I’m a day late with this and this goes a bit out of the scope of writing, but today I’ll brief you on Runeberg’s Day and share a baking recipe with you!
Yesterday, February 5th, we celebrated Runeberg’s Day here in Finland. Johan Ludvig Runeberg was a Finnish-Swedish poet, writer and journalist in the 19th century, and he is the national poet of Finland. He wrote in Swedish but his works has been translated into Finnish, and our national anthem Maamme (Our Land, originally Vårt Land in Swedish) is written by him. It was originally a part of an epic poem called The Tales of Ensign Stål (Vänrikki Stoolin tarinat in Finnish, Fänrik Ståls sägner in Swedish), which tells stories of the Finnish War with Russia.
Runeberg’s Day is a flag day in Finland and it is celebrated mostly by eating Runeberg’s cakes/tortes/however you want to translate it. In Finnish it’s runebergintorttu.
To learn a bit more about Runeberg, you can read this article by the Finnish biography center.
To find the delicious recipe for Runeberg’s cakes/tortes (there are many variations though), check out this page by Visit Porvoo (Runeberg lived in Porvoo during the latter part of his life). I’m not a great baker so I always settle with buying the cakes ready from the shop. Still delicious!
Northern Chapters 