small ramshackle farmhouse in the countryside. The first of the Pettson och Findus book to be published was Pannkakstårten in 1985 (first published in English in 2007 as Pancake Pie).

To date, nine story books have been published in Swedish, plus a puzzle book, song book and cook book. The books have worldwide book sales of over 6 million and have been translated into 44 languages. There are two alternative English translations of the characters' names: in the books published in the UK by Hawthorn Press, as well as those published in English by Swedish publisher Opal, they have the original names, Pettson and Findusin, while in the books published in the USA by Carolrhoda Books they are called Festus and Mercury.

In addition to the books, there are also three Pettson and Findus 75-minute long animated films, an animated TV series of 26 25-minute parts, computer games and board games. In December 1993, the Swedish TV company SVT broadcast one of the Pettson and Findus stories, Tomtemaskinen (The mechanical santa), as its annual Christmas “Advent calendar”, with one 15-minute part shown each day up until Christmas Eve. In 2000 the world of Pettson and Findus was recreated full scale at the Junibacken Children’s Museum in Stockholm.

Pettson and Findus
Pettson and Findus website - in Swedish

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The Moomins are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Finnish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts (and later in Finnish by WSOY) in Finland. They are a family of trolls who are white, round and furry in appearance, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses. The carefree and adventurous family live in their house in Moominvalley, in the forests of Finland, though in the past their temporary residences have included a lighthouse and a theatre. They have many adventures along with their various friends.

In all, nine books were released in the series, with five picture books and a comic strip also written by Jansson being released between 1945 and 1993.

The Moomins have since been the basis for numerous television series, films and even a theme park in Finland.

The books in the series, in order, are:

1. The Moomins and the Great Flood (Originally: Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen) - 1945.
2. Comet in Moominland, Some editions: The Happy Moomins - (Originally: Kometjakten/Kometen kommer) - 1946.
3. Finn Family Moomintroll (Originally: Trollkarlens hatt) - 1948.
4. The Exploits of Moominpappa, Some editions: Moominpappa's Memoirs (Originally: Muminpappans bravader/Muminpappans memoarer) - 1950.
5. Moominsummer Madness (Originally: Farlig midsommar) - 1954.
6. Moominland Midwinter (Originally: Trollvinter) - 1957.
7. Tales from Moominvalley (Originally: Det osynliga barnet) - 1962 (Short stories).
8. Moominpappa at Sea (Originally: Pappan och havet) - 1965.
9. Moominvalley in November (Originally: Sent i november) - 1970 (In which the Moomin family is absent).

The first book, known in English as The Moomins and the Great Flood (Originally: Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen) was finally published in English in 2005 (though only in Finland).

There are also five Moomin picture books by Tove Jansson:

1. The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My (Originally: Hur gick det sen) - 1952.
2. Who Will Comfort Toffle? (Originally: Vem ska trösta knyttet) - 1960.
3. The Dangerous Journey (Originally: Den farliga resan) - 1977.
4. An Unwanted Guest (Originally: Skurken i Muminhuset) - 1980 (No English translation published).
5. Songs from Moominvalley (Originally: Visor från Mumindalen) - 1993 (No English translation published).

The books and comic strips have been translated from their original Swedish and English into many languages.

Moomin
Official Finnish Moomin Website

Postcard from Finland

It is the Pierre Auguste Renoir's "Two girls at the piano" (1883) on the postcard.
This painting was shown in Rome at the exghibition “La maturita tra classico e moderno” in 2008. Description of the exghibition follows: "The exhibition is called “La maturità tra classico e moderno” is dedicated to Renoir’s artistic production which followed his journey in Italy, by retracing this phase of his work through an itinerary made up of 150 pictures.

The painter arrived to Italy in autumn 1881, going from the North to the South of the country. Renoir’s journey initially was just a study and work trip, to search inspiration, a motivating force to take himself out of the Impressionist movement.
Inspiration which swept the artist and which came from the vision and study of Italian classic artworks, proved by notes, sketches and drafts gathered in a sort of travel book which Renoir wrote during his stay in italy.

Therefore the exhibition tries to emphasize the importance of this Italian “awakening” of the artist, but also highlights the absolut variety of the artistic genius of Renoir, who during his long career used different tecniques to paint very different subjects.

The exhibition’s artworks which come from prestigious private collections from all over the world, portrait young women in their simple acts and activities but full of sensuality, so…mothers, ladies and children, but also the more recent artworks dedicated to the landscapes.

Therefore the exhibition remarks on this artist’s complexity, who gets lost between lights and colours, and who was swept up by inspiration which he had to follow and to adapt to his mood and to every period of his life."(Source)

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The Mole (called Krtek or Krteček little mole) is an animated character in a series of cartoons, created by Czech animator Zdeněk Miler.

It was first to be seen in 1956 in Prague, when Miler wanted to create a children's cartoon about how flax is processed. He wanted a strong Disney-influence to the cartoon by choosing an animal for the leading role, and decided to pick a mole after stumbling over a molehill during a walk. The first film called "Jak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel" ("How the mole got his pants") was released in 1956, and the cute main character won itself an enormous popularity in many Eastern European countries, Germany, Austria, India and China. Production for further episodes started in 1963 and since then, around 50 episodes have been created.

The first episode of the cartoon was narrated, but Miler wanted the cartoon to be understood in every country of the world, so he decided to use his daughters as voice actors, reducing the speech to short non-figurative exclamations in order to express the mole's feelings and world perception. They also became the bottleneck of the creation process as they were the ones who got to see the whole film first, thus Miler was able to decide whether the message of the movie was able to get to children or not.

Krtek

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The Sibelius Monument is dedicated to the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865–1957). The monument is located at the Sibelius Park (Sibeliuspuisto) in the district of Töölö in Helsinki, the capital city of Finland.

The monument was designed by Eila Hiltunen and unveiled on September 7, 1967. Originally it sparked a lively debate about the merits and flaws of abstract art, for which reason an effigy of Sibelius was included in the work. It consists of series of more than 600 hollow steel pipes welded together in a wave-like pattern. The purpose of the artist was to capture the essence of the music of Sibelius. The monument weighs 24 tons and measures 8.5 × 10.5 × 8.5 meters.

A smaller version of the monument is located at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. A work with a similar concept, also designed by Hiltunen, is located at the grounds of the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

Johan Julius Christian "Jean" / "Janne" Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity.

The core of Sibelius' oeuvre is his set of seven symphonies. Like Beethoven, Sibelius used each one to develop further his own personal compositional style. These works continue to be performed frequently in the concert hall and are often recorded.

In addition to the symphonies, Sibelius' best-known compositions include Finlandia, Valse Triste, the violin concerto, the Karelia Suite and The Swan of Tuonela (one of the four movements of the Lemminkäinen Suite). Other works include pieces inspired by the Kalevala, over 100 songs for voice and piano, incidental music for 13 plays, the opera Jungfrun i tornet (The Maiden in the Tower), chamber music, piano music, 21 separate publications of choral music, and Masonic ritual music. Sibelius composed prolifically until the mid-1920s. However, soon after completing his Seventh Symphony (1924), the incidental music to The Tempest (1926), and the tone poem Tapiola (1926), he produced no large scale works for the remaining thirty years of his life. Although he is reputed to have stopped composing, he did attempt to continue writing, including abortive attempts to compose an eighth symphony. He wrote some Masonic music and re-edited some earlier works during this last period of his life, and retained an active interest in new developments in music, although he did not always view modern music favorably.

Sibelius monument
Eila Hiltunen
Jean Sibelius

Postcard from Finland