Independence day at my grandma’s has been nice, although it feels a bit different since it’s my first independence day celebration after moving. I spent one independence day in London a few years ago, but other than that, I’ve never been away from home during this holiday.
But mostly it’s been a pretty standard itsenäisyyspäivä so it’s all good lol. The weather also turned out to be nice and wintery (when I arrived in town yesterday, everything was snowy and christmasy, and that weather has continued throughout today which is perfect).
I hope I’m not the only one who considers Muumipeikko ja pyrstötähti a vital part of independence day (of Finland). It has formed into a tradition of sort, as they usually showed this cartoon on every independence day in my childhood.
O, Finland, behold, your day is dawning, The threat of night has been banished away, And the lark of morning in the brightness sings, As though the very firmament would sing. The powers of the night are vanquished by the morning light, Your day is dawning, O land of birth.
O, rise, Finland, raise up high Your head, wreathed with great memories. O, rise, Finland, you showed to the world That you drove away the slavery, And that you did not bend under oppression,
Queer Fortress 