Published 28.8.2021

On Saturday, 28 August, we celebrate Finnish Nature Day. From 2013 onward, Finnish nature has been celebrated on the last Saturday in August. The purpose of the day is to encourage people to go out into nature and to gather together to celebrate and show their appreciation for Finnish nature.

Although everyone can celebrate individually in their own way, there are also a number of collective events and campaigns, such as the blueberry pie challenge and ‘sleep a night outdoors‘ challenge. Furthermore, the Ministry of the Interior recommends that we all celebrate Finnish Nature Day by flying the flag – in addition to raising the flag, methods of celebration include, for example, wearing something in the colours of the flag – blue and white – or cooking a meal using ingredients provided by Finnish nature.

Finnish Nature Day was originally just celebrated in special events organised by environmental groups but it has since expanded to become a celebration for the entire nation. During the centenary year of Finland’s independence, nature was honoured for a dedicated period of four days, called Nature Days. During the same year, the Ministry of the Interior recommended flag-raising for the first time and, thus, as far as we know, Finland became the first country to officially fly the flag for nature. In 2023, Finnish Nature Day will become an established flag-raising day.

For more information on Finnish Nature Day, please visit https://suomenluonnonpaiva.fi/.

 

Image: Vastavalo / Milla Rasila