Ancestry, the Finns

My sister took one of those DNA tests for ancestry, and we found that a good portion of our ancestry is Finnish!  Now, that surprised me, because we've always been told we're "Swedish and German".  lol  SO.... who's the Finn?    Seems like it's my Mom and her mother!  Who knew? 

But, me being me, of course I had to find something different about Finns.  And it seems there are some Finnish words that don't translate into English (or any other language).  Here are my favs:

Sisu
Dictionary translates sisu as “stick-with-it-ness”, and that is exactly what it is. It means to be stubborn, determined and sometimes stupidly brave, an expression used to describe the national character of a Finn. It means we will run head first to the brick wall until the wall gives in if we really believe there is something worth the trouble on the other side.

Tosikko
A person who takes life a bit too seriously and is often considered to completely lack a sense of humor.

Kalsarikänni
Surprisingly well-known — and loved — outside Finnish borders, kalsarikänni literally means to get drunk (alone) at home in your underwear with no intention of going out.

The first two, well, those could be me!  They seem to fit very well in the overall scheme -- the last?  If I was a drinker, that's how I'd be drinking!  (I'm very much a home body!)

And in other quick but interesting facts:

• Finland is one of the world's northernmost countries.
• Finland has about 168,000 lakes 
• Finland is the largest producer of wood in Europe and among the largest in the world. Forests play a key role in the country's economy. 
• Large and widely recognized wildlife mammals found in Finland are the brown bear (the national animal), gray wolf, wolverine, and elk.
• A quarter of Finland's territory lies within the Arctic Circle and the midnight sun can be experienced for more days the farther north one travels. At Finland's northernmost point, the sun does not set for 73 consecutive days during summer, and does not rise at all for 51 days during winter.
• With 3.9 million members, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is one of the largest Lutheran churches in the world 

I wonder at the folks who emigrated; they wanted to start new lives, and some of them did, literally beginning once they reached America by changing their name.  I'm guessing some 'fudged' on where they were really originally from, the dates they were born, etc.  I know my own history doesn't go back very far because of these very reasons!