tags: Finland, Sonkajärvi, sports, wife-carrying world championships, entertainment, streaming video
I am Finnish by ancestry, and I am in love with Finland, having visited this beautiful country three times now. However, I must warn you all that women who marry Finnish men are asking for a fair bit of humiliation. Finnish men like to indulge in a very peculiar sport: wife carrying contests, which are a modern day carry-over from the ancient pass time of wife-stealing. This is video from the 2009 event, which took place yesterday (5 July) in Sonkajärvi, which is smack-dab in the middle of Finland (if it had been closer to Helsinki, I would have been there, live-blogging, photographing and videoing this event for you) [1:31]
The prize? The wife's weight in beer, a bag full of wife carrying products (huh?) and a statue with a wife carrying motif. The second and third place couples as well as the most entertaining couple, the best costume and the strongest carrier are also awarded wife carrying products and statues.
And for my Finnish fans, here's another video in Finnish; Eukonkannon joukkuekisa [3:38];
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Comments
Finns are entitled to their little quirks. They invented the sauna after all.
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | July 6, 2009 6:36 PM
That does seem like a particularly humiliating (and dangerous!) way to be carried.
Posted by: John | July 6, 2009 7:11 PM
The carry method is actually up to the teams. That strange upside carry allows the "wife" to hold really tightly without any help from the "husband". In the very beginning you can see a couple in the back doing the traditional piggy-back carry.
Posted by: unistrut | July 6, 2009 11:23 PM
Are you kidding me? I would love to participate in something like that! Sounds fun. ^_^
Posted by: IBY | July 7, 2009 1:29 AM
I think I'll skip that one. I couldn't even pick up a viking next door.
Posted by: MadScientist | July 7, 2009 2:43 AM
As indicated by unistrut, above, I wish to point out that the rules do not stipulate that the spousal unit be your own.
Hm. I should check how they accommodate for same-gender partnerships.
Posted by: Juuro | July 7, 2009 3:01 AM