EASTER IN FINLAND

Easter is one of the Christian seasonal festivals, which is celebrated on the feast of the resurrection of Jesus and it is the oldest church function and the most important festival. Easter is preceded by a quiet week and that ends on Long Friday, when Jesus was crucified. The Easter begins on Easter Sunday and it doesn’t end  not until after the second Easter day. These days are public holidays in Finland and many other countries. Easter festivals is every years a different time. Easter comes at a time when winter gives way to the springsun wake  up the nature.  

         

TRADITIONS

The children dress up and go to neighbourhood to ‘virpomaan’. Willow branches was blessed in the church, so that they could be "virpoa" family happiness and health Palm Sunday. The children decorate the willow branches with feathers and other decorations. With decorated branches waved in tact while the pronounced bored. End of story being recited, the children hand over to decorate the willow branch from a neighbour and receive a reward of chocolate eggs and other sweets.

Easter mood also include some traditional dishes as well as ryegrass breeding and painting Easter eggs. The grass symbolises the arrival of spring and the self-grown grass can be set for Easter decorations, such as hares and colourful painted eggs. Ryegrass breeding became a part of Easter traditions in the 1960s. Prior to this, typical of the Easter ornaments were of willow branches, the willow in Northern Finland is the only plant that germinate during the Easter period.

EASTER FOOD

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The most interesting easter food is "mämmi" whitch is a desert. "Mämmi" is brown, moist and solid. "Mämmi" often consumed in sugar and milk or cream. "Mämmi" are generally bought in the store, because it takes a long time to prepare. Lamb, "pasha" and chocolate eggs are other easter food. Muttons eaten usually a main course. An other common desert is sweet "Pasha" - "Pasha" is orthodox easter food. And chocolate eggs are… well chocolate eggs.

SYMBOLS

Eggs, chickens, chicks and bunnies are symbols of birth and life. Yolk colour is an important colour of Easter, even if the eggs were originally stained with the resurrection, therefore, of red colour. In Finland, there are popular cooking eggs with shells of the bulb, wherein the stain red-brown.

Sources: http://oppiminen.yle.fi/juhlapaivat/paasiainen

                                 http://translate.google.fi/#fi/en/

                                 http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A4%C3%A4si%C3%A4inen

                                 http://opettajatv.yle.fi/paasiainen/perinteet/

Photos from: Wikipedia commons

Film review - THE LAST SONG

The Last Song

The Last Song is melodrama.
It’s directed by Julie Anna Robinson.
It’s based on book of the same title written by Nicholas Sparks.

Ronnie is 17-year-old teenager. When she was 14 her parents divorced. After that her life was absolutely changing.
Three years later she still feels anger. Her mother decides that the best for Ronnie is goes to her father for holiday.
When she spends time with her dad and her younger brother, she remembers the time, when she was a little girl and when she was playing the piano.
She meets a boy named Will, who falls in love with Ronnie.
Initially, she doesn’t like Will, but sea turtles help brings them closer to each other.
When everything starts to be alright, something happen and Ronnie’s life is ruined again.
Happily, she doesn’t give up and finally everything ends well.

The Last Song is beautifully filmed with important message of love.
Miley Cyrus is marvellous in the title role.
★★★★★

Film review - The Room

The Room is a movie which I cannot name the genre it is. It is exceptionally bad in every way a director can want a movie to be good. The director, the screenplay and the main character is Tommy Wiseau. The main plot is about the life of Johnny (Tommy Wiseau) and his beautiful fiancee Lisa (Juliette Danielle). Johnny has a good job, a wonderful house and a wife, but somehow he isn't happy. It's due to the manipulation of Lisa, which she masks with her innocent acts. Her mother, Claudette, suspects that Johnny hit her, which results in the movie best known scene on top of the apartament roof.

In my opinion this movie is god-awfully bad, but funny due to the terrible acting, image quality, etc. It has attracted a small group of "cultists" that revere the movie. I absolutely love this movie, but I would only recommend it to movie fans.

Jan Steć

Film review - TANGLED

Tangled is an animated, comedy film directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard. It's produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2010. It's inspired and based on the Brothers Grimm's fairy "Rapunzel". In original, english version, Mandy Moore is voice-acting the Rapunzel, Zachary Levi - Flynn Rider and Donna Murphy - Mother Gothel.

Tangled is about a young girl named Rapunzel, who's got very long and magical golden hair. She lives alone in a tower with small chameleon. Rapunzel's "mother" - Gothel is hiding her up in tower to "keep her safe and protect her", but she just wants to use girl's magical hair to be young and pretty. The problem is that when Rapunzel was a baby, Gothel take her from her real, royal family. Rapunzel doesn't know she's a princess and thinks that Gothel is her mother. Every year, in the evening Rapunzel sees from the tower thousands lanterns on the sky. That's because her real parents launch them every year, on Rapunzel's birthday, hoping that someone will find their daughter. Of course Rapunzel doesn't know it. Soon Flynn Rider - a thief, comes to the tower to hide from guardians. She makes a deal with him to help her get out of this tower and discover the secret of lanterns. They have crazy adventures together and during them they fall in love in each other. At the end of the film Flynn cuts Rapunzel's hair to save her from Gothel. By this, Gothel gets older in really fast time and dies by falling from tower. Then Rapunzel finds her real family and decides to marry Flynn.

Tangled is funny and beautifully animated film. Animation is amazing, marvellous and smooth. Rapunzel's hair looks just beautifull and it is really good simulated to react with enviroment. Voice actors are fitting to all characters. I think that this film has really interesting plot, and every Disney fan should see it.

Bartek Radomski

Film review - LETTERS TO JULIET

Letters to Juliet is a romantic comedy film. It’s directed by Gary Winich.

After Sophie comes to Verona for holiday, she finds Juliet's house and she observes that women from all over the world hang their letters to Juliet on the wall of her house.

Sophie unexpectedly meets secretaries of Juliet who answer the letters. One day she discovers hidden in a hole of the wall, a letter from an English girl Claire Wyman which she wrote to Juliet 50 years ago. The letter is about Claire’s young Italian boyfriend who she left and regreted it very much.

Sophie joins the secretaries of Juliet and answers Clarie’s letter.

When Claire gets the answer, she goes to Italy with her grandson, Charlie. She hopes to find her love Lorenzo. Owing to her grandson she meets Sophie, who helps them.

But is the past worth looking for? Is it possible to find love when you’re old? Or is it any easier, when you’re young?

In the film you can expect a classic happy end and "yes" for all the questions.

Young actress Amanda Seyfried was very convincing and charming and because of wonderful pictures it is a movie for Italy-lovers I give the film four of five stars.

Sonia Grzywacz 1a

Film review "INCEPTION"

 Inception is a science fiction film made in 2010. It was directed by Christopher Nolan, who aslo wrote the script.

Leonardo DiCaprio as a Dom Cobb breaks into Robert Fischer's minds and, accompanied by Arthur (Joseph Gordon - Levitt) and Ariadne (Ellen Page), is trying to affect his toughts. Fischer is going to take over a big family company after his father, who is dying. Cobb blames himself for his wife's death. She appears in Robert's mind. It does not make the mission, which is already very difficult, easier. This is a huge problem for him but he still fights with it and wins.

Everyone, who stars in this movie does a very good job - the acting is marvellous. It is beautifully filmed. This is one of my favourite flims, but I think the plot is quite complicated which makes it difficult to understand.

Maja Metera 1a