National personification of Finland

The Maiden of Finland is the national personification of Finland. She is a barefoot young woman in her mid-twenties with often-braided blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing a blue and white national costume or a white dress. She was originally called Aura after the Aura River in Turku. As a symbol, the Finnish Maiden has been used since the 19th century when she was pictured as a woman wearing a turreted crown, and then developing as Finland gained a national consciousness and independence.

The Maiden of Finland can also refer to the shape of Finland on the map. With a little imagination it looks like a female form, which has one hand, raised (and another before the Moscow Armistice of 1944), a head, and a skirt. The metaphor is so commonly used that the northwestern area around Enontekiö is known as the Arm (Käsivarsi) even in official contexts. My dear friend Pia sent me this card.