Discover your Finnish roots

Questions to ask the older generation

Memories fade faster than photos. Ask these over a meal or a phone call, and write the answers down.

1. Which town or region of Finland did our family come from? Was it near Turku, Tampere, Oulu?
2. Who was the first in the family to leave Finland, when, and why?
3. Which dishes from Finland were cooked at home? Did anyone make Karelian pasties or Salmon soup?
4. Does anyone in the family still speak Finnish, or use a few words of it?
5. Were there songs, prayers, games or holidays from Finland that the family kept?
6. Are there old photos, letters or documents from Finland? Who has them?
7. If you could visit Finland together, where would you go first?

A short history of Finland

Finland's story runs from Stone Age hunters who followed the melting ice, through more than five centuries under Sweden and a century as a Grand Duchy of Russia, to independence, two hard wars and a modern European democracy.

1. 9000 BC

   First settlers after the Ice Age

   As the great ice sheet of the last Ice Age melted, people moved into the land around 9000 BC. For thousands of years they lived by hunting, fishing and gathering, and later by farming and trade around the Baltic Sea.

2. 1548

   Agricola's New Testament

   Mikael Agricola, later Bishop of Turku, completed the first Finnish translation of the New Testament in 1548. There was no standard written Finnish at the time, so his books laid the foundations of Finnish spelling, and he is called the father of literary Finnish.

3. 1809

   Finland becomes a Grand Duchy

   In the Finnish War of 1808 to 1809 Russia conquered Finland from Sweden. At the Diet of Porvoo in 1809, Emperor Alexander I promised to uphold Finland's laws and Lutheran faith. Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire, and in 1860 it got its own currency, the markka.

4. 1835

   The Kalevala is published

   On 28 February 1835 Elias Lönnrot published the Kalevala, a national epic he compiled from folk poems collected in Karelia and elsewhere. A longer version of 50 poems followed in 1849. It inspired Finnish artists and the growing national movement, and 28 February is Kalevala Day.

5. 1917

   Finland declares independence

   After the Russian Revolution, the Finnish Parliament approved the Declaration of Independence on 6 December 1917. Soviet Russia recognised it on 31 December 1917. 6 December is Finland's Independence Day.

6. 1939

   The Winter War begins

   On 30 November 1939 the Soviet Union invaded Finland. Finnish soldiers held out through the depths of winter until the Moscow Peace Treaty of 13 March 1940. Finland kept its independence but gave up about 9 percent of its territory, and about 420,000 people from the lost areas, mostly in Karelia, had to be resettled.

7. 1952

   The Helsinki Olympic Games

   From 19 July to 3 August 1952 Helsinki hosted the Summer Olympic Games. Helsinki had agreed to take over the 1940 Games after Tokyo withdrew, but they were cancelled because of the war. Helsinki is still the most northerly city ever to host the Summer Olympics.

8. 2023

   Finland joins NATO

   For decades Finland stayed militarily non-aligned. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, public opinion changed quickly, and on 4 April 2023 Finland became the 31st member of NATO.

Family recipes to cook together

Karelian pasties 2 h · serves 16Salmon soup 40 min · serves 4Sautéed reindeer 1 h · serves 4Karelian hot pot 3 h 30 min · serves 6Cinnamon buns 2 h 30 min · serves 20

Finnish words to teach the grandchildren

Towns and regions

• Helsinki, Uusimaa: Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral, The sea fortress of Suomenlinna.
• Turku, Southwest Finland: Turku Cathedral, consecrated in 1300, Turku Castle.
• Tampere, Pirkanmaa: The Tammerkoski rapids, Old red-brick factories such as Finlayson.
• Oulu, North Ostrobothnia: European Capital of Culture 2026, The Air Guitar World Championships, every August since 1996.
• Rovaniemi, Lapland: Santa Claus Village, The Arctic Circle.
• Porvoo, Uusimaa: The Old Town of wooden houses, Porvoo Cathedral.
• Savonlinna, South Savo: Olavinlinna Castle, The Savonlinna Opera Festival, first held in 1912.
• Kuopio, North Savo: Kalakukko, the fish-in-a-loaf pie, Lake Kallavesi.
• Jyväskylä, Central Finland: Buildings by Alvar Aalto, The university.
• Rauma, Satakunta: Old Rauma, Bobbin lace and the yearly Lace Week.
• Inari, Lapland: Siida, the Sámi Museum, Sajos, the Sámi cultural centre.