This is my fox. It comes from Rovaniemi, but since October 2007 it has been living in my room here in Jyväskylä, among the books; I guess it likes the place a lot. As I do not know this fox for too long, it did not acquire a name yet; so far, it has just been known as Fox, Lisica or Kettu.
The main reason why I am introducing my fox to the world is actually the period of winter darkness, kaamos. Last year within this time, the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat featured online short animated stories. The series was called Kaamosajan kalanteri, The Calendar of Kaamos; now it does not exist online no more, too bad. But there was this main character: very interesting Finnish fox, living in its house, desperately trying to waste time during the period of winter darkness. The fox of the kaamos, kaamoksen kettu.
We do not have that real polar night in this part of Finland, but, believe me, there is lots of darkness anyway. I was well aware where am I going when deciding for Finland, Nordic countries have for sure good reputation of dark and depressive winters... but still.
The main reason why I am introducing my fox to the world is actually the period of winter darkness, kaamos. Last year within this time, the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat featured online short animated stories. The series was called Kaamosajan kalanteri, The Calendar of Kaamos; now it does not exist online no more, too bad. But there was this main character: very interesting Finnish fox, living in its house, desperately trying to waste time during the period of winter darkness. The fox of the kaamos, kaamoksen kettu.
We do not have that real polar night in this part of Finland, but, believe me, there is lots of darkness anyway. I was well aware where am I going when deciding for Finland, Nordic countries have for sure good reputation of dark and depressive winters... but still.
Every now and then, I feel like the fox of kaamos. The sun rises around half past nine, but even after that the morning can be dark. Dark morning, dark day, and then the night. As today, when it was raining. For the weather can add so much to the light; it is totally different story if there appears some sun from behind the clouds. It starts getting really dark around three in the afternoon; it was even earlier in December. This darkness makes me kind of drowsy. So, I would rather sleep through the whole day, doing nothing but sleep, sleep and sleep. However, if not sleeping the whole day, I would perhaps do just some easy reading and some nice calm Aikido practice. Then, back to sleep again...
I wonder how it would feel living in a waste, lonesome snowy land. Somewhere in Lapland, for instance. Nothing but snow and kaamos. I can imagine silent glittering of the snow in the moonlight, the blasts of northern lights and all other romantic thingies; however, this is only what I imagine. I guess, in reality, life in these frozen lands is not that lovely at all; even if there is no biting frost, there is still the great darkness.
However, every winter also brings the hope of spring, warmth and endless sunlight... and then, kaamoksen kettu will feel all awake again.
I wonder how it would feel living in a waste, lonesome snowy land. Somewhere in Lapland, for instance. Nothing but snow and kaamos. I can imagine silent glittering of the snow in the moonlight, the blasts of northern lights and all other romantic thingies; however, this is only what I imagine. I guess, in reality, life in these frozen lands is not that lovely at all; even if there is no biting frost, there is still the great darkness.
However, every winter also brings the hope of spring, warmth and endless sunlight... and then, kaamoksen kettu will feel all awake again.
2 comments:
Res lep zapis. Jaz si, ne glede na svojo ljubezen do te severne dezele, ne znam niti predstavljati kaamosa. Najbolj hecno mi je to (ravno danes sem o tem razmisljala), kako mora zgledati cisto na severu, ko sonca ni pol leta, potem pa naenkrat vzide - in sveti pol leta. Se svit na nebu kaze ze par dni prej? In imajo recimo tako - cel teden trajajoci somrak jeseni? Obzalujejo med njim, da onca dolgo ne bo? Ali tudi med kulturami, ki zivijo dalec na severu, obstajajo ljudje, ki jim je ljubsa noc kot dan?
BTW, kaksno je pa ime za nasprotje od kaamosa (tisto svetlo poletje)?
Sicer me pa zabava, da si zapis Kaamuksen ketu objavila ravno danes - na tecaju smo namrec imeli besedo kaktus in posledicno jemali njeno koncnico - ksen :D Vsec mi je. Poleg glagola keskustella, ki mi je trenutno najlepse zveneca finska beseda, bodo samostalniki s -ksen prav tako kotirali visoko :D
Sončna svetloba je vsekakor fajn in tudi človeško telo jo potrebuje za proizvajanje določenih zadevic; vitamin D, recimo. Že na Islandiji sem opazila, da mleku dodajajo D-vitamin, tukaj na Finskem pa seveda tudi. Pomanjkanje sončne svetlobe povzroča depro, torej domnevam, da ima kdo od severnjakov raje polarno noč. ;)
Nasprotje polarne noči je polarni dan. Oziroma polnočno sonce - keskiyön aurinko. Druge finske besede pa ne najdem.
Ja, te -ksen oblike so zabavne. Btw, tudi ime od Snapea bi Finci sklanjali v genitivu ''Severuksen''. :D
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