Hey!

So, only three days to Vappu!

Vappu, or Valburgs dag, or May Day, is the day celebrated world wide on the 1st of May. Globally it is also known as the International workers' day, and often has Socialist underpinnings. Vappu has generally denoted the start of Summer, and it's been celebrated as such in many parts of the world. In Finland the fest was originally known as "Hela", or "Toukojuhla" (May fest). During festivities, bonfires were burned and bells were rung to scare away evil spirits.

Vappu got its name from a Catholic saint Valburg (Walburg(?)), who lived in England and Germany in the 8th century. I really don't much about the Christian meaning of the holiday though. I've have personally only learned of the traditional (or even derelict) and modern (even less concern of mine) celebrations of Vappu. (I'm a bit of a heretic when it comes to traditions or religions, but if I had to choose I'd take the old "paganistic" traditions over the Christian or the modern socialist ones.)

During Vappu, we Finns often eat Tippaleipä ("droplet cake", a kind of funnel cake) or Munkki (round doughnuts, the name means a "monk"), and drink Sima. Other delicacies include salty pies, sausages, meatballs, potato salad, wine and champagne.

Here are some photos of some Munkki donuts being deep-fried:

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