Veteli - Part One
Monday 08/06/2007 4:04 PM (In Finland: 11:04 PM)
This weekend, I took the train from Rovaniemi to meet Antti and Anja in Kokkola, the town where Antti's sister, Liisa, lives. After lunch, Liisa showed me a few family photos and this letter. I think most of the photos are on the family website, so this letter felt like the most significant to me. It's one that Hilda wrote from Negaunee, MI to her family here in Finland in 1957. Antti translated it for me, and it seems like a pretty typical letter home (thanking them for sending a photo, reassuring them that she is doing well), but it felt pretty incredible to hold a letter she'd written in my hands:
Then we drove to Veteli, where another of Antti's sisters, Eeva, lives. Veteli is also Hilda's (my great grandmother's) hometown. On Sunday, we went to Veteli church, which I thought was beautiful in more ways than I have time to explain here right now:
The church is on a hill overlooking the countryside, and there is a statue across the parking lot. These words are inscribed around the bottom of the statue:
Strength.
Work.
Honor.
This guy is standing on the base that these words are inscribed on:
And he's overlooking the land that is Veteli and that was cleared by hand (using a tool like the machete he's holding in his hand). This is his view:
Behind the church is this statue. The inscription translates to "The Price of Our Freedom 1939-44":
And it is next to the graves of Veteli soldiers who died in the Winter War and WWII:
One of these graves holds my great grandmother's brother, Oiva:
And here are my great-great grandparents' graves (Antti and Brita Maija Björkbacka ... note: Björkbacka is the Swedish spelling, Koivumaki is the Finnish translation):
And now a few shots of the inside of the church -- the primary painting inside:
The ceiling (because I thought it was so pretty):
Here are Liisa, Eeva, Antti, and Anja in the church:
And one last photo for now -- the relatively new memorial to the women and children who were in charge of the land while the men went off to war during the Winter War and WWII:
Many more photos from the Veteli visit to come, but Antti and I are heading to Turku tomorrow and need to get up early, so I'm off to bed.
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