From the food to the music and dancing, fun activities and games, to wonderful art, Heikinpaiva truly celebrates community. Throughout Heikinapiva and in the lead-up to the festival on the 25th, Copper Country Finns and Friends organize ways individuals can express their heritage and sense of the Copper Country community. Cultural enrichment takes many forms preceding the festival, but culture stays alive throughout the year.
Old photographs, old family letters, old newspapers, like I experience that textually very regularly, but I also like to see what’s happening in the community. So through festivals like Heikinpaiva or the sauna festival or through other ways that we engage with culture. Even if it’s going to a restaurant where there’s Finnish food on the menu, it’s exciting to see parts of my heritage, but also this broader community heritage being shared. – Lindsay Hiltunen, Lead Archivist, MTU Archives
Whether they’re handcrafts or the stories or the songs or the dances, whatever it might be, people are finding their passions and making sure that they invest the time and the energy necessary to make sure those traditions aren’t lost to history, but rather embraced and continued for future generations. – David Maki, Marketing Coordinator, Copper Country Finns and Freinds
Heikinpaiva’s parade features a cast of characters. Many of the costumes the festival’s attendees will see and interact with include Saint Urho, a grasshopper, Big Louie, and Finland’s own Santa Claus.
We’ll see Jolupukki, which is the Finnish Santa. We’ll see Saint Urho, which is a commonly known cultural icon from this area. He’s the patron saint of Finland, tongue in cheek, who rescued the grape crop from a grasshopper invasion. So you’ll see that reenacted. You’ll see characters from the Finnish epic Kalevala. And while you don’t need to know everything about these people before you see them in the parade. We’re hopeful that it’s a way to trigger some conversation, get some people wondering what they’re seeing, and when they find out little bits more and more about things like the Kalevala or just Finnish-American culture in general, that might, plant the seeds for people to want to learn and understand more about a culture that’s worth celebrating. – David Maki, Marketing Coordinator, Copper Country Finns and Freinds
The Hobby Horse Hoedown will begin this evening at 6 pm. The Hobby Horse Hoedown has become a favorite event. Especially for families in the community. Hobbyhorsing sports started in Finland, which combines equestrian competition events and crafting skills. In Finland there are organizations like the Finnish Hobby Horse Association and Finnish Hobbyhose Competition that organize the fun and accessible sport for children and adults.
Sunday starts Sauna Week in Hancock. Then next Friday Club Finndigo will screen the Winter War and an optional traditional Finnish dinner. And Heikinpaiva starts on the 25th at 10 am. Copper Country Finns and Friends invites all residents of the Copper Country to enjoy a winter day and fun activities throughout Heikinpaiva events. Find more details here.
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