Finnish Tradition Called Laskiainen

Today I had a discussion with a friend of mine that the longer you live abroad, the more you start to appreciate all the little festivities and traditions which take place in your home country. So today, we made a special treat for us and decided to celebrate Finnish "Laskiainen". So what is this all about?

Thanks to my little knowledge (and Google), I found out that this celebration dates back in the Middle Ages and is closely related to Easter. Basically, "Laskiainen" is celebrated both on Shrove Sunday and Tuesday 7 weeks before Easter. Back in the old days people would fast from Shrove until Easter and therefore people ate a lot before "descending" or "laskeutua" into fasting.

Of course, nowadays this tradition has a somewhat different purpose. In Finland it is common to go sledding downhill and afterwards eat lots of pea soup and special Shrove buns with cream and jam. As we couldn't really get the whole experience with the snow and all, we just decided to do the cooking! Check out the pictures and let me know what are your thoughts of these small traditions!