It's Time to do Some Gardening

Birhtday cards from May 1958

Now it’s time to get busy in the garden.

It’s time to get flowers, trees and shrubs planted,

 walls, fences and greenhouses built, patios and arbours installed.

Or perhaps it's time to enjoy the sun, sit on garden bench listening birds singing.

I think I'll choose the garden bench  :)

For more cards visit Beth's blog and Postcard Frienship Friday

Tikkutiistai - Holy Tuesday

 

 

 Easter decorations in Finland show lots of colored eggs and yellow flowers. Colourful flowers, like tulips, daffodils and carnations, are popular at Easter time. Bright colours like yellow and green and all things reminding of spring, sun and new life are popular Easter items also here in Finland, even though it is usually still very wintry outside, with snow covering the ground in many parts of the country. 

 

Some Finnish families sow grass in small pots before Easter, and put eggs in them when the grass has grown. To decorate the homes, bare twigs of birch and willow trees are brought in well ahead of Easter. The twigs may be decorated with colourful feathers and other Easter ornaments.

Malkamaanantai - Holy Monday

Happy Easter

I got this card from my aunt Anna in 1955.

 

Easter is one of the popular holidays in Finland. It is the start of warm spring when the snow has mostly melted and the freezing weathers are behind. This year we still have lots of snow but the weather is a little warmer so hopefully the snow melts in soon.

 

Easter is preceded by a quiet week (Hiljainen viikko) that culminates on Good Friday (Pitkäperjantai – meaning Long Friday). The actual Easter starts with Easter Sunday (Pääsiäissunnuntai) and ends with Easter Monday (Toinen pääsiäispäivä). Good Friday Easter Monday following the Easter Sunday are a days off.

 

Pääsiäinen means “to get away from fasting” referring to the Lent that is taken to run from Ash Wednesday (Tuhkakeskiviikko) to Maundy Thursday (Kiirastorstai).

 

The week preceding Easter is called Holy Week in Finnish called ‘Hiljainen viikko – Quiet week’ or ‘Piinaviikko – Torment Week’ is also used. In Finland the Holy Week’s days have their own names:

 

Palm Sunday – Palmusunnuntai or Virposunnuntai
Holy Monday – Malkamaanantai
Holy Tuesday – Tikkutiistai
Holy Wednesday – Kellokeskiviikko
Maundy Thursday – Kiirastorstai
Good Friday – Pitkäperjantai
Holy Saturday – Pääsiäislauantai, Lankalauantai or Hiljainen Lauantai
Easter Sunday – Sukkasunnuntai or Pääsiäissunnuntai



Name Day

This card I got from Aunt-Irja on my name day year 1955.

Finns celebrate their name days (Finnish nimipäivä, Swedish namnsdag) according to their given name  on the date given by the calendar published by the University of Helsinki Almanac Office (Almanakkatoimisto). Every day except new Year's Day, Christmas Day and Febryary 29 is a name day. For each day there are names in both Finnish and Swedish.

A card to my brother Jaakko ( Jacob, James ) from our cousin Heikki ( Henry ).

Many traditional beliefs attach to various name days, especially involving the weather and the appropriate times to perform seasonal agricultural tasks such as planting some particular crop. For example there is a saying that "Jaakko (James) casts a cold rock into the water", meaning that on Jaakko's day, the 25th of July, the waters start getting colder, which is not far from true on average.

The seven days from July 18 to 24th, being all women's name days, are known as the women's week. It is popularly believed to be an especially rainy week, and this is to some extent supported by statistics, as late July and early August are the rainiest time of the year in Finland.

On November 25 it is Kaisa's ( Kathy, Kate ) day and it should be mild weather because it forecasts mild winter and good harvest for the next year. It also forecasts beautiful weather until Christmas. On the other hand if it's cold on Kaisa's day it will be raining on Christmas.

This is my entry for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog, The Best Hearts are Crunchy. Just click the button under.