St. Urho's Day Poem: Ooksi Kooksi Coolama Vee

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And to mark this auspicious occasion, the traditional poem:


Ooksi kooksi coolama vee
Santia Urho is ta poy for me!
He sase out ta hoppers as pig as pirds.
Neffer peefor haff I hurd tose words!

He reely tolt tose pugs of kreen
Braffest Finn I effer seen
Some celebrate for St. Pat unt hiss nakes
Putt Urho poyka kot what it takes.

He kot tall and trong from feelia sour
Unt ate kala moyakka effery hour.
Tat's why tat kuy could sase toes peetles
What krew as thick as chack bine neetles.

So let's give a cheer in hower pest vay
On Sixteenth of March, St. Urho's Tay.
 
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Discussion

Is it ok to dress up my yule goat for today's celebration?
 
Janus-resident Urhologist. :smile:
 
Garrison Keillor on St. Urho:

Dear Garrison Keillor,
My dear mother was raised in Minnesota and came to Chicago for employment during the Great Depression. She always talked of her Finnish community, which sounded to me like another country. Indeed, whenever a Republican was elected to the White House, she would threaten to leave the United States and go back to Minnesota! My dear late mother also told me about the great St. Urho and I have researched the archives of your radio program for past celebrations of St. Urho's Day on March 16th. Alas! I have found none! Don't you admire St. Urho? My mom hinted that Minnesota Swedes, Norweigians, and Finns did not always see eye to eye. Is there some anti-Finn feeling in Lake Wobegon?


Ruth Kardaras
Chicago

Ruth, I am not anti-Finn — in fact, I attended a big Finn Fest a year or so ago and recited "The Finn Who Would Not Take A Sauna" to about 5000 of them and enjoyed that. It gave me a chance to study Finns a little, though of course many of them had intermarried with other faiths and lost some of their genetic edge. Finns are not like us in some basic way that we keep trying to figure out. We are a German-Scandinavian culture here, which prizes order and selfless service and modesty, and the Finns are Slavic people and have a wild independent streak in them. They are not quite tamed. We admire this and we also fear it. At the moment, the Twin Cities is all enraptured with the Minnesota Orchestra's Finnish music director, Osmo Vanska, who is a self-effacing man (for a conductor) and also a very passionate musician. We can accept a Finnish conductor. When it comes to heart surgery, however, we might prefer a Swede or a Norwegian.

As for St. Urho's Day, I don't observe it for the same reason I don't observe St. Patrick's Day or Bastille Day — I don't belong to those clubs. Those days belong to other people, not me.

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/posthost/2005/03/index.shtml

I was trying to find a copy of The Finn Who Would Not Take A Sauna but it doesn't seem to be online. It's pretty funny. At least to anyone who enjoyed the OP poem.
 
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Evo said:
Is it ok to dress up my yule goat for today's celebration?

As long as it's in Purple!
 
zoobyshoe said:
Ruth Kardaras
Chicago
the Finns... have a wild independent streak in them.

And darn proud of it!
 
Janus said:
And darn proud of it!

Speaking as a Finn, I'd say it's somewhat definitive.

The Finns in South Dakota - my relatives - were/are all completely nuts! As a kid, I LOVED going to SD. It was a complete free-for-all.
 
And Garrison Keillor is wrong; the Finns are not Slavic, they're Finno-Ugric (no lie!)
 
Well, ever since I found out about the yule goat, I've been a Finn Fan. :approve:
 
Evo said:
Well, ever since I found out about the yule goat, I've been a Finn Fan. :approve:

Well that's just Finn-tastic!

You just have to love a people that can turn sweating into a social event.
 
... the 'logic' is pretty straightforward --> sweating == increase the need to consume liquids... :-p ...

If these are the liquids I think you mean, they tend to dehydrate a person.
 
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I was proud to wear purple on St. Urho's Day yesterday! Didn't drink though, I'm not a drinkah.
 
PerennialII said:
... the 'logic' is pretty straightforward --> sweating == increase the need to consume liquids... :-p ...

If these are the liquids I think you mean, they tend to dehydrate a person.

... yes, making it a win-win situation.