Vast snow forests, polar cold, long nights and the home of Santa Claus … these are some of the first associations that the average person will think of when someone mentions Finland. But this northern country has its secrets that only the people who have visited it or who live there know.
We decided to do a little research and find out the interesting habits of the inhabitants of a country that is considered one of the happiest in the world.
- Finns don’t wipe dishes.
Source: Instagram
They have special cabinets in which the dishes are dried. They have shelves that look like grates and are usually located above the sink to allow water to flow into it.
2.Finns do not use a dish sponge
Another habit of Finns is related to washing dishes. Unlike the rest of the world, they don’t use a classic dish sponge. They prefer these oblong brushes.
3.It is not polite to ask people how much they earn, but you can get such information at the tax office.
© pixabay.com
This is a bit ironic. It is considered rude to ask someone in Finland how much they earn. But on the other hand, you are free to call the tax office and ask for information about the income of any person.
4. You probably won’t get food served on your own plate.
© fanfo/easyfotostock/Eastnews
You probably won’t see the individual plates of food served at the Finnish table. In this country, each adult decides for himself how much he wants to eat at a given time. There are usually large bowls from which you take food.
By the way, it’s perfectly fine to take as many servings as you want. But be careful: you should try to estimate how much you can eat, because it’s not polite to leave food on a plate.
5. Finns love life tricks
Finns are perhaps the biggest fans of various tricks that save money and time. There is even a word in Finnish – niksi, which means small but useful life tricks. For example, this man came up with the idea of keeping pens in old sausage packaging.
6. Finns love milk and milk products.
Finland is definitely not a country for people who are lactose intolerant. Imagine, the average Finn drinks as much as 130 liters of milk a year. Also, with lunch it is quite normal to drink not a glass of water or coca cola, but – a glass of milk!
7.Showers in Finland do not have curtains
Finns are not ashamed of their bodies. If you find yourself in a Finnish gym or pool, don’t be surprised that the showers aren’t fenced off. It is perfectly normal to shower naked next to a stranger.
8. Car-Owners can easily protect their cars from the cold
Instead of their cars warming up for 10, 20 minutes, in Finland almost every parking place has an outlet where you can plug your car to warm up faster.
9. Finns are competing who will kill most mosquitoes
You may have already heard of the competition in throwing phones and the competition in carrying a husband. But there are more unusual competitions in Finland – who can kill the most mosquitoes. The rules are simple: participants must kill the most mosquitoes in a given period of time. These competitions are organized in the summer, and sometimes become international – so in 2018, a man from Sweden killed 135 insects in 15 minutes and took the victory.
10. There is a national day of failure in Finland
This somewhat strange holiday actually wanted to show how failure is taken too seriously and unnecessarily hinders people from making further progress. On that day, many celebrities from Finland in the media problematize and normalize the topic of failure.
11. You can’t pick up or throw someone else’s trash in Finland
Finns pay great attention to the environment – by saving water and classified garbage. But if someone decides to clean up the trash in a public place, they may be punished. To clean garbage from public areas – you must complete training and obtain a license, any self-initiated attempt, even with the best of intentions – is considered an offense.
12. According to tradition, Finns wash carpets in rivers.
Of course, Finns, like all modern people, also own a vacuum cleaner, but there is a tradition according to which carpets are washed in rivers. It also represents a kind of moral cleansing – that’s why you can see many Finns going out to the river banks in the spring and washing carpets en masse.
