Happy St. Urho's Day!

[Bekah]

Ja - so we needed a reason to drink in the middle of March and those  
Irish were getting awful uppity.   Excellent reasons to invent a myth/ 
legend.

Bekah
whose Finlander-American dad came from Jacobson Minnesota  (mining  
country north of Duluth)

On Mar 16, 2009, at 8:13 AM, Otto wrote:

> That says a lot about the invention of myths...
>
> wikipedia:
>
> Saint Urho
>
> The legend of St. Urho was the invention of a Finnish-American named
> Richard Mattson, who worked at Ketola's Department Store in Virginia,
> Minnesota in spring of 1956. Mattson later recounted that he invented
> St. Urho when he was questioned by coworker Gene McCavic about the
> Finns' lack of a saint like the Irish St. Patrick, whose feat of
> casting the snakes out of Ireland is remembered on St. Patrick's
> Day.[8]
>
> According to the original "Ode to St. Urho" written by Gene McCavic
> and Richard Mattson, St. Urho was supposed to have cast "tose 'Rogs"
> (those frogs) out of Finland by the power of his loud voice, which he
> obtained by drinking "feelia sour" (sour whole milk) and eating "kala
> mojakka" (fish soup).[9]
>
> The original "Ode to St. Urho" identified St. Urho's Day as taking
> place on May 24. Later the date was changed to March 16, the day
> before St. Patrick's Day. St. Urho's feast is supposed to be
> celebrated by wearing the colors Royal Purple and Nile Green. Other
> details of the invented legend also changed, apparently under the
> influence of Dr. Sulo Havumäki, a psychology professor at Bemidji
> State College in Bemidji, Minnesota. The legend now states that St.
> Urho drove away grasshoppers (rather than frogs) from Finland using
> the incantation "Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen!"
> ("Grasshopper, grasshopper, go from hence to Hell!"), thus saving the
> Finnish grape crops.[10]
>
> The "Ode to St. Urho" has been modified to reflect these changes in
> the feast day and legend. The Ode is written in a self-parodying form
> of English as spoken by Finnish immigrants.[11] There is also a
> "Ballad of St. Urho" written by Sally Karttunen.[12]
>
> The selection of the name Urho as the saint's name was probably
> influenced by the accession of Urho Kekkonen to the presidency of
> Finland in 1956. Urho in the Finnish language also has the meaning of
> hero or simply brave.
>
> There are St. Urho fan clubs in Canada and Finland as well as the
> U.S., and the festival is celebrated on March 16 in many American and
> Canadian communities with Finnish roots.[13] The original statue of
> St. Urho is located in Menahga, Minnesota. Another interesting
> chainsaw-carved St. Urho statue is located in Finland, Minnesota.
> There is a beer restaurant called St. Urho's Pub in central Helsinki,
> Finland. A 2001 book, The Legend of St. Urho by Joanne Asala, presents
> much of the folklore surrounding St. Urho and includes an essay by
> Richard Mattson on the "birth" of St. Urho.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_mythology
>
> 2009/3/16 Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>:
>> http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11468
>>
>> http://www.theminx.com/iss3vol2/sturho.htm
>>
>> http://www.sainturho.com/index.htm
>>
>