(M) ilyenek a Finnek

Between my trips to India and Malaysia, I unexpectedly discovered Finland and it seems indeed to be a very nice country..:) This cultural experience did not involve any travel as it was at at the Museum of Ethnography just a few blocks from my place. The exhibition introduced Finland and the Finns from an Hungarian perspective.
Very interesting!!

The exhibition was entitled (M) ilyenek a Finnek" which means "How are the Finns / the Finns are like this"


Relatives but apparently quite different
Hungarians and Finns are told to be relatives, but even if the languages may sound similar they can not understand each other, for example apparently only 300 words have similar origin. And I don't think the cultures have much in common, I mean not more than other European cultures. Or, they are both in the world top-15 statistics when it come to suicide but that doesn't say much.. The mentality seems to be very different in the two countries which was clearly shown by the fact that 2 walls at the exhibition were showing the use of reflexes in Finland.. apparently it is such a crazy thought here...:)


The Finnish culture through different eyes
The exhibition was very interesting in itself, but it was even more interesting as I went there with Ugandan and Hungarian friends.

For me, everything felt so familiar, and I have never been to Finland. It became clear how much the Swedish and Finnish culture have in common. It was also nice that some text was written in both Swedish and Finnish so I could even read without problem. For my Hungarian friend I guess it was interesting as the two cultures were compared and I'm quite sure that my friend from Uganda thought that all cultures in Europe are kind of the same finally. I mean a Mumin troll could theoretically be a Hungarian or a Finnish creation, same with the sauna or any other "typical things". And I guess I was the only one among us who clearly heard the Finnish/Swedish voice of Tove Jansson telling the story about Muminmamman, Muminpappan, Filifjonk och Lilla My when I saw them at the exhibition

I felt like at home when I saw Mumin mamma in Budapest

The use of reflexes is actually such a good idea, so I'll bring back one when I go home for Christmas. I even learnt that it's mandatory by law to wear one in Finland.

happy people wear reflexes or reflexes make people happy??

So what was presented to the Hungarians...??
It was very interesting to see what and how they presented the Finnish culture, it really did feel like they presented my culture. This is for sure not because of my Finnish origin but the common features of Scandinavian countries.

• Beautiful pictures of the nature and red wood houses
• A reconstruction of a sauna
• Mumin troll
• People with reflexes in the darkness
• Marimekko
• Mika Häkkinen and other sport stars mainly skiers
  
• Arabia porcelain
• blueberry picking tool (reminded me of Vastervik and childhood)
  
• information about the country
• and many other things...

Marimekko design