Staying fit in Finland: Part 3

This will be my last and final post in this mini-series! This one is about a super strange bridal tradition that I learned about in Finland. Some background material first:

Sauna is a big deal here in Finland. Everyone uses the sauna. Some Finnish people crave the sauna when they go too long without *cough* Miriam* *cough*. Sauna is thought to be a tool to release bodily toxins and treat sickness and pain. Sauna is introduced to kids from age one and parents always teach their kids how to prepare, wash and maintain a nice sauna. It is both a family and social experience. Often times, families will eat dinner, go to the sauna, and then watch the news together every evening. It is very rude to call a house in Finland between the hours of 6-10pm because that is SAUNA TIME.

Sauna Time

Suffice it to say, I had to try the sauna. Verdict: the sauna is awesome. You get super clean, then sit in the wonderful hot box and put water over rocks that are heated by a wood burning stove while sipping a beer. It smells like campfire and is so warm which is nice in a place where it is winter most of the time. Then you get out, rinse, put on a robe and go outside to cool down. Some people even jump into the lake. Then you get back into the sauna and do it all over again!

You come out of the sauna SO relaxed. A whole body massage doesn’t even compare. So, you get now that sauna is a big deal here in Finland. Obviously, sauna would be incorporated into big events here in Finland including holidays and WEDDINGS! These traditions are very old and a bit out-dated, but people have adopted some of the traditions in modern ways for their own wedding days.

Brides in Finland are supposed to use the sauna on the eve before their wedding as a way to banish evil spirits and ghosts of former boyfriends. (HA! I think a few of us could benefit from this!) You decorate the sauna with white towels and candles to represent purity. The bride sits in the middle while her friends whip her with birch branches. You heard me right, whip her with birch branches.

It is very common to create a tool from birch branches to (gently) beat yourself with while in the sauna. It serves as a tactile stimulus that the Finns are big on (remember the whole hot to cold to hot idea?). Also, it releases oils onto your skins that are cleansing.

The bride’s friends then wash her with salt, honey and milk to purify the bride and make her innocent again. Miriam told me that sometimes they even crack and egg over her head! It has something to do with fertility... Next, beer is passed around to take a sip from to honor the bride.

The bride’s friends then sing and chant to cast away those evil boyfriend spirits. A bride at this time is supposed to sit on a throne of juniper (while in the sauna) to remind her that marriage isn’t always easy and can be painful at times.

To finish it all up, the bride tosses the bundle of birch branches over her shoulder and makes a wish.

BAM! The bride can then consider herself cleansed and pure.

Not sure that I will do this, but it would be nice to spend some quality time with the wonderful women in my life before the wedding. Got any ideas? Anyone up for a bachelorette party?

Staying fit in Finland: Part 2

Okay, I exercised maybe twice a week in Finland, but I did supplement by hiking! To continue in my “Staying fit in Finland” series where I sneak in photos of Finland into my blog, I would like to show you two of my adventures!

Early during my time in Finland, I went blueberry picking out in the woods surrounding Jyvaskyla with my friend Miriam and one of Miriam’s lovely friends. Miriam gave me a bike to use while I was in Finland. We biked about 5 kilometers outside of the city. Then, we hiked up a hill and wandered off the beaten path.

It took some time to find berries because they were picked over. These crazy ant hills were everywhere, though.

Eventually, we did find some. They grow like carpet over the forest floor.

We were very focused on blueberry picking (as you can tell by my purple hand) so we may have gotten lost a little, but Miriam found our way out.

Hooray, I made it!

For my last weekend in Finland, I asked Mika and Miriam to go hiking with me in a National Park. My camera battery was dead, so the following are all Miriam’s pictures.

A purple mushroom!

We hiked for 1 hour then made a fire to cook some Finnish sausage…yeah, you're jealous.

Mika chopping wood.

Pondering great things.

The ladies made fire...

Mmm sausage.

We hiked out to a little bit of land that extended out into one of Finland’s many lakes.

When then hiked back and admired these geologic features called kettle holes – large holes that glaciers cut out of the earth.

Lichen. It made the ground look like gray snow.

Another lichen?

Kettle hole!

Besides that, I also walked to work and back every day and didn’t eat fast food at all. Okay, maybe once because I had to try to the Finnish version of McDonalds. All in all, I think I was active enough! I am thankful that I get to start Jazzercise back up again soon because another week without it and I might be singing a different tune.

I know that other people very dear to me are also trying to stay fit and/or shed some excess pounds for many different reasons, but partially because our wedding is coming up. So, I would like to take a moment to say GO MOM, GO ANA, GO BM NICOLE and… GO WES!

Correction: Wes just informed me that he is getting fit for the honeymoon, not the wedding. My bad. :)

Staying fit in Finland: Part 1

I know this is a strange notion, but I would like to look really good in all wedding-related photos! And, I would like to fit in my dress on my wedding day. Therefore, it was a goal of mine to workout with all my extra time in Finland. A co-worker of mine asked me a few months ago, "Why did you buy your dress so early, aren't you afraid you will gain weight?" Well...no, not really, not until he said something about it! Normally, I exercise a lot. Jazzercise rocks my world!

Jazzercise!

That's right, I am a dancing, shake my butt while wearing spandex, because I find treadmills boring sort-a gal! We don’t really wear this stuff but I hear that some people used too… I may have or have not dressed up as a Jazzerciser one year for Halloween because some people (not me) consider spandex scary. I miss you Jazzercise ladies of New Jersey!

Kissing a skull.

Anyhoo, I didn’t want to gain weight pounds eating sausage, beer and bread in Finland right before our engagement photo shoot. Did I mention that? We are getting engagement photos done next week!!! I could burst I am so excited. More on that later.

Finland doesn’t have Jazzercise, so I decided to take some Jazzercise videos with me and jog... If I could take one thing back with me to the US it would be my jogging path. So, pretty.

Pretty, right?

University of Jyvaskyla. This is the campus I worked at.

I am on a boat cruise here with Miriam and Mika (super cool Finnish people), but the boat left from a dock that I jog by. You can see my apartment in the background.

I jog past this lake and into the downtown area that you see in the background.

More downtown Jyvaskyla

You can see my apartment from the lake/bridge that I job over! My apartment's balcony is where the white arrrow points to.

Views from my apartment!

Confession: so I didn’t really work out as much as I should have in Finland. This post is really just an excuse to show you some cool sights from my jogging route!