Laskiainen

On Shrove Tuesday (Laskiainen) people took their sledges and went down the hill while shouting sayings that brought long flax to the house, and ate special foods to become healthy and strong. The customs of Laskiainen brought good luck for the coming summer and for the whole year. Laskiainen has been a special sacred day for women, and many of the customs and beliefs associated with the day concern the raw materials of women's handicraft: flax, hemp and wool, or cattle, or the plants farmed by women, such as turnip greens, peas and beans.

Laskiainen marked the end of women's one yearly work period, and the beginning of other. Spinning had to be completed before Laskiainen, and weaving could be started after it because days had got longer. However, these works were not done on Laskiainen. Home chores were done early in the day, so that people would not never be late in their work during the rest of the year. The women held their hair open, and wore white shirts and sometimes a white ribbon. Women could comb their hair even nine times during the day so that flax would grow long and beautiful.

Flax played indeed an important role in many customs of Laskiainen. Young people - and older ones too – used sledges to go down the hill. This ensured good luck with flax in the coming summer. At the same time they shouted sayings that expressed their desire to have beautiful long flax and other things for the house. The further the sled glided, the longer the flax would become. People would shout things like: "Long flax to our house, thorns to your house! Hey hey long flax!"

People went early to the sauna, and men and women had a sort of competition of who gets there first. If the men were first, the house would get more bull calves, if the women, there would be calves. People sat in the sauna in perfect silence. It was said that whoever spoke out loud, would be pestered by flies and gadflies in the summer. Sometimes people played pranks on each other when trying to get one another to speak. This might, for instance, mean pouring a bucket of cold water on some poor fellow's back.

People remained silent also on the evening and during the supper. In Central Finland, flour and salt were spread on the table before dinner and protective symbols were drawn in them. Then people sat in the table and ate in silence. The whole evening was spent in darkness, as one was not supposed to bring fire to the house on the evening of Laskiainen. People went to sleep early, so that they would wake up feeling refreshed on every morning during the next year.

Food eaten on Laskiainen was supposed to include lots of fat. In Western and Southern Finland, people prepared a soup of peas or beans that included pig's trotters, and also enjoyed blood sausages and cheeses. In Central Ostrobothnia and Savo, people ate flatbread containing pork. Wheat buns were baked in south-western Finland, and still eaten today all around Finland on Laskiainen. In addition, people ate milk-based porridge, freshly baked bread, mämmi and other dishes. It was said that the shinier ones fingers and corners of the mouth became, the better the animals would give milk and gain weight.