Carolyn Cade has always known that she is Finnish, but only this summer, on a trip to Finland, she and her sons found 23 new cousins \u200b\u200bin her grandfather’s home village. People especially want to travel to Finland from the United States.
– I have always known that I am Finnish, our family has kept records of old events. My maternal and paternal grandparents are from Finland. One hundred percent Finnish, Carolyn, a retired teacher, laughs.
A Finn can be recognized by his love for the sauna
Carolyn has been to Finland before, about 40 years ago, with her mother. Now he wanted to show his sons Finland.
– It has been wonderful to watch David and Stephen, how Finnish they look here, they feel like they are at home, says Carolyn Cade proudly.
Carolyn’s sons knew that their roots are in some exotic country called Finland.
When he was younger, David was a little bothered when he had to go to the sauna, nowadays it’s different. Nothing can stop him from taking a sauna anymore. On the trip to Finland, the choice of accommodations was based on whether they had a sauna or not.
People want to know what belongs to them
– I see this as a very growing form of tourism that supports sustainable tourism. The goal is not to see as much as possible in the shortest possible time, but specifically to drill very deeply into one place, says Suutari
Five years ago, the travel search engine Momondo.fi asked 7,200 people around the world, including 406 Finns: what would you do if you heard that you have family roots in a country you didn’t know you came from? About half of all respondents said they wanted to get to know the country better or even wanted to travel there.
– A traveler searching for his own roots does not follow the same routes as a traditional traveler, but wants to deepen his experience and awareness and needs the help of local people for that, says Suutari.
At the end of the 19th century, people from the North moved en masse to America in the hope of a better life. Immigrants and their descendants formed an ethnic community across the sea, whose culture and identity have remained relatively strong for generations.
Root tourism from the United States to Finland is growing. The aging generation wants to pass on the awareness of their ancestry to their younger ones. This is what both Suutari and Carolyn Cade, who has recently done the root journey with her sons, say.
They look so similar that there is no doubt about the relationship
After Carolyn Cade decided to take her adult sons on a family trip to Finland, she searched for relatives online.
– A festive table full of traditional delicacies was set for the village and there were people like a hat. Everyone was receiving American cousins. The atmosphere was uniquely palpable, even moving, recalls Petranen.
The cadets found more new relatives. In Kummunkylä, Cadeja was expecting a lot of Kumpula’s family. 23 new cousins \u200b\u200bwere recorded. Kaustiten then found almost the same amount more later.
– It was almost magical to see how similar these Cade brothers were to our Kumpula family men. The same look and the same mannerisms. There was no doubt about the kinship, says Anne Petranen, herself from Kumpula.
David Cade noticed the same and was a little confused, but still happy to be in the lands of his ancestors.
– We humans are the same everywhere, it’s amazing. I have always felt at home and I admire your way of living and building. Everywhere is so clean and your architecture is great, says David Cade
David Cade feels Finnishness as if it were a living organic thing inside him, not so much something he accidentally googled.
– In America, no one is from there, so it’s good to know where you’re from, reflects David Cade.
\”Root travelers are not looking for the cheapest but the most expert option\”
In Finland, grassroots tourism has received a little less attention. This may be due to the fact that grassroots tourism as a phenomenon is not necessarily very strong yet. It may simply be because its potential has not yet been recognized.
– We are talking about tourism, which is so meaningful and can be very empowering and wholesome. Very few forms of tourism can reach this, if not even one, says root tour guide Päivi Suutari.
Many travelers are willing to pay for investigation and individual travel arrangements.
– According to my experience, grassroots travelers are not looking for the cheapest but the most expert option. This way you also get a cover for the \”handiwork\” done, says Suutari.
There are places and tourism activities in Finnish Lapland around which grassroots tourism could also be developed. Especially if you have left the area in time.
– For example, Salla is an authentic and sustainably developed travel destination, and I see its capabilities for developing grassroots tourism as excellent, Suutari states.
With the help of genetic tests or genetic information, a person may find destinations that he would not necessarily have traveled to otherwise, and at the same time discover a completely new part of himself that raises a person’s self-esteem and strengthens their identity. A desire arises to travel to a place where the Ancestors once lived.
Carolyn Cade’s sons were able to experience that they were at home through root travel, even though they were visiting Finland for the first time in their lives.