Silly Season in Finland
During the summer months the extra hours of daylight have a profound effect on people in the uppermost reaches of the northern hemisphere. From the Swedish frog dance to the awe-inspiring White Nights of St Petersburg, the weeks on either side of the Summer Solstice are dotted with some of the most spectacular - and often downright peculiar - events in Europe.
And nowhere is this more the case than with the summer in Finland.
Swamp soccer (pictured), wife-carrying, mosquito-killing, phone-throwing and air guitar competitions - here, eccentricity is very much the norm as a series of one oddball event after another is unveiled.
Given the long hours of gloom that lie in store, it’s hardly surprising that all this extra daylight induces a euphoric effect in people. But don’t just take it from HostelBloggers: “Maybe we are a little bit crazy… maybe we are just bored”, Reuters reports Toni Haukamakix as saying from the sauna-championships.
Crazy, maybe. But only in the best possible sense of the word.
