Next Saturday and Sunday Helsinki will once again be packed with people celebrating Vappu or the Finnish May Day. May 1st continues to be Labour day, and the trade unions usually organise a march or a happening at Hakaniemi square, but nowadays Vappu is most conspicuously a celebration for students and anyone wanting to let […]
Finnish pop music as a guide to Finnish (and the Finns)
Listening to music in a language you want to learn is a great way of getting a feel for the rhythm of the language and picking up vocabulary with minimal effort. Hence, here is a list of currently popular artists in different genres of Finnish pop music; I’ll have to leave some of the classics/long […]
Season Film Festival in Helsinki March 3 to April 4 2016
The Season Film Festival is on right now in Helsinki, it gives you an opportunity to see international non-mainstream movies in the best possible theatres. Checkout the schedule through the link provided and enjoy! Share!
Aki Kaurismäki to receive Carosse D’Or at Cannes 2016
The Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki will receive the Carosse D’or prize at Cannes this year. The prize honours the full ouvre of its recipients. Aki Kaurismäki can be considered an auteur director, a film maker whose work reflects a unique personal style. One of his best known movies is Mies vailla menneisyyttä ”The man without […]
Finnish Easter treats: Mignon, pasha and mämmi
Right now is the time for several Finnish Easter treats, here are a few of them. Mignon eggs by Fazer – these are real egg shells filled with delicious almond and hazelnut nougat. This year is the 120th anniversary for them. Again, anything that has remained successful for so long has to be good. In […]
Finnish novel in English shortlisted for Booker prize
The English translation of a Finnish novel Nälkävuosi by Aki Ollikainen (2012) is one of 13 books nominated as candidates for the Man Booker International prize. The Finnish novel in English is titled White Hunger and the publisher is Peirene Press. It has been translated by Emily and Fleur Jeremiah. The book is about the […]
How to buy tickets for cultural events in Finland
The opera, most theatres and orchestras have their own box office. In addition to that there are two main ticket selling services in Finland: www.ticketmaster.fi (formerly called lippupalvelu) and www.lippu.fi . For most cultural or sports events you can buy a ticket from one or the other depending on who the organiser has made a […]
Jazz in Helsinki & April Jazz / Pori Jazz festivals
For Jazz lovers, Finland offers a number of interesting venues and festivals. Here is an introduction of a few of the venues for Jazz in Helsinki and elsewhere in Finland. April Jazz is one of the major Jazz festivals in Finland, it is held in Espoo next to Helsinki, and as the name suggests, it […]
Helsinki Sauna Day on March 12th, next one scheduled for Oct 29th, 2016
Anyone interested in trying out the sauna, now you have a unique opportunity to pick from a variety of saunas: woodburning saunas, saunas by the sea allowing a dip into the water etc. The first Helsinki sauna day which is celebrated next Saturday, March 12th aims to open up private saunas to any interested visitor. […]
Finnish vocabulary for grocery shopping
Trying out food products in a new country can be fun, but also frustrating when you have no idea what the different options mean. If you want to take a short cut, here are some basics that come handy in the supermarket. You can also consider this your first Finnish lesson. The suffix -ton […]