Today, The Grandma has been reading about St.Olaf's, the stone church from the 16th century in Tyrvää, Finland,that was burnt down by a burglar.
St. Olaf's Church in Tyrvää, in Finnish Tyrvään Pyhän Olavin kirkko and in Swedish Tyrvis San kt Olofs kyrka, isa late medieval fieldstonechurch inTyrvää, Sastamala, Finland.
It is located on the shore of lake Rautavesi. The church was built approximatelyin1510-1516 and burnt down by aburglar on 21September 1997. From 1997 to 2003 the church was rebuilt by local people and the interior paintings were created by painters Kuutti Lavonen and Osmo Rauhala.
The reconstruction of the church is documented in the book St. Olaf's Church in Tyrvää by Kuutti Lavonen, Osmo Rauhala, and Pirjo Silveri.
Tyrvää was a municipality in the Satakunta region, Turku and Pori Province, Finland. It was established in 1439 when the Tyrvää parish was separated from the parish of Karkku.
In 1915, the market town of Vammala was separated from Tyrvää, and in 1973, Tyrvää was consolidated with Vammala.
In 2009, Vammala became a part of the newly established town Sastamala.
The administrative center of the Tyrvää municipality was located north of Vammala, by the lakes Rautavesi and Liekovesi.
Tyrvää is known as the home of the prominent Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who was raised in Tyrvää, and the site of the medieval St. Olaf's Church.
Finland's first woman writer, Theodolinda Hahnsson was born in Tyrvää. The twin tower Tyrvää Church was built in 1855.
Today, The Grandma has been talking with TheWatsons about Lordi, the Finish band who won the Eurovision Song Contest representing her country in 2006 singing Hard Rock Hallelujah.
Finland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 53 times since its debut in 1961.
Finland won the contest for the first time in 2006 with Lordi's Hard Rock Hallelujah. Thecountry's best result before then was achieved by Marion Rung with the song Tom Tom Tom in 1973, which placed sixth.
Lordi is a Finnish hard rock/heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during concerts and music videos.
The band rose to fame in 2002 with their hit single Would You Love a Monsterman?, and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with their song Hard Rock Hallelujah.
Before talking about Lordi, The Grandma has offered a new Cambridge Key English Test A2 Example to The Watsons.
Lordi has toured and recorded actively since 2002, and Mr Lordi upgrades the band's costumes and masks for each album. The band has gone through several line-up changes, but original members Mr Lordi and guitarist Amen are still active with the band.
Members
of Lordi have stated their desire for their unmasked faces to remain
private. Lordi was formed in 1992 as a solo project by Mr Lordi. Lordi's very first demo album Napalm Market was done in 1993.
After
several failed attempts at obtaining a recording contract, Lordi signed
a record deal with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) Finland in 2002. In
July, the band released their first official single, Would You Love A
Monsterman?, which rose to number one in Finland and spawned a music
video.
At
the beginning of 2004, Lordi began recording their next studio album.
This time the album was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa, with whom the band
got along well. This second album was first released on 14 April 2004 as
The Monsterican Dream. Two songs from the album, My Heaven Is Your
Hell and Blood Red Sandman, have since been released as singles.
Lordi won Eurovision in 2006
Lordi's third album TheArockalypse was released on May 1, 2006.
On 20 May 2006, Lordi made history by winning the Eurovision SongContest held in Athens with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah,becomingthe first Finnish group to win the contest and consequently the first Hard Rock/Heavy Metal band to win; Finland would then send Power Metal band Teräsbetoni in 2008.
Lordi's music is formed by hard rock and heavy metal music elements. The band's horror-related albums, the monster costumes worn by all band members, and the horror elements of their performances are hallmarks of shock rock. The band was mostly influenced by KISS, but also by Alice Cooper and Twisted Sister.
Hard Rock Hallelujah is a song by Finnish hard rock band Lordi. Hard Rock Hallelujah was released as a single in 2006, reaching the #1 spot in Finland and also peaking in the UK Top 40 at #25.
Lordi
performed Hard Rock Hallelujah in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest
and won the contest with 292 points. It was voted as the most popular
Finnish Eurovision entry in the forty years the country had
participated. It held the record for most points until it was beaten by Fairytale by Alexander Rybak of Norway with 387 points three years
later.
On 26 May 2006, the Finns broke a world record for karaoke songs,
when about 80,000 people sang Hard Rock Hallelujah on Helsinki's
Market Square.
The song peaked at #1 in the Finland singles chart upon its release and in addition, released as a physical single during the week starting on 5 June 2006 in the United Kingdom, on the BMG label. Download sales for the previous week were therefore eligible to be counted for the 4 June 2006 Official UK Singles Chart, which led to the single to chart at #59.
The semifinal and final performances of Hard Rock Hallelujah at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest were similar; the lead singer, Mr Lordi, stated before the final that the only planned changes were that We'll scream louder. And turn the amps up. The performance took place on a fairly bare Eurovision stage, with banks of video monitors in the back displaying abstract images of fire, and the band in their usual monster costumes.
The band brought a hat including flag of Finland to the performance, wore by Mr Lordi in the actual performance and by Amen during the encore after the winning. For the final performances Mr Lordi also used two of official stage props from Lordi's live concerts, two-headed battle axe and bat-like wings.
During the whole performance, the band members remained relatively stationary, with the exception of guitarist Amen, who hopped back and forth energetically.
Today, The Grandma wants to talk about Akkala Sámi, a Sámilanguage.
Sámi languages are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sámi people in Northern Europe, in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme north-western Russia.
The Grandma loves languages. They represent the most beautiful and exciting demonstration of a community, of its culture, traditions and history. Protecting languages must be an obligation for all the governments around the world, especially minority languages that are in danger of being supplanted by other with more speakers. Minorities must be respected and protected as treasures of our past, our present and our future. A community that respects their minorities is a stronger and more democratic one.
On a day like today in 2003, Maria Sergina –the last fluent native speakers of Akkala Sámi- died. When a language dies, a community dies and with it all its culture and history.
Akkala Sámi is a Sámi language that was spoken in the Sámi villages of A´kkel, Ču´kksuâl and Sââ´rvesjäu´rr, in the inland parts of the Kola Peninsula in Russia.
Formerly erroneously regarded as a dialect of Kildin Sámi, it has recently become recognized as an independent Sámi language that is most closely related to its western neighbor Skolt Sámi.
Akkala Sámi is the most endangered Eastern Sámi language. On December 29, 2003, Maria Sergina –the last fluent native speakers of Akkala Sámi– died. However, as of 2011 there were at least two people, both aged 70, with some knowledge of Akkala Sámi. Remaining ethnic Akkala Sámi live in the village Yona.
Although there exist a
description of Akkala Sámi phonology and morphology, a few published
texts, and archived audio recordings, the Akkala Sami language remains
among the most poorly documented Sami languages.
Sámi Family in Finland, 1936
Akkala Sámi has eight cases, singular and plural: nominative, genitive-accusative, partitive, dative-illative, locative, essive, comitative and abessive. Case and number are expressed by a combination of endings and consonant gradation:
-Nominative: no marker in the singular, weak grade in the plural
-Genitive-accusative: weak grade in the singular, weak grade + -i in the plural
-Partitive: this case exists only in the singular, and has the ending -tti͔
-Dative-illative: strong grade + -a, -a͕ or -ɛ in the singular, weak grade + -i in the plural
-Locative: weak grade + -st, -śtˑ in the singular, weak grade + -nˑ in the plural
-Essive: this case exists only in the singular: strong grade + -n
-Comitative: weak grade + -nˑ in the singular, strong grade + -guim, -vuim or -vi̮i̭m in the plural
Sámi languages, in English also rendered as Sami, are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sámi people in Northern Europe, in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme north-western Russia.
There are, depending on the nature and terms of division, ten or more Samilanguages. Several spellings have been used for the Sámi languages, including Sámi, Sami, Saami, Saame, Sámic, Samic and Saamic, as well as the exonyms Lappish and Lappic. The last two, along with the term Lapp, are now often considered pejorative.
The Sámi languages form a branch of the Uralic language family. According to the traditional view, Sámi is within the Uralic family most closely related to the Finnic languages. However, this view has recently been doubted by some scholars, who argue that the traditional view of a common Finno-Samiprotolanguage is not as strongly supported as had been earlier assumed, and that the similarities may stem from an areal influence on Samic from Finnic.
In terms of internal
relationships, the Sami languages are divided into two groups: western
and eastern. The groups may be further divided into various subgroups
and ultimately individual languages.
Sámi People, Norway
Parts of the Sami language area form a dialect continuum in which the neighbouring languages may be mutually intelligible to a fair degree, but two more widely separated groups will not understand each other's speech. There are, however, some sharp language boundaries, in particular between Northern Sami, Inari Sami and Skolt Sami, the speakers of which are not able to understand each other without learning or long practice.
The evolution of sharp language boundaries seems to suggest a relative isolation of the language speakers from each other and not very intensive contacts between the respective speakers in the past. There is some significance in this, as the geographical barriers between the respective speakers are no different from those in other parts of the Sami area.
The Sami languages are spoken in Sápmi in Northern Europe, in a region stretching over the four countries Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, reaching from the southern part of central Scandinavia in the southwest to the tip of the Kola Peninsula in the east.
The borders between the languages do not align with the ones separating the region's modern nation states.
During the Middle Ages and early modern period, now-extinct Sami languages were also spoken in the central and southern parts of Finland and Karelia and in a wider area on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Historical documents as well as Finnish and Karelian oral tradition contain many mentions of the earlier Samiinhabitation in these areas. Also, loanwords as well as place-names of Sami origin in the southern dialects of Finnish and Karelian dialects testify of earlier Sami presence in the area. These Sami languages, however, became extinct later, under the wave of the Finno-Karelian agricultural expansion.
The Proto-Samic language is believed to have formed in the vicinity of the Gulf of Finland between 1000 BC to 700 AD, deriving from a common Proto-Sami-Finnic language.
However, reconstruction of any basic proto-languages in the Uralic family have reached a level close to or identical to Proto-Uralic. According to the comparative linguist Ante Aikio, the Proto-Samic language developed in South Finland or in Karelia around 2000–2500 years ago, spreading then to northern Fennoscandia.
The language is believed
to have expanded west and north into Fennoscandia during the Nordic
Iron Age, reaching central Scandinavia during the Proto-Scandinavian
period ca. 500 AD. The language assimilated several layers of unknown
Paleo-European languages from the early hunter-gatherers, first during
the Proto-Sami phase and second in the subsequent expansion of the
language in the west and the north of Fennoscandia that is part of
modernSami today.
Sámi Flag
At present there are nine living Sami languages. The largest six of the languages have independent literary languages; the three others have no written standard, and of them, there are only a few, mainly elderly, speakers left. The seven written languages are:
-Northern Sami (Norway, Sweden, Finland): With an estimated 15,000 speakers, this accounts for probably more than 75% of all Sami speakers in 2002
-Lule Sami (Norway, Sweden): The second largest group with an estimated 1,500 speakers
-Ume Sami (Norway, Sweden)
-Southern Sami (Norway, Sweden): 500 speakers (estimated)
-Inari Sami (Enare Sami) (Inari, Finland): 500 speakers (estimated)
-Skolt Sami (Näätämö and the Nellim-Keväjärvi districts, Inari municipality, Finland, also spoken in Russia, previously in Norway): 400 speakers (estimated)
-Kildin Sami (Kola Peninsula, Russia): 608 speakers in Murmansk Oblast, 179 in other Russian regions, although 1991 persons stated their Saami ethnicity (1769 of them live in Murmansk Oblast)
The other Sami languages are critically endangered or moribund and have very few speakers left.
Pite Sami has about 30-50 speakers, and a dictionary and an official orthography is under way. A descriptive grammar has been published. Ume Sami likely has under 20 speakers left, and ten speakers of Ter Sami were known to be alive in 2004.
The last speaker of Akkala Sami is known to have died in December 2003, and the eleventh attested variety, Kemi Sami, became extinct in the 19th century. An additional Sami language, Kainuu Sami, became extinct in the 18th century, and probably belonged to the Eastern group like Kemi Sami, although the evidence for the language is limited.
Adopted in April 1988, Article 110a of the Norwegian Constitution states: It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language, culture and way of life.
The Sami Language Act went into effect in the 1990s. Sámi is an official language alongside Norwegian in the administrative area for Sámi language,that includes eight municipalities in the northern half of Norway, namely Kautokeino, Karasjok, Gáivuotna -Kåfjord- Kaivuono, Nesseby, Porsanger, Tana, Tysfjord, Lavangen and Snåsa.
In 2005 Sámi, Kven, Romanes and Romani were recognised as regional or minority languages in Norway within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
On 1 April 2000, Sami became one of five recognized minority languages in Sweden. It can be used in dealing with public authorities in the municipalities of Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk, and Kiruna.
In 2011, this list was enlarged considerably. In Sweden the University of Umeå teaches North, Ume and South Sami, and Uppsala University has courses in North, Lule and South Sami.
In Finland, the Sami language act of 1991 granted the Northern, Inari, and Skolt Sami the right to use their languages for all government services.
The Sami Language Act of 2003 made Sami an official language in Enontekiö, Inari, Sodankylä and Utsjoki municipalities. Some documents, such as specific legislation, are translated into these Sami languages, but knowledge of any of these Sami languages among officials is not common. As the major language in the region is Finnish, Sami speakers are essentially always bilingual with Finnish.
Language nest daycares have been set up for teaching the languages to children. In education, Northern Sami, and to a more limited degree, Inari and Skolt Sami, can be studied at primary and secondary levels, both as a mothertongue -for native speakers- and as a foreign language -for non-native speakers.
In Russia, Sámi has no official status, neither on the national, regional or local level, and no formal recognition as a minority language. Sámi has been taught at the Murmansk University since 2012; before then, Sámi was taught at the Institute of Peoples of the North (Институт народов севера) in Saint Petersburg.
Joseph de Ca’th Lon is an old Grandma’s
friend. He was born in Lon, a small village of Switzerland and spent his
youth in Finland where he discovered
his passion about science in all its aspects but especially in Astronomy,
Physics, Archaeology and Anthropology. Later, he stayed in Terrassa (Barcelona)
where he studied in the prestigious local university, UPC being a high level student in Technology. After that, he
returned to Switzerland where he was working in a historic bank following
the familiar tradition. His well-positioned economical status and his
cultural baggage offer him the possibility of travelling around the world in
his unfinished research of Science mysteries.
The Grandma met Joseph
in Saint-Tropez (France) where both of them enjoy their
money and prestigious social position every summer. Fans of little countries, Joseph and The Grandma didn’t hesitate of visiting not only their hometowns, Switzerland and Andorra, but Monaco, Vatican City, Caiman Islands, Jamaica or Liechtenstein.
As you have been able to discover all these countries have something in common:
the yellow colour in their flags!
Since today,
it’s a great honour to inform all the families that Joseph is going to join to The
Grandma’s Blog and we’re going to explain his incredible adventures plenty
of interesting stories about Science, Economy, Technology, History or
Astronomy. Prepare yourselves to travel above the stars, visit the most
incredible places, discover our past investigating some prehistorical bones
without forgetting the old Grandma’s
stories about our cultural past.
Put yourself
in upright position and fasten seat belts. We start…
For since
the fabric of the universe is most perfect and the work of a most wise Creator,
nothing at all takes place in the universe in which some rule of maximum or
minimum does not appear.
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