One of the few identifiably Finnish towns in South Dakota is Lake Norden (where there's a big cheese plant going up). A student tells me Lake Norden will be having its St. Urho celebration this weekend with a parade. Who is St. Urho? I'm glad you asked. Here's some info:
The legend of St. Urho began in Northern Minnesota in the 1950s. However, there are differing opinions as to whether it began with the fables created by Sulo Havumaki of Bemidji, or the tongue-in-cheek tales told by Richard Mattson of Virginia. Either way, the legend has grown among Finnish-Americans to the point where St. Urho is known across the United States and Canada, and even in Finland.
St. Urho's Day is celebrated on March 16th, the day prior to the better known feast of some minor saint from Ireland, who was alleged to have driven the snakes from that island.
The legend says St. Urho chased the grasshoppers out of ancient Finland, thus saving the grape crop and the jobs of Finnish vineyard workers. He did this by uttering the phrase: "Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen" (roughly translated: "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go to Hell!").
Of course, if you read 19th century South Dakota histories one of the contant problems is grasshopper infestations so this is a good holiday for SD. One of my little projects is to collect ethnic data on the founding of SD towns, so when you run across fun stuff, please send it in.
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