Star Boys Procession

Alright, folks! 

...and now something completely different. 

This is for all my international friends and to those who show at least slight interested into Finnish culture.
Here's a lot of reading this time, but it will - hopefully - be rewarded in the end.

As being abroad, I started to think and wonder about Finnish Christmas time traditions. What to tell.
So yeah. This is an old (Northern) Finnish tradition, called Tiernapojat. In english Star Boys Procession. 

..sounds like a glam-proge-band, doesn't it?

I find this quite freaky because I've never truly understood why it is played in every school and almost everywhere in Finland, before Christmas. Though of course understand the topic and the message.

So, gladly, for all of you, my dear readers, I found some facts about it. 

It was originally played by little boys in northern Finland who went from door to door begging some coins. 

As so many other (protestant) Christian tradition (as well St. Lucia bringing light to darkness), also this has come to us from Sweden and it is apparently few centuries old tradition (in Finland). 

Literally tiernapojat means the star boys. Word 'tierna', 

meaning in modern Finnish absolutely nothing, comes from Swedish word 'stjärne', the star.

 So therefore the english translation is the Star Boys Procession.

So, there's always four characters. One is king Herod;

 The second is the king of negroes - finnish word 'murjaani' comes from Swedish loan word from medieval French 'le murian' (one of the three magi - the black guy in the play); 

The third one is king Herod's soldier and servant 'knihti' (comes from Swedish word 'knekt', meaning soldier or servant) 

and the fourth is in Finnish called 'mänkki' ('männchen' of german), he is basically just a statistic character who holds and wheels the star.

Complicated enough?

Well, basically the story is based on the gospel according to St. Matthew and the epiphany about Christ. 

If you don't know the story, you can check it from your nearest Holy Bible, or from here:

Meanwhile, we who are familiar with the storyline, shall continue about this specific play. 

It starts when in the very beginning the soldier comes and asks can they come to sing. 

Then they come and start with greetings for the residents of the household.

Herod is on his way to Betlehem where he meets the Magi, king of le murian. Then he tells him to kneel in front of him and submit. 

Which le murian does after his solo. 

Mänkki, the star, tells the news about new-born Christ. 

They sing about star of Betlehem and the magi who come to give presents to baby-Christ. 

Herod asks from Knihti, the soldier, have he seen "these three wise men from the eastern land" in which he answers that they went each different way to their own land. 

Herod gets mad and tells Knihti to go to Betlehem and kill all baby boys under 2 years. 

(This  is the most 'authentic', the most common way to perform it. By school boys. They seem to be winners of some competition.)

Knihti sings solo: 

He is a brave soldier who is taught to obey the emperor, who therefore is responsible of his acts. 

Meanwhile Knihti is away, the others sings and praises the grand duke Alexander (Aleksanteri) and thanks him of ending the slavery and 'styrangy' (tyranny). 

Btw, this is a part which I don't really get in this context.. but it refers to finnish history (during its autonomy under Russia in the 19th century)

Knihti comes back and announces that he killed all the baby boys. 

Herod rewards his bravery. 

Everybody sings how the angels told to the shepherds about the born of Messiah. 

After that they thank God.

In the end Knihti asks for a coin and Mänkki a bit of candle for the star. 

In the very end they thank again and wish a good christmas.

So, if you had patience and interest until here, I shall give you two other, different versions.

The first is performed by four finnish rock singers and it is accompanied of a hard rock band
(Trio Niskalaukaus - Neckshot)

 Personally I like their costumes the most.

And the last one is the freakiest... 

..if anyone reads until here, I shall thank my friend Jaakko.

And wish you all happy and peaceful waiting of Christmas (whether you celebrated it or not)!

Monthly retrospective #3

Alright, folks!

..here's again some pearls from my archives.

During the 24th & the 25th of April in 2009 I had the honor to document the Porvoo Heavy Metal Weekend-festival. 

Here is my top 5 personal favourites of those photos. 

Special thanks to Matias & Ben

 and the bands: 

Trident, Skulldriver, Millennia, Coprolith, Lunar Path

Let the pain flow!

Zachor Shoah

Alright, folks!

This is the most epic and most serious post so far.

In order to get into the mood, please click the play-button on the next video.

As the Naziz and their allies and collaborators implemented plans to destroy the jews of Europe (which would come to be know as the Holocaust or Shoah), the Romanian state unleashed its own systematic persecution of the jews, which was heralded by the antisemitic legislation of 1940.

 The pogroms in Doroholand Galați, in June 1940, as well as those in București, in January 1941, and in Iași, in June 1941, left thousands dead and marked the beginning of the organised destruction of Romanian jewry.

 In october 1941, the regime of Ion Antonescu began deporting the jews of Basarabia and Bucovina to Transnistria, launching a genocidal campaign to eliminate the country's jewish population. Between 1940 and 1944, the Romanian state was responsible for the deaths of at least 280,00 Romanian and Ukrainian jews. Twenty five thousand people of Roma origin were also deported to Transnistria, where 11,00 died. In the spring of 1944, the occupying Hungarian authorities in the northwestern regions of Romania deported 135,00 Transylvanian jews, who were murdered in Auschwitz by the nazi Germany.

Memorialul victimelor holocaustului din Româniă

autor Peter Jacobi

8.10.2009

The Romanian nation and their government erected this memorial as a permanent place of remembrance and as a warning addressed to future generations.

The star of David is the symbol most commonly associated with Judaism and the Jewish people. The nazis and their allies marked the Jews with the yellow star of David as a way to separate them from the rest of the population and to target them for persecution.

In many towns and villages, Jews were murdered and burried in mass graves. 

To this day these graves remain unmarked and forgotten.

The Roma wheel evokes the Romani Indian heritage. 

The sixteen-spoked wheel adorns the Romani flag and symbolises travel and fire.

During the Holocaust in Romania, freight railcars were used to transport Jews and Roma to their deaths. Many Jews from Bucovina and half of the Roma from the Old Kingdom were deported to Transnistria by train. 

In Iași, two death trains left in 1941 for Călărași and Podu Iloaiei and carried 4,432 Jews of whom 2,594 perished. all Jews in northern Transylvania were deported by train to Auschwitz.

And no, my dear readers, this is not a chimney. 

It's Coloana memoriala.

Each side of the column contains a single hebrew letter which taken together spell the word zachor (remember).

Graduate - Master of the Science

My lovely bucharestian neighbor graduated a while ago

 and now she received "a large packet" from Finland. 

Her master thesis.

Of course that is worth of documentation - Official graduation photo.

Ps. Sorry for lazyness past weeks. 

I think I'll get back in strict and start posting here again (soon).

Kuukauden retrospektiivi / Monthly retrospective #2

Alright, folks!

It's already the first Saturday of the new month, so here's again some treasures from my archives. 

Only for you all. :)

In February 2009 I was shooting a school task given to me, at the art house Artel in Lahti. 

Students of Lahti Folk High school were working on their wood drawings. 

This is a short documentary of that.

On jälleen aika kuukausittaiselle arkistojen helmiä-katsannolle.

2009 helmikuussa kuvasin koulutehtävää varten Lahden kansanopiston taidetila Artelilla kuvataideopiskelijoita työskentelemässä puupiirrosten parissa.

Ps. Romaniakuvia seuraavaksi..

Reflections of me

I had a tired last Sunday in Helsinki for a while.

Walking on the streets.

With my camera.

And what did I see?

Reflections. 

Of the streets.

And

of me.

9/11

On september 11th 2001 It was my second day in high school.

I heard the news from a friend - And laughed!

 ..well, later on the reality broke through and didn't laugh anymore. 

Ten years later it was a foggy Sunday morning. 

I had started my second academic year in the university.

Me and my friend Satu were waiting for a far-east-of-Finland trip for an Orthodox divine liturgy service.

Syyskuun 11. päivänä 2001 olin toista päivääni lukiossa. 

Kaverini soitti ja kertoi uutiset - nauroin!

..sittemmin todellisuus iski läpi, eikä enää naurattanut.

Kymmenen vuotta myöhemmin olin toista lukuvuotta yliopistossa.

Odotettiin sumuisena aamuna, ystäväni Satun kanssa, lähtöä kauko-itä-Suomen retkelle

 - Petravaaraan, Tohmajärvelle - 

ortodoksista, jumalallista liturgiaa varten.

Ps. Notice the new functions below!

Huomaathan uudet toiminnot tuossa alapuolella!

Kuukauden retrospektiivi / Monthly retrospective

Arkistojen aarteita joka kuun ensimmäisenä perjantaina.

On the first friday of every month I will publish some "best off"-stuff from my archives.

 Syyskuu 2009.

Kallaveden rannalta, Kuopion matkustajasatamasta.

35mm mustavalkofilmille napattu, nega skannattu.

 September 9th, 2009.

From the tourist harbor of Kuopio, on the shore of lake Kallavesi. 

Shot on 35mm b/w film, negative scanned.

Joie de vivre pt. II

The sequel.

That's it for summer.

Joie de vivre pt. I

Life is precious. Man's best time (on earth).

 Especially the youth.

It's time to look back at past summer which I spent with Finnish Orthodox youth.

Kiitos, ONL!

Darkish s**t

August nights.

Cemeteries and memorial lights.

Pretty girls and darkish times.

Dark nights.

Hours and hours.

Life after life.

Death and hallowed minds.

Life and hopeful times.

The last cup of coffee.

Beyond the grave.

No coffee.

Remember life.

Kesän varjot / Shadows of the summer

Finnish summer isn't always that sunny. Especially when Something happens, clouds are quite common. Even though the day is sunny, clouds can come right on the "wrong" moment.

In this case, right on the Right moment.

Jokainen suomalainen tietää, kuinka pilvet saattavat tulla kesken kauneimmankin aurinkoisen kesäpäivän, juuri "väärällä" hetkellä, kun Jotakin tapahtuu.

Tässä yhteydessä, juuri Oikealla hetkellä.