For those who don't know... Laskiainen is a traditional Finnish festival that is celebrated the first weekend of February every year. It was co-opted by early Christians but predates them, and originally marked the time when Finnish women were supposed to be done with their spinning and begin their weaving for the year. By now the days are getting longer, and it's easier to spin in low light than it is to weave. (Or so I'm told.) How sliding is worked in: Finnish women traditionally wear their hair up in braided buns. You would unbraid your hair and let it fly out behind you when you go sliding; the longer your hair flies out, the better your weaving will go. Or the higher your flax will grow. Or something. Anyway, sliding.
Palo, Minnesota has been celebrating Laskiainen since 1937, and it's one of the nation's oldest ethnic festivals (according to the Laskiainen brochure I picked up this weekend). Here's the view from the top of their sliding hill! They create a HUGE slide with ice, that goes down onto the frozen lake. It's super fast, pretty bumpy, and crazy, crazy fun.
As you can see, you can get pretty far out onto the lake!
(the second pic there is from Sunday, which was much grayer and overcast than Saturday was.)
The trek back up to the top of the hill was pretty intense, and on Saturday we'd have to wait in line to get to the top. The kids amused themselves playing "mountain climbing" while I held the line for us.
After all that climbing, sledding, and hauling around kids... today I am super sore! My back, legs, and arms are all achy and sore. But we had just a ton of fun. I think this is going to become an annual tradition for us, just like it was when I was a kid - and like it was when my mom was a kid, too, and her parents took her to Laskiainen in Palo.
1 comment:
I love having the legend that goes with the event. Thanks so much. Terrific posts of the whole weekend. So glad that family traditions are continuing.
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