Suomalainen sänky (The Finnish Bed), by ethnologist Leena Sammallahti and researcher Marja-Liisa Lehto (SKS 2006), is an illustrated history of Finnish sleeping arrangements, from simple benches along the wall, that were once common on many farms, to elaborately carved and quilted. luxury span of upper class homes. Sammallahti wanted to put the Finnish bed in the spotlight it deserves, and as a result, we now have an illustrated history of the Finnish bed. “Since I was a child I haven’t slept very well, so the bed occupies my mind in this regard,” says Sammallahti.

His recently published book, Suomalainen sänky (“The Finnish Bed”) presents the evolution of Finnish beds from solid sleeping platforms to ornate canopy beds and models that can also serve as sofas and bunk beds. The Tornio river valley beds stand out for their magnificence, says Sammallahti. “They have elegance and richness, which I have always loved.”

The seeds for the book were sown in the late 1960s when Professor Niilo Valonen, a legend in Finnish ethnology, used students to photograph the interiors of country houses, creating an illustrated record. Sammallahti was one of those young student attendees at the time. “Once, when I was taking pictures of furniture, a vendor selling new furniture showed up. He thought I was a competitor. I could hardly believe that someone was interested in old furniture. At the time it was used for firewood,” Sammallahti recalled. With his book on Finnish beds, Sammallahti feels that he has completed one aspect of a great project that his mentor was unable to complete in her life. Valonen’s intention had been to study the villages, yards, buildings and interiors of farms in Finland.

Sammallahti lives in Pori in an old terraced house originally built for factory workers. In Helsinki he has his “travel suite”, created from the old sauna building at the back of a traditional 1950s house in Herttoniemi. The furniture in both houses gives an idea of ​​the profession of the person who lives there. “Actually, only the computer is new,” she laughs. “Already as a schoolgirl, I went to auctions, looking for old objects.” The author’s favorite bed was inherited from her grandmother. She is a model that opens on one side. The wood is carved, showing images of donuts and cookies. However, she usually sleeps in a 1920s pine bed, as it is pleasantly wide.

A bed is where people are born, die and make love. In medieval times, taking the bride to bed was written into the law: a marriage was considered valid only after it could be proven that a couple had spent a night under the same sheets. Memories of Sammallahti’s bed also come with intimacy. “I remember how my grandmother’s sister, a midwife, carried me, a child crying from lack of sleep, to her under sheepskin blankets. And how my fiancé and I shared a Heteka wire-frame bed in the attic hot from a summer house.”

Sammallahti retired a few years ago, but continues to investigate. “After being relieved of my job duties, I have plunged into the sublime deep waters of a researcher.” The aquatic metaphor is no accident. The author is descended from a maritime family with origins in the outer islands of the Gulf of Finland, which Finland lost in the war against the Soviet Union. “When I was a child, I was allowed to sail on a ship with incredible freedom. During the holidays, I was allowed to go with my father on a steamboat to the ports of Europe.”

Sammallahti received her doctorate from the University of Helsinki in the early 1980s. After that, she worked various jobs, including director of the Finnish Maritime Museum and the Satakunta region museum. “I have seen how the museum industry grew along with Finnish prosperity. Now it’s sad that funding needs to be reduced,” she notes. “Museums are the only organizations that store ancient objects. And with them, we talk about values ​​and meanings – spiritual matters.”

One of the Finnish museums where you can see these very beds for yourself is the Lyytikkälä Farm Museum in South Karelia. The history of Lyytikkälä Farm began in 1722 and it opened as a museum in 1989. The old farmhouse has fixed benches built along the walls of the main room (the tupa) while along the back wall are similar beds. to some of those shown above. . In years past, the owner’s children, farm workers and visiting guests slept here (in summer they slept in the farm’s sheds).

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