It’s Sweden Finns Day on February 24, and we’re giving Finnish-speaking Swedes a voice. This special day is all about honoring their language, culture, and position as a respected and beloved community within Sweden. Emigration between the two countries has a very long history, particularly in the northern border regions. However, a more considerable emigration occurred during World War II, when 70,000 young Finnish children were evacuated to Sweden. While around 15,000 are thought to have stayed, an unknown number returned as adults. Today, there are approximately 500,000 Finnish-speaking Swedes in the country.
HISTORY OF SWEDEN FINNS DAY
Historically, minorities that find themselves in spaces separate from their culture or linguistic comfort zones, like speaking their mother tongue, often get lost in the mix of the broader community. In some cases, they completely lose track of their heritage. That’s why special events like Sweden Finns Day are so essential.
In 2010, The Swedish Academy declared that the day would fall on February 24. A year later, it was celebrated for the first time to honor the birthday of Carl Axel Gottlund, a collector of folk poetry and defender of the Finnish language’s status. Sweden Finns Day is celebrated by Finns living in Sweden to raise awareness of Finnish-speaking communities in the country. Locals know it as ‘Sverigefinnarnas’ Day, with approximately half a million people currently living in Sweden speaking Finnish as their first language.
Finnish communities in Sweden can be traced back to the Reformation when the Finnish Church in Stockholm was founded in 1533. However, earlier instances of migration or movement to other cities in modern-day Sweden have also been recorded. Recent research from a Finnish language channel, Sveriges Radio Finska, shows that nearly 470,000 people speak or understand Finnish or Meänkieli, distinct Finnish dialects or a Finnic language spoken in Sweden’s far north accounting for approximately 4.5% of Sweden’s population in 2019. Sweden Finns Day highlights these Finnish-speaking communities, gives them a voice, listens to their beautiful language, and allows them to feel pride in it.
