# When did this tradition begin?



## japanilainen

Hei!

I have this elderly person whom I talk to, and I do my best to speak clear Finnish. I read with interest that Finns watch "Tuntematon Sotilas" during itsenäisyyspäivä, and I got interested in whether it is a long tradition. So I want to ask her when such tradition started and if she remembers watching it and enjoying it as a young person.

So my question is: "When did the tradition of watching Tuntematon Sotilas on TV in Itsenäisyyspäivä begin?" "Have you watched the movie?" "Do you like watching it?"

Milloin aikaa perinne katsella tuntematon sotilasta tv:sta itsenäisyyspäivällä? Onko sinä katsonut siitä? Pidätkö katsolla siitä?

Thank you so much 

P.S. If any of you knows the answer to my question, I'd be glad to hear


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## Grumpy Old Man

Finnish first: Your sentences are grammatically incorrect but intelligible. Congratulations! I'll try to improve them a little: _Milloin alkoi/syntyi perinne katsoa "Tuntematon sotilas" televisiosta itsenäisyyspäivänä? Oletko sinä katsonut sitä/ nähnyt sen? Pidätkö sen katselemisesta?_

I would probably avoid "perinne" and simply ask: _Milloin "Tuntematonta sotilasta" alettiin näyttää televisiossa itsenäisyyspäivänä? _

I can't remember how many years ago YLE started the tradition, but it wasn't ages ago. Maybe about 6 or 10 years ago, I think. Before that, the movie was shown irregularly and it was not always on December 6.

Perhaps someone else knows the exact year.

GOM


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## japanilainen

Thank you so much  And I am glad that my language skills have improved a little.

But I was surprised that it's not quite long! I kind of assumed this "tradition", as it were, dates back to 1950's, since the movie is pretty old too.


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## Grumpy Old Man

japanilainen said:


> But I was surprised that it's not quite long! I kind of assumed this "tradition", as it were, dates back to 1950's, since the movie is pretty old too.


First of all, in your original post you have the inflected form _sotilas*ta*_, which is correct even though I used the original title in my reply. 

The book was published in 1954 and filmed the next year. In the first few years after its release, the film made a lot of money in the cinemas and wasn't shown on TV at all. I don't remember when it was first aired on TV, but that probably didn't happen until the 70s.

I just checked the exact year the Independence Day tradition started. According to the Finnish Wikipedia it was the year 2000.

GOM


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