Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0135/01350.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 10KB | 164 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01350}
$Pretitle{367}
$Title{Finland
The Finnish Lifestyle}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Riitta da Costa}
$Affiliation{Otava Publishing Co.}
$Subject{finns
coffee
children
sauna
even
families
countryside
finnish
home
day}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Country:     Finland
Book:        Facts About Finland
Author:      Riitta da Costa
Affiliation: Otava Publishing Co.
Date:        1990

The Finnish Lifestyle

     The ancient Finns lived in large families, several generations together.
Even at the beginning of this century it was common for a boy about to be
married to bring his bride home and the young couple would live in the boy's
parents' home. Since more and more people have begun to move from the
countryside to the towns and to earn their living in areas other than
agriculture, the large families have begun to disappear. Nowadays it is very
rare for grandparents to live with their childrens' families. The children
have gone away to study or to work in the towns, and the parents have remained
in their home areas. When the older people are no longer able to take care of
themselves, they often move to an old people's home or to a special
condominium or apartment block designed for old people and where their special
needs are taken into consideration.

     Due to the widespread movement of people in the sixties away from the
countryside and into the towns, it started to be difficult to find flats and
rented flats are hard to come by. People are encouraged to buy their own flats
and it is not unusual for people to buy their first flat when they are still
studying. There are very few rented flats available, especially
reasonably-priced ones, and it is not even easy for students to find flats in
the university towns. However, even if a young person's home area and place
of study are the same, it is usual for them to move away from home and find
their own flats. They want to live their own lives and be independent.

     In present-day Finland, class distinctions are small and are perhaps more
evident in terms of lifestyle than income. Since the Second World War,
developments in social security - health care, social services for families
with children, unemployment benefits, pensions, etc. - have removed real
poverty. Of course, there are differences in salaries in different income
groups, but all the basic needs are taken care of irrespective of income.
Nowadays, there is even talk of the "nouveau poor" - people who have, due to
easily available credit, begun to spend beyond their means and have begun to
face financial difficulties.

     Differences between the lifestyles of the countryside and the city can be
seen, for example, in consumption - money is used for different purposes.
Especially in the larger cities, the habits and the way of life are the same
as anywhere in the world, where international influences have weakened the
national cultural heritage. In the country opportunities for superfluous
consumption are not as many.

     Finns have a great respect for education, and the level of education is
generally a more important criterion than the salary. Professions respected by
Finns include those of judges, doctors and teachers although many other
professions can offer a higher salary. Finns do not refer to people using
"Mr" or "Mrs" but, in correspondence, for instance, they will use the
person's professional or academic title.

     Few people retain the dialect of their parents or of their region. Study
and an urban environment have standardized the language. In Finland, you
cannot detect a person's social background from the way in which he speaks,
because the differences do not show in the pronunciation of different words
- Finnish is a phonetic language which is written largely as it is
spoken - but in the words and expressions used in different regions.

     Along with the growth of industry in the 60s, many women began to take
jobs, and further development in day-care facilities for children became a
must. At present, the greater proportion of mothers with children under school
age work outside the home. It is still not possible for everybody to find a
municipal day-care place for their children, but the average Finnish child
spends about 8-9 hours a day either in a day-care centre or in a child-care
family. Six-year-olds attend pre-school groups and school begins when children
are seven. More and more marriages end in divorce. At present, about 15 % of
families are single-parent families. Before marriage, many people live in a
common-law marriage or avoliitto, which has almost the same status as a
marriage. The average Finnish family nowadays has less than 2 children, and
families with four or more children represent only a couple of percent of the
total. This is partly because more and more women are progressing further with
their studies and creating a working career before they have children. It is
not uncommon for the first child to be born when a woman is over 30. Few
families - even high-income families - have domestic help. Housework and
child-care are divided between the parents even if the men do not always carry
as much responsibility as the women.

     Finns have about a month of holiday in the summer and a week in winter,
often at the same time as the schoolchildren's skiing holiday, in February or
March. Finns spend a lot of their free time in their summer cottages located
somewhere peaceful, in the middle of the countryside, or then travel within
Finland, although summer and winter holidays more and more frequently include
a trip to the sunshine of the south. Hundreds of thousands of Finns every year
travel, for example, to Spain.

     The hobbies of many Finns include some form of sport, usually skiing in
winter, or ice-hockey for the young people, and walking, swimming or cycling,
fishing or boating in the summer. Finland is certainly self-sufficient in
water and in countryside. Reading is very popular and Finns are among the most
eager library users in the world, borrowing on average 17 books per person per
year. Especially in the countryside the library - often a mobile library - is
an important source of entertainment. Adult education is popular. Even small
places have study circles where everything imaginable is taught, from
practical skills to foreign languages. Television is also very popular. There
are theatres in every town and amateur drama groups hold a very strong
position, especially in the countryside.

     Finns are often criticised for being shy yet if you observe Finns you
will find very different types of people just as you would anywhere else.
There are, however, differences between different regions - for example, the
people from Karelia and Savo are more lively and sociable than those from
Hame and Varsinaissuomi. The Finn has a tendency towards melancholy. Perhaps
this is the reason why wistful tango melodies are still great popular
favourites with people who go to restaurants at weekends to dance to drink.
Alcohol is a problem for many Finns - perhaps they do not drink too often, but
when they do, they have a bit too much.

     Finns are not religious as a nation. Despite that, children are usually
baptised in church and couples are usually married in a church ceremony.
Religious festivals, such as Christmas and Easter, are very commercialised
just as the traditions which are associated with them and which date from
pagan times are still preserved today. A third and very important festival is
the one associated with midsummer, which stresses Finnish values and when
everyone escapes into national costume and the Finnish flag flies high. May
sees the celebration of Mother's Day and November of Father's Day. Every day
of the year is devoted to one or several Christian names and "name day
coffee" is a common custom especially at your place of work. Coffee in
general is a mainstay of social events. Finns consume the most coffee per
person in the whole world. There is birthday coffee, name day coffee,
engagement coffee, wedding coffee, funeral coffee