Erik's family is of Finnish descent. The kids call us by the Finnish words for mom and dad, which is our most significant nod to the language/culture.
The other thing we do is celebrate our name days, which is done in Finland, as well as, other European countries.
We have breakfast in bed on our name days, with Finnish cardomon bread (called nisu or pulla), a sprig of fresh flora from the yard or garden, and a small gift.
I loved Helsinki... I was there in January. We took a boat out to an island called Suomenlinna (sp?). The boat had an ice chopper on the front so we could get across the frozen Baltic. We saw lots of mothers pulling strings of three or four sleds behind through the snow - all tied together in a line - one or two with children on them, the others with groceries.
Thanks for the verification of 'aiti', in Finnish. Wonderful that you capture the language/culture of Finland by celebrating the Finnish names for Mom/Dad and for celebrating name days.
And the picture/thought of Finnish moms pulling multiple sleds - delicious!
Yes, Finland would be a great place to visit, although I acknowledge I know very little about it... I do know that my travels to Ireland have been very emotional/helpful for me! I would love to bring my kids to Ireland someday, to visit their Irish-American heritage.
7 comments:
Hi Shirley,
I am wondering what aiti means... I googled it and got the Irish Taxation Bureau, which is not what I think you mean...
From your use of it, I think it means mom or mother, but want to make sure.
Susan
You're right, Sue, it means "mother" in Finnish.
Erik's family is of Finnish descent. The kids call us by the Finnish words for mom and dad, which is our most significant nod to the language/culture.
The other thing we do is celebrate our name days, which is done in Finland, as well as, other European countries.
We have breakfast in bed on our name days, with Finnish cardomon bread (called nisu or pulla), a sprig of fresh flora from the yard or garden, and a small gift.
I would love to get to Finland someday...
I loved Helsinki... I was there in January. We took a boat out to an island called Suomenlinna (sp?). The boat had an ice chopper on the front so we could get across the frozen Baltic. We saw lots of mothers pulling strings of three or four sleds behind through the snow - all tied together in a line - one or two with children on them, the others with groceries.
What a totally cool image of the moms pulling multiple sleds!
Hi Shirley,
Thanks for the verification of 'aiti', in Finnish. Wonderful that you capture the language/culture of Finland by celebrating the Finnish names for Mom/Dad and for celebrating name days.
And the picture/thought of Finnish moms pulling multiple sleds - delicious!
Yes, Finland would be a great place to visit, although I acknowledge I know very little about it... I do know that my travels to Ireland have been very emotional/helpful for me! I would love to bring my kids to Ireland someday, to visit their Irish-American heritage.
Good to hear from you.
Susan
hey aiti,
What IS the Finnish word for father?
And, because I realized it was vague, I was there in January of 1996 - not this past January...
*h
Funny, I was wondering if it was this January (or whenever it was that you guys went to Norway). I thought I had missed a detour to Helsinki :-)
Isä (pronounced eesa or eese) is the Finnish word for dad.
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