Saint Urho
Saint Urho is the patron saint of Finnish vinyard workers, who drove all the grasshoppers from Finland using the power of the Finnish language. His legend is believed to've been created by Finnish immigrants in Minnesota in response to the Hiberno-American Saint Patrick, and Saint Urho's day is celebrated the day before Saint Patrick's day. See Ahistorical traditions of Finnish mythology for more information on the details of its creation.
Contents
The Statue
The statue of Saint Urho in Menahga, Minnesota, depicts a Finnish vinyard worker with a giant grasshopper skewered on his pitchfork. The statue is in a small park on the edge of a highway.
The Legend
The caption at the bottom of the statue (the Ode to St. Urho) tells the Story of St. Urho and is supposed to prove the power of the Finnish Language. It says:
THE LEGEND OF ST. URHO One of the lesser known, but extraordinary legends of ages past is the legend of St. Urho-Patron Saint of the Finnish vinyard workers. Before the last glacial period wild grapes grew with abundance in the area now known as Finland. Archeologists have uncovered evidence of this scratched on the thigh bones of the giant bears that once roamed northern Europe. The wild grapes were threatened by a plague of grasshoppers until St. Urho banished the lot of them with a few selected Finnish words. In memory of this impressive demonstration of the Finnish language, Finnish people celebrate on March 16, the day before St. Patrick's day. It tends to serve as a reminder that St. Pat's day is just around the corner and is thus celebrated by squares at sunrise on March 16. Finnish women and children dressed in royal purple and nile green gather around the shores of the many lakes in Finland and chant what St. Urho chanted many years ago. "HEINASIRKKA, HEINASIRKKA, MENETAALTA HIITEEN." (Translated: "GRASSHOPPER, GRASSHOPPER, GO AWAY!") Adult male, (people, not grasshoppers) dressed in green costumes gather on the hills overlooking the lakes, listen to the chant and then kicking out like grasshoppers, they slowly disappear to change costumes from green to purple. The celebration ends with singing and dancing polkas and schottisches and drinking grape juice, though these activities may occur in varying sequences. Color for the day is royal purple and nile green. SULO HAVUMAKI
Commentary
There are many ironies of this statue, the least of which is that Finland today has quite an abundance of grasshoppers today. Additionally, the vinyard workers celebrate by drinking "grape juice"? Yeah.
