Siklódi Csilla szerk.: Tradicionális sportok, népi játékok (A Sportmúzeum Kincsei 2. Budapest, 1996)

Tradicionális sportok és játékok Finnországban (Riita Forsman, Kenth Sjöblöm, Juha Kanerva)

Riitta Forsman - Kenth Sj

öblöm - Juha Kanerva Traditional sports and pastimes in Finland (Published material and important researchers) The finns have always been interested in sports and games. However just a few studies in this area has been made. Lack of material or documents is not an excuse, because there is a vast and representative collection of traditional plays, games and popular amusements in our archives. The history of Finnish plays and games goes far back into the past. Documents of the legal proceedings are the best way to obtain knowledge from the earlier times as "the last round of the games" was often played before the court. The first descriptions of the sporting habits of the people are from the late 18th century when articles concerning the common people's way of life were published for the first time in newspapers. The origin of the traditional sporting activities can not be traced to certain time or place. The plays and games were widely spread and they got features of their own in different parts of Finland. And gradually they were transformed into traditional local culture. A self-educated man from Virolahti (near Russian border) by name Eljas Raus si was interested in the life and habits of local people, fus monumental manuscript (1400 pages) called Arkiologia includes plenty of details of games, plays and trials of strength. His work is first consistent presentation of traditional Finnish sporting activities. His work was published in 1966 (100 year after his death) by The Society of Finnish Literary. H.A. Reinholm (1819 - 1883) from Viipuri (nowadays a part of Russia) was a priest, a librarian and a collector of folklore. He travelled around the country and his material includes descriptions of plays and games. However he got published only a small part of his work but his splendid manuscript is available for the researchers. Sports and games are frequently mentioned in Finnish literature. The most famous quotations are from the first novel in Finnish language, Aleksis Kivi'

s Seitseman veljesta (Seven brothers, 1870) where wrestling and kiekonlyönti ("disk striking") are well introduced. At the beginning of a 20th century researchers with a university degree and playing teachers collected documents about sporting habits and popular amusements and wrote booklets on the ground of their material. The well-known booklets from that period were written by Anni Collan, who was the founder of Sports Library of Finland, and by Yrjö Hirn, professor in literature.