Gimmankanto

In the fine Nordic tradition of pillaging villages and carrying off the young women Finland has the annual wife carrying championships in Sonkajärvi.

Today there was a gimmankantu event in downtown Helsinki so I strolled down the street in search of amusement and maybe some decent photos. I went an hour early and found the park already crowded. The bandstand was mobbed with people eagerly awaiting the start of the festivities. There was even a torch to lend an olympic air to the scene [ I love this photo as the kid looks like all she wants is ice cream while behind them is a giant poster for the official event in Sonkajärvi that almost looks real instead of a photo. ] :)

I lamented not bringing beer with me as it seemed like everyone was enjoying some sort of fun enhancing beverage, including the contestants. There was one couple who I watched guzzle down a litre of koskenkorva before running, or should I say walking, the course. They were so hammered that the crowd cheered when they finished. :)

There was a wide array of contestants, some of whom were in costume. I liked the costumes as they added a bit of fun and I thought they should have given extra points to those who went to the trouble. There was easy rider, Casper and Wendy, chicken little and the bunny, the hippies and the mod squad [ the winners ], the troll and fairy and the sisu footballers.

The course was pretty wimpy compared to the official course but the contestants started at the far end, met the water hazard, turned the corner through the tyres, lept over the hay bales and made a mad dash up the ramp to the bandstand to finish. There were a number of different styles of carrying the women; piggyback, upside down, on top of the shoulders as well as lying across the shoulders. I don't know what prize the winners recieved but they seemed to have a lot of fun.

In the background was a guy making a sculpture of unknown artistic value with a chainsaw which was mesmerizing to watch since I've always been a bit scared/respectful of chainsaws. Some of the professional photogs kept slyly looking over at me and passing by to see if I was new competition with the fancy camera which gave me a bit of a giggle. An afternoon of completely wacky, harmless fun. :)