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		News from the Keweenaw Peninsula February 8, 2002 Text and photos © 2002 Karin Emond, except where noted © 2002 Bill Fink

Heikinpäivä 2002 filled with firsts and fun

HANCOCK -- Hancock was filled with a flurry of Finnish fun as the fourth annual Heikinpäivä Festival once again celebrated the area's Finnish heritage Jan. 18 - 19.

Anything but "Same old, same old," this year's festival featured several firsts -- the grand opening of the first-ever lumitalo,  or snow house, in the United States, the Gizmo museum and the Finnish cooking and birch bark weaving classes. These firsts, combined with a line-up of old festival favorites made this year's festival bigger and better than ever.

Some of the hundreds of visitors to the lumitalo check out the murals depicting scenes from Finland's epic poem, the Kalevala, which decorated the snow structure. The murals were painted by students from Hancock High School.

"It's great," exclaimed Kate Remlinger, a visitor to Heikinpäivä from Spring Lake, Mich. "It's such a good way to bring the culture and heritage alive and to bring the people out in the winter." 

This year the festival got started a little earlier than normal with a first to the festival as eight ladies tried their hand at weaving birch bark into a sauna soap dish on Friday afternoon under the tutelage of instructor Phyllis Knutson of Amery, Wis. In addition to actually making a woven dish, the class learned how to harvest and prepare birch bark for weaving and some of the many other uses for birch bark containers. Knutson even brought along pieces of candy made from birch tree sap for class members to sample.

Class participants in Phyllis Knutson's birch bark weaving class watch carefully as she explains a step in the process of making a sauna soap dish out of the bark. Knutson is from Amery, Wis.

Jim Kurtti, member of the City of Hancock Theme Committee -- organizers of the festival -- explained the significance of the birch in Finnish culture.

"The birch tree is one of the most common trees in Finland," Kurtti said. "Finland didn't have a lot of resources so people made almost everything of wood. They even made bread out of birch trees during the hunger times." 

Class participant Myla Horrocks of Houghton saw the classes as a good way to help perpetuate traditional skills. "I think it's important to carry on some of the old Scandinavian traditions," said Horrock, who is of Scandinavian descent (See Editor's Note #1). "I have a 15 year old to teach this to and property with a couple of hundred birch trees."

Others saw this experience as a way to feed their love of crafting. "I have this mania for creating things," said Barb Quenzi of Atlantic Mine. "You give me something to create and I'll wanna do it."

Quenzi also attended both the Finnish cooking classes, another festival first, offered on Saturday, Jan. 19. The classes were taught by Anna Linnonmaa, a Finnish national currently living in Gladstone. Linnonmaa holds a degree in home economics from Helsinki University and was full of information about Finnish foods and their history as well as actual preparation techniques. Her friend Diane Jacobsen, of Cedar River, Mich., helped her with preparations for both classes. 

After learning a bit about the history of Finnish foods, the 18 participants in the first class set about making Karjalanpiirakat, Karelian pasties, a flat rye crusted, pasty-like dish filled with mashed potatoes, rice, barley or a carrot filling.

Robert Laramore, Jr., left, and his father Bob Laramore, Sr., both of Elo, along with brother-in-law Frank Luoto of Ontonagon, use a specialized rolling pin called a pulikka to try their hand at making Karjalanpiirakat, Karelian pasties, at the Finnish cooking class held during Heikinpäivä.

"We like cooking," said Bob Laramore Sr., of Elo, who attended the class with his son Robert Jr., also of Elo, and brother in-law Frank Luoto of Ontonagon. In addition to trying out their new dish at home where they claim they have "ready guinea pigs," the men plan on making these little pies while at deer camp.

Participants at the second class learned how to make pulla, coffee bread, and use the basic dough recipe to make several fancily braided and filled coffee breads and rolls.

While classes in preparing Finnish food are new to the Heikinpäivä celebration, eating it isn't. The popular Seisovapöytä, or smorgasbord, filled its customary slot on Friday evening.

As usual, a capacity crowd enjoyed sampling foods from the three traditional Finnish buffet tables well-stocked with a variety of authentic Finnish specialties, painstakingly researched and prepared by Finlandia University's own Director of Food Services, Tony Munch, who was ably assisted by cook Tim Nukkula and the rest of the kitchen staff.

The pungent aroma of the savustettu kala, smoked fish, mingled with the more delicate ones of the Karjalan paisti, Karelian ragout; joulukinkku, Christmas ham; and lanttusose, mashed rutabaga. Topping off the meal were kermakakku, cream cake; leipäjuusto lakkahillon kanssa, squeaky cheese; cloudberries and good strong Presidentti coffee. Compliments to the chef are always in order and this year is no exception.

"I'd call that Finnish food," said Anna Linnonmaa, the instructor for the Finnish cooking classes.

Guilt for taking that extra serving of a favorite food or dessert was quickly banished by staying around for the after-dinner dance where those extra calories were soon danced off to the rhythms of another Heikinpäivä staple, Keskilännen Pelimannit, a Finnish dance hall band from Minnesota. 

Elina Ruppert, joined Keskilännen Pelimannit, a Finnish dance hall band from Minnesota, this year as their new Finnish songstress. Oren and Toni Tikkanen of Calumet (not pictured), visiting from their winter home near Crystal Falls, also added their musical talents to the dance music.

Saturday was filled to capacity with firsts and favorites. On the lawn of the Hancock Middle School, the reindeer and the vipukelkka, whip sled, were joined by the gizmo museum, a tribute to the ingenuity and resourceful ness of those early residents and another Heikinpäivä  first. The artifacts, generously donated for display at the festival by area residents, attracted much attention and sparked many conversations as folks tried to decide for what purpose and how the items would have been used. Often, some of the area's older Finnish residents would be on hand to clarify and explain things and share stories and reminiscences of days gone by.

Vern Simula of Toivola prepares some of the 40 or so items donated by local residents for display at the "Museum of Home-crafted Tools, Gadgets and Gizmos" early Saturday morning. (See Editor's Note #2.)

The items ranged from the giant basketball-sized ball of twine, a tribute to the ethic of self reliance in which potentially useful items were never discarded, to woodworking, farming, fishing and household items, to "mystery" items whose purpose has vanished with the passing of their designers.

The museum was evidence of the more historical flavor of this year's festival, a flavor carried on in the parade. Favorite local mythological characters, Heikki Lunta and St. Urho and his grasshopper were joined by Väinamöinen, first born man or oldest man, and Louhi, the toothless hag of the north, characters from Finland's epic poem, the Kalevala.

Melvin Kangas, music professor at Finlandia University, gives his best dramatization of Louhi, the gap-toothed hag of Pohjola from the Kalevala, before stepping out for the annual Heikinpäivä parade.

King Erik and the festival's namesake, St. Henrik, portrayed in the historical context as Bishop Henrik, marched with a vanguard of medieval townsfolk. The real-life villains from the mid-1800s, Rannanjärvi and Isotalon Antti -- men who crashed weddings and started knife fights -- marched well ahead of the depiction of a kruunuhäät or crown wedding. The kruunuhäät is a folk wedding tradition in which the bride wears a special hat or "crown" and is escorted through the streets of the town by a wedding party wearing black, the traditional wedding color. 

The mother/daughter reindeer team of Tinsel and Zoie walk in the Heikipäivä 2002 parade led by owners Beth and Mike Juneau of Foster City, Michigan.

As usual, the parade was led off by the Hancock High School Junior ROTC color guard and drill team. Other participants included the Moomi trolls, the reindeer, the Kaleva Ladies, Majia Stadius' second grade class and -- of course -- the bear that rolled over and the grand marshal of the parade, Hankooki Heikki, Hancock Heikki, rounded out the parade's line-up. 
In another festival first, this year the honor of being named Hankooki Heikki was awarded to Finnish national Seppo Mäkinen, builder of the lumitalot, or snow houses, in Hancock and Houghton. The title, bestowed upon a person who has made a significant contribution to preserving the area's Finnish culture has, to this point, always been awarded to people from the Upper Peninsula. It is the first time the title will travel out of the U.P. and to Finland.

Seppo Mäkinen, the civil engineer from Oulu, Finland, who supervised and directed the construction of lumitalot, snow houses, reigned as this year's Hankooki Heikki -- an award for his contribution to local Finnish culture.(See Editor's Note #3.)

Mäkinen's creation, the lumitalo, or snow house, was perhaps the festival first generating the most excitement at this year's Heikinpäivä.

Editor's Notes: While Finns are not considered Scandinavians, some Finnish customs are similar to those of their Scandinavian neighbors, Norwegians and Swedes. Read more about the Gizmo museum in Keweenaw Now's Jan. 11, 2002 article, "Heikinpäivä Museum to feature 'gizmos.'" After serving as Grand Marshal of the parade, Seppo Mäkinen also won the Heikinpäivä Hiihto cross-country ski race on Jan. 19 at the Swedetown Trails in Calumet. See the Jan. 26 article, "Finnish snow builder wins Heikinpäivä Hiihto Ski Race." with photos and results of the race.

Continued Page 2: More about the lumitalo and other Heikinpäivä events, including the Polar Bear Dive