Finnish Maiden

The Maiden of Finland (Finnish: Suomi-neito, Swedish: Finlands mö) is the national personification of Finland.

Personification

She is a barefoot young woman in her mid-twenties with often braided blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing a blue and white national costume or a white dress. She was originally called Aura after the Aura River in Turku.

• As a symbol, the Finnish Maiden has been used since the 19th century when she was pictured as a woman wearing a turreted crown, and then developing as Finland gained a national consciousness and independence.

In the famous painting Hyökkäys by Eetu Isto, the Finnish maiden is being attacked by the Russian eagle, which is tearing away the law book.

Mapping issues

The areas ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union after the Continuation War.

The Maiden of Finland can also refer to the shape of Finland on the map. With a little imagination it looks like a female form which has one hand raised (and another before the Moscow Armistice of 1944), a head, and a skirt. The metaphor is so commonly used that the northwestern area around Enontekiö is known as the Arm (Käsivarsi) even in official contexts.

External links

Related English language explanations

• Finlandia by Jean Sibelius- thisisFINLAND