last update:Dec022024April 7, 2020December 2, 2024Go tocommentsby Santiago H

Fazer Mignon: the most Finnish Easter egg

Posted in Misc.

Easter in Finland has different rites and traditions that are unique to this part of the Nordic and Scandinavian countries. Today we are talking about the most Finnish Easter egg in the world: the Fazer Mignon.

Fazer Mignon egg
Continent and content of a Fazer Mignon. Source (CC: by-nd)

The Finns: they have a sweet tooth

Fazer is Finland’s quintessential chocolate and candy brand. Since the master chocolatier created his brand, Fazer and Finland go hand in hand. The brand is so important that the “Fazer Blue” chocolate is considered the most Finnish object in the world by many people.

That, and the fact that Finns consume about ten kilos of sweets per year. It is thus not surprising that Fazer is one of their favourite brands.

And now that Easter is coming, Fazer Mignon is the icon of this time in Finland.

Fazer mignon box
One of your packs of Fazer Mignon eggs in egg cups. Source (CC: by-nd).

The one and only: Fazer Mignon

A real egg shell filled with chocolate. That’s the Fazer Mignon, which is the company’s second oldest product. It was created by Fazer himself, when he imported his recipe from Germany. This was in back in 1896, and since then this Easter sweet has been a classic of Finland’s Holy Weeks.

Every year 2.5 million of this Finnish egg with a German recipe and a French name are sold (“mignon“, as I remember from my student days, is “handsome” or “pretty” in French). The children peel it like any other Easter egg and take a few good bites as it is completely filled with chocolate. Almond-nut chocolate, to be precise.

pure chocolate egg
Peeling the chocolate Easter egg. Source (CC: by-sa).

The price of these Easter eggs in Finland is between 3 and 4 euros (some years ago they were more or less half the price) per egg. They are somewhat expensive because it is pure chocolate (it is not hollow and filled with air that is inside as in many other eggs and chocolates) and they are handmade in the factory in Vantaa. This is the process of their creation.

Have you tried any Fazer Mignons? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Share:

Topics: Misc. | Leave your comment! | Print This Post Print This Post


last update:Jun102021March 26, 2020June 10, 2021Go tocommentsby Santiago H

“Drinking alone at home in your underwear” and other Finnish emojis

Posted in Curiosities

The Finnish Tourism Agency knows what it’s doing and has released an emoji for the Finnish word: Kalsarikännit, which is quite unique and does only exist – as far as I know – in Finnish. It means “to get drunk alone at home in your underwear”.

drinking home alone emoji

The Finnish Emojis

The Finnish government promotion agency (ThisisFinland), which is part of the Communication Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, launched a while back a collection of “Emojis” to describe some things about Finland that are complicated to explain. You can find them here.

For example, they have an emoji for Tom of Finland, the Finn that is pretty much responsible for the gay iconography (leather, mustaches and bulky beefcakes). Or the Finnish baby box.

Tom of Finland emoji
Tom of Finland

They are not real emojis, of course: they have no associated UNICODE value and therefore are not worldwide usable in apps like Whatsapp. It is, though, a quirky nice Finnish made-in-agency campaign.

The emoji of drinking alone at home in your underwear: Kalsarikännit

The first time I saw the reference to the word “Kalsarikännit” was in this famous post by Ben on Twitter which you probably saw as an image or retweeted.

Since then the meme disappears only to reappear some time later. As I am helping doing now.

Phone with emojis
Emojis on a phone screen. Source (CC: by-sa)

Is it a good idea?

The page of ThisisFinland is where all the emojis are. On the page says that the spirit in which they have been made is that of tongue-in-check. In other words, ironic or “in a light tone”.

But is it a good idea? The Kalsarikännit normalizes a bit the use of alcohol alone which is perhaps not the best idea.

Not everyone thinks like that, of course. Like this guy, who writes: “The Hygge is very 2016. Kalsarikännit, the word that only exists in Finland for drinking alone at home in your underwear, is what you’re wearing this year“. What do you think of this?

A Moomin: always a good choice.

By the way: verb or noun?

The truth is that if I had to use the word kalsarikännit in a sentence I wouldn’t know where to start. The website of ThisisFinland doesn’t make it clear either but I think it gives a clue (spoiler: noun). It defines it as “that feeling you get when you go home to be alone and get drunk in your underwear, with no intention of going out afterwards“. In that case, therefore, it would be a noun, although perhaps its growing popularity will make it a verb and people will say “I’m kalsarikännit-ing tonight”. Or the equivalent of that phrase in Finnish.

Finnish has a word for 'getting drunk alone at home in your underwear': kalsarikännit Share on X

What’s your favorite emoji of the collection? What do you think of kalsarikännit? Let us know in the comments below.

Share:

Topics: Curiosities | Leave your comment! | Print This Post Print This Post


last update:Mar242020March 25, 2020March 24, 2020Go tocommentsby Santiago H

Can sauna help against the Coronavirus?

Posted in Finnish traditions

Finland is sauna and sauna is Finland. It is the only Finnish word that has been incorporated into other languages (it was not, of course, going to be the longest word in the world – lentokonesuihku-turbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoal-iupseerioppilas -, which is also Finnish).

The positive effects of the Finnish sauna (the 90-something degree Celsius sauna, not lower temperature saunas or Turkish baths) are well known: they help strengthen the immune system.

But: can it help against Coronavirus?

Sauna and Finland

The health benefits of having regular saunas are well known. They are: relaxation and elimination of toxins from the body through sweating. Regular use also strengthens the immune system. It is also a kind of “controlled natural fever“, since fever is a mechanism for the body to become more hostile to harmful viruses and bacteria.

There are three types of saunas (traditional wood-fired, smoke and electric), but the end-effect of all of them is the same, and in the end choosing between one type and another has more to do with convenience than anything else.

branches in a sauna
Vasta (or Vihta) for whipping in the sauna. Fuente (CC: by-sa)

Many Finns have a sauna at home, in a room within the bathroom, but many also go to public saunas all over the country.

I do take my sauna/two saunas a week and I wouldn’t miss them.

Does the sauna work against Coronavirus?

Let’s just get this out of the way: prevention comes always first. Taking regular saunas will help you build up the immune system, but against Coronavirus it is also recommended to limit contact with people as much as you can and to wash your hands often.

That’s where the 20-seconds-rule for washing the hand comes in, which is how long it takes to sing twice “Happy Birthday” in your head. As I find it unsophisticated, I recommend washing the hands it with the chorus of “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley. Even out loud, what the hell.

But let’s get down to business: the new Coronavirus seems to be sensitive to high temperatures and humidity, and the sauna has plenty of that.

The Coronavirus is transmitted by saliva droplets when people cough and sneeze – and even when people talk. Not only by being next to someone but if those droplets fall on a surface, the virus can live there for several days. If you touch these surfaces and then touch your face (nose, mouth, eyes…) with your hands there is a possibility of contagion.

One of the health recommendations of the sauna has always been to never go when one is already suffering from an illness, and I have to agree with that recommendation. In other words: a sauna will not cure someone who already has the Coronavirus. The air that reaches the lungs – where the COVID-19 resides – is already colder and will not help killing the virus. Michael Osterholm, expert in contagious diseases and epidemiology, tells us more in this interview with the great Joe Rogan. He talks about sauna and Corona in around the 21st minute of the interview.

Public sauna in Helsinki
A public sauna in Helsinki. Source (CC: by-sa)

However, sauna is always beneficial as it helps eliminate toxins and strengthens the body by creating a controlled fever. But, again, don’t go if you think you might be infected, just to be safe.

And you, does it help you to have saunas during the year to improve health?

Share:

Topics: Finnish traditions | Leave your comment! | Print This Post Print This Post


last update:Jan242024March 15, 2020January 24, 2024Go tocommentsby Santiago H

Is Finland dealing correctly with Coronavirus? Maybe not

Posted in Events in Finland

Now that the Coronavirus has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), we also look to Finland to ask: are the Finns doing well? Let’s get to it.

Facemasks. Source (CC: by)

Finnish doctors and patient treatment

We have rarely talked about the Finnish health system here in the blog, that is true.

Finland has in the last years tried to import some health professionals from other countries, as it has been chronically understaffed. We did talk in the Spanish version of this blog with a few Spanish nurses that made a new life for themselves working in Finland. If your Spanish is good enough, you can check out our interview here.

How is the country doing in this area? Well, Finland is used to be on top of most international rankings, pretty much in every regard. Unfortunately, when we look at the efficiency of Health Systems, Finland ranks 24th.

And thus, many in Finland complain about the Finnish way of doctors delivering care to you: take Ibuprofen (or Bepanthen) and go home. This may not work for this pandemic.

Finnish doctors
Coronavirus is arriving to Finland a few days later compared to other Nordic countries, but there are doubts that it will manage the crisis well.

Are people happy with how the Finnish government is handling the Coronavirus pandemic?

Finns confirm that in centers like Terveystalo (Finland’s private health care) during the first days people were not being tested and they referred them to public hospitals only. There were cases where people asked again and again to be tested for coronavirus and were denied. They were forcing these people go into quarantine. Now, of course, in exchange for 195 euros they do perform those tests.

Other problems included not isolating patients who have been in contact with people who could have it, like in this case:

Coronavirus experiences in Finland

Therefore, although Finland started having Coronavirus cases later than Sweden (Ruotsi) or Norway (Norje), if we put the contagion data for all those as starting on “day 0”, we can see that the contagion rate may be greater.

You can see in the following image that Finland followed the pattern until the sudden spike in the number of cases. The source of the image is the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

coronavirus cases in Finland

Luckily the Finns can be less afraid of running out of toilet paper than other nations because they have a hose next to every toilet.

If you want to keep up to date with how the Coronavirus is affecting Finland – although in the next few days we will bring you more posts on the subject – this page is updated daily with the new information.

At the moment it seems that no drastic measures are being taken and people – as we have seen in this post – don’t trust their government too much to stop the Coronavirus in Finland.

How do you see this pandemic from your perspective? What do you think should be done?

Share:

Topics: Events in Finland | Leave your comment! | Print This Post Print This Post