D-I-E Task

 At first I just want to say that I had no idea for the DIE Task because I’m from Belgium and even if there is some differences between the Finnish culture and mine, our way of living are quite the same. I’m a really open minded person too, so there are not so many things or situation that can really disturb me. I was really confuse and did not know what to say for the task because nothing disturbing or weird happened to me, until last week.

DESCRIPTION

Last Sunday I was coming back from a kayaking trip at my place and noticed that the Finnish flags were out in the street. I did not pay so much attention to it at first. It was around 4 pm and I needed to buy some groceries for the week so I went to the supermarket which is supposed to be open at that time, even on Sunday. But it was close. I also noticed that there was nobody out in the streets. When I got back home, I went on internet to search what was happening in Finland that day. It was father’s day! I was pretty impressed by the fact that father’s day was such a big deal in Finland since in Belgium we just celebrate it with a dinner or something but it is not a huge event. Children usually make card and little present at school for their father, and as grown up we just wish it to our father. In Belgium father’s day is the second Sunday of June. It became a commercial event too with discount for gifts and present these past years, but it is not an official holiday day in my country. So this was my first fact that impressed me last week. Since I was on internet, I remembered that the 11^th of November was a couple days after that, and I checked to see if it was also a holiday in Finland. In Belgium, the 11^th of November is the “Armistice” which means that we celebrate the end of the First World War. It is a recognized day by everyone; there are official celebrations in cities or villages to remember the veteran and all the people involved during the war. This remembering day is also though at school to children to make them understand what happened during that time, and also be educating about it to not make the same mistake in the future. I know this day is also celebrated in France, Canada and the USA in memory of all the veterans.

ENTERPRET

To explain those facts I helped myself with some information from the internet.

• Finland and Belgium don’t have the same background and so we don’t have the same culture and value. We don’t celebrate the same event and don’t give them the same importance either.  

•  Flag Day in Finland. For some special occasion, custom or enforced by law, the Finnish flag is out. Father’s Day is a custom and the flag is taken out to celebrate it. In Belgium we never take the flags out but I know that in some other country it is a custom so I wasn’t impressed the first time a saw the Finnish flags out.

• Finland celebrates its veterans on the Independence Day, the 6^th of December. This is why they don’t celebrate the 11^th of November like we do in Belgium. Belgium and Finland were not involve the same way in the First World War, as Belgian we celebrate the end of it when the Finnish celebrate their independence from Russia.

   EVALUATE

After all I got a positive feeling about this situation because I just understood more about cultural differences between my home and host country. I am also really impressed by the fact that Father’s Day is so important in Finland and I really like that idea. I think in Belgium we don’t celebrate our family enough and take those moments for granted. And about the celebration of our veteran, we actually do celebrate it in our own way. The dates and reasons are just not the same in Belgium and Finland. But as long as everyone is remembered it does not change anything for me. So my first feeling about not celebrating the 11^th of November in Finland changed. At first I thought it was strange to miss one big part of the History and then I understood it. So at the end, after my hours of research on internet, I had a pretty great feeling about this situation.

This was pretty much my face when I was looking at all the information online to understand the differences between the celebration in Belgium and Finland.