Did you know that texting was invented in Finland? Emojis on the other hand were invented in Japan with many emojis related to Japanese culture, but Finland strikes again as the first nation to set their own national emojis. I’m looking forward sending text messages with
sauna,
sisu* and
perkele**, and at least sauna is confirmed to be one of the emojis.
Stay tuned for a set of Finland-themed emojis that will be revleaved one by one in December in
ThisIsFINLAND advent calendar. The emoji sticker set includes more than 30 stickers and they just revealed the first three: the Headbanger, the Sauna and the Unbreakable (Nokia 3310).
“We have been anything but serious when creating these emojis. Hopefully they will open up not only our weirdness but also our strengths of which unarming honesty is one example”
hopes Petra Theman, Director for Public Diplomacy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The Christmas calendar is available in thirteen languages, including all of the usual ThisisFINLAND languages plus Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Hindi, Polish and Turkish. The calendar can be found at
xmas.finland.fi and ThisisFINLAND social media channels. The first hatch opens on 1 December. The emojis are drawn by Art Director Bruno Leo Ribeiro.
My personal favorite so far is the sauna emoji. It’s true, nothing is as Finnish as sauna.
The Unbreakable. The legendary Nokia 3310 is one of the highest selling mobile phones of all times. The phone was designed in Finland and it is known for its toughness.
The Headbanger. It is dark in Finland and so is the music. I don’t know if I believe there’s a small headbanger living inside of each Finn, but dark music and melancholy are very traditionally Finnish.
I hope to see culinary emojis like
reikäleipä (round flat rye bread with hole in the middle),
karjalanpiirakka (Karelian pie, rye pie with rice inside, but for it’s shape I think it would be probably commonly known as the vagina emoji) and
lihapiirakka (meatpie, can also be deep-fried and looks like a big doughnut). Since they already opened the brand collaborations I with Nokia, I hope to see the world’s best chocolate emoji, Fazerin Sininen (The Fazer chocolate with blue wrapper), Fiskars scissors – the world famous orange of course- and Marimekko’s poppy print. For the love of God, I do not want to see Angry Birds anything, but Moomins are always cute. I hope to see several emojis featuring our nature, like birch trees, islands (the way we have them!), lakes and animals like moose and swan. I am sure summer cottage is featured! What about you — what kind of emojis you think Finland will have?
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Our latest photos tagged #skimbacofinland — most of these are taken by our lovely
HouseofAnais.
* Sisu is a Finnish word that cannot be translated properly into the English language, loosely translated to mean stoic determination, bravery, guts, resilience, perseverance and hardiness, expressing the historic self-identified Finnish national character.
Sisu is about taking action against the odds and displaying courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity. Deciding on a course of action and then sticking to that decision against repeated failures is Sisu. It is similar to equanimity, with the addition of a grim quality of stress management. The pertaining adjective is sisukas, “having the quality of Sisu”.
** Perkele. Not used lightly, but used as the most powerful curse word in the world. Needed for extreme situations, and don’t even try saying it without rolling the R like a Finn.
Post by Katja Presnal
“My mission is to inspire you to live life to the fullest and find your own “skimbaco,” how you enjoy life where ever you are in the moment. For ideas for travel, home, food and fashion,
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Katja Presnal, editor-in-chief and the owner of Skimbaco Lifestyle.
