Saint Urho

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Revision as of 09:39, 16 March 2006 by Firespeaker (talk | contribs) (The statue: spelling of Menahga)
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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.

The statue

My sister puzzles over the statue of Saint Urho outside of Menhaga, MN

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 caption

The caption under the statue

The caption under the statue tells the legend of Saint Urho, and is and ode to the Finnish language.

Commentary

There are many ironies of this statue, the least of which is that there are lots of grasshoppers still in Finland today.