{"id":171,"date":"2021-03-11T12:07:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T12:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/?p=171"},"modified":"2021-03-11T12:07:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T12:07:04","slug":"searching-for-st-urho-the-patron-saint-of-finland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engage.augsburg.edu\/zobitz\/2021\/03\/11\/searching-for-st-urho-the-patron-saint-of-finland\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching for St. Urho \u2013 the patron saint of Finland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A week ago I posted the following question on Twitter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A bit of context.\u00a0\u00a0St. Urho is the so-called patron saint of Finland<\/a>, who saved Finland from a scrouge of grasshoppers.\u00a0 It is celebrated on March 16, the day before St. Patrick\u2019s Day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in Northern Minnesota, which has one of the\u00a0largest enclaves of Finnish immigrants to the United States<\/a>. Growing up I remember people wearing purple on St. Urho\u2019s Day, as a point of Finnish pride.\u00a0Finland, Minnesota has an annual celebration<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be honest \u2013 St. Patrick\u2019s Day was just that \u2026 a day.\u00a0 I would call it good if I was able to eat a bowl of Lucky Charms cereal on that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading the history of the St. Urho’s day, it doesn\u2019t take long to see that, this holiday is decidedly a modern fictional creation.\u00a0 \u00a0Perhaps some of you reading this may laugh and scoff at those silly Rangers (people from the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However since I am in Finland this spring, I decided to pose this question on a local Facebook community group in Kuopio:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"I<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Being in the time of COVID, this was the best that I could do in terms of local, on the ground research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is why I am interested in this question.  I know that immigrants adapt elements of their home culture in unique and perhaps distorted ways.  Very rarely does the home culture re-appropriate those elements.  St. Urho\u2019s Day would be a unique case where this occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posting to the facebook group exceeded my expectations. (This is a very positive facebook group in general.)  Someone even pointed to a documentary made by the Finnish TV service about Finland, Minnesota<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general sentiment is St. Urho- as I know it – is not celebrated in Finland, but several people seem to be interested in the holiday.\u00a0 (As someone said \u2013 if it gives you a reason to celebrate, why not?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And perhaps a \u201cSaint Urho\u201d may not seem that farfetched and could have its own mythology:<\/p>\n\n\n\n