Multe

Twin Cities’ Finnish-American dance band, Finn Hall, and Northfield’s own Nordic dance band, Multe, will co-headline the annual St. Urho’s Day celebration on Saturday, March 15 at The Eagle’s Club, 304 Water Street South in downtown Northfield. The cover charge is $5 per person / $10 per family. There will be beginning dance instruction in waltz, polka and schottische from 7 to 8 p.m. with Ralph Tutilla and Ruth Sylte. A short St. Urho’s program, with a possible visit from St. Urho himself, begins at 8 p.m. followed by music and dancing.

FINN HALL (pictured above) includes Johanna Doty (fiddle), Dennis Halme (accordion), Mary Oberg Hanf (bass), Cheryl Paschke (fiddle), Al Reko (accordion) and Ralph “Rauli” Tuttila (mandolin). Most of them have deep Finnish roots. They hope to be joined by vocalist Veikko Harala from Finland. The group is dedicated to preserving the music found in most Finnish-American communities from the late 1800s to the 1960s. They have performed nationally and internationally at ethnic festivals and events. Their music is especially appealing to dancers, from the high energy driving rhythms of Finnish polkas, humppas and jenkkas (schottisches) to waltzes and tangos. They have played thoughout the upper Midwest, including Saint Paul’s Festival of Nations and FinnFest, as well as in Finland at the Kaustinen Folk Festival. Finn Hall released their first CD, Muistelmia / Reflections, in 2002.

MULTE includes Jon Bjork (five-row chromatic accordion, guitar), Drew Dixon (guitar), Brad Easterson (fiddle, mandolin, recorder), Eric Paulson (bass), Ruth Sylte (piano accordion, melodeon, vocals), Virginia Windschitl (fiddle) and Andrea Een (fiddle, Hardanger fiddle). The group plays acoustic music from the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faeroe Islands and Greenland) and their immigrant communities in North America, most of it dance tunes. All have deep Scandinavian roots and together they represent more than eight decades of experience playing traditional Nordic folk music. Members of Multe have performed at venues in Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the USA, including the American Swedish Institute, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Nisswastamman and Norsk Hostfest.

St. Urho’s Day reportedly began in the mid-1950s in Virginia, Minn. Oral tradition relates that some Irish-Americans were bragging during a St. Patrick’s Day celebration and Richard Mattson, manager of the local Finnish-American-owned department store, Ketola’s, suddenly proclaimed that Finland also had a patron saint who rid that country of pests the day before, March 16.

The story says that, many years ago, there were wild grapes growing all over Finland. One season, grasshoppers with a voracious appetite arrived and began to destroy the vineyards. St. Urho, waving his pitchfork, chanted “Heinasirkka, heinasirkka, menetaalta hiiten” (”Grasshopper, grasshopper, get out!”) and the pesky creatures went away.

Those who celebrate the day do not seem to care if the story is reality or fiction. The celebration gives everyone an excuse for a two-day celebration during long, cold winters. In honor of the Finnish and Irish traditions, the official colors for St. Urho’s Day are purple and green.