Everyday Life and Festivities

Maija Halonen recounted life in the artist colony at Tuusula Lake in the 1930s:

“The beginning of the century was a truly wonderful time here. There wasn’t much money, quite the opposite, but the camaraderie and mutual trust were amazing. If one had something, the other had it too.”

There were differences in the daily routines of the artist families. Pekka Halonen’s work was inspired by background music. His wife Maija was a skilled pianist and thus played music all day long. She would send messages to another excellent musician, Aino Sibelius: “Come for afternoon coffee and bring plenty of Mozart.” The wives played both alternately and four-handed at Halosenniemi. This suited Aino perfectly, as Sibelius’s composing required complete silence. Even Ainola’s daughters came to play with the neighbors.

In terms of food, the artist homes were remarkably self-sufficient. Each household had its own root and vegetable garden, which Aholas’ horse Pekka helped to plow. Weeding posed no problem, as the families were overrun with children who could help. There was even a bit of competition in the care of the vegetable gardens. Suviranta had the best potatoes, Halosenniemi the rhubarb, and Ainola the apples. Tomato plants were purchased centrally with joint orders for Ainola and Halosenniemi. Cooperation thrived in other ways as well. Aino Sibelius taught Soldan’s Nisse, while the family’s daughter Katarina attended school at Suviranta and gave private lessons at Halosenniemi.

In addition to daily interactions, the Tuusula artist colony also held traditional gatherings. During Christmas, they gathered at Ahola, on Christmas Day at Ainola, and on Boxing Day at Suviranta, followed by celebrations at Halosenniemi and Kallio-Kuninkala. The sleigh ride during Shrovetide was popular with the young people. The Walpurgis Night celebration at the sand pit in Tomasböle was also a tradition. They marched there in large groups with good provisions and cooking equipment. Even the adults felt young again and enjoyed playing an ancient Savonian throwing game under the leadership of Pekka Halonen. Besides the traditional festivities, the parents in the families sometimes celebrated milestones, such as weddings, silver anniversaries, and children’s parties. There were many reasons to celebrate in the colony.

Venny Soldan-Brofeldt organized theater performances at Ahola. She acted as director, makeup artist, and decorator. The actors were both her own and the neighbors’ children, as well as a few adults. “The Reading Scene from Seven Brothers” was a smashing success, as was Juhani Aho’s “Marjamatti in Metsola,” a dramatization of a Swedish children’s story. The theater tradition continued at Kallio-Kuninkala after the Ahos moved to Helsinki. Sibelius’s daughter Ruth became irrevocably bitten by the theater bug and became a professional actress.

F.E. Sillanpää (1888-1964)

F. E. Sillanpää was a study companion of Heikki Järnefelt. He reminisced about the dances at Suviranta:

The one who has never attended a dance in Tuusula before the world war doesn’t know what a dance event is. Oh, this youth, this magnificent youth that was there then. The girls were like crown princesses, the boys like Adonis’s half-brothers. There were Sibelius, Järnefelt, Halonen, Paloheimo, Hjelt, Enckell, Westermarck, and then this youth they brought with them, and one must say it was a golden youth. Colorful paper lanterns everywhere. The early autumn morning glanced pale into Uncle Eero’s studio, but people were still dancing there; even Pekka Halonen danced with a serious expression, thoughtful as in a barn, and Jean Sibelius danced too, seemingly irritated by a rhythm that someone else had set…

The artist families generally gave Sibelius the peace he needed to work. The composer decided for himself when he wanted to take long walks with Eero Järnefelt and when he wanted to go to Helsinki with the men of the artist colony to escape out of the wives’ reach.