Created by the Finnish Theme Committee of the City of Hancock (now known as “Copper Country Finns & Friends”) in 1999, Heikinpäivä is unique to the Copper Country.

“It is not celebrated in Finland,” David Maki, director of the Finnish American Heritage Center, said. “Based on old Finnish folk sayings relative to winter and St. Henrik’s (Heikki’s) name day, the Finns of the Copper Country created a Finnish American festival – Heikinpäivä.”

It started as a day, then evolved to a weekend, eventually to a week, Maki said. Now, a quarter-century later, there’s so much going on for Heikinpäivä that it takes most of a month to fit it all in.

The annual midwinter celebration of Finnish-American and Finnish culture, gets under way in Michigan’s northernmost city on Wednesday with a screening of “The Happiest Country in the World: Finland” at the Finnish American Heritage Center, and concludes with an evening dance at the Heritage Center the night of Saturday, Jan. 25.

Hancock’s Finnish American Heritage Center, on Quincy Street, will become a beehive of activity starting this week as the 26th annual Heikinpäivä begins. (Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette)

In between, more than a dozen events fill the slate of cultural activity that’ll surely brighten what’s typically one of the gloomier months in the Copper Country.

In a press release, Maki said that among the offerings for Heikinpäivä 2025 are a quartet of classes through the Finnish American Folk School — beginning rag rug weaving, intro to five-string kantele, birch bark sheath making, and intro to the Finnish folk lyre — jouhikko.

Families are encouraged to attend the Hobby Horse Hoedown, where folks of all ages can get a sampling of the hobby horse craze that swept Finland in recent years. There’ll be a Finnish film showing at the historic Calumet Theatre, as well as a tasty meal before the movie, and this year’s festival will also focus on Sauna Week 2025, a creation of Finlandia Foundation National intended to spotlight that Finnish-rooted tradition which has crossed generational and cultural lines around the world.

Sauna Week includes a Sauna Forum, featuring Finlandia Foundation National’s Lecturer of the Year Eero Kilpi. He hopefully won’t be the only one doing some talking about sauna, though; organizers are looking for interview participants in “Sauna Stories” – oral histories recorded during Sauna Week (January 18-24). Also returning this year will be the popular Sauna Tour, featuring area saunas – new and old. Details regarding the Sauna Tours will be announced at a later date. For more information: finnishtheme@gmail.com or 906-370-9101.

It’s Saturday, Jan. 25 that Finns from across the region – and in some cases, across the ocean – are looking forward to the most. That primary festival day gets under way at 10 a.m. at the Heritage Center with the tori markets, featuring vendors from the U.P. and beyond sharing their favorite Finnish products and services.

There’s a second tori at the United Methodist Church on Quincy Street – just a short walk from the Heritage Center.

Between the two tori sites is Quincy Green, which is where festivalgoers will gather after the Heikinpäivä parade at 11 a.m. to enjoy the Karhun peijäiset (the Bear Spiral), one of the newest festival traditions, and the outdoor games, where intrepid young (and sometimes not-as-young) Finns or friends of Finnish culture test their mettle in traditional Finnish contests like the wife carrying contest or Nordic kicksled races. Both the parade and the games offer prizes for the highly achieving participants.

Then, the festival day – and the month – culminate with the evening dance at the Finnish American Heritage Center. Local Finnish American band Back Room Boys will get toes tapping, hands clapping and dancers swirling as they fill the Heritage Center with familiar tunes and plenty of merriment.

Along with plenty of dancing, the evening event will also include Finnish-inspired hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction with fine Finnish products available for bid.

Now in its 25th year, Heikinpäivä remains one of the Copper Country’s most anticipated celebrations, said Maki.

There are still opportunities for folks to take part, either as vendors, volunteers, or, of course, participants.