Having been abroad and seeing how few and little the forests are in other countries, I can safely say that in Finland even the city dwellers have a close connection to the forest. Even from the middle of Helsinki you can get to a more or less pristine forest in less than an hour.
Haven’t seen anything like it elsewhere. Northern Sweden comes close.
I personally love a good forest. Nothing better than hiking through a forest. It is akin to a spiritual experience for me. And I am an atheist.
Short answer. Yes.
I would point out that there was no “love” for forest in the olden days. Forest was something to respect, even to fear. It was a source of food and materials. It was an essential part of religion and beliefs. It was much more and the relationship was much more complicated than just “love”. This isn’t really specific to Finns or Finland but I wanted to point out that no one but noble Swedes (a bit of an exaggeration) had a leisurely stroll in the forest between meals back in the day.
There were “forest Finns” and the other tribes. Forest Finns were Sami but also Finnic (tavastians, karelians etc) and were called “lappalainen” that nowadays refers just to Sami.
Everything in this video video would have made sense a couple thousand years ago. As for modern Finland, you could replace the word Finland with Japan, forest with anime, and nature with bushido and the video would be exactly as relevant.
Nobody “reveres” Tapio nowadays unless you’re talking about the cheap vodka brand.
There are outdoorsy people of course but the majority hate mosquitoes and/or being cold, so forest trips are rare.
(If you like these themes you might like Ali’s videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOwRD5uDTJI)
This video leans a bit too heavy on the folklore side with Tapio and Mielikki and such. Tapio is still a common name for boys but more like as a middle name that passes from the fathers, not as a direct link to the king of the forest.
Nowadays you hear many people saying they go on nature hikes or camping in order to calm down. It’s even suggested as a form of therapy for many health issues, ranging from depression and anxiety to respiratory and musculoskeletal troubles.
Yeah. I fish, pick berries and shrooms and use various wild plants to cook. My way to relax is taking a walk in a forest and when I look for a new home, how close to a forest or a lake it is, matters a lot to me.
My best childhood memories are from going on weeks long load trips with my relatives where we basically drove across Finland, slept in tents and fished every day.
When it comes to anything by Irish in Finland, he tends to be pretty much correct. Man does his research
Forest is my church, it’s where i go when i want to relax and not be bothered by anyone unless it’s wildlife.
Yes. All year round.
Summertime it’s picking berries and relaxing, hiking.
Autumn picking mushroom.
Winter it’s skiing.
Staying in cottage on every season.
That video is heavily focused on the folklore which people nowadays don’t think about at all
Yes. Having seen the “forests” in many European countries, they look to us more like parks. Our forests are true and vast and wild. Most people I know have the basic need to regularly be able to walk into a forest, and see trees in their daily life. Our cities are built so that one should always have a small forest near by, and a large one a small bus trip away. Lots of people I know make forest trips, holiday in forests and by the lakes. Many sleep out in the wild regularly.
Even when one owns a piece of forest, you own it in a sense that you can use the trees, maybe build a house. But they are still free to all the people to walk in, pick berries and mushrooms and put a tent up to sleep. Even when you fell trees, you are expected to make sure, that new ones will start to grow. The forest must be respected, also in the way, that not knowing what you do, gets you killed. Also the winter. Things that all kids learn at an early age.
Unfortunately there are vast amounts of tree farms that are not true forests at all. 10 years ago there were mighty old spruce forests where I live, now only few patches have not been cut down. I know that trees are replanted, but it will not be a real forest again.
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Some more than others. But generally yes.
Having been abroad and seeing how few and little the forests are in other countries, I can safely say that in Finland even the city dwellers have a close connection to the forest. Even from the middle of Helsinki you can get to a more or less pristine forest in less than an hour.
Haven’t seen anything like it elsewhere. Northern Sweden comes close.
I personally love a good forest. Nothing better than hiking through a forest. It is akin to a spiritual experience for me. And I am an atheist.
Short answer. Yes.
I would point out that there was no “love” for forest in the olden days. Forest was something to respect, even to fear. It was a source of food and materials. It was an essential part of religion and beliefs. It was much more and the relationship was much more complicated than just “love”. This isn’t really specific to Finns or Finland but I wanted to point out that no one but noble Swedes (a bit of an exaggeration) had a leisurely stroll in the forest between meals back in the day.
There were “forest Finns” and the other tribes. Forest Finns were Sami but also Finnic (tavastians, karelians etc) and were called “lappalainen” that nowadays refers just to Sami.
Everything in this video video would have made sense a couple thousand years ago. As for modern Finland, you could replace the word Finland with Japan, forest with anime, and nature with bushido and the video would be exactly as relevant.
Nobody “reveres” Tapio nowadays unless you’re talking about the cheap vodka brand.
There are outdoorsy people of course but the majority hate mosquitoes and/or being cold, so forest trips are rare.
(If you like these themes you might like Ali’s videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOwRD5uDTJI)
This video leans a bit too heavy on the folklore side with Tapio and Mielikki and such. Tapio is still a common name for boys but more like as a middle name that passes from the fathers, not as a direct link to the king of the forest.
Nowadays you hear many people saying they go on nature hikes or camping in order to calm down. It’s even suggested as a form of therapy for many health issues, ranging from depression and anxiety to respiratory and musculoskeletal troubles.
Yeah. I fish, pick berries and shrooms and use various wild plants to cook. My way to relax is taking a walk in a forest and when I look for a new home, how close to a forest or a lake it is, matters a lot to me.
My best childhood memories are from going on weeks long load trips with my relatives where we basically drove across Finland, slept in tents and fished every day.
When it comes to anything by Irish in Finland, he tends to be pretty much correct. Man does his research
Forest is my church, it’s where i go when i want to relax and not be bothered by anyone unless it’s wildlife.
Yes. All year round.
Summertime it’s picking berries and relaxing, hiking.
Autumn picking mushroom.
Winter it’s skiing.
Staying in cottage on every season.
That video is heavily focused on the folklore which people nowadays don’t think about at all
Yes. Having seen the “forests” in many European countries, they look to us more like parks. Our forests are true and vast and wild. Most people I know have the basic need to regularly be able to walk into a forest, and see trees in their daily life. Our cities are built so that one should always have a small forest near by, and a large one a small bus trip away. Lots of people I know make forest trips, holiday in forests and by the lakes. Many sleep out in the wild regularly.
Even when one owns a piece of forest, you own it in a sense that you can use the trees, maybe build a house. But they are still free to all the people to walk in, pick berries and mushrooms and put a tent up to sleep. Even when you fell trees, you are expected to make sure, that new ones will start to grow. The forest must be respected, also in the way, that not knowing what you do, gets you killed. Also the winter. Things that all kids learn at an early age.
Unfortunately there are vast amounts of tree farms that are not true forests at all. 10 years ago there were mighty old spruce forests where I live, now only few patches have not been cut down. I know that trees are replanted, but it will not be a real forest again.
Surprisingly we aren’t a mind hive