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1. Apart from a skiing holiday why would anyone go to
Finland at this time of year ? A group of young people from Preston had two
reasons - an Ecumenical two day Easter Festival for (mainly Finnish) young
people in Tampere and the International Youth Festival in Kuopio. We arrived in Tampere on Holy Saturday after a tiring journey from Preston via London and Stockholm for the Festival entitled "That they may be One" Our accommodation was on a school floor and the main events of the festival were held in the local sports arena and various venues in the city, and yes, we had snow and more snow. We were pleased to visit the Catholic church, one of only seven in Finland,and meet Fr Sebastian and Srs Teresa and Monica along with Laura the young spokesperson for a young Catholic group from Helsinki called Juventus Catholica who were attending the festival. A coach journey of 400km North East brought the hundred or so young people who were staying for the International Youth Festival to Hirvijarvi (meaning Elk Lake) in the centre of Finland's Lake region. |
2. The IYF is based on that begun more than 20 years ago
in St Albans, and in recent years the main groups taking part have been from
Finland, Germany (Munich area) and England St Albans and Preston) and this
year there were smaller groups from Hungary, Estonia and Latvia with one Dane
and one Swede. Our hosts were the young people from Alava Lutheran parish
in Kuopio, 20 miles away, the main town of the Lake region. The splendid lakeside
camp with all mod cons, including sauna, is owned jointly by the six Lutheran
churches in that town. The accommodation was in a variety of wooden "mokkas"
all centrally heated and quite comfortable, and the food was excellent - if
you haven't tried reindeer, it is delicious. A number of the participants
had been to Hirvijarvi in 1997, but that was in August when the lake was perfect
for a midnight swim; this time it was completely covered in ice apart from
a small area near the sauna where the ice had been broken for the hardy souls
who were brave enough to jump in ! There was still quite a lot of snow around
so boots were the only sensible footwear. We stayed at the camp from Monday evening to Thursday lunchtime. There were workshops each morning covering a number of topics including dance, music,art, video,theology (not too serious) and survival(!) |
| 3. Each morning and midday there was a short period of worship in the chapel on the site with the different nationalities taking part, and on two evenings we went to the Lutheran church in the nearby village of Karttula, on Tuesday for a German Lutheran Eucharist and on Wednesday for our Mass. It was the first time Mass had ever been said in that church and in fact the sacristan had never met a Catholic priest before - the nearest resident priest lives about 80 miles away. | |
| 4. In the afternoons there were opportunities to take part in some traditional Finnish
sports, though ice fishing was cancelled because the ice was just starting
to thaw. On Tuesday the evening finished with traditional Finnish dancing in a village hall, more interesting, not to say hilarious, than it sounds - especially for those wearing heavy boots. Wednesday saw the Manchester United v Bayern Munich Champions League game on TV - with more Bayern than United supporters present, the result was probably for the best! |
5. The last 24 hours was spent in Kuopio,
with a "St Thomas Mass" in Alava church and a final concert in the church hall followed by an
all night disco - or a chance to get a few hours sleep. On Friday morning
everyone dispersed via bus, train or plane to various parts of Europe. The experience was amazing, the people were very friendly and we enjoyed the opportunity to meet other young people. |
