Hyvää Juhannusta!

Happy Midsummer from Finland, or perhaps I should say Head Jaanipäeva from Estonia, as we were actually in Tallinn for the white night, the longest day of the year.

Juhannus is a rival to Christmas in Finland and the Nordic countries in terms of holiday and celebration. Everything closes down for a few days and families and friends get together for the summer solstice. It traces its roots to ancient cultures celebrating light, summer and nature. The pre-Christian name for the summer solstice was Ukon Juhla Ukko's Celebration, after the Finnish god Ukko. After the celebrations were Christianised, the holiday became known as Juhannus after John the Baptist.

Last Friday was a Bank Holiday here and many Helsinkians decamped from the city and spent the weekend outdoors in the countryside or at summer cabins by the lake. My sources report there was lots of swimming, saunas and cookouts involved and some alcohol may even have been imbibed! Festivals, traditional events and open-air community dances (Lavatanssit) were held all around Finland honouring Midsummer.

Like in many other countries, including parts of Ireland, it is considered that magic, nature and the supernatural are at their strongest on Midsummer night. The Midsummer Bonfire (Juhannuskokko) is considered by many to be a sacred flame, lit to drive away evil spirits, to attract a plentiful harvest, to protect the local village from evil and illness.

Image By Davide Biscuso, Unsplash

Another tradition here in Finland is the Midsummer Pole (Juhannussalko) which, apparently, is particularly common in the Swedish-speaking parts. It is covered with green leaves, birch branches and can have flower garlands and colourful ribbons. The whole village decorates it and raising it is also a communal event.

But we missed it all! Instead, we took the opportunity to take the 2 hour and 15 minute ferry ride to Tallinn on Friday morning to spend the long weekend there. Lots of Finns and Estonians had the same idea and the ferry was packed with both trucks, cars and foot passengers like ourselves. We were thankful to get two chairs on an upper deck well away from the bar and slot machines and our short journey across the Baltic Sea was pleasant and uneventful.

We had been in Tallinn once before on a memorable daytrip from Helsinki 23 years ago when our children were young. At that time we had done a two-week home exchange with a family from Pori, a town in western Finland. We always hoped to revisit the city for a longer period of time and this was our chance.

The only pre-bookings we arranged were our accommodation, a meal in a recommended Georgian restaurant on the first night and a walking tour of the Old Town on Saturday morning. The rest we left to chance.

The first thing we did when we arrived was to make our way to the nearest café by the port that had a good WiFi connection. I put in my ear buds and live-streamed the sad but fitting celebration of life from Newlands Cross Crematorium in Dublin of my beautiful former principal Susan Doody. I was so sorry not to be there in person to pay my respects. Her unexpected and untimely death is devastating for her partner Arne, her sister Christine and for all of us who knew and loved her. I worked alongside Susan as a young primary teacher for many years in Presentation School in Terenure and we shared many a laugh. She taught me many valuable lessons about life, love and educating young people. Later, she was my principal and was an absolute role model for me in a leadership position. I referenced one of her quips in a previous blog post. When I took up the principalship in St Louise's in Ballyfermot in 2002, I strived to model her generosity, her compassion for all staff and the children in her care, her joie de vivre. May Susan's generous and fun-loving spirit rest in peace.

Later, on that first afternoon, we wandered through the Old Town of Tallinn. As a daughter of a pharmacist, I was delighted to come across the oldest pharmacy in Europe, first mentioned in town records in 1422. Today there is a museum as part of the pharmacy, giving an insight into some of the bizarre healing methods of the Middle Ages. As a teenager and young person when I used to travel abroad, my father always loved (or perhaps he pretended to love) when I brought him back a mortar and pestle and he had quite a collection in the end. He would have revelled in the display of so many of them here.

We attended a lovely free 'friendship' concert in an old merchant's house in the square featuring an Estonian female choir and a choir from Wisconsin who did an amazing rendition of Stephen Foster's Hard Times Come Again No More. The harmonies were wonderful and this version came a close second to Mary Black & Dolores Keane's version of the ballad. Written in 1854, it reflects on the hard times but also on hopes for a better life; it's both a lament as well as a rallying cry, I think. Listening to some of the world news events over the weekend, it still rings true all these years later.

The walking tour with Alice of the company 120 Degrees on Saturday was fascinating and she gave us so many insights into her home town. The man who refused to sell his land to the town council and has left the most ugly Soviet truck rusting on his uncut grass might have some Irish blood in him! The city's architecture spans from medieval to modern with intact limestone towers, distinctive church spires and shiny new hotels and office blocks.

We climbed to two great viewing points before finishing up at the magnificent Town Hall dating from 1322.

On Sunday we walked about 40 minutes from town out to Kadriorg Park, constructed on the orders of the tsar of Russia, Peter 1, better known as Peter the Great. The flower beds surrounding the Swan Pond were gorgeous, in full bloom.

The original palace is now an art museum, but the President of Estonia (an honorary position like our own Irish President) lives in a neo-Baroque house nearby which was built in 1938. The Estonian flag was flying indicating that Mr Karis was home, or at least in the country, but we didn't bump into the 67-year old scientist, the country's sixth president since 2021.

Photo By Nikola Johnny Mirkovic, Unsplash

Speaking of the Estonian flag, it was designed by students which seems somewhat fitting as Estonia is such a young nation. It is a tricolor consisting of three equal horizontal bands of blue, black, and white. The flag was officially adopted on November 21, 1918, and re-adopted on August 7, 1990, after the period of Soviet occupation. Our guide told us the blue symbolises the sky or sea, the black is for the soil or forest landscape and the white is symbolic of the snow of the winter landscape as well as of freedom.

There are at least three museums within the park and we visited Kumu, the Estonian Art Museum. The modern architecture of the museum is an attraction in its own right. From 233 submissions to an international contest in 1993, the Finnish architect Pekka Vapaavuori’s winning design Circulos is a circular building with a large and lofty atrium with five floors of exhibits. The permanent exhibitions display Estonian art from 1700 to 1991. The country has a 'multinational' history and the art depicts the many influences from landscapes to portraits through to Soviet pop art and modernism. An interesting temporary exhibition was one displaying a unique sisterhood - Kristine, Lydia and Natalie Mei who were sculptors, painters and caricaturists and lived from the turn of the century until Natalie died in 1975.

The evening of June 23, St John's Eve, is the eve of celebration before the Feast Day of St John the Baptist. St John's Eve Night, as they call it in West Cork, is when the bonfires burn around the Mizen and Sheep's Head peninsulas. The bible states that John was born about six months before Jesus, therefore the feast of John the Baptist was fixed on June 24, six months before Christmas. As in Cork, so too in Estonia. Midsummer is celebrated there on the 23rd June, so many shops and restaurants were closed on Monday and are again today, Tuesday.

We thought three days would be enough time to visit Tallinn, but by the time we caught the ferry home yesterday, we had only scratched the surface. A return visit is already in the offing.