by Angie10 » 29 Sep 2024, 14:43 I have a Finnish student and often, I look for interesting things about Finland that we can discuss in class. In my search for fresh content, I recently stumbled across an article about some of the ‘weirdest’ games the Finns love playing.
I hear most of these sports are played for fun, yet the participants still take them so seriously that most have their own championship tournaments!
1. Wife-carrying
In this event, men carry their wives (or sometimes a girlfriend or female friend) on their shoulders through an obstacle course. Winners of the contest win a trophy and their wife’s weight in beer. There are also separate prizes for the most entertaining couple, the best costumes and the strongest carrier.
2. Swamp football
A true test of fitness and skill is playing football in a swamp. The rules of this game work almost exactly the same as regular football, except that the game is played in swampy ground, the muddier the better. Over 300 teams from 10 countries now compete in the Swamp Soccer World Championships in Vuorisuo every year, and plenty of other teams play just for fun.
3. Beer-floating
At the annual Beer Floating Festival on the Vantaa river near Helsinki, participants simply float down the river in rubber dinghies or handmade rafts while drinking beer, resembling the ‘lazy river’ at a water park. The event now attracts over 5,000 participants every year, but the local council isn’t as enthused, since the cleaning bill tops €40,000 each year.
4. Mosquito-squashing
With its huge amount of lakes, mosquitos are a huge pain in Finland during the summer. This is probably why mosquito-squashing has become a sport, with a yearly championship in the northern town of Pelkosenniemi, where mosquitos are particularly rife. The winner is the person who can swat the most mosquitoes in five minutes, and the current record is 21.
5. Milking-stool/mobile phone/Wellington boot throwing
Finland seems obsessed with sports which test throwing skills, with both Wellington-boot and mobile-phone throwing contests being popular. But most peculiar of all is milking-stool throwing. It is most common on rural farms during the early summer, with the championship being held in the village of Kangaslampi in Varkaus. Apparently, it is surprisingly hard since the stools are so heavy.
6. Reindeer racing
Reindeer are one of the symbols of Finland, so it makes sense that there is a championship for racing them. It works much the same as carriage racing (another popular sport in Finland) except that instead of a carriage, drivers ride behind their reindeer on skis! The King Race is held every April on a frozen lake in Inari, Lapland. The fastest reindeer can reach speeds of 80 kilometres (50 miles) per hour.
What’s the weirdest game you’ve ever heard of? Can it beat any of the ones listed? I’d love to hear about them!
