1. Get to know your Finnish
hosts

2. Identity
● Strong sense of national identity
● Finns don´t expect you to know a lot about
Finland
● Finns want to know your opinion about their
country

3. Religion
● Most Finns belong to the
Evangelical-Lutheran Church
● It is difficult to observe
differences between believers
and everyone else
● Christening, confirmation,
wedding and funeral are the
most visible religious parts in
Finland
● There are female
priests in the
Evangelical-Lutheran
Church of Finland

4. Conversing
● Finns are pretty recerved
and words are taken
seriously
●
●
●
Finns rarely enter
into conversation
with a stranger
Finns are not
good at small talk
When you get to
know each other
you can talk
about anything

5. Mobile phones
● Finns use cellphones a lot
● In some places, like aeroplanes, hospitals
and theatres, phones must be turned off.

6. Languages
● Finland is a bilingual country
● A Finn´s mother tongue is either Finnish,
Swedish or Saami
● English is widely spoken in Finland

7. Names and greeting
● When introducing themselves,
Finns will say their forename
followed by their surname
● Offical titles are rarely mentioned
when introducing
● When greeting, Finns shake hands
and make eye contact
● Kisses and hugs are not common

8. Eating and drinking
● Fnns have breakfast, lunch, dinner and
evening meal
● Coffee is drunk all day
● Finns drink alcohol pretty much. However,
for example wine is usually drunk on formal
meals
● The state controls alcohol selling and
consuming (Alko)

9. Time and seasons
● We have four seasons
● In winter we focus more on business and
school and summer is the time for holidays
● Finnish people are exact with time; being
late is considered impolite

10. Festivals
● Festivals celebrated in Finland: Christmas,
independence day, May day, Shrove
Tuesday, Midsummer and Easter

11. Summer cottages and
sauna
● Most Finns have their own
summer cottage where they
spend time in summer
● Almost everyone has a
sauna in their home and it is
used a few times a week