In September 2018 I borrowed from the library in Savonlinna the book "Tontun vuosi" by was it Kirsti Manninen. I wrote a comment about it to my blog in Finnish, but when I some weeks later transmated it to English, I got stuck into the subject.
The name of the book was something like The year of the gnome, meaning the yearly chores of traditional Finnish farms and the traditional celebrations like Christmas, Easter and maybe something else too, connected with the seasons. I think there is an English versiln of the book, called if I remember right, "Finnish gnomes for all seasons", and so it is in it's point of view tied to Finnish climate and things tradition tells about gnomes in Finland. There are gnome traditions also in other countries, at least in Scandinavia and Central European countries.
https://kirjapino.fi/tuote/finnish-elves-for-all-seasons/
If you would like to buy the book, maybe your local old / second hand books' seller could overcome the language barrier.
The book has lots of big detailed colour pictures reaching also the edges of pages, so it as new must have been expensive. And a new edition would demand a good quality printing, which for example my books do not have in what comes to pictures. And the colours of pictures often suit just certain climate or cultural area, so there may be problems if readers are around the world. The pictures are of a different style from the text: the pictures ill lookibg dolls like a climate difference much too big or whatever the health problem, but the miljo traditional Finnish or some version of such, while the texts are objective description of some knowledge of what the old tales of Finnish gnomes say. As far as I know, the former publisher went bankrupt, even though it was well known, so there may be problems of finding a publisher and funding, and there may be unsold copies of an earlier edition of the book.
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Come to think of it, maybe the dolls in the pictures of kind of traditional Finnish farm life, seek to be like foreigners wishing to bring some good lufe of warmer foreign countrues to Finland. But Finland used to have very good life, but it was with weather skills fitted to the Finnish climate. Lazying around, and a too relaxed style, make one lose heat much too much and so one soon gets ill and maybe dies or has to stay indoors. Spending overly much time outdoors, like living only outdoors, causes the same but is different on skin and on character. Sometimes such things work a little bit in the summer time, but most of the year it is just too cold for such. The traditional Finnish weather skills are enjoyable and most people in Finland have chosen the country because of it's climate. Those who in Finland are too stiff or tense, usually long for life in some other climate or culture - or have not gotten a chanca to live a good lufe in the Finnish way. It is just so that the places are so different that other cultures feel as if opposed by circumstancies here in Finland, even though they jyst wish for a different type of nature, different ways suited to different climate, location and it's cultural influencies. Yet as I look back at my life, very rarely there was anything in traditional Finnish ways, like for example woodwork tools sold in shops are not nice good willing lije old times' Finnish, but instead reflect some other values and some other ways of being social. On the other hand, most people have seemed to be so interested in some far away countries, climates, etc that according to common sense they should have moved there tens of years ago, but they somehow wish that they could transform Finland to be like those far away places, but it does not seem to bring happiness here, there is something in the location too different.
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2nd of May 2024 I bought the English version of the book: "Finnish Elves for All Seasons". It starts nicely, but I must say that cultivating some things in the environment demands wisdom and values suited to such, often liking just such life. So a guardian of good life somewhere must be left in peace, respected, instead of others messing around without caring to cultivate such, maybe even not understanding how to cultivate all such things.
The pictures of the English version look quite the same as in the Finnish book "Tontun vuosi" but with somewhat lighter skin as if people thinkibg of northern climate's ways of living affecting health. It may also be that some have come to Finland via having looked at such pictures. Maybe they looked at the pictures from outdoors, thinking coukd they themselves do the same, but the rest of their bodily posture was too leisirely, as if somewhere in Germany or in Netherlands, so I guess they would have felt happier and more socially nicelt part of the lufe there, since in Finland so sloppy leisurely relaxed parts of the body make one feel dissatisfied and somewhat unhappy, less healthy and less activw compared with Central European countries. In Finland a more sporty way of keeping the body and moving is happier and better for the Finnish climate.
Here is a picture from the beginning of my own book "Skills of Christmas gnomes" by Tervola, sold at the Amazon internet bookshops, but only some of the beginning was edited for the book.
The pile of books in the Christmas gnome / elf skills series is amazingly big. The Finnish books below them on the chair are easy miracle healing advices, see www.EasyHealing.info i.e. CuringGuesses.BlogSpot.com .
The books "Understanding the North", "A Sorcerer" and "Magnifient Views : and nice to live in" are not yet in the pile. See MiracleLikeNature.BlogSpot.com for them. The book "A Sorcere" ought to get a second part of a second larger edidition.
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