The whole "Raskasta Joulua" concept is very interesting, and I hope it would get more international attention. Admittedly, the fact that they sing (mostly) in Finnish is a limiting factor, and those Christmas songs that are only known in Finland won't have quite the same kind of emotional attachment for international audiences, so I get why it mostly gets Finnish attention (though some international reactors have started to pick them up).
A sparrow on Christmas morning is a poem by Zacharias Topelius from 1859. It was translated into Finnish by Konrad Alexis Hougberg (late Waaranen). The poem echoes Topelius's own grief: his son Rafael died when he was only one year old in the spring of the year before the poem was written. To lose a child is parents worst nightmare..
You came a long way Vin!. You're much more open then you were a few years ago, ready to entertain interesting ideas and you even spoke of Neanderthals as a fact! Let me tell you about one of my own experiences. My late grandfather (actually step-grandfather) had a big tabletop chiming clock that was gifted to him by his former colleagues when he retired. it had its own special key and you had to wind it up, both the clock itself and the chimer every day. This was like a religious ceremony to granddad, he did it daily, never skipped it. That is until one of his legs was amputated and he couldn't do it anymore. At that time the clock stopped and since nobody else bothered to wind it up anymore, it kept showing the same time for a few years. Now granddad was a non-religious guy, he only ever used the name of God for swearing. He died of a heart attack and as we came home from the funeral, we found that the clock was ticking... and chiming every hour for exactly 24 hours. It frightened the crap out of everybody and it's one of the few things in my life for which I don't have a rational explanation.
this song sparrow on Christmas morning is about being kind to everyone, the homeless as well as the orphans and even the little bird, give that Christmas love to everyone because every soul is worth it.❤❤
Finnish Christmas songs can be a bit gloomy compared to US ones 😄Main theme is that God rewards a gift that's given without any means to gain something. Of course the poets childs death is a inspiration to this poem. I don't know about paganism. In Finland religion and nature are kinda entwined together. There's even saying in Finnish: "The forest is my church."
The ancient beliefs are mixing here with newer Christian ones, in the lyrics. The concept of soul birds, protective deceiced loved ones, Christian God. This era of poetry and songs in Finland are often like this. The element of nature is always there. Ps. The church destroyed many of our holy nature sites (such as holy trees, rocks etc.) and inserted their own beliefs over them. Finns were very stubborn to give theirs up(the last ones to yield to Christianity in Europe), so the church literally built on top of some of the sites. When you know all this, you understand the anger (+ sole amount...) behind Finnish metal bands towards the subject.
Adding that I always tear up at this song. The concept of heavy Christmas songs is quite natural since our own ones are melancholic, and because church hymns translate really well to heavy metal. This was actually shown in a document "The promised land of heavy metal".
We were not the last ones turning to Christianity. Where are pulling this from? From burial practices and other grave findings we know Finland was already quite Christian by the time Swedes arrived. When Lithuania was the last officially pagan nation left in Europe, we were already a completely Christian people. Of course with folk beliefs added, like almost everywhere.
The whole "Raskasta Joulua" concept is very interesting, and I hope it would get more international attention. Admittedly, the fact that they sing (mostly) in Finnish is a limiting factor, and those Christmas songs that are only known in Finland won't have quite the same kind of emotional attachment for international audiences, so I get why it mostly gets Finnish attention (though some international reactors have started to pick them up).
A sparrow on Christmas morning is a poem by Zacharias Topelius from 1859. It was translated into Finnish by Konrad Alexis Hougberg (late Waaranen). The poem echoes Topelius's own grief: his son Rafael died when he was only one year old in the spring of the year before the poem was written.
To lose a child is parents worst nightmare..
This is perhaps one of the best Finnish Christmas songs and we have to thank Marko for a good interpretation of this song
Thank you for this reaction! God bless you both. 🫶🏻
You came a long way Vin!. You're much more open then you were a few years ago, ready to entertain interesting ideas and you even spoke of Neanderthals as a fact!
Let me tell you about one of my own experiences.
My late grandfather (actually step-grandfather) had a big tabletop chiming clock that was gifted to him by his former colleagues when he retired. it had its own special key and you had to wind it up, both the clock itself and the chimer every day. This was like a religious ceremony to granddad, he did it daily, never skipped it.
That is until one of his legs was amputated and he couldn't do it anymore. At that time the clock stopped and since nobody else bothered to wind it up anymore, it kept showing the same time for a few years.
Now granddad was a non-religious guy, he only ever used the name of God for swearing.
He died of a heart attack and as we came home from the funeral, we found that the clock was ticking... and chiming every hour for exactly 24 hours.
It frightened the crap out of everybody and it's one of the few things in my life for which I don't have a rational explanation.
Finnish christmas songs❤❤❤
this song sparrow on Christmas morning is about being kind to everyone, the homeless as well as the orphans and even the little bird, give that Christmas love to everyone because every soul is worth it.❤❤
Finnish Christmas songs can be a bit gloomy compared to US ones 😄Main theme is that God rewards a gift that's given without any means to gain something. Of course the poets childs death is a inspiration to this poem. I don't know about paganism. In Finland religion and nature are kinda entwined together. There's even saying in Finnish: "The forest is my church."
❤❤❤
The ancient beliefs are mixing here with newer Christian ones, in the lyrics. The concept of soul birds, protective deceiced loved ones, Christian God. This era of poetry and songs in Finland are often like this. The element of nature is always there. Ps. The church destroyed many of our holy nature sites (such as holy trees, rocks etc.) and inserted their own beliefs over them. Finns were very stubborn to give theirs up(the last ones to yield to Christianity in Europe), so the church literally built on top of some of the sites. When you know all this, you understand the anger (+ sole amount...) behind Finnish metal bands towards the subject.
Adding that I always tear up at this song. The concept of heavy Christmas songs is quite natural since our own ones are melancholic, and because church hymns translate really well to heavy metal. This was actually shown in a document "The promised land of heavy metal".
We were not the last ones turning to Christianity. Where are pulling this from? From burial practices and other grave findings we know Finland was already quite Christian by the time Swedes arrived. When Lithuania was the last officially pagan nation left in Europe, we were already a completely Christian people. Of course with folk beliefs added, like almost everywhere.
My favourite Finn, JP Leppäluoto, is also part of that tour. In my opinion he's even better than Marko.