Holiday Traditions

Collar_N_Cuffs said:

Bolo tie??

Happy National Chocolate Chip Day, America!

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No. Simply no.

Chocolate chips, on the other hand, are the height of western civilization.

Ascension is picnic with extended family for us.
We take the extended thing seriously, so this often means well over 50 people driving around together in the country side, causing traffic jams in small villages and then eating, playing a softball resembling game etc

IrisAlthea said:

Ascension is picnic with extended family for us.
We take the extended thing seriously, so this often means well over 50 people driving around together in the country side, causing traffic jams in small villages and then eating, playing a softball resembling game etc

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Duplicate post

IrisAlthea said:

Ascension is picnic with extended family for us.
We take the extended thing seriously, so this often means well over 50 people driving around together in the country side, causing traffic jams in small villages and then eating, playing a softball resembling game etc

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This sounds lovely
It sounds as though there are religious underpinnings. Do they exist, still? Or is it sort of like... Christmas in May?? A holiday that has moved beyond its religious roots and just lives on in culture?

Collar_N_Cuffs said:

This sounds lovely
It sounds as though there are religious underpinnings. Do they exist, still? Or is it sort of like... Christmas in May?? A holiday that has moved beyond its religious roots and just lives on in culture?

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At least here pretty much nobody knows what Ascension is, other than another day off, a good reason to take the Friday off as well and have more time to do something fun. I've learned the English name for it and now I know what it is, but the Finnish name tells absolutely nothing about the reason.

So, it's a religious holiday and nobody knows what happens on that day, but everybody is glad about the day off.

Ok, I kind of figured...

I would be interested in hearing about a "softball like game" if Iris or anyone wants to enlighten me?

Collar_N_Cuffs said:

Ok, I kind of figured...

I would be interested in hearing about a "softball like game" if Iris or anyone wants to enlighten me?

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Swedish version -- at least I think that's what Iris was talking about.
Finnish version

seela said:

Swedish version -- at least I think that's what Iris was talking about.
Finnish version

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Thanks seela! I never heard of these before... I like the differences from our baseball. It seems to be mostly a kids game, looks fun to me I particularly like the variety of bats in the Swedish version, and the emphasis on defence in the Finnish version.

Collar_N_Cuffs said:

Thanks seela! I never heard of these before... I like the differences from our baseball. It seems to be mostly a kids game, looks fun to me I particularly like the variety of bats in the Swedish version, and the emphasis on defence in the Finnish version.

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Kids play it, sure. We played it a lot in school and also with friends in summer, but it's not just a kids' game. There are actual series for both men and women here. It's not hugely popular, but I bet everybody here has played many times in their lives. There's even an easier kiddie version made of the game.

I liked it, but I can't throw for shit because my shoulder dislocates if I do that.

Collar_N_Cuffs said:

Thanks seela! I never heard of these before... I like the differences from our baseball. It seems to be mostly a kids game, looks fun to me I particularly like the variety of bats in the Swedish version, and the emphasis on defence in the Finnish version.

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Yup, that's the game.
It's played by grown ups a lot actually.
If you are having a casual party in the reasonably warm months and there is a big enough area to play, people probably will. Doesn't even have to be very casual. I've played in cocktaildress and barefoot on the big lawn in front of a fancy restaurant/hotel.=)
You don't have to be very good at it to have fun and it works for most ages.

Today ended up being mostly about hiking, quiz tournament (my team won the silver!) and a volleyball tournament.
Brännboll didn't start until we had to leave unfortunately.

Tonight we're eating young rooks in cream sauce.

It is a family tradition, that takes place in the spring.... Whenever I've been able to shoot enough of them to have a meal.

The rooks taste great, the sauce is divine and we normally serve them with new potatoes and home grown asparagus.

Cumference said:

Tonight we're eating young rooks in cream sauce.

It is a family tradition, that takes place in the spring.... Whenever I've been able to shoot enough of them to have a meal.

The rooks taste great, the sauce is divine and we normally serve them with new potatoes and home grown asparagus.

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Is that one of the illegal things you urge people to try each day?

Memorial Day weekend in the US, which traditionally means BBQ along with remembrance..

Shooting rooks is completely legal.

Shooting the young is considered pest control, but you have to apply and argue that they pose a problem (they do, they make an awful noise and crap-carpet-bomb those living near the colonies).

Nesting birds are protected, but in this case, it is one of the only ways to control them somewhat efficiently.

And here we are (several friends and I) collectively worrying over the well-being of a quail's next. Friend's husband nearly ran over it while mowing the lawn, and mama hasn't returned yet.

I don't know that we have rooks here, but I see they are part of the same family as crows, which we do have. Ummm... are they tasty? They just don't seem like they would be, to me. If their diet is anything like a crow, they are omniverous, is that true? Of course, I guess you could put rocks or bricks or anything in a cream sauce and make them taste good...

Gianbattista said:

A bird can leave the nest for twenty minutes or so just fine. I chuck over dedicated Mamma's off their nests for a little walk, food and drink each day. ( nb, I do not raise quail as they are practically impossible raise truly free range and I do not pen or contain my birds ( apart from when my geese want to go wandering, when they get closed in to an area with grass and water.....but not in a 'pen'

Its not just warmth, its the turning of her eggs..

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We incubated and hand raised several birds when I was a little kid, a quail being one of them. I did so love having the different birds sound. And of course they imprinted on us, as we incubated the eggs.

I hope yours are ok, ds!

Had my yearly Weekend Memorial Day Barbecue Disaster yesterday. Today, clean-up and fighting crowds to pick up groceries. Already have gas masks and tear gas grenades ready.

Terranim said:

Had my yearly Weekend Memorial Day Barbecue Disaster yesterday. Today, clean-up and fighting crowds to pick up groceries. Already have gas masks and tear gas grenades ready.

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I like this... yearly barbecue disaster! I have decided I'm renaming my brother's traditional 4th of July cookout

Gianbattista said:

Were you able to keep them living free range after that? Did subsequent generations revert to feral? I adore quail. Such beautiful birds, nice meat, and the eggs. Feisty little creatures though.

I really despise keeping birds penned, and commercial quail rearing is not for me. I was offered a opportunity with a seller to be a 'face' of rearing unusual culinary birds but I would not rear them how they would require them......its just not how I desire to be. So I am not the face of rare and unusual culinary birds, and you are as likeY to see one of my birds in my garden, or head to a field too far from home, as you are in 'the bird places' We share our eggs too liberally with uninvited wildlife, and our meat too. But we also have wild birds who will join us, including some unusual and out of area varieties, even for a season, and we have the pleasure of feeling we eat and keep right as the birds prefer and nature made her scales to be. It feels like that makes it very good value.

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We only had the odd bird here and there, and we kept them as pets. We would occasionally come across an egg that had befallen some misadventure or another, and we would hatch it if possible. The Quail egg, I remember, was found as the only egg in a nest underneath a dead hen. I don't remember how we came across the few others over the years. We actually kept the quail in the house he had a cage, but we had him out much of the time. Others lived in a large chicken house and pen that we converted into an outside play house. We spent a lot of time with them, but there were only a few over the years, no breeding, no subsequent generations.

It's the midsummer weekend here, which means people will hole up in their summer cottages, burn bonfires and complain about the weather. In the archipelago and on the western coast people also dance around the maypole, but the rest of the country settles with just burning stuff. There are also midsummer dances that have become more popular again. I don't mean there's a special midsummer dance with funky moves, but a dance as an event, waltz and so on. Another midsummer tradition is drowning or burning the summer cottage down when the bonfire gets out of hand or you pass out from drinking too much and the wood fired sauna burns down.

I've always been a fan of midsummer in the city, because it gets really quiet and lovely here. Only tourists and a handful of locals inhabit the city, it's kind of surreal. The past two years we've spent midsummer in Tallinn, that's been nice.

The midsummer weekend is also a traditional time for weddings, but in the recent years it's grown unpopular, because people would rather spend the time holed up in their summer cottages rather than go to a wedding. This year I'll be going to a super traditional wedding, my first midsummer wedding ever. I think J and I will still keep the usual bet on the number of drowned people going. Can't give up on all of our little midsummer traditions.

There are also all kinds of traditions and superstitions that go with the midsummer, most of them are about getting married and having babies. Like if you roll naked in a field of rye when, you'll marry the person whose field that is. Or if you pick 9 different flowers and place them under your pillow, you'll see the person you're gonna marry in your dream. And there's a belief that the fern blooms on midsummer night only, and if you pick up that flower you'll get magic powers.

Gianbattista said:

This sounds wonderful. I like the idea old traditions are being reinvested in. While people drowning or setting homes on fire might be a bit dramatic at least people are 'living' ( until they die).


It must get very confusing for the farmer who has lots of girls roll on his rye field though.

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Well this year the weather's crap (although not as bad as last year when it actually snowed), so there'll be very few drowned people and burned down buildings.

Silver linings.

Ok! So the dancing wedding you will be attending makes more sense now I'm not sure what you mean by downing people though... drunk, I guess? It's interesting to hear you talk about midsummer as a good thing, though. Here it's so freaking hot that most things take place between September and May. We have a local festivity that used to take place in August but it has now been moved to June, because too many people were getting heat stroke! So, while we may have summer homes here, nobody is building bonfires

For us, fourth of July (independence day) is coming up. Most non service businesses will be closed, and people will ummm.. drown and BBQ and hang out with friends and family. Hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, apple pie, fireworks, beer, and maybe more sophisticated BBQ like pulled pork or brisket. I hesitate to say that it's patriotic. I mean, it is, but nobody actually discusses our founding fathers or has any traditions surrounding actual patriotism that I have ever encountered. It's just food and a day off work