{finnish easter traditions}

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I'm still thinking of Easter. I thought I'd share some Finnish Easter traditions here.
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Vintage Finnish Easter cards.
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In Finland, people eat this gross looking stuff called "mammi" (there should be dots above the a) during Easter. It's made of rye flour, malt, syrup, etc. I never warmed up to mammi myself but many Finns love it.
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Kids grow this fast growing grass and decorate it with little chicks.
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Birch and/or pussy willow branches are decorated with colorful feathers. The birch branches are picked ahead of time and when you place them in water, they start to grow young green leaves.
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On Palm Sunday, little kids are made into "Easter witches" and they go door to door in hopes of receiving Easter eggs or other candy. They say a certain poem, waving the branches, that asks if the person is going to give them a chicken or an egg. Don't ask. I don't know how these traditions form but it's just what you do, ok. :) The origin of the door to door tradition stems from Eastern orthodox traditions. The witch part, which was probably some pagan tradition, comes from Sweden. Somehow the two traditions melted together and you get Easter witches.
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Aren't these girls cute? :) All of these pictures are from the internet as I didn't have my own pictures.

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Kotilieden artikkeli virpomisesta:

"Virpominen on vanha itäsuomalainen, ortodoksisuuteen liittyvä palmusunnuntaiperinne. Virpoja heiluttaa pajunoksia virvottavalle ja lausuu virvontalorun. Virpoja ojentaa sitten vitsansa ja saa palkakseen makeisia tai rahaa.
Virvontaperinne ei liity sinällään millään tavoin noidaksi pukeutumiseen. Trulliksi eli noidaksi pukeutuminen on ollut täysin erillinen, länsisuomalainen perinne. Ruotsista rantautuneen perinteen mukaan noidat kiertelevät ovelta ovelle toivotellen hyvää pääsiäistä.
Kun Karjalan siirtoväestö asutettiin muualle Suomeen, virpomistapa levisi heidän mukanaan. Pian itä- ja länsisuomalaiset tavat alkoivat sekoittua keskenään yhdeksi perinteeksi: noidiksi, jotka kiertelevät virpoen ovelta ovelle. Yleensä pienten virpojien suusta kuulee tällaisen virvontaluvun: ”Virvon varvon tuoreeks terveeks tulevaks vuodeks. Vitsa sulle, palkka mulle.” Vitsoista annetaan palkaksi karkkia, kuten suklaamunia, tai rahaa."

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Me aina sanottiin: "Virvon varvon tuoreeks terveeks tulevaks vuodeks. Annatko munan vai kanan?"

Muistuvin virpomismuisto joka minulla on kun kaytiin virpomassa pikkusen serkun kanssa. Serkun eka kerta. Me isommat ensin naytettiin miten se tehdaan ja sitten oli serkun vuoro. Ovi avautui ja pikkuruinen serkku yritti loytaa rohkeutta virpomiseen kun akainen ukko sielta huusi etta "taallahan ei virvota!" Itkuahan siita tuli ja karsea ensi kokemus.

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I've been:

*Taking Robin to an eye exam and to get new glasses. He was excited to get the kind of lenses that turn into sunglasses in the sun.

*Cleaning cat puke off our bed and carpet.

*Paid $75 for a certain follow-up doctor visit (first visit was $250!). You don't usually pay for doctors here but this doctor knows he's the only one doing "bioidentical hormones" here so he can charge whatever he wants. Needless to say his work place is FANCY.
*Walking about like a zombie. Sienna's been sleeping terrible again lately and I feel like my head's in a fog. I'm too old to handle it gracefully. (read: cranky pranky!)

*Watching American Idol and trying to decide who I like the most.
*Reading book #6 in the Work & the Glory book series. Wondering how on earth those early church members got through all they had to go through. Mob violence. Killed and harassed due to their religion. Having to move from place to place seeking for a peaceful place to live. Church leaders prisoned in inhuman condition for bogus charges. Amazing miracles too among them. They must have had such strong faith. I'm so loving reading these books again for the second time. Yesterday I found out that one of the stories in the book is about my friend's ancestor! He was an old man when a mob came to harass and kill the church members. He was sick in bed, too sick to try to get to safety. A mob came in his house and shot him because he couldn't leave his house. Thank goodness the bullet barely hit him in the head and he survived. I couldn't believe it was my friend's ancestor. I got chills as she told me about him.

One story was about a woman who's one child was shot to dead (yep, the mob killed children point blank too!) and another was shot in the hip. A big part of his hip was missing. There was no doctor. The woman prayed in faith and she got inspiration to know what to do to help her son. She used ashes and water to make a lime solution. Cleaned the terrible wound. Then they got slippery elm roots and that helped the wound heal even more. It was a miracle that the boy didn't die. He always had a huge hole in his hip but was able to walk normally.

Anyways, many touching true stories and I have been so thankful for those early church members for sticking it out and staying faithful. I'm yet to read the worst parts though. How they had to leave Nauvoo, Illinois (a city they had built out of a swamp, tons of hard work) and in the dead of winter start treking towards the Rocky Mountains. That's how the mormons got to Utah. They were driven there by a mob. Many died on the way as they were not allowed to take the time to prepare themselves for the harsh journey. Children sometimes walked barefoot in the dead of winter. Their feet would bleed and often had to be amputated. Many starved to death. After leaving home after home due to mob violence, they finally got to Utah and started to settle the Salt Lake valley. Again they had to work real hard to build homes and farms as it wasn't a very good land for farming. They made many desert places bloom and flourish. They hoped they finally could be safe and live in peace but even then, trouble came. An army was sent against the mormons once again. For no reason. More harassement. Eventually things finally got more peaceful.

I'm lucky to live in a time when for most part we can live in peace. Yes, I've been abused verbally due to my church membership. Sometimes even still some of our church members are killed though. In Ireland, a missionary was killed by a 19-year-old. There's so much prejudice and fear towards our church. That's why I try to sometimes let people know that our church is not as weird as people think. We are Christians and we just try to live good lives. I try to teach a bit about our church in hopes that some of those prejudices about our church would finally start to disappear. So bear with me when I sometimes mention the church or something about it. It's not meant as shoving anything down on anyone's throat. It's just to spread knowledge and understanding.

I've heard about how couples who get married in the Salt Lake temple come out of the temple and people throw mud on them or shout insults. It's supposed to be the happiest day in their lives. I can't understand how someone can be so mean to do stuff like that.

I will continue to bring the church up every once in awhile. Please be understanding.

I live in hope that one day differences will be tolerated and there won't be any kind of hate or prejudice anymore. You gotta hope.

Ok, I hadn't planned to say all this. It just came. I just had Easter on my mind but sometimes things just come out that you hadn't planned for.

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I know this is a long posting but I thought I'd add one more thing. Some reasons why the early church members were harassed and hated:

*they didn't believe in slavery and spoke on behalf of the black people, even helped them, this was a very touchy subject back in those days

*many religious leaders started to speak against them as their own congregation members left them to join the mormons

*the church was growing so rapidly, people feared the saints were starting to become too powerful politically

*lack of knowledge, people just totally misunderstood the church and it's members

*many people in the "west" (Missouri was the western region of USA then) were outlaws or people who were rough and tough, they were easy to excite into action against the mormons, many people coveted the mormons' property and got it for free as the saints were forced to leave their homes and farms

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