Mother's Day competes with sport, but enjoys fine weather, at least in the south
|
|
|
Given that there was a Formula One event (the Turkish GP on MTV Max, MTV3), the gripping final round of games in the English Premiership (Canal+), and Finland vs. USA in the Ice Hockey World Championships (YLE 2), it was arguably closer to Father’s Day or even “Sports Fan Couch Potato Day”, but Sunday was Mother’s Day in Finland and much of Europe, and was celebrated here in traditional fashion.
By quirk of the calendar it was also Pentecost or Whitsun, seven weeks after Easter Sunday, but most of the attention was placed on wives and mothers, from flowers and cards and cups of coffee in bed to lunches out at somewhat inflated prices.
At least in the south of what is demonstrably a very long country indeed, the sun shone from a clear blue sky and it was quite warm enough to venture out for a picnic on the grass rather than to a restaurant.
Up north in Lapland, things were not quite as rosy: Rovaniemi had sleet and snow and temperatures around freezing-point.
Jokioinen - located in the centre of a triangle formed by Helsinki, Tampere, and Turku - marked the occasion by becoming the first place this year to record an official “hot day”, as the mercury crept over 25°C. Kiikala slightly further south also recorded more than 25°C.
Things are expected to be appreciably cooler and more unsettled this week.
In Helsinki, women travelling on the city’s trams were rewarded with complimentary roses and live music, and in a more formal ceremony carried out at the House of the Estates, President Tarja Halonen honoured 37 deserving mothers with the award of the Medal of the Order of the White Rose of Finland, with gold cross.
On the down side, an opinion poll published in the Tampere daily Aamulehti suggested that the majority of Finns have trouble naming more than one woman in Finland wielding real influence, namely President Halonen.
Halonen was cited by some 80% of respondents, but there then came a long gap to the former Marimekko CEO Kirsti Paakkanen (9%) and Centre Party MP and former minister and beauty queen Tanja Karpela (5%).
This is somewhat odd, considering that at least half of the ministers in the present coalition government are women.
According to Aamulehti, women in positions of authority - and there are a good many of them - are still not seen as exercising any great influence.
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 12.5.2008 - TODAY |
 Mother's Day competes with sport, but enjoys fine weather, at least in the south |
|
