Saint Urho Day
March 16, 2025
Grasshopper, Grasshopper, Go away is chanted in Finnish: "Heinisirka, heinisirka, mine talta iiten".
Each year on March 16th, Finnish Americans celebrate St. Urho's Day. The holiday is based on a legend out of Minnesota which claims that this would-be saint chased the grasshoppers out of Finland, thus saving the grape crop. So to one-up the Irish, the Finns don the holiday colors of purple and green (grapes and grasshoppers) and celebrate.
We went to the St Urho Dinner and Dance at the Saima Center in Fitchburg last night. It was a blast!
In 2013 Ollie, Gretna, Liz and I celebrated at St Urho's Pub in Helsinki.