Many happy returns This is Ultima Thule

Many happy returns

By Finnish standards the region of Pohjois-Savo, situated bang in the middle of the country, is quite densely populated, with as many as 12 people hailing from each square kilometre. By European standards ... well, forget it. People from Western Finland say we Savolax people are as slippery as a bar of soap, managing with no apparent effort to be for, against and neither for nor against on any given issue. Personally I think that flexibility of mind makes us such a friendly and hospitable lot. Let's go and meet some of the people for whom this rural region is the best place in the world.

It's an hour's flight from Helsinki to the regional capital Kuopio. The bird's eye view is a canvas of green and blue, forests and lakes. The landscape opening from the car window is dominated by vast forests climbing up and down the sides of hills. Then, coming round a bend you spot a patch of fields clustering round a lake, and sure enough as you get closer, you can detect small jetties sticking out from the shoreline. It's a safe bet that where there's a jetty there's also a sauna and a summer house hidden behind the trees.

Summer visitors inject life and money into the remote communities. And the trend is increasingly towards converting summer houses into round-the-year residences. To be able to work from these parts, you need wireless information technology, but in IT Finland that's no problem.

A-hunting we will go

In Nilsiä, less than an hour's drive northwest of Kuopio, we meet Olli Laakkonen and Esko Heiskanen who are having morning coffee and a swift shot of cognac at Heiskanen’s cabin, in anticipation of many shots to be shared by the hunters after the many kills. The fellows are making plans for the hunting season. Both men are longtime members of the local hunting club.

Elk hunting is a team sport. Some members are assigned to move through the forest driving the elk towards gunmen. When the hunt is over, the hunting club organizes a special feast serving elk stew or elk soup. This is an annual highlight for the entire village. Even if my family are only part-time inhabitants, we are welcome too.

While waiting for the autumn, the hunters check their weapons, exercise their dogs, and tell tall tales of previous hunting exploits. I remember hearing the story of an old farmer who remained the best shot in the village even when he became old and infirm. Someone would carry him in a chair, and so he continued hunting until his last autumn. Laakkonen himself needs no urging to tell the story of the bear he shot in Russia, before dishing out generous shots of cognac in the bear’s honour.

All shop shape

Heading southeast we reach the village of Muuruvesi. Our destination is the village shop known as Topi’s Farm Shop after the proprietor. It’s hard to believe your eyes when you walk into this old barn. It has been converted into a shop selling a comprehensive selection of organic products: freshly baked loaves, dairy produce and vegetables, as well as coffees, teas, chocolates, Indian sugar, Bolivian rose salt, textiles, cosmetics and eco-detergents. The shop also includes a nice café, where shopkeeper Topi Laitinen sits us down and serves some local specialities.

How on earth can such a specialist outlet thrive deep in the forest?

“Thanks for asking, but the shop’s doing just fine, with business growing at 50 per cent every year,” Laitinen boasts.

“My main aim is to promote ecological and sustainable lifestyles. I do this by running a shop, which is what I know best,” explains Laitinen.

Once people have discovered the shop, they inevitably return – I speak of experience. One carries home not only environmentally sound products but also a good load of faith in one’s dreams.

Enacting a community’s experiences

With the evening falling, we're heading northwest. Our destination is the municipality of Lapinlahti. In a recent poll, Lapinlahti with its beautiful lake and hill settings was voted the second best municipality in Finland. The writer Juhani Aho, who celebrated his home tract in a comical novel describing the first railway trip of a rural couple, would have liked that. But he's long gone, and our venue is the backstage of Alapitkä youth center.

Olavi Lyytikäinen is applying grey paint to his moustache. The local summer theatre group is getting ready to perform.

“This is quite a change from the garage workshop,” says Lyytikäinen, who works as a mechanic by day. He is the star of this evening’s show.

“My job pays the bills, but through the theatre I can really express myself.”

The evening’s show is a play entitled “Kätkäläinen and the City Lights”. It features the problems faced by a simple country lad in the big city. He encounters recognizable characters, such as an old country bumpkin and a smooth-tongued man-of-the-world, a dependable country granny and a tempting femme fatale.

These shows touch people’s hearts, because they spotlight their genuine feelings and experiences. They gain a relatively large audience - typically of around 4,000 each summer.

What drives these people’s enthusiasm for drama?
“Sheer madness. In the theatre you can become a child again and laugh until it hurts,” says actor Väinö Turunen. Turunen needs no make up, or costume, as he’s a stage character as such.

Before heading off to the stage, everyone exchanges hugs and even the visiting reporter and photographer get hugged.

By Salla Korpela
Photos Miika Kainu

Elk hunting is a team sport.

The local summer theatre touches people’s hearts, because it spotlights genuine feelings and experiences.