It’s time to wrap up my advent calendar on Finland. This series was originally released as daily videos on my IGTV channel. Videos are in Italian language with English subs. If you want to watch the videos head there and make sure to follow my account too. If you missed the previous two batches, don’t worry. You can find the previous posts in this series here, here and here. At the risk of being annoying: if you like my posts please share them. I put love and care in the content I create but I need your help to reach readers. Enough said, let’s dive into this final batch of fun facts on Finland.

Day 19. 8 quick facts in one go

While making this series, my husband Fabrizio and I came across some curiosities that are worth mentioning yet didn’t make for a full episode. We decided to dedicate one video to run the audience through them all in one go. Here’s the same for you:

1. The happiest country in the world. Every year the UN ranks world countries by level of happiness. Finland won for the past 3 years.
2. Most honest too? A test run by the Reader’s Digest showed that Helsinki was the city where it was most likely to find a lost wallet. Out of 12 wallets places on the streets, 11 were found again.
3. Higher fines for the richest. Taxes and fines are proportional to income in Finland. This is why celebrities and top executives occasionally get a speeding tickets worth tens or hundreds of thousands of euros!
4. The power of a Finnish passport. The Finnish passport is the 3rd by influence according to the Henley Passport Index. It allows to travel to 188 countries without a visa. It’s also fun to look at:

5. Power to women. Finland was the first country in Europe to extend voting rights to women in 1906. One year later, the first women were elected to Parliament seats, first case in the world.
6. What’s in a name? The country is called “Suomi” in Finnish and the reason is unclear. Finland is covered in lakes and at first glance it can look “swampy”. Maybe its name comes from “suomaa”, which is swamp in Finnish.
7. The local indigenous population. The Sami people are a local indigenous population living up North. They have suffered discrimination for centuries, for example being called “Lapp” for a long time, a denigratory term about their clothing style.
8. Finland belongs to everyone. The Everyman’s Right grants every person to roam free in any forest and lake – even if they are private property – and even harvest food and camp. As long as you don’t harass other people.

Day 20. The renowned Finnish education system

Finnish education system is considered the best in the world. Our oldest daughter started school this year and there are few aspects I can share.

Little homework. There are really few homework assigned and especially none before weekends and holidays. The school recognises the value of spare time of kids to spend with family or playing.

The responsibility of learning is on teachers. This is the revolutionary concept that changes everything. Every child has the right to learn and this means that teachers have the responsibility to find methods and approaches to grant that each and every child can learn in school. In most countries, it’s up to the kids to “keep up”. In some, children with special needs end up being left behind. In Finland, if the class or even a single child is not learning, the school and the teacher have to revisit their approach and plans to make sure children can truly learn and grow.

Valuable content. School curriculum is dynamic and changes all the time to be up to date. For example our daughter has a school subject centred on self-care and care of others (I know, heads exploding right now). There’s a stress on digital life and digital devices are educational tools.

Free education. Along with the responsibility bit, this is the other key winning factor in the Finnish education system. Education in Finland is free of charge until the end of the master degree. The idea is that education is a right of everyone, regardless of income and life circumstances. With free of charge I mean: no fees, not even meal fees, and the school provides every materials, including books and pencils. This bold policy allowed Finland to grow into one of the most literate and richest countries in Europe in a handful of decades.

Day 21. Do you dare to taste these?

If you are a tourist or a newcomer in Finland, Finns will try to have you taste these… “delicacies”. The first is salmiakki, salty liquorice. Finns love this: you can find it in form of candies but also in liquors, ice cream, or meat marinades. In the candy form it looks exactly like liquorice, so beware! Salmiakki has a very peculiar taste: either you love it or you hate it.

Around Easter you can have an opportunity to try a Finnish dessert called mämmi. It’s a shapeless brown cream made of rye flour, malt, water, and orange peel. It’s centuries old and let’s say that Finns could have used all this time to improve its looks (or taste). Finns themselves drown it in vanilla sauce and sugar to be able to gulp it down.

Mustamakkara (black sausage) is a typical food of the town of Tampere. It’s a sausage made of pork blood, usually served with cranberry sauce. You can find it in most open markets and it’s sold by cost, and not weight. Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain tasted it and commented “Good stuff”.

Day 22. What Finns can’t get enough of

Finns are avid ice cream eaters. Yes, you have read it right: no matter the cold weather, the average Finn eats 15 litres (about 8 kg) of ice cream every year. They hold the European record of ice cream consumption. Summer in Finland is very short, I guess Finnish people want to make the most of it.

Finns set a world record with a beverage: coffee. On average, every Finnish person consumes 1kg of coffee a month, translating to 8-9 cups a day.

Day 23. Weird competitions

The stereotypical Finn is serious, shy, and quiet. Yet Finns have a fantastic sense of humour and imagination. This is why they are behind some of the weirdest international competitions and “sports”. Here’s 3 examples.

Wife carrying. Since 1992 Finland hosts the world championship of wife carrying. Men compete by facing an obstacle run while carrying their wife or partner on their shoulders. This “sport” originates from the legend of Ronkainen, a robber who pillaged villages and kidnapped women with the same technique. Nowadays, wife carrying competitions happen also outside on Finland, for example in Australia, India, and US.

Mobile phone throwing. This is my favorite example of weird sports. Since 2000, people challenge each other at throwing a mobile phone as far as possible. The world record is 100m and 42cm, back in 2014. Maybe this sport was started to prove how resistant Nokia phones used to be?

Rockin’ it. The Finnish town of Oulu established the world air guitar competition in 1996. Contestants challenge each other by mimicking playing a guitar on famous rock songs. They are judged by technique, stage presence, mime skills, and “airness”. Air guitar competitions are nowadays famous in other countries too, like US or the UK.

Did this change your view of Finnish people?

Day 24. The truth on Santa Claus

I started this series talking of how Santa Claus lived in Finland and I’m gonna end it telling about its legend. In Finnish Santa is called joulupukki, which means Yule goat. Yule used to be a pagan mid-winter festivity. It’s unclear why the goat became a symbol of Christmas. Maybe this links to a Yule Nordic tradition of youngsters dressing with goat masks and going house by house asking for beer and leftovers (a sort of treat-or-trick). In the Germanic tradition, Santa has an alter ego called Krampus, who has goat-like horns. While Santa gives presents to nice children, Krampus punishes naughty ones.

Despite its dark origins, during the 20th century Santa became the nice old man in red we all know. It’s known how Coca-Cola had a hand in it. However, you may not know that the man behind the Coca-Cola campaign and the new Santa design was a Finn called Haddon Sundblom.

If you are curious about the origins of Santa, I recommend a Finnish horror movie called Rare Exports.

I hope you enjoyed this series on Finland. What did you like the most? Anything new you learned? Let me know in the comments and don’t forget to share the post you liked the most.

Featured Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.