trip05: River/Border Reflections
Excerpt from a PATREON post from OCTOBER 20,2022
Turtola, Finland
Before leaving on this trip, I understood that Torne/Tornio River Valley has functioned as a border between Finland & Sweden ever since Russia 'took' Finland around 1810. I read about the ways that this first national border, and then the border with Norway, affected the migratory nature of the Sámi herders, and how it impacted ethnic-Finns (Suomalaisia) on either side. I'd read about Sweden's official acknowledgement of meänkieli - the old Finnish that developed in Sweden (like Kven in Norway) separate from modern Finnish. And I know now that some Sámi relatives also speak Meänkieli in Sweden. Lines are not absolute.
During my time here, I could feel the more nuanced and residual impacts of this river turning into a border. Physically, when driving on either side of the river, the other side/other country is visible - in some ways more visible than the side I was physically on - its the simple nature of having a view. It reminded me of being Laos and seeing Thailand across the Mekong river, or being in Duluth looking at Superior, Wisconsin. From Turtola we looked across to Svanstein (named after two men who settled there, Svan and Stein) but before that, it was Turtola - the same name, the same place. Even now, there is a Pello, Finland and a Pello, Sweden; a Karesuvanto, Finland and a Karesuando, Sweden as a different river continues the border further north. Life and villages were connected as one place on either side of these border rivers. Afterall, they were frozen at least half the year. So, from the Finnish side they look upon the places that used to be part of their place, and with that comes reminders of a more fluid and connected mingling of life.
Growing-up in the US, we maintained a strong sense of cultural-pride that is based on the identity of Nation-states. And while I have known my Finnish heritage/ancestry, and have even visited some of these places before, I am only now able to grasp that a majority of my roots are truly in the north of the north - from Simo to Turtola to Tavajärvi to Kjækan to Vettasjärvi.
To drive these lands by car, kilometer by kilometer, hour after hour, helped me see and feel the land as one place not three countries. Speaking Finnish/Kven/Meänkieli in Norway and Sweden only strengthened the inter-connection.
I could also see the disconnection, I could feel the displacement, the adoption or rejection or complicated relationship with/of new national identities. The same kind of "here and now" perspective of my uncle existed in the Norwegian relatives I met. "That was a long time ago" is an attitude and perspective that can more easily exist when one knows that others in your family have done extensive ancestral research and even produced books for you to reference whenever you want. I still rely on the research and connections my aunt Marlene made and maintained with every Salmela & Matti family member that I know and visited on this trip. That reliance has meant I've spent my curiosity on Wilhelmine's unmapped line and depended on others like my Seattle cousin-Julie to share what they know, too. But I see where my grasp of the long-known relatives bloodlines could also use more mental tending on my part.
This trip was always intended to be a physical one. I wanted to place my body on the land, onto the maps that I've been researching. To learn to know by feeling - perhaps even to bring the blood pumping through my veins back to the places it's already been lifetimes before me. In so many ways that blood memory made it felt like coming home. But, it required that I also acknowledge the truly complicated reality of life here back then. The hardship and sisu and reaching and hoping of the past merges with my own present and I understand the discrepancy between ideal and real. My eyes well with tears as I feel waves of gratitude and grace wash over me. Forgiving and hopeful and full of love. It's not empty, not a facade or a waving flag, but deep winding tree roots that hold everything together.
