Our interview series with interesting people connected to Finland and Australia continues with Henk van Leeuwen, a Dutch migrant to Australia (1965) and promoter of Finnish culture and music. He married a Finn in 1969 and has since immersed himself in all things Finnish. You can read our interview with him below.
I am Henk van Leeuwen, a Dutch migrant in Australia since 1965, who is very connected to the promotion of Finnish culture and its music. I first visited Finland in 1977 and have visited many times since, usually at least once a year in the past 15 years. I married a Finn in 1969 and consequently took interest in the country's political and socio-cultural history. I love jazz and classical music and my passion for the practice and composition of Finnish music has grown over the decades.
I decided in the early nineties that my promotional abilities would be best served in putting forward talented Finnish musicians on stages throughout Australia and Asia. I have toured many high calibre Finnish musicians to this area of the world for the past twenty-five years and have developed strong relationships with many of them. In 2014, the Finnish President awarded me with the Knight of the Order of the Lion of Finland. This was for services in support of the dissemination of Finnish culture abroad and the Finnish ambassador came especially to Melbourne to pin the medal on me. I feel very proud of this.
Of course there are significant differences between Australia and Finland. The most obvious one is the climate and the seasons. Just as it can become extremely cold in Finland, it can get particularly hot in Australia. You can experience 4 different climates in Australia, whereas in Finland, I reckon there are just the two: the long, dark and cold winters, which can make you feel quite melancholic, followed by a beautifully warm summer, with plenty of daylight. In Melbourne, where I have lived for 50 years, the changes in weather are always a surprise.
In Australia, it's easier to get a smile out of strangers on the streets than in Finland. However, it does depend a little on the time of the year. It's understandable that in November [winter in Finland] Finns' faces can be gloomy since spring feels so far away, but when summer comes in April you may even see happy Finns hugging the birch trees in their front gardens.
There are certainly similarities between Finland and Australia. Both countries have existed for a long time as relatively isolated nations. Finland, although a Nordic country and governed for 600 years by the Swedish, never quite fitted in with the rest of Scandinavia. This was partially to do with its unique language and the west and southern surrounds of the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic. Australia was also isolated as an island nation, and first developed as a European outpost in Asia. But all this has changed.
Finland became a positive part of Europe due to the development and growth of the European community. Australia, through the loss of its reliance on Britain as its major trading partner, began to form economic and political relationships with neighbouring Asian nations. Thus, in some ways, one could say that Finland and Australia have both developed as frontier nations in their respective regions.
Another strong similarity between the two countries is that both its peoples love being outdoors and enjoy the countryside. In Finland they love the forests and the lakes; in Australia they love the outback and the beaches. Most Australians live relatively close to the seaside; Finns take the opportunity to explore the waterways and the lakes as soon as the season permits. Even though the Finnish lakes are only fully accessible for 6 – 7 months of the year, Finns are one of the largest per capita boat owners in the world.
Yes, let me cite just one. My introduction to the Finnish sauna when I first visited Finland in the early winter of 1977. We stayed by the lakeside not far from Espoo in my sister-in-law's house. Apart from a few polite words I could not speak Finnish then, but my brother-in-law [Antero] spoke to me in German and told me on the first night that to qualify to become a Finn, I had to undergo an initiation in the Finnish sauna.
He took me around the back of the house to the sauna which a stairway leading down to a snow covered lake. He had lit the sauna stove to make a wood fire: the kiuas. Inside there was wooden seating and large ladles placed in wooden pots filled with water. It was already quite hot in there. Antero ordered me to get undressed and take a seat on the highest bench in the sauna. He put a pot of water next to me and gave me the vasta (a bundle of birch twigs he had cut earlier that summer).
Antero then demonstrated how to throw water on the hot stones of the kiuas repeatedly to create the löyly [the heat and steam surrounding you in the sauna resulting from water being thrown on hot stones]. Subsequently he showed me how to dip the vasta in the water and hit myself [to increase blood circulation]. Antero then left the sauna room. I started to warm up and enjoyed sitting there, making the löyly and using the vasta.
Well, just when I thought I'd had enough, I heard Antero from the bottom of the stairs, "Make more löyly; it has to be much hotter!" After several more löylys, I heard the sound of a power saw down below. Looking through the foggy glass window, I could see Antero cutting a hole the size of a dining table in the lake's ice.
That only took a couple of minutes. Then Antero shouted towards the sauna room "Henkka [nickname], one more löyly and then come outside down the stairs!" I ran down the stairs towards Antero and he shouted to me, "Jump in Henkka! Jump straight in and don't hesitate." I could hardly believe these words. But I was in full flight and almost at the bottom of the stairs. It was at this point that I realised this was my Finnish initiation.
Three seconds later I plunged into the dark hole and submerged myself for about 5 seconds, which felt like 5 minutes. Antero clapped as I raised myself from the hole partially covered in brown mud and ordered me back to the sauna for another series of löylys. But he had another plan in mind. Sitting in the sauna, I heard the power saw again and I could see Antero cutting a second hole in the ice four to five metres from the first hole I had jumped into earlier.
Before long I heard a shout. "Henkka, come out now, run down the stairs. This time, dive into the first hole, swim under the ice and come out from under the ice through the second hole." Alas, Antero's plan was interrupted as soon as he had finished cutting the second hole. Anja, Antero's wife, had run down the stairs shouting, "No, Antero, no, you cannot put Henkka through this. In fact you are quite mad for even thinking my brother-in-law would survive such a trial." And that was the end of that. This was my first real Finnish experience in the land of sauna, ice and snow.
Since local and provincial governments are involved in the provision and maintenance of performance facilities in Finland, most professional performances are accessible to regional communities. In fact fourteen regional professional symphony and chamber orchestras are government funded and many municipalities are involved in local festivals with high-calibre performing artists. In Finland, I think there is an emphasis on engaging talented local performers in music and drama.
One challenge in Finland is that the performance of international plays and musicals nearly always requires translation from another language to Finnish. This is also the case with non-Finnish literature, novels, political histories, biographies, and thus requires a lot of time and commitment.
Of course, culture is more than just the arts. It's also about the customs. One of these would be the custom of taking your shoes off upon entering a Finnish residence. This is something you wouldn't be expected to do in Australia. Australians also tend to be quite casual when spending time with both new and old friends. Conversations at social and familial gatherings in Finland tend to be more formal unless you know the people personally, whereas gatherings in Australia are a lot more casual with participants jokingly discussing everyday life, sports and politics.
Very late at night, there is a grilli staffed by a single person doing business on the edge of the town's square or park. There is always a very long queue of people standing silently in line to order a hamburger, a hotdog or some chips. When you get to the front of the queue, you have to be very quick and precise in stating your order. Humming and hawing or asking questions is not appreciated. In a provincial town the grilli lady often does not speak English. As a foreigner you need to study the menu board closely beforehand and learn how to order food in acceptable Finnish. I trained myself to say quickly, loudly and clearly, "Uks hampurialianen, kolme nakkia ja ranskalainen." Not bad for a Dutchman turned Aussie!
Yes, the Finnish education system or a variation thereof would be highly desirable for Australia. Imagine a free schooling system for all, staffed by highly qualified and dedicated teachers. The teachers have job security and the support necessary to give children the best possible education in primary and secondary schools. This is an education environment that is both cohesive and socially inclusive; all schools are good schools. That's a big plus in Finland and a fundamental start in life for Finns. From preschool to tertiary, education is the great equaliser in Finland.
Updated 1/12/2017
