Hobbies

Culture
In most of the cities and even in smaller towns there is a cultural centre or an arts centre. There you can join different activities or workshops that include different art forms such as theatre, dance, painting, films or music. This is also a good way of meeting locals.

During the summer time it is very popular to spend time outside. In the city people usually enjoy themselves by strolling down the pedestrian precincts or spending time at the local market place. In the market place people sell all kinds of things from clothes to carpets, but the best part is the fresh berries, fruits and vegetables. Another popular form of entertainment in the summer is the outdoor summer theatres. It is a rare town in Finland, where some local association has not put up a theatre show for the summer.

In Finland there might be adult education centers, associations and organizations which might organize hobby activities. What you have to do is just to find information about them. Please contact with local youth information services to find out more information about these activity centers, associations and institutes. Nowadays, there are also activities organized in English.

Finnish libraries mainly have good collections. When you are in Finland you should pay a visit to library. Also there are local brunches were you can barrow books, music CDs, DVDs or you can go and read newspapers and magazines. Bigger cities have museums, art centers, concert holes and theaters. You can check about the schedule from your home municipality web page and Tourist information Points.

The chills of winter is no reason to stay indoors. Check the local newspaper for outdoor events. You could end up taking part in a snow sculpture competition or a picnic in the snowy forest with hot coco and sandwiches.

Sports
Most of the Finns are sports crazy. It really doesn’t matter what sporting event you’re talking about, just that if Finland has even the slightest chance of succeeding (or at least beating Sweden, in a loving neighborly sort of way), whether it’s swimming or skiing, rally or curling, we’ll be there to cheer our heroes on.

"It is not important to win, but to at least see Sweden loose.” –old Finnish sports proverb

But it’s not just spectator sports that get us going. As much as we love to watch a good game of hockey, we also love to get in to those sweat pants and play a match of floor ball with our friends.

Outdoor sports are very popular among the Finnish people. Skiing (downhill or cross country), ice skating or maybe snow shoe walking in the woods during winter. There is Nordic walking, hiking, swimming, rollerblading or cycling in the summer. Whichever the sport, it always gives a chance to enjoy the fresh air and the beautiful Finnish nature.

There are also some extraordinary Finnish sporting events that take place in different parts of the country. Have you ever heard of swamp soccer, wife carrying or sauna bathing world championships? They all take place in Finland along with many other peculiar events.

A small town of Hyrynsalmi organizes an annual event of Swamp Soccer World Championships, when players from different countries come to compete in this rather interesting sport. It’s basically like soccer, but played on a muddy swamp. This event has become more popular by every passing year, not least for the good sportsmanship like atmosphere where victory is not everything and the opponents can easily jump into the sauna together after the game is over.

Wife Carrying World Championships are held in Sonkajärvi, which is a town in the eastern part of Finland. The rules are, well, quite simple. You need a wife to carry, which necessarily doesn’t have to be yours, on a race track which has few obstacles that you have cross. And be careful, because dropping the wife means a 15 second penalty. But if you find wife carrying a too masculine sport, try the Old Geezer Carting World Championships in Ruokolahti, where women compete in pushing men around in carts.

What’s hot and sweaty with a bunch of (almost) naked people in a small room? You guessed it; The Sauna Bathing World championships in Heinola gather all sauna enthusiasts around the world to compete in this pore cleansing, skin burning sporting event. 

One of the very popular events among strange World Championships is definitely the Air Guitar Championships held in Oulu. Find your inner guitarist and let loose on stage to show off your skills.

There have been a lot of other strange sounding events, such World Championships of Hay Mowing and different sorts of throwing events such as mobile phone throw, rubber boot throw, milking stool throw or overalls throw. Sadly The Mosquito Killing Championships were banned because some animal rights activists accused it to be cruelty against animals.

Last Updated on 18.01.2010
Photo by Youth Information Centre Nappi