| St. Urhu is the mythical patron Saint of Finland, who is venerated
for driving the grasshoppers out of Finland by saying, "Little
grasshopper, little grasshopper, get out of my house." (Except
he said it in Finnish, which I don't type very well: something like
"Hennisirka, hennisirka, mina talon hinaan.") (This terminal doesn't
seem to do compose.)
St. Urhu's day is celebrated on March 16, which, by an amazing coincidence,
is just one day before St. Patrick's day. On this day, all TRUE Finns
wear the Finnish national colors of Purple and Gold and drink the Finnish
National Beverage (pontikka).
Apparently, the Minnesota Finns discovered that the Irish had a good
thing going and wanted in on it.
According to rumor, some locals persuaded Massachusetts ex-Governor Ed King
to issue a fancy proclamation.
Martin.
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| Re: .1
Close enough :-)
> "Hennisirka, hennisirka, mina talon hinaan."
"Pikku hein�sirkka, pikku hein�sirkka, poistu[/h�ivy] talostani."
Little grasshopper get out of my house.
...Petri
P.S. Regarding national colours: by definition it refers to either
the colours of the national flag (which are blue and white
in this case - a blue cross on white background) or the colours
of the national coat of arms (which are red/purple and gold in
this case - a golden lion on a red/purple background). Which
further means: You're both right.
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| From: [email protected] (Antti A Lahelma)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Subject: Re: St. Urho's Day
Date: 28 Jan 1995 18:44:10 +0200
Organization: University of Helsinki
If you were to travel to Menagha, Minnesota, Wadena County, you could
see a wooden statue of St. Urho himself with a dead grasshopper at the
end of a great wooden spear.
The monument reads as follows:
THE LEGEND OF ST. URHO
One of the lesser known but extraordinary legends of ages past is the
legend of St. Urho--patron saint of the Finnish vineyard workers.
Before the last glacial period, wild grapes grew with abundance in the
area now known as Finland. Archeologists have uncovered evidence of
this scratched on the thighbones of the giant bears that once roamed
northern Europe, the wild grapes were threatened by a plague of
grasshoppers until St. Urho banished the lot of them with a few
selected Finnish words.
In memory of this impressive demonstration of the Finnish language,
Finnish people celebrate on March 16th, the day before St. Patrick's
Day. It tends to serve as a reminder that St. Pat's Day is just around
the corner, and is thus celebrated by squares at sunrise on March 16.
Finnish women and children dressed in royal purple and Nile green
gather around the shores of the many lakes in Finland and chant what
St. Urho chanted many years ago: "Heinasirkka, Heinasirkka, Mene
Taalta Hiiteen." (Translated, "Grasshopper, Grasshopper, Go Away!")
Adult male, (people, not grasshoppers), dressed in green costumes
gather on the hills overlooking the lakes. Listen to the chant and
then kicking out like grasshoppers, they slowly disappear to change
costumes from green to purple. The celebration ends with singing and
dancing polkas and schottisches and drinking grape juice. Though these
activities may occur in varying sequences. Color for the day is royal
purple and Nile green.
--Sulo Havumaki--
As for the proper way to celebrate, it may be appropriate to dress in
purple clothing, wear buttons that say, "Kiss me, I'm Finnish", and
drink purple beer.
(Finnish immigrants in the settlement of Menagha, commonly called the
town "Meijan Nahka" which translates as "our scalp" because of the
alleged fear of American Indians.)
The creation of the St. Urho's Day legend proves that Finnish settlers,
through all the turmoil, maintained a sense of humor!!!
Charlotte E. Johnson
Local & Urban Affairs/American Studies
St. Cloud State University, Minnesota
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