1/15/11

Christmas in Finland

Christmas Eve

In the Nordic countries, the most important Christmas celebration takes place on Christmas Eve. Finnish traditions include the Christmas sauna and the preparation of Christmas dinner. The highlight of the evening comes when Santa knocks on the door and asks, "Are there any well-behaved children here?" Naturally, every home contains only good children and they all receive presents.

Finnish Christams foods are christmas ham, christmas turkey, salmon, potatoes, rutabaga casserole, carrot casserole, etc. Rice pudding is traditional Christmas food, and traditions is an almond hidden in the porridge may  be the discoverer of something fun. rosolli is mixture of beets, pickles, onion, carrot, apple and potato

Christmas tree

The Christmas tree is brought home on December 24 at the latest. A star is placed at the top of the tree and the branches are adorned with sweets, elves, stars and apples, the latter relating to Adam and Eve: In the Finnish calendar, Christmas Eve is the name day of both Adam and Eve. The rural gentry and wealthy townsfolk began to adopt Christmas trees in the 1820s.
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is the great hero of the Finnish holiday season. As just about everyone knows, he lives in northern Finland and helps spread the joy of Christmas all over the world.
Korvatunturi, the mountain in Finnish Lapland where Santa Claus makes his home, lies 1000 kilometres north of the capital, Helsinki. He lives there with his wife and hundreds of elves. From the top of Korvatunturi, they can hear the Christmas wishes of all the children in the world.



Kaisa Pokela & Saania Simi


Animals

Bear

The bear is the largest living land predator. European brown bear's length is 130-250 cm and tail length is 5-15 cm. Females weigh 60-170 (200) kg, males 100-230 (300) kg. The North American subspecies of grizzly bear and Kodiak bear can grow considerably larger and weigh up to 600 kg. The smallest sub-species is already extinct in the wild Syrian bear. Bear's coat color varies from almost black to pale fawn always up, even off-white is found now and then. Bear's ears are small and rounded, but still clearly visible. Bear has a good sense of hearing, and versatile sound selection, including, inter alia, growling and whistling sounds. Even if the bear looks clumsy, it can run the fastest, up to 60 km / h. Usually the bear is moving in the woods quietly senses alert.

In winter, bears do not move, but to sleep in hibernation. Bear's hibernation takes about half a year. Climate change is a normal winter bears a serious threat.

The bear retreats winter nest in the autumn in October-November, when food is no longer scarce. Its digestion is not efficient enough in order to obtain the necessary food crops alone. It is also not a skilled hunter, but usually eat carrion. In the spring the bear wakes up from sleep in the winter in March and April, when the sun melt the snow by the currencies of its nest. Sometimes a bear to ride up the hunger when the body of its food stocks will run out prematurely.



Reindeer

Reindeer is a typical animal in Lapland. Reindeer are horned deer, which is very heat-insulating coat. Thanks deserves fur reindeer northern cold winters. Male reindeer can weigh 90-180 kg, and the shoulder height of up to 125 cm, female deer is somewhat lower. Both sexes have antlers, which change annually. Coat color can also be white, gray / brown.

In summer, reindeer eat mostly birch leaves, moss, hay and grass, but in forests they can also be used for more varied diet, such as natural grassland plants. In the autumn deer collect spare food for the winter by eating wild mushrooms, lichen, and grasses also. In winter, when food is naturally lower, primarily looking for reindeer lichen. Also, grasses and dwarf shrubs fit for consumption of reindeer, lichen, if there is not enough available. Reindeer digestive simplify the winter and the importance of the rumen is very small. Reindeer in winter reminds monogastric animal, reindeer and winter mean weight loss and even just to survive survival. Today, increased supplementary feeding has changed the situation significantly.



Swan

Whooper swan is Finland’s national bird. Whooper swans require large areas of water to live in, especially when they are still growing, because their body weight cannot be supported by their legs for extended periods of time. The whooper swan spends much of its time swimming, straining the water for food, or eating plants that grow on the bottom.

Whooper swans have a deep honking call and, despite their size, are powerful fliers. Whooper swans can migrate many hundreds of miles to their wintering sites in northern Europe and eastern Asia.

Whooper swans pair for life, and their cygnets stay with them all winter; they are sometimes joined by offspring from previous years. Their preferred breeding habitat is wetland, but semi-domesticated birds will build a nest anywhere close to water. Both the male and female help build the nest, and the male will stand guard over the nest while the female incubates. The female will usually lay 4-7 eggs. The cygnets hatch after about 36 days and have a grey or brown plumage. The cygnets can fly at an age of 120 to 150 days.



Wolf

The wolf is a dog animals belonging to mammals, which is biologically defined by the same species as domesticated dogs. The wolf is a predator and a herd of animals.

In Finland, a female wolf in the average weight is 32 kg and males 40 kg (usually 30-70 kg). In Finland, the largest cut press wolves are a little more than 65 kg. Wolf's body length is usually 100-160 cm. Without the tip of the tail length hair is 35-50 cm.Ringing in length from 10.5 to 12 cm. The muzzle is long. Color varies from gray to brown and fawn, but can also be white, red, brown or black. White wolves are much more common in areas where land is covered with snow. The wolf is most similar to the German Shepherd dog, Alaskan Malamute and Siberian husky, but it has longer legs, smaller ears, forehead and slipped slanted eyes.

Wolves in the wild live an average of 6 to 10 years. The wolf has adapted to life in very different environments, such as the steppe, tundra, forests and even urban neighborhood, where it is consumed by human activities such as waste from landfills.

The wolf is moving at all times of the day, however, mainly in low-light and night. It lives in pairs or fathers flocks, which in Finland is the most a few individuals, an average of seven.

Predation by wolves' territory is extensive, and the animals passing through the same post-show displays their second string is often only one wolf was filed. Hunts for wolves is also used by a herd of tactics, but a lone wolf is able to pull down very large prey animals such as moose.

Females mature at one and the male age of two. Wolf herd leader usually only a couple may copulate. Rutting season is in spring (February and May in the middle), and the gestation period is 61-64 days. Parent creates litter into the ground nest in a cave, and the puppies are born completely dependent on their mothers. Litters had an average of four puppies. Manages a herd of puppies together. Puppies are born blind and helpless, like a dog's puppies. The mother suckles them, and keep good care of them. If the real mother is unable to perform his offspring, other females may take care of them.

Other herds live help feed and care of the puppies. When mother wolf is hunting, one of the flock will be handled during the time the puppies. Gregarious People also bring food for puppies as well as maternally.

Wolfs diet depends largely residential area. They eat almost whatever herbivores, small animals like rabbits and mice, and larger animals like deer, deer and moose.


Noora Heikkilä ja Iida Pudas

12/21/10

9/28/10

3rd Meeting

Teachers and students which are working on the Multilateral Comenius Project “New clans: group and individuality”, met for the last time (this school year), from the 17th till the 21st May, in Domont, Paris in order to share the activities and experiences that have been going on at their schools, but above all, to draw conclusions of this first year of work.
Domont is located in the surroundings of Paris.
Paris is located in the north-bending arc of the river Seine and includes two islands, the Île Saint-Louis and the larger Île de la Cité, which form the oldest part of the city. Overall, the city is relatively flat, and the lowest elevation above sea level. Paris has several prominent hills, of which the highest is Montmartre. Much of contemporary Paris is the result of the vast mid-nineteenth century urban remodelling. For centuries, the city had been a labyrinth of narrow streets and half-timber houses, but, beginning iire quarters to make way for wide avenues lined with neo-classical stone buildings of bourgeoisie standing. Most of this 'new' Paris is the Paris we see today. The building code has seen few changes since, and the Second Empire plans are in many cases still followed. Many of Paris's important institutions are located outside the city limits. The financial (La Défense) business district, the main food wholesale market (Rungis), schools (École Polytechnique, HEC, ESSEC, INSEAD), research laboratories (in Saclay or Évry), the largest stadium (the Stade de France), and government offices (Ministry of Transportation) are located in the city's suburbs.
Our French partners prepared for us a fantastic week that we’ll never forget (we can state that by the students’ texts). We were received at school by teachers and the pupil’s families. They have prepared an admirable reception party.
Foreign students went to classes with their French friends while teachers met in order to share the work done till that moment. We have to thank the walks in the city of Paris; the picnics; the boat trip, everything. No one will forget the commitment of our French partners in trying to do their best so everyone could feel comfortable as if we were at home.
Thank you Madame Girot, André, Cecile, Marie, Olivier…..

9/21/10

My Comenius Experience

Here are some texts by the Comenius Club students in Merijärvi telling about their experience.