Finnish Swedish Heritage Day (Svenska dagen), November 6th

Today, the 6th of November, has been a special day for Finland and especially for the Swedish-speaking Finns (or Finland-Swedes as we are also called). The name of the day is Finnish Swedish Heritage Day and during this day we celebrate Finland's bilinguality.

About 5,5% of Finland's population is Swedish-speaking and we are part of this minority! Most Finland-Swedes live on the west coast and in southern Finland. Finland has two official languages: Finnish and Swedish.

Finland was between 1150 and 1809 (for almost 700 years) part of Sweden, so we share a long history with our neighboring country in the west. From 1809 to 1917 Finland was an autonomous part of the Russian Empire, but since 1917 Finland has been an independent republic!