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im not 100% sure about this, but one thing that can be uniqely nordic is that most detatched houses are built in tree. this only holds true for sweden, finland and norway, though. denmark, just like central europe/western europe, uses bricks as the primarily building material for private houses. dunno about canada...
There are all kinds of ways that one can draw circles around groups of countries, and there will never be full agreement on exactly what is included in any circle.
Nordic is a modern concept, and includes the proper Scandinavian ethno-linguistic area, and often includes Finland as well because in modern times, Finland has had a close association with the Scandinavian countries, much more so than any other country. The Baltic countries, in modern and ancient times, had no such close association.
Finland and the Scandinavian countries abolished border formalities in the 1950s, so all persons can travel freely between Finland and Scandinavia, thus facilitating the sense that they form a coherent unit.
It sounds entirely political to me. This reminds me of Cold War era East vs West division.
I couldn't make up my mind about Balts ( except for Estonians,) because people I knew ( Russians that is) kept on telling me different things about them; some were telling that their culture was different from Russian, and some couldn't see any real difference.
Finnish culture however ( from everything I've observed) differs from Russian culture; they might be not exactly like Swedes, but there is still no inter-connectedness among them, the kind you see in Russians. No impulsiveness of Russian kind, no irrationality ( except for when they are drunk,) no tendency to philosophize on the lower level of the society and no tendency to unpredictability, the kind you encounter in Russians while dealing with people from different classes.
So although politics has got a lot to do with definition of "who is Nordic and who is not," ( after all Russians are Northern Europeans as well, lol,) but Finnish national character ( and national character of the rest of Scandinavians) differ from Russian character independently from any politics - I can tell you that much.
Nordic is a cultural AND political concept. There is the Nordic Council, which Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland are members of, as well as autonomous territories Ă…land, Faroe Islands and Greenland who are associated members. That's the official defenition of Nordic. Estonia has ever since it's independence wanted to be a member of the Nordic Council, in my opinion they should be allowed to enter the Nordic Council, nothing wrong with a new member that has had a long history with both Sweden and Denmark.
Latvia and Lithuania is nothing like Finland or Sweden, and does not even feel like western countries.
I have been to Lithuania and I was surprised how something so close to Sweden could feel so different, nothing wrong with it, beautiful country and nice people, but it did not feel Nordic or even western.
Here is some things that makes Finland a culturally and politically Nordic country in my opinion:
1. Finland was a part of Sweden proper for 700 years, such things sure has an influence.
2. There is a significant Swedish-speaking minority in Finland of about 300,000 people, there is no other country in the world who has a Swedish-speaking minority that large. Estonia also has a Swedish-speaking minority but that's only a few hundred people if even that.
3. Morals, values, traditions, political views, popular culture and lifestyle in Finland is very similar to that of Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
4. Finnish people feels more related to the other Nordic countries than they do with the Baltic States, including Estonia.
5. When crossing the border between Sweden and Finland or taking the ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki, you will not notice any significant difference besides language. But if you go to Lithuania or Latvia you will notice enormous differences instantly.
6. Finland's economy like GDP per capita is on par with other western countries just like the other Nordic countries is. The Baltic States is on par with Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay, Barbados, Croatia, Poland and Russia in their GDP per capita.
7. In some parts of the world, language does not mean very much culturally. Malta for example is alot more like Italy than the Middle East even though they speak a Maghrebi Arabic language in Malta. And Quebec is just as much a part of Canada as Ontario and Alberta is, even though they speak French. Same with Finland, they speak an Uralic language but are in a North Germanic cultural and political region that it's people feels related to.
I would say that Iceland and the Faroe Islands, which linguistically is much closer to Sweden than Finland is, is probably culturally more different from us than Finland is.
I hope this was a good enough explanation for non-Nordics why Finland is a Nordic country in every way possible, besides language. Any Finnish or Baltic members feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Last edited by Helsingborgaren; 11-17-2013 at 12:27 AM..
Except for Estonia, Finland has nothing in common with Lithuania and Latvia, while the society as a whole is very similar to the Swedish and Norwegian ones.
Shortly:
If I travel as an finn to Sweden/Norway/Denmark, I dont need to think how to act/what to say/what to eat, everything is mostly familiar and I dont have feeling like to be at abroad....But if I travel from my home 200 km to the east (Russian boarder), I feel like having trip to abroad and to the strange culture and need to be carefully.
Same example with Gremany, I have visit there around 1200 time (In past I was working on ferry between Finland and Germany) and allways when departuring to Germany, got feeling that now I am abroad, at other culture.
Bad thing is that if like to have short vacation and take a flight somewhere, can not fly to the Sweden,Norway or Denmark because it would feel same like taking flight somewhere at Finland...There is no point to travel if not having vacation feeling on destination
Do you think that Estonia feels much different from Latvia and Lithuania?
After all, they all were parts of the USSR and are often grouped together.
I have not been to Estonia, but I know that their language is entirely different from Latvian and Lithuanian, and more close to Finnish, why they are grouped together I don't know. Estonia is not really Baltic and many Estonians feels rather Nordic I heard.
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