Åland, Finland

 Sunday, May 29, 2022

Åland, Finland

 Last night we had a talk by the ethnomusicologist who is traveling with us.  He started with Finlandia by Jean Sibelius and explained its origins as a political protest anthem against Russian domination of Finland at the time (1899).  He then moved to heavy metal rock music, by far the most popular music in Scandinavia today, and quite cleverly tied the two together.  He was simply amazing.

 We traveled north overnight to the Åland Islands, a strategically located archipelago with a complicated history.  Currently they belong to Finland, but function quite autonomously, a result of a decision made by the League of Nations after WW I.  The people, however, speak Swedish, and English is the second language, learned by all schoolchildren starting in Grade 3.  Finnish is optional, starting at Grade 5.  They make their own laws, have their own auto registrations, not Finnish, and their passports identify them first as citizens of Åland Islands and second as citizens of Finland.  The name is pronounced Oh-land.

 


 This morning we had a history lecture focusing on political and military control of the Baltic Sea, which was very well done, making a very complex subject understandable.  Following our repeat COVID testing, we had another lecture, this one on the geology and the rivers of the Baltic region.  The Baltic Sea is almost a lake, with a very limited connection to the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, and with a huge inflow of river water.  As a result, the salinity is very low, to the point that surface water in some areas is almost fresh water.  The salinity of the Baltic Sea ranges from 0.3% to 0.9%, with ocean water being 3.5%.  There was much fascinating information.

 As we ate lunch, we tied up at the only town in the Åland Islands, Mariehamn, and after lunch we disembarked and went to a wonderful marine museum adjacent to the wharf.  Among the large collection of artifacts are a number of figureheads from the very large sailing ships which were headquartered here:

 


 One of the only authentic pirate flags from the early 19th century is here.  Yes, the skull and crossbones was really used on pirate ships to send a message that the victim ship should surrender or else.

 


 This was the European headquarters for windjammers, and adjacent to our boat, tied up at the pier, is one of the few remaining four-masted barques, the Pommern, built in 1903.  I was unable to get a good photo of it; this is from the internet:

 


 We were able to tour the boat, which was interesting.

 We then drove out into the countryside and visited a local church which dates from the 13th century.  We were unable to go inside.

 


 We then visited a captain’s home which has been turned into a museum. 

 


 We had a short talk from the granddaughter of the original captain who was the builder of the house, and toured the house.  This is how their circular breads were stored:

 


 Each room had an enormous wall stove.  A small fire is built in the box at the bottom, and there are baffles which direct the updraft back and forth in the stove to heat the room.  We were told they’re very effective.  



On the way back to the ship, the ethnomusicologist had arranged for a string trio to play local music for us:

 


 They were delightful!  I wish I could post a video, but I don’t have the bandwidth.  Finally, before dinner we had a beer tasting with instruction with beers from a local brewery which we will visit tomorrow.  I don’t often drink beer, but these were good!

 

That’s it for Sunday; more when I can.

Comments

  1. Ralph P. LockeMay 30, 2022 at 3:07 AM

    This is fascinating! I knew that a lot of people in Finland are native Swedish-speakers (Sibelius was one of these), but the specific, marginal nature of Aland is fascinating. I've read that there is some concern in Denmark that Danish may gradually disappear as a language--that English is increasingly used as the main language in universities, say. I wonder if Finnish is even more at risk, since it's a language that is so different from most others. (I can make some sense out of a text in Danish because of its similarities to German, but Finnish might as well be Russian or Japanese to me! Or Basque.) I'd think that Finns might be even more motivated to learn English than Danes or Swedes.
    Thanks for all these enlightening photos. A 13th-century church is almost hard for me to wrap my mind around, after living here in Maryland where "old" houses are usually from the 1800s.
    Amazing to see these

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Victor PoleshuckMay 30, 2022 at 3:54 AM

      The status of Aland as independently neutral in world affairs is a prominent part of the story of who they are, but I asked: if Finland joins NATO, will they also be part of it, and the answer was yes. The bottom line is that Finland is completely responsible for Aland's foreign affairs.

      Delete
  2. Rwa442May 30, 2022 at 9:38 AM

    Very interesting about the low salinity of the Baltic. Never heard that before!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark JacksonMay 31, 2022 at 6:44 PM

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bodies_of_water_by_salinity

      Delete

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