Traditional Children’s Independence Day Celebration includes music, dancing, and snacks
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Continuing the tradition of inviting children to an Independence Day Celebration, Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen hosted a reception in two parts for a total of 5,300 ten-year-old Helsinki schoolchildren wearing their Sunday best on Tuesday afternoon.
The programme consisted of music, dancing, and finger food, while a common topic among the young guests was Finland’s Independence and what it actually means.
"Independence means that Finland has a president of its own and that the country can make decisions on its own matters", some pupils answered after thinking the question over carefully, whereupon they laughed and clinked their glasses of strawberry fizz.
Some others put it in a more blunt and straightforward manner, saying that independence means that we are no longer under the Russian regime.
Some children also had an opportunity to discuss with Mayor Pajunen himself, while the most exciting moments of the party were experienced when the Mayor joined the children for letkajenkka, a Finnish conga-like dance.
When preparing for the celebration, schoolclasses had been focusing on practical matters, including good manners and dance steps.
One guest, however, had done her lobbying homework and urged the mayoral host to intervene on behalf of Malmi Airport, the subject of a land dispute: the city would like to see the old airport runways torn up and the land used for residential development. Pajunen's reply was not reported.
The neighbouring cities of Espoo and Vantaa have also been discussing a similar tradition, while both cities plan to have a version of their own and not to copy the capital’s celebration as such. Allegedly there were (adult) spies from Espoo in attendance at the Helsinki bash.
The programme consisted of music, dancing, and finger food, while a common topic among the young guests was Finland’s Independence and what it actually means.
"Independence means that Finland has a president of its own and that the country can make decisions on its own matters", some pupils answered after thinking the question over carefully, whereupon they laughed and clinked their glasses of strawberry fizz.
Some others put it in a more blunt and straightforward manner, saying that independence means that we are no longer under the Russian regime.
Some children also had an opportunity to discuss with Mayor Pajunen himself, while the most exciting moments of the party were experienced when the Mayor joined the children for letkajenkka, a Finnish conga-like dance.
When preparing for the celebration, schoolclasses had been focusing on practical matters, including good manners and dance steps.
One guest, however, had done her lobbying homework and urged the mayoral host to intervene on behalf of Malmi Airport, the subject of a land dispute: the city would like to see the old airport runways torn up and the land used for residential development. Pajunen's reply was not reported.
The neighbouring cities of Espoo and Vantaa have also been discussing a similar tradition, while both cities plan to have a version of their own and not to copy the capital’s celebration as such. Allegedly there were (adult) spies from Espoo in attendance at the Helsinki bash.
Helsingin Sanomat