Sleepyhead Day in Finland

Hello and welcome to Holiday a Day, your daily dose of Holidays, festivals, celebrations and remembrances from around the world.

I’m Jeffrey Johnson

On July 27th 2014 we celebrate

Sleepyhead Day

You do not want to sleep late on July 27th in Finland, the last person to awake in the house get woken by either being thrown in the water (lake or sea) or having water thrown on them them to wake them up.

This goes back to the Middle Ages (the first recorded instance was 1652). It commemorates the time when the Saint of Ephesus was being persecuted by the Roman Emperor for practicing Christianity. He Went to the mountains to hide and while there fell asleep in a cave where he slept for 200 years. Waking up after so long he thought that only a day had passed and went into the town to buy food only to find that churches now stood in the town.

The city of Naantali even gets a celebrity to be thrown in every year and has a festival all day long for the event.

Happy Sleepyhead Day!

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