Independence Day celebration aimed at Vaasa families with children - traditional programme in the church

The Independence Day celebration will be held on Tuesday, 6 December 2022 from 13:00–15:00 at Vaasa City Hall. This year, the celebration is organised for Vaasa families with children for the first time. Scholarships from the Vaasa foundation, Vaasan Jaakoon säätiö, will also be awarded at the event.

-Through a celebration aimed at families with children, we want to highlight the makers of the future, i.e. children. This is also one of the concrete measures in UNICEF’s Child-friendly municipality model, in which the City of Vaasa is involved, says Acting Culture Manager Leena Nyqvist of the City of Vaasa’s Cultural and Library Services.

A story concert takes you on an adventure

The Independence Day celebration programme for families with children starts at 13:00 with an opening speech. After that, the programme includes a story concert called Metsänpeitossa, which takes you on an adventure into the forest. At the concert, you will reflect on your own environment, listen to the sounds of traditional instruments and hear old folk tales about the Finnish nature and the magical creatures there. The public can also participate in the concert and workshops afterwards.

In the workshops, weird and fascinating instruments are made from natural and recycled materials. In addition, you can familiarise yourself with a real instrument, i.e. a 5-string kantele, and make your own composition. Culture Cooperative Uulu from Tampere, known for promoting children’s culture, is responsible for the programme, which nurtures various traditions and keeps folk music and folk instruments alive and in use.

Independence Day Programme, 6 December 2022, in Vaasa

In Vaasa, a traditional Independence Day programme is arranged at the graves of war heroes, Vaasa Church and the War Veterans’ Museum.

• 7.30 Scouts light candles at the graves of war heroes.
• 9.00 A flag raising ceremony by the memorial wall of the former garrison area (Kasarmintori).
• 10.00 A bilingual church service at Vaasa Church. After the service, words of support for the wreath bearers as well as church coffees in the Crypt.
• 11.30 A wreath-laying ceremony at the 1939-1945 War Heroes’ Memorial in Vaasa Cemetery.
• 12.00-14.00 Vaasa War Veterans’ Museum open (Kirkkopuistikko 22 A).
• 13.00-15.00 An Independence Day party for families with children at Vaasa City Hall.
• 16.00 A Finnish church service at Vaasa Church.
• 16.45 A students’ torchlight procession (from Culture House Fanny via Raastuvankatu to the Statue of Freedom)
• 17.00 Traditional Student Unions’ independence day greetings. Choirs Wasa Sångargille and Pohjan Miehet perform, speeches.

Concert by Vaasa and Seinäjoki city orchestras, 9 December

During the Independence Day week, Friday 9 December at 19:00, you can listen to Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia and the touching Symphony No. 5 at the Made in Finland concert. Sibelius’ Finlandia was created out of the pressure of years of oppression as part of Finland’s dreams of independence. Swans were an important inspiration for the fifth symphony, although Sibelius experienced working on it as a struggle with God. Both compositions were quickly seen as unsurpassed symbols of Finnishness.

New Finnish music will be represented in the concert through a violin concerto by Veli Kujala, who is inspired by clashes between different genres of music. The solos in Veli Kujala’s concerto will be boldly interpreted by violinist Erikka Maalismaa.

The Independence Day celebration event for families with children is on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1204546023500029