Saturday, 3 April 2010

Happy Easter!!! With some tradtions from my part of the world

Happy Easter!
pics have been removed....

I was thinking, why not share some Easter traditions with you all. Of course all these are not  exactly Finnish traditions since I am Finnish, but not Finnish by blood. I am a Swedish speaking Finn, but they are not Swedish traditions either. Since not all of us came from Sweden, we were German merchants and Dutch miners, and so on. They traditions are how we made them, and how others forgot them, or changed them. And they differ from the north to the south, from village to village. So in the end this is the tradition from my village. I do not want to talk for the whole people even if things are the same.


It all starts during Easter Week when we decorate with treebranches that later bloom, Easter grass and the usual chickens and such.


On Thursday the witches leave for "Bluehill" to dance with the devil so you better stay inside then.


On Friday we do nothing.
On Saturday Morning the Easter rooster has laid some eggs filled with candy, yum!

Do forgive him, he is usually not so serious looking.







Of course my boyfriend, who is from the same area, but is an islander tells me that this is not true. It is actually on Sunday it all happens. And it is the Easter bunny that brings eggs and puts them in rubberboots, but that is just plain silly. Those islanders ;)





On Saturday the children dress up as Easter witches. The children have their little teapots and walk from house to house getting candy. The Finnish traditions is to have those branches and give them to people. We never did.

To dress up like that which is evil is always a good idea to scare away everything dark that is around during this day.



When we have Easter dinner we eat memma/mämmi.  It is made from rye flour and malt.

Yes I know it looks totally gross, and trust me, looks like cowshit. I never eat it. People either love it or hate it.

And then later we watch Easter bonfires.

And do not forget to paint some Easter eggs.









GLAD PÅSK!!!

41 comments:

  1. I love to know other countries and family traditions, thanks for sharing this Blodeuedd. And I also like to pass on the memma/mämmi although my mother would say; Never refuse something unless you've tried it at least once. I'm afraid i'm not so daring when it comes to food LOL

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  2. Thanks for this great post...It was nice to see how you celebrate Easter!

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  3. Thanks for sharing! Our traditions are so different, and it's nice to find out about other cultures.
    Happy Easter!

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  4. great post! And you are very funny, I like that.
    Happy Easter to you too. Does GLAD PASK mean Happy Easter in Finnish?

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  5. Wonderful to learn some of your traditions. I hope they put the candy in a bag before putting it in their rubber boots!

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  6. Thanks for sharing! I'd pass on that memma too :)

    Your boyfriend's tradition sounds more like what we do in the US, except the Easter Bunny brings candy in baskets not boots. Do you hunt for colored eggs in Finland?

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  7. This was so cool to read about!! Thanks for sharing it. I never knew that there was such a tie to witches in the Finnish tradition--that's something I've never heard of before!

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  8. I think it's neat to hear other traditions for the holidays I celebrate. This afternoon my daughter and I will color Easter eggs, and tonight when she's sleeping the Easter bunny will hide them and leave some treats. :)

    Happy Easter!

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

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  9. An egg laying rooster? Wow, that's unique! Thank you for posting this - I love to see how other people celebrate. It's so interesting. Glad Pask to you too. (I'm assuming that means Happy Easter) also I don't know how to get the little o over the a in Pask.

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  10. I like how you say "traditions are how we made them, and how others forgot them, or changed them." That's so true the world round, and I love it :-)

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  11. Leontine
    Lol you are not alone thinking like that, it is not a dish that looks so tasty, but some do love it. I never got the taste for it.

    Staci
    Thought it was time for something different :)

    Host
    happy Easter!
    Yes so near and still so far away when it comes to traditions.

    Lilly
    Glad Påsk means happy Easter in Swedish :)
    Glad to hear I still can be funny in these kinds of posts

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  12. Nise
    Lol, I have to ask ;) Sweaty candy can't be yummy

    Patti
    No egg hunting here, just the candy left by doors. And bf's traditions is something that can only be found in the archipelago, so no rubberboots elsewhere. But the Easter bunny yes.

    Anna
    I thought you all might like it :) traditions are nice and I do too enjoy hearing about how others do it.

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  13. Beth
    I guess it must go back to the with huntings and that people were really afraid of witches. And of course since it was this old legend that they went to dance with the devil on Easter. So in the house too we have witches mixing with the Easter bunnies.

    Kaye
    He is one cool rooster managing that ;)
    I thought everyone would enjoy it since it might just be so different.
    And yes it means Happy Easter. I could get why the Å would be hard, I have it on the keyboard ;)

    Aarti
    I seem to have my good moment :) But yes it is very true, and very interesting

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  14. I want a rooster that lays eggs filled with candy!!! :)

    Thanks for sharing your Easter traditions, interesting reading especially about the eggs in the rubberboots. Don't know if I would eat those. LOL!

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  15. Donna
    Lol, he would be something to have for sure.

    So strange I never heard about it before this year. But we did have a talk last year about the rooster or the bunny

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  16. Thanks so much for sharing some of your traditions with us. It's always interesting to hear what others do. I think I'd pass on the memma too. Of course we have stuff that's made for our traditional meals that I won't even eat either. lol. Happy Easter!

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  17. Easter witches and bonfires! Love it.

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  18. Happy Easter and thank you for posting about your traditions. I really enjoyed it!

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  19. Great post - always interesting to read about different customs. I've never heard of an Easter rooster - we only have chickens. Thanks for sharing.

    Happy Easter!

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  20. Blodeuedd you know I love learning about your culture! So thank you very much for sharing this post with us... And you gave me a fit of giggles with the description of the memma... And I think I will pass on it too...
    Hugs to you honey!
    Happy Easter!

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  21. Such a fun read! Love learning about your culture, and your boy sure is silly ;) LOL
    Thanks for sharing! ((Hugs))

    Glad påsk! =D

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  22. That's such a great tradition.
    Happy easter!

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  23. Darlene
    Everyone has those kinds of meals :) My mum and dad loves memma, but I, no, not my taste.

    Chris
    Lol, it is something special.

    Mary
    I am glad you enjoyed it! :D

    Cat
    We have the whole family :)
    Happy Easter.

    Cecile
    Lol, I am glad you found it amusing, and everyone sure says it doesn't like very tempting. Then some totally fall for it hehe.

    Glad Påsk Hilda!
    It was sure a fin post to make

    Happy Easter Nina

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  24. Happy Easter! Your traditions look very interesting, especially the memma stuff!

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  25. I love to learn something about your traditions, hon! I hope you had a great Easter break :)
    Glad Påsk!

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  26. Happy Easter! Fantastic post! Interesting traditions!
    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

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  27. This was a very neat post! We love the easter bunny around here!

    That food does look totally gross! I don't think I could bring myself to eat it, yikes!lol. The rooster though looks very cool, that's a character I have never seen for easter around here. lol. Thanks for sharing and Happy Easter to you, as well! :)

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  28. This was such a neat post that I had to read it out loud to my husband. I love the Easter Rooster and the part about the children dressing up and going house to house (like our Halloween). Thanks for sharing!

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  29. Easter witches -- that is so cool! I would have loved to have dressed up as one & gotten candy (of course I did this at Halloween, but Spring is a prettier time for being outside).

    Thanks for sharing & hope you had a Happy Easter!

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  30. Happy Easter Janel

    Thanks Janna :)

    Happy Easter Naida!

    Krista
    Lol, I think that is what everyone says when they first see memma ;)

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  31. Alyce
    Really? You read it to your husband? That is so nice to hear :D I am glad you enjoyed my post.

    DC
    Especially since it is light outside and depending on the year spring has come :)

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  32. How neat! Thanks so much for sharing, I love hearing about traditions in other countries.

    My father's side if from Sweden, maybe we're related. ;)

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  33. Lori
    Hm I wonder if I have read that earlier or not. Still he comes from a nice Northern part of the world ;)

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  34. What a great post. Thanks so much for sharing your traditions. Makes our Easter seem so tame.

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  35. Loved reading about your Easter traditions, B! The dish looked like some porridge made of really dark chocolate.

    We have some similar traditions here, the candy is the most important one in my house LOL ;-)

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  36. Carol
    What no :)We are just so weird over here

    Ladubyg
    Glad to hear :D
    Chocolate porridge, well your mind went a more pleasant way lol

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  37. What a great post. Thank you so much for sharing your traditions. I hope your Easter was lovely. ^_^

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  38. Hi B!

    Love your Easter post!! I love the whole idea of Easter witches, here we're so maudlin, Easter is the celebration of Christ's rising. It's the reason to rejoice. But there are so many interpretations, so many cultures that we all seem to forgive in our goal to only see our story. Thanks for sharing, and give that rooster a big round of applause, not all guys would readily admit to laying a few eggs!

    ((hugs))

    Dottie :)

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  39. Thanks for sharing hon - neat post...

    I think I like the Rooster laying eggs the best - I could do with one of those...

    and those witches on Bluehill - What a night they must have had this year...

    Thanks for the cool post..

    E.H>

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  40. Hi Dottie :)
    Of course we have the whole Christian thing here...but we tend to be a very non-religious people. And I like that we have kept so many pagan things.
    Lol, he is a great guy isn't he.

    EH
    Especially if the chocolate ones, yum.
    Yes they party all night long, and are up to all sorts of trouble.

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