Poll: Happy 100th Anniversary, Finland!
Dedicated to my grandparents. In 1917, Finland (or Suomi) was liberated from the Russian Republic and became an independent nation. To celebrate its 100th anniversary, which of these facts related to the Nordic country do you find the most interesting? Discuss here
Vote:
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Planet Earth II (2016)
Finland is called The Land of a Thousand Lakes for a reason. The country has exactly 187,888 lakes, as well as 179,584 islands. Both are world records. -
Jason Sudeikis in The Angry Birds Movie (2016)
This small nation of only 5 million have come up with some really cool inventions through the years, like the heart-rate monitor, Angry Birds, salty liquorice (salmiakki), ice skates, Nokia phones, the SMS, and the Molotov cocktail. -
Marek Kondrat, Wladyslaw Kowalski, Boguslaw Linda, Piotr Machalica, and Zbigniew Zamachowski in Sauna (1992)
However, their most famous invention is probably the sauna. In fact, there are more saunas than cars in Finland, and the word "sauna" is the most used Finnish word outside of the country. -
Matt Damon
Several American celebrities are of Finnish descent, including Matt Damon, Pamela Anderson, David Lynch, Jessica Lange, Vanessa Williams and Leslie Mann. -
Twin Peaks (2017)
Finland is the world's largest consumer of coffee per capita. The average Finn drinks 12 kilograms of coffee every year! -
Mr. Lordi, Lordi, Amen, Kita, Ox, and Awa in The Eurovision Song Contest (2006)
Literally, the home of heavy metal, Finland has the highest number of heavy metal bands per capita. In 2006, Finnish rock band Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest, becoming the first ever heavy metal band to win the competition. -
Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter at an event for Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Finland is known for organizing and competing in some very strange sports, such as Air Guitar World Championships, Swamp Soccer World Championships, Berry Picking World Championships and Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships. The strangest of them all may be The Wife Carrying World Championships, where male contestants compete in carrying a woman on their back through a 253 meter track of sand, grass, asphalt and a water obstacle, as fast as they can. Any style of carrying is allowed, and the winner gets the woman's weight in beer. -
Joseph Mazzello, Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Patrick Mapel in The Social Network (2010)
In 2010, Finland became the first country in the world to make Internet access a legal right to every citizen. -
Bret McKenzie, Jemaine Clement, and Flight of the Conchords in Flight of the Conchords (2007)
The Finns have an annual Day for Failure, every October 13th. It's a ceremony started in 2010, where they celebrate bad news and ill-fortune as a way of learning for the future. -
Eddie Collins and Billy Gilbert in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Another weird tradition is National Sleepy Head Day, which occurs on July 27th. This informal celebration traces back to the Middle Ages, where the last person to wake up in a household will either be thrown into a lake, or get water thrown on them. -
J.R.R. Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien was very fascinated with Finland and got many inspirations for his writings from the Finnish language and literature. A major influence for The Silmarillion was the Finnish epic Kalevala. -
Al Pacino and Gabrielle Anwar in Scent of a Woman (1992)
Despite being 8000 miles away from South America, the Finns have been crazy about tango ever since its arrival in 1913. They have an annual tango festival in July, Tangomarkkinat, as well as a local museum dedicated to the Argentinian dance. -
Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro (1998)
In Finland, when someone earns their PhD, they are given a doctoral hat (resembling a top hat) and a doctoral sword. The model and color of the hat varies depending on field of study. -
Dan Castellaneta in The Simpsons (1989)
The Finns have a single word for describing a very specific situation. The Finnish word kalsarikännit literally translates to "underwear drunk". However, its full definition is "drinking by yourself at home in your underwear with no intention of going out". -
Fight Club (1999)
They also hold the record for the world's longest palindrome. The word saippuakivikauppias means "dealer in lye", and reads the same forwards as backwards. -
Stephen Kearin in Frozen (2013)
The Finnish noun poronkusema is a traditional "measure" of travel. It has no direct English translation, but it's known as the distance a reindeer can comfortably travel without stopping to urinate. It's believed to be 7.5 km/4.7 miles. -
Mickey Rooney in The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)
The northern town of Rovaniemi is the official home town of Santa Claus. There, you can meet Santa in the amusement park Santa Claus Village, which is open every day of the year. -
Bye Bye Berlusconi! (2006)
In 2008, Finland won an international pizza contest, ahead of Italy! Three years earlier, while visiting Finland, former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had remarked that the Finns' smoked reindeer was nothing compared to Parma ham, and he was overall not a fan of the Finnish cuisine. Well, "Pizza Berlusconi" was the cheeky name of the Finns' winning pizza, and the special ingredient: smoked reindeer. Their revenge was complete!