Finlandia to celebrate Finnish Independence Day Dec. 6

HANCOCK -- The 90th anniversary of Finland ’s independence will be celebrated at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, at the Finlandia University Finnish American Heritage Center on Quincy Street in Hancock.

The keynote speaker is Finlandia President Philip Johnson, who joins the celebration for the first time as president of the university.

A selection of Finnish music will be performed by local musicians Pasi Lautala, Oren Tikkanen, and David Bezotte; and a two-act play, The Boarding House, will be presented.

Pasi Lautala, left, and Hannu Leppanen appear as a trammer and a mine worker in a previous performance of The Boarding House, which will be presented on Dec. 6, Finnish Independence Day, at the Finnish American Heritage Center in Hancock. (Photo courtesy Finlandia University)

The Boarding House is a drama written in the 1920s for the Finnish American cooperative and labor movement. It depicts an afternoon in the life of three miners as they cope with naturalization problems and try to find the perfect woman. The play will be performed in Finnish.

Tanja Aho, a German-Finnish national, translated the play. Aho, whose research interests are in Finnish-American literature, recently completed an internship with the Finlandia archives. She attends the Ernst-Mortiz-Arndt University in Greifswald, Germany .

Now a member of the European Union, Finland was part of the Swedish realm for some 600 years until 1809 when it became attached to the Russian empire. In 1906 Finland acquired its own national parliament; and on Dec. 6, 1917, a Russian revolution prompted Finland to declare herself independent. Russia’s Bolshevik government recognized Finnish independence on Dec. 31, 1917.

Traditionally, Finnish Independence Day is a solemn observance of those that made freedom possible for Finland. In recent decades, however, celebrations often include fireworks, parades and celebratory cakes decorated with the blue and white Finnish flag.

For more information about this year’s program, please contact James Kurtti, director of the Finnish American Heritage Center, at 906-487-7302.

Students' Reflection Gallery to host receptions Dec. 6

Preceding the Independence Day celebration, the student-run Reflection Gallery at Finlandia University’s Portage Campus will open an exhibit by studio arts senior Christine Sommerfeldt with a reception and artist’s talk at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6.

Sommerfeldt’s work will be exhibited through Dec. 21, 2007. Her show, “Sun Over Revolving Cycles,” is a series of four large oil paintings, each titled for one of the four seasons.

Also on Thursday afternoon, at 5 p.m., the Reflection Gallery will host a reception for the Bohemian Artist Coalition’s pre-holiday silent auction. The silent auction student art work is on display, and bids are being accepted until Dec. 14. At the reception, student ceramic works will be available for purchase, and a ceramics demonstration will take place. More than half the sales price will be donated to the Bohemian Artists’ Coalition. With the funds, the student club plans either to take a trip or to re-invest in Portage Campus facilities.

The Reflection Gallery is on the second level of Finlandia’s Portage Campus, Hancock. For additional information, please contact Yueh-mei Cheng, at 487-7375.