This weekend we celebrated vappu. Read all about this strange Finnish custom here.
Lots of people, and just as many silly white hats.
99 Luftballons, auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont.
You know it’s vappu when Hello Kitty makes an appearance and people think it’s okay.
Soap bubbles!
Now that I think about it, vappu is just like a huge birthday party for a kid.
The next day was picnic day, also known as start-your-own-forest-fire day.
Even Hello Kitty defied the hangover and made another appearance.
First-aid station, vappu-style. In need of a balloon? They have it. Forgot your corkscrew? They have it.
Yep, I did it. I published a picture of myself. My feet look like I felt.
Even the stick got a little tired of partying.
*
You had me at "drinking copious amounts of alcohol". We're going through something similar today in Canada. It's called an election, after which we drink copious amounts of alcohol because our party didn't win.
ReplyDeleteI love huge drinking parties and festivals. Give me a bunch of drunks acting silly and having a good time, I'm there. I really like to see what people wear, or don't wear as the case may be....
ReplyDeleteGlad you had fun Ziva, and that you and your shoes lived to party another day.
Good luck with the election, our last election ended with the Swedish-speaking minority drinking more alcohol than can possibly safely be consumed by a single people.
ReplyDeleteYou would have so much fun in Finland! We’re all about public drunkenness and wearing, or not wearing, clothes.
ReplyDeleteThese days, my drinking of copious amounts of alcohol has less to do with celebrating anything and more to do with how poorly the Red Wings are doing in this round of the playoffs. {sigh} But I'm glad YOU had a good time!
ReplyDelete"The next day was picnic day, also known as start-your-own-forest-fire day."
ReplyDeleteBesides starting forest fires, do they get credit for visual euphemisims?
;-)
Ha! At the moment M and I are obsessed with the ice hockey world championships in Slovakia. I have a huge bottle of vodka for when Finland loses a game.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think, with all those Hello Kitty balloons flying around. Scary stuff.
ReplyDeleteUm, I was referring to the sausage & onion ring bbq arrangement.
ReplyDelete;-)
(Okay - I guess you're too young to remember Dr. Ruth or I am too old to know who Hello Kitty is.)
Well, keep in mind you're talking to a Finn here; if you're referring to anything American/Canadian, chances are it won't reach Finland for another decade or so. ;)
ReplyDeleteYou guys even took your parkas off for the occasion!
ReplyDeleteI would probably step on a rock coated with soap bubbles and break my face.
Vappu looks and sounds awesome. It's not really a party until Hello Kitty shows up!
ReplyDelete"The next day was picnic day, also known as start-your-own-forest-fire day."
That made me laugh out loud.
And I love your shoes!
Um, yes please!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize weekends in Finland last 20 days. Or maybe that's what Vappu is all about? The annual 20-day weekend where people go out and get drunk and start fires and get naked and don't write blog posts for 20 whole days in a ROW, leaving non-Finnish friends to watch the news and scour the internet for stories of Russia invading Finland and taking all green 3-armed Finnish girls and throwing them into Siberian prisons because what other possible reason could said Finnish girl have for not writing and leaving her friends wondering and worrying?
ReplyDeleteVappu looks like fun.
The US advanced to the second round, but nothing REALLY matters until they beat Canada. I have to stick with the NHL however, because the majority of Americans have NO CLUE as to what hockey is and I can't get any games broadcast here--unless I want to watch the Canadian team. That's what I get for being born and raised so close to Canada: I have a life-long love of Canada's sport. Oh, and I HATE America's sport: football. That's my life.
ReplyDelete*hangs head in shame*
ReplyDeleteI was going to write, I really was. But then I got busy, and then I got more busy and suddenly it was too late to write anything because OMG I had already gone without writing anything for so long I couldn't possibly justify my absence, so it was better to just not write anything at all. Would it help if I told you that you're very pretty?
I think you'd love Vappu. We could start forest fires together and compare shoes, it would be awesome!
ReplyDeleteI remember this party from last year! I love the hats! And I love "Hello Kitty" (although I don't understand either one). I like your shoes but where are the heels?
ReplyDeleteYep! It was a balmy 50 degrees that day, perfect for sitting outside on the ground. After the winter every day without snow is a good day. Hail counts as snow, by the way, so yesterday wasn't great.
ReplyDeleteThe heels were reserved for the previous day. When the men's choir sing we all wear fancy clothes and high heels, but to the picnic we wear our rattiest clothes and definitely no heels. I think even you might wear your sensible shoes to the picnic. ;)
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess I could wear the 2 3/4th inch heels for the occasion. Either than or just sit in one place in my stilettos and not move for the whole picnic. Someone might bring me a cookie!
ReplyDeleteHell yes. That's what I'm talking about!
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'd totally bring you a cookie!
ReplyDeleteI would've liked to be invited to this Finnish Hello Kitty party. I like to drink, blow bubbles, start forest fires, and eat. Maybe by next year you'll like me so much you'll want to invite me. Fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteIt might help. It would definitely help if you told me you were gone for those 20 days on a quest to find the perfect cheese after discovering how misguided your disdain for cheese, God's perfect food, really was. Yeah, that would do it.
ReplyDeleteAny festival that has Hello Kitty in it has to be fun! No wonder your feet were so tired! (-:
ReplyDeleteI am of the firm belief that football is the name of a European sport Americans mistakenly call soccer, and that what Americans call football shoud really be called handegg. Over here the hockey world championships are televised by the public broadcast network, while you have to pay to see the NHL games.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, that Hello Kitty sure knows how to party. ;)
ReplyDeleteI already like you so much that I'd totally invite you! Frankly, it never crossed my mind that someone would actually WANT to sit outside in the cold, having a picnic while fighting a hangover. But you're welcome to join us next year!
ReplyDeleteAs it so happens, I was gone for those 20 days on a quest to find the perfect cheese. Alas, I didn't find a single one worth eating, but I made an effort just for you, so that you'd finally accept me for what I am, a cheese-hating European with questionable tastes in languages.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you're very pretty.