Suomi-neito
The Suomi-neito ( Finnish. "Virgin Finland") is the national personification of Finland .
In art she is mostly depicted as a young woman with flowing blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed in blue and white, the colors of the Finnish flag . She was first portrayed in the 18th century under the name Aura (after the river Aurajoki ) poetically and allegorically as the daughter of Svea , the personification of Sweden, and under the name Suomi-neito became a symbolic figure of the 19th century under Russian rule awakening Finnish national romance . Occasionally since then she has been equated with the mythical virgin Aino mentioned in the Finnish national epic Kalevala .
The term Suomi-neito is also related to the figure of Finland as it appears on the map, in which, with a little imagination, one can recognize a full-figured woman. Northern Lapland with Inari and Utsjoki in this interpretation represents the head of the Virgin Finland, the "handle" Enontekiö a raised arm. Finland ceded its second arm, the area around Petsamo (now Petschenga ), to the Soviet Union after its defeat in World War II; today it is Russian territory. As a result of the consistent interpretation of this picture puzzle, the southwestern Finnish city of Turku has been nicknamed “The Ass of Finland” (Suomen perse) .