Finland doesn’t immediately come to mind, yet when the opportunity to travel above the Arctic Circle to experience the Finnish version of the summer solstice presented itself, I couldn’t contain my wanderlust.
There’s just something about the summer solstice that makes people around the world happy. Parties are thrown in honor of the event, and there’s no greater solstice celebration than in the Nordic countries where the sun shines for a full 24 hours on the longest day of the year.
You’d never know it was summer when we landed in Helsinki. It was rainy and grey, and looked — and felt — like Vancouver in the spring.
We spent two days exploring downtown Helsinki, staying in one of the newest and most luxurious hotels in the downtown core, Glo Hotel. With beds soft enough to lose yourself in, a delicious breakfast buffet and a lavish spa complete with three saunas, Glo is a very happy home base.
Located right in the centre of the shopping district and surrounded by Finnish boutiques, H&M, and the Grande Dame of all department stores, Stockman’s — where everything from cheese to cars can be purchased, putting The Bay to shame — it’s easy to stay submersed in Helsinki culture. This doesn’t even mention the myriad of clubs and restaurants all within walking distance.
We spent an afternoon shopping in Helsinki, finding several small boutiques and combing through the racks at popular Finnish designer label, MariMekko. A final stop at H&M completed the day — it’s hard for a Canadian still waiting for access to the famed store not to at least stop in. We were not particularly surprised to find that the fashions were the same as what we could find closer to home.
The one thing that was surprising to the group of well-practised North American shoppers was that we were asked to take everything we’d tried on and chosen not to purchase, back into the store and put them back onto their appropriate racks. A quick observation of the other shoppers’ light loads for the change rooms confirmed that having the luxury of someone putting away our rejected items is definitely a North American custom.
On the eve of the summer solstice, we took a short domestic flight to a small skiing village called Levi for the Midnight Sun party. Levi’s heart clearly lies in the winter, with ski rental shops on all of the three corners, and a bare slope waiting for the first snowflake.
What Levi lacks in luxury amenities, it makes up for in sheer beauty. With spectacular streams, lakes and birch trees bursting into leaf everywhere, it wasn’t hard to see why people would choose to live this far north.
After liberally dousing ourselves with mosquito repellent — Winnipeg’s mosquitoes have nothing on those in Lapland — we headed into the countryside for the Midnight Sun party. Sponsored by Finlandia Vodka, the Midnight Sun is a 24-hour celebration, welcoming the solstice and essentially, bringing in a new year.
The Midnight Sun celebration is an age-old tradition in Finland, as well as the most important annual celebration. The solstice is such a fundamental part of the Finnish way of life that it is a national holiday. On June 21, the Finnish people pack their bags and head to the countryside in any way they can — by bus, train or car.
The cities empty out completely and the highways are bumper to bumper as everyone heads out to their summer cottages to grill sausages on an open fire, relax in the sauna and just enjoy the 24-hour sun.
When I was told the sun wouldn’t set, I was skeptical. Nothing in my previous experience had ever prepared me for 3 a.m. looking exactly like the summer 6 p.m. I was used to; or to witness “morning” when, standing at the banks of a river, we watched the sun begin to climb back into the sky after barely touching the horizon.
With this continuous daylight, clocks stand still. After only a few hours, we lost all sense of time and simply gave into the pure enjoyment of being outside in a beautiful setting surrounded by good friends, old and new.
Upon our arrival to the celebration site, we were greeted with a menu of authentic Finnish dishes, several specific to the northern province of Lapland. The one that kept me going back for seconds and thirds was a creamy angelica soup. Angelica is an herb native to the temperate and sub-Arctic regions of the northern hemisphere. Lapland natives (called Sami) use the fleshy roots as a vegetable and the stalks as medicine. The soup itself had a creamy texture with a fresh, light flavour.
Following the soup, we were treated to salmon grilled on cedar planks around an open fire. I like to think that as a Canadian, I’ve experienced good salmon in my lifetime, yet nothing has compared with the Finnish salmon. Light, creamy and tender, the fish was a true delicacy. I understood instantly how salmon caught in the polar seas and rivers are the regional fish of Lapland.
The final main dish of the night was one I was interested in trying, but also a little hesitant of. We’d been greeted by a relative of this particular dish on the way into the celebration, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about tasting his cousin.
Reindeer are as plentiful in Lapland as cows are in Canada, providing hides for shelters and clothing, milk and meat for food and their antlers are used for many purposes. I was delightfully surprised at the flavour of the reindeer, which I likened to Canadian venison, before realizing that it was deer, just a form I wasn’t used to.
The Finnish people have an abundance of ancient midnight spells, which are still practised to this day. On Midsummer’s Eve, when the sun is beginning to shine at its strongest, the midnight spells are considered to be at their most powerful.
Finns practice several spells; the most popular ones include finding true love, leading a good life and being happy.
After hours of dancing to popular Finnish bands, it was midnight before we knew it. We gathered around the river bank, where a great bonfire was set.
We were asked to share 10 minutes of silence, saying goodbye to anything we felt was holding us back, and banishing any negative feelings or thoughts. We were told to open our hearts and minds to welcome a new year, embrace the good spirits and ask for the upcoming year to be full of happiness, friendship and love.
The bonfire was lit and left to burn itself out, leaving a feeling of calm and tranquility in its wake.
http://www.canada.com/topics/travel/story.html?id=2b5ada57-5697-44aa-b08c-7012b333dd80&k=53401
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Tags: Arctic Circle, Closer To Home, Day Of The Year, Delicious Breakfast Buffet, Finnish Version, Grande Dame, Happy Home, Lapland, Longest Day Of The Year, Midnight Sun, Nordic Countries, Oth, Shopping District, Shopping In Helsinki, Solstice, Solstice Celebration, Stockman, Submersed, Summer Solstice, Wanderlust