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things you should and shouldn't know

Life & society

Designing happiness: Finnish products that help people thrive
Laughing children in raincoats play in a forest.
Life & societyDesign

Designing happiness: Finnish products that help people thrive

Rooted in functionality and accessibility, these creations do more than serve a purpose. They celebrate life’s simple pleasures.

Tagged in DesignFashionHappinessLifestyleSocietyThisisFINLAND Magazine
Turku Castle has stood through 700 years of Finnish history
Turku Castle’s stone keep and white-walled buildings rise around a cobbled courtyard, framed by a shadowy stone arch under a deep blue sky.
Life & societyHistory

Turku Castle has stood through 700 years of Finnish history

Turku Castle has survived fire, war, decay and prison bars to become a symbol of Finnish history and identity.

Tagged in FinlandHistoryWebpick
How Finland’s free school lunches became part of the national identity
A three-panel image shows Finnish school meals across different eras. On the left, a modern school lunch tray holds boiled potatoes, a piece of fish with sauce and sliced yellow peppers. In the centre, a black-and-white archival photograph shows a woman serving food from a large metal pot to schoolchildren with a chalkboard behind them. On the right, two children eat pasta using forks and knives, with glasses of milk and water on their trays.
Life & societyEducation

How Finland’s free school lunches became part of the national identity

Free school lunches have shaped Finnish childhood for generations, and the dishes served at school offer a glimpse into the country’s changing values and tastes.

Tagged in CuisineEducationEqualityHistoryWebpick
In Finnish Lapland, Northern Lights cast lifelong spell on visitors
Bands of purple, pink and green light stretch across the dark sky above silhouetted trees in Sevettijärvi, northern Finland.
Life & societyTravel

In Finnish Lapland, Northern Lights cast lifelong spell on visitors

Finland is one of the world’s best places to see and photograph the magical, potentially life-changing Northern Lights (aurora borealis). We talk to people who witnessed them – and decided to move to Finnish Lapland for good.

Tagged in ArcticImmigrantsLaplandNatureTravel
100-year milestone: 10 top facts about Finland’s public broadcaster Yle
Actor Toini Vartiainen, left, reads from a script beside sound engineer Marja Aaltonen, who operates a large wooden drum and holds two small bells, during a 1949 Yle radio broadcast.
Life & societyMedia

100-year milestone: 10 top facts about Finland’s public broadcaster Yle

When Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, aired its first radio programme on September 9, 1926, radio was still a novelty. A century later, Yle reaches audiences through TV, radio, streaming services, mobile apps and online news.

Tagged in CultureEducationFinnishnessHistoryMediaPress freedom
Floating Finnish sauna brings people together and boosts wellbeing
Armi Ruusuvirta sits on a stool outside Olosauna, with the Oulu River and a bridge reflected in a mirror behind her.
Life & societyWellbeing

Floating Finnish sauna brings people together and boosts wellbeing

Olosauna, a floating public sauna in Oulu, northern Finland, combines river swimming and social spaces. Founder Armi Ruusuvirta plans to expand the concept beyond Finland.

Tagged in EntrepreneursFinnishnessNatureSaunaWellbeing
Disc golf flies high in Finland
An athlete in a peach polo shirt and braids, Iida Lehtomäki, watches her disc fly past a large crowd of spectators.
Life & societySports

Disc golf flies high in Finland

Disc golf has become a phenomenon in Finland, fuelled by free public courses, an outdoor sporting culture and a remarkable crop of elite players.

Tagged in EqualityFunNatureSports
Finnish wild swimming puts a smile on your face
A person, Martti Laajus, swims in a lake.
Life & societySports

Finnish wild swimming puts a smile on your face

Jumping into lakes, sea and rivers is a shared passion for many Finns.
We asked three of them about their love of swimming. They spoke of relaxing, floating, courage and the soft touch of lake water.

Tagged in FunLifestyleSportsThisisFINLAND MagazineWellbeing

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