Sports |
The Finnish have great rally drivers, hockey players, long-distance runners, here are but a few of the great names:
Mika Häkkinen: race car driver, nicknamed "the Flying Finn" is the 1998 and 1999 Formula one world Champion. Kimi Räikkönen: nicknamed "the ice man", is a popular Finnish formula one driver currently driving for Ferrari. Teemu Selänne: Nicknamed "the finnish flash". Is a professional Finnish Hockey player Tuukka Rask: A Finnish ice hockey goaltender who ended up playing for the Boston Bruins (NHL) Hannes Kolehmainen: One of the first of the great Finnish long-distance runners with 4 olympic gold medals under his belt Paavo Aaltonen: Finnish Gymnast who was a three time olympic champion. Paavo Nurmi: Finnish middle and long-distance runner, also nicknamed "Flying Finn". He beat 22 world records and at some point was undefeated 121 races. |
Music
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Finland has quite an active music scene, listen to some enjoyable folk music based on its Krelian heritage or to the unique Sami traditional music of the north
The contemporary music scene includes prominent rock, jazz, hip-hop and one of the most vibrant metal scenes in the world. Apocalyptica: A symphonic metal band (youtube video on the bottom of this page). Heino Wilhelm Daniel Kaski: A Finnish composer who lived at the beginning of the 20th century Mikko Franck: A renown Finnish conductor and violinist of the 21st century Steve'n'Seagulls: A Finnish band who make acoustic country versions of well-known metal and rock songs (youtube video on the bottom of this page). In Finland, the most common religion is christianism and more specifically the Evangelical Lutherian Church of Finland. 78% of the population relates to it whether for cultural or religious purposes. There are also tens of thousands of muslims. Finland is a secular nation in which everyone is free to practise their cults. As you may know, sauna is a big part of Finnish culture. In your country, it may be considered a treat and you probably have to go all the way to the closest fancy spa resort to enjoy one. Well, it is quite different in Finland as 5 million inhabitants share 3 million saunas. Almost every house has one, sometimes several and you can even find them in student accomodations. Finns consider sauna as an important bounding experience. It is also both a mental and physical cleansing process. Therefore, it goes without saying that you cannot come to Finland and not experience a typical finnish sauna. Here is how it goes: - Get naked. If you go to a sauna with Finnish people, they will be naked and will probably expect you to go that way as well. For that reason, in groups of friends, men and women often have different shifts. Families however usually share saunas. However, if you don't feel comfortable that way, Finns are usually pretty open and will let you get in with your swimsuit. - Take a shower. Which is very wise, considering the fact that very soon, you will all be sweating, naked next to each other. - Get in and enjoy! Typical finnish saunas are around 80-90° (Celsius) which is, according to Finns, the perfect compromise between swedish saunas (70°, not enough to get a proper steam) and russian saunas (100°, too dry to be enjoybale). Want to know more about general culture? |
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