SixDegrees
Issue 2 2009
Ethnic
product
of the month
St. Patrick, meet St. Urho
Welcome the spring Niina Mero
FOR MODERN man, the vernal or spring equinox is no more than a pointless reminder in the almanac. Nothing happens. Clocks are not advanced until a week later and there’s still a good three weeks until Easter. All the spring equinox does is refer to the date when day and night are of equal length. However, it is also an ancient holiday celebrating the arrival of spring. For centuries pagans have celebrated this time of harmony, when the powers of light and dark stand in perfect balance. It marks the beginning of spring, an end to the confines of dreary winter. Life begins to sprout anew and the barren, cold landscape gives way to the blossoming spring. The timing of Easter each year is decided according to the first full moon after the spring equinox, and the Christian tradition has a close connection with pagan celebrations of spring. The word “Easter” derives from an Old English word Eastre or Eostre, rooted in the month
Pop-Tarts Justin Goney
STRICTLY speaking, Pop-Tarts are jam-filled, rectangular pastries that are meant to be heated in toaster and are part of a balanced breakfast. In a larger sense they’re a frazzled mother’s best friend, a college dorm staple and a testament to the durability of Cold War-era convenience food technology. Back in the 1960s, the Post cereal company announced a forerunner called Country Squares, to tout their foil-sealed technology. However, they made a fatal flaw by announcing the product before it was ready to hit the market. Given the idea and a six-month head start, Kellogg’s came up with its own version. Part of the reason why Pop-Tarts endured is due to the clever name. It’s a double pun, referring both to the tart “popping up” out of the toaster, and Andy Warhol’s hip Pop Art of the era. The product hasn’t evolved much over the years apart from the crucial addition of frosting and sprinkles in 1967 and various flavours that have come and gone. Despite innovations in the toaster pastry sector, Pop-Tarts are as popular as ever. Moms love them because kids love them, and kids love them because they’re loaded with processed carbs, sugar, and other stuff that’s likely to lead to type-2 diabetes. Students love them because they’re cheap, high-calorie and you can eat them cold on your way to an early class. And though there have been some missteps along the way such as unfortunate flavours like “Frosted Wild Watermelon”, and the fact that unattended Pop-Tarts have a tendency to combust, sending a footlong flame shooting out of your toaster, Pop-Tarts will seemingly remain an American classic.
Sami Makkonen
Sidney Kitchen
AS THE hallowed day of St. Patrick slowly approaches, it comes as a shock to any foreigner steeped in the tradition to notice that 17 March goes by for the most part unobserved. Apart from your local Irish pub there is very little show for green, no “Kiss Me I’m Irish” shirts and a complete unavailability of green beer. Why in Patrick’s good name does a nation that is so fond of a party pass up on 17 March? The ready answer is that there is no national identification with the Irish. For countries like the United States and Canada, Irish immigrants played an integral role in their growth as nations. So it’s no wonder that cities like Boston and Chicago will throw parades and dye their rivers green (yes, really). But for many St. Patrick’s is a day to let loose and party like you
A sport is born Sidney Kitchen
ALMOST everyday a new sport is invented. Some are destined to die as quickly as they are born, and while a few prosper, seldom does a new sport thrive to attract a cult following. Chess Boxing - it’s exactly as the name suggests, alternating rounds of boxing and speed chess make up this odd sport fusion of brute force and stra-
were Irish. On St. Patrick’s Day it’s not unheard for people with no particular Irish heritage to become “more Irish than the Irish themselves.” But let it be noted, Finns were key players as well. Take a trip to the state of Minnesota and you will find proud Finnish descendants on every corner. And it is in this part of the United States most similar to Nordic climates, where we find the birth place of our hero. It’s highly disputed who exactly coined his legend, but as far as it is known, St. Urho emerged from Minnesota in the late 1950s. With a much similar legend to that of St. Patrick, who banished the snakes from Ireland, St. Urho banished grasshoppers from Finland, at least temporarily. As the story goes, long ago when Finland once had a bounteous grape harvest it was threatened by a horde of hungry grasshoppers, and so brave young Urho with the thunder-
ous voice of a god uttered the phrase “Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen” (Grasshopper, grasshopper, get the heck out of here). And all the grasshoppers fled. So now each year on 16 March, exactly one day before St. Patrick’s Day, Finnish communities across North America celebrate St. Urho Day’s with parades and banquets. Now for some it may be a little hard to get enthusiastic over a saint who bears so much resemblance to another more popular saint. But St. Urho’s Day, like the one following it, is not necessarily so much about the saints themselves as it is about having a good time. Perhaps on a more humanistic level Urho could be Finland’s spiritual link with Ireland, with the mutual respect of what can be only described as explosive national pride and one hell of a good time.
tegic smarts. The qualities of a boxer and chess master unite in the most epic of battles. Inspired from the graphic novel Le Froid Equateur by Enki Bilal, in which chess boxing was a key plot line, Chess Boxing has had organised matches since 2003. Largely based in Berlin, the World Chess Boxing Organization (WCBO) boasts world title matches three to four times a year. Chess Boxing is not for amateurs though. A fight can be won by either knockout or checkmate, so aptitude and skill in both disciplines are
a must. Imagine how a blow to the head could affect one’s chess skills. According to the WCBO website the sport has grown cult followings with 150,000 boxers world-wide. Undoubtedly a pivotal reason for its popularity is the comical spectacle this ironic biathlon creates. The WCBO website has several videos of its matches for all those who still have their doubts. Fighting takes place in the ring, while the wider war rages on the chessboard. www.wcbo.org
Eostur-monath named after the Goddess Eostre of AngloSaxon pagans. The Teutonic name most modern pagans use for the deity is Ostara. Little is actually known of this Goddess, but there are beautiful stories. Legend has it that Ostara turned a bird into a hare and it, being still a bird, was able to lay beautiful coloured eggs. Both the hare and the egg are oblivious symbols of fertility and reproduction, well suited to a time of planting and sowing seeds. In many traditions the GodKing is born on the winter solstice and it is only logical that he is conceived nine months before, on Ostara. The vernal equinox is a time to salute the reawakening of nature. It is spring after winter, life after death, be that in a Christian or a pagan context. Whatever religion you may follow and whether or not you choose to connect the rising sun with the rising son, the vernal equinox still remains a celebration of resurrection and rebirth. It is all around for us to see. The vernal equinox is 20 March.
Streaming opportunities Gulsana Koomanova
ANY STUDENT with a video camera, a laptop and some basic technical skills can earn some money by live streaming various events. Different events are available at floobaajat.ning.com and anyone can sign up and try their hand at streaming one. Tuukka Troberg, part-time Floobs videographer who has streamed over 100 events, thinks that live video can offer more meaning to the viewer and it has great prospects in the future. “Of course people are used to watching edited news and reports on TV, but the advantage of live video is that it’s faster and cheaper to produce and anyone can do it. It’s suitable for anyone who is open-minded, ready to meet new people and quick at solving problems.” Live streaming does not only allow students to earn money but also to access a
wide network of employers. While streaming an event at the Arabia district in Helsinki, Troberg has signed a contract to do photographic work for Vartti magazine. Beginners are bound to encounter some difficulties when starting however, the most common being technical ones. It might be hard to synchronise between video camera and laptop if these are not of the same generation. Troberg points out that in some places internet connections don’t exist so you may have to improvise. But with standards like 3G the possibilities are becoming almost limitless. For instance, streaming video from a mobile phone, which allows sharing any event is an interesting option. Interested? Then grab your camera and laptop and start streaming. For more information on technical or logistic aspects, contact Sasu Halme at sasu.halme@floobs.com Gulsana Koomanova
Tuukka Troberg is an experienced live streamer.