Menahga in Wadena County, Minnesota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)

The Legend of St. Urho

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 30, 2022

1. The Legend of St. Urho Marker

Inscription.
One of the lesser known, but extraordinary legends of ages past is the legend of St. Urho – Patron Saint of the Finnish vineyard workers.

Before the last glacial period wild grapes grew with abundance in the area now known as Finland. Archeologists have uncovered evidence of this scratched on the thigh bones of the giant bears that once roamed Northern Europe. The wild grapes were threatened by a plague of grasshoppers until St. Urho banished the lot of them with a few selected Finnish words.

In memory of this impressive demonstration of the Finnish language, Finnish people celebrate on March 16, the day before St. Patrick’s Day. It tends to serve as a reminder that St. Pat’s Day is just around the corner and is thus celebrated by squares at sunrise on March 16. Finnish women and children dressed in royal purple and Nile green gather around the shores of the many lakes in Finland and chant what St. Urho chanted many years ago. “Heinasirkka, heinasirkka, menetaalta hiiteen.” (Translated: “Grasshopper, grasshopper, go away!”)

Adult male, (people, not grasshoppers) dressed in green costumes gather on the hills overlooking the

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lakes, listen to the chant and then kicking out like grasshoppers, they slowly disappear to change costumes from green to purple. The celebration ends with singing and dancing polkas and schottisches and drinking grape juice, though these activities may occur in varying sequences.

Color for the day is royal purple and Nile green.

Sulo Havumaki

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Anthropology & Archaeology • Immigration • Settlements & Settlers.

Location. 46° 44.99′ N, 95° 5.719′ W. Marker is in Menahga, Minnesota, in Wadena County. It is on Aspen Avenue South (U.S. 71) just south of 3rd Street Southeast, on the left when traveling south. Marker and statue are located in a small roadside park between Aspen Avenue and Helsinki Boulevard. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Menahga MN 56464, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Central Minnesota.

It is also in the American Midwest

and in the Corn Belt.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 30, 2022

2. The Legend of St. Urho Marker

(looking east from Aspen Avenue)

Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once Rupert’s Land,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Louisiana Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 12 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Tourism (approx. 11.8 miles away); Hubbard County Courthouse (approx. 11.9 miles away); Rice Flour Mill Grindstones (approx. 11.9 miles away); Park Rapids Post Office (approx. 11.9 miles away); Auditorium (approx. 12 miles away); This Building (approx. 12 miles away); Park Rapids Public Library (approx. 12 miles away); Fuller's Tackle Shop (approx. 12 miles away).

Also see . . .
1. The Origin of St. Urho.

St. Urho was created by Richard Mattson, who worked at Ketola's Department Store in Virginia, Minnesota. Mattson is generally credited with conjuring up a Finnish counterpart to St. Patrick in the spring of 1956. Just as Patrick had driven the snakes from Ireland, Mattson's saint drove a plague of frogs from Finland. Also credited as the originator of the St. Urho legend is Dr. Sulo Havumäki, a psychology professor at Bemidji State College in Bemidji, Minnesota.
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He is credited with changing the plague to grasshoppers, who were consuming the grape crop that would become wine in ancient Finland. Today, the St. Urho tradition is carried on in many Finnish communities, sometimes as an excuse to add an extra day of rowdy celebration to the St. Patrick's Day festivities. In many Finnish-American communities, however, St. Urho's Day is the celebration, and St. Pat's feast day is merely an afterthought, a day to sleep off the hangover.

(Submitted on November 1, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

2. St. Urho Statue.

The statue of St. Urho, the legendary patron saint of Finland, is located along Hwy. 71 South. The statue serves as a way for visitors to remember Menahga and an exciting way for citizens to celebrate their Finnish ancestry on St. Urho Day. A story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune included St. Urho as one of the seven "must-see" tourist attractions in the state.

(Submitted on November 1, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

Credits. This page was last revised on November 1, 2022. It was originally submitted on November 1, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 554 times since then and 48 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on November 1, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.