Vacuum

Happy St Urho's Day 2011!

On this day, St. Urho drove the grasshoppers out of Finland and by doing so saved the Finnish grape crop. More from SaintUrho.com and from the 1800+ fans of the St Urho page on Facebook.

Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen!

Traditionally: wear purple, celebrate by drinking wine.

As it turns out, Urho didn't complete his task, and a 2009 book Suomen heinäsirkat ja hepokatit ("The Grasshoppers and Crickets of Finland") describes the species of orthoptera found in Finland. The web site includes several sound samples, so if you always wanted your phone's ring tone to sound like a Finnish grasshopper, here's your chance.

More photos on Flickr: Grasshoppers and crickets, Finland, by Dr Sami Karjalainen. 

St Urho's Day in Detroit - Conga se Menne - Cranbrook - March 15, 2008

For more St Urho's Day information see
St Urho - Legendary Patron Saint of Finland

Happy St Urho's Day 2007 (last year's links)
delicious tag urho

St Urho, of course, drove the grasshoppers out of Finland, saving the grape crop; his day is March 16, one day before St Patrick's, and two days after Pi Day (3.14).

15 (Sat) Conga Se Menne in concert, 8 p.m., Cranbrook Performing Arts Center, Bloomfield Hills, Mich. For information, call (248) 645-3000. (via the Finnish American Reporter)

From the Observer and Eccentric:

You've heard of singing in the shower? Get ready for songs about saunas...and hunting, fishing, forests and cold winters in the U.P. from the Marquette band, Conga Se Menne.

The group that combines traditional Finnish schottisches and polkas with blues, funk, Latin, reggae, rock, and Caribbean beats, will perform a concert called "Finnish Reggae and Other Sauna Beats," from 8-10 p.m., Saturday, March 15 at Cranbrook's Art Museum, in Bloomfield Hills. The concert, co-sponsored by The Finlandia Foundation National and The Finnish Club of Detroit, will include a cash bar and traditional Finnish refreshments. Doors will open at 7 p.m., allowing time to check out the museum's current exhibit, "Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future," a look at the life and work of one of America's most innovative architects. Admission to the concert, which includes entrance to the exhibit, is $15 per person for the general public and $10 per person for members of the Finlandia Foundation National, Finnish Cultural Center and the Finnish American Club of Detroit. The event is free for ArtMembers@Cranbrook. To reserve tickets, call (248) 645-3314.

"Living Inna Northern Paradise" (Conga Se Menne)

Happy St Urho's Day 2007!

St Urho, as all good yoopers know, drove the grasshoppers out of Finland. Today we celebrate his feast day.

Past years: 2006, 2005, 2004 have a bunch of links and details.

I've been using the urho tag to capture any things I can find. Not too much out there on del.icio.us, and upcoming.org has no events listed for that search. The blogs, of course, have something - here's a sample thanks to Technorati search for urho

Please remember to wear something purple and scare a grasshopper. (El Dogo)

yesterday was pi day. i celebrated by not going anywhere near maths. which is how i celebrate most days, really. tomorrow, however, i am very excited for st. urho day! huzzah, it is a wonderful wonderful wonderful time of year! (Moon Llama)

we're celebrating St. Urho, the fearless Finn who drove the grasshoppers out of the vineyards that produce the famed [sic] Finnish wine (Peon Confidential)

St. Urho's Day - for the legendary/fictional patron saint of Finnish immigrants to the US, who was claimed to have driven the grasshoppers out of Finland. (Vox Wendellus)

Hello to all my non-Finnish friends. But really, we're all Finnish on St. Urho's Day! It's our day to get at the green beer before the Irish get at it. Wait a second... I'm Irish too...that means I get two days of green beer! HOORAY!!! (bigbluejoe)

You would think (I would think) that holidays that involve alcohol would get wider uptake, but I guess you have to grow up in a certain part of the world to appreciate it. Where St. Urho goes, Heikki Lunta goes as well.

Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen!" ("Grasshopper, grasshopper, go from hence to Hell!")

Technorati Tags: urho, finland, minnesota, michigan, yooper

St Urho's Day 2006 celebrations

St. Urho's Day as everyone knows is the day St. Urho drove the grasshoppers out of Finland. It is celebrated the day before St. Patrick's Day.

2006 celebrations and links from around the net (since I am starting to get Google hits on this one from a previous year) -

The Finnish American Reporter has a number of local listings for events.
Brownielocks and the 3 Bears have a reasonable retelling of the legend and a cheesy song.
Finnish Designs in Esko, MN has gifts, t-shirts, cards and buttons.
Blue Mountain Cards has a few animated electronic cards.
Michigan Tech (Houghton, MI) has an alumni social planned.
Butte, MT plans a celebration of some kind.
Palo, MN has an 11th Annual St. Urho's Day Brunch.
Menahga, MN has a "small town Finnish ethnic celebration", featuring a statue of the hero. (2005 review) (1998 picture)
Naselle, WA, home of this year's FinnFest, plans a Finn-Am Jam dance.

This deserves a Google map...

There's nothing listed special at St Urho's Pub in Finland, but I'll bet they can give you something to drink.

Technorati Tags: sturho

Happy St. Urho's Day - March 16, 2005

Web site here: St. Urho's Day Web Links from the Canadian Friends of Finland.

St. Urho, of course, drove the grasshoppers out of Finland to save the grape crop.

At sunrise on March 16, Finnish women and children dressed in royal purple and nile green gather around the shores of the many lakes in Finland and chant what St. Urho chanted many years ago: "Heinasirkka, heinasirkka, menetaalta hiiteen." (Translated: "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go away!")

Happy St. Urho's Day!

Web site here: Official St. Urho's Day Web Site.

St. Urho, of course, drove the grasshoppers out of Finland to save the grape crop.