Echoes of Karelia from This Moment to Tomorrow - Course Jan 23-25, 2026
Welcome to Valamo, to the Karelian culture and traditions of today and the future! The weekend is intended for participants of all ages who want to be involved in creating and enlivening Karelian culture now and in the future. Join us on a journey where valuable experiences of the past merge with the vitality of the present and open paths to future possibilities. The weekend offers an opportunity to reflect on your place in this continuum, discover new connections to your roots, or simply explore the possibilities of Karelian culture with fresh eyes. The host for the weekend is Karelian hipster Mika Saatsi.
Course program and registrations
During the course, interesting presentations will be heard, and there will also be opportunities for discussion.
Glimpses into Border Karelian Culture, Mika Saatsi
Mika Saatsi's lecture provides an overview from history to the present day and opens up old Border Karelian culture from a Suistamo perspective. The lecture explores pruazniekka and burial traditions, as well as folk healing. Through the prospects of Karelian language revitalization, we also examine what Border Karelianism is today. This resonant lecture is accompanied by new Karelian-language folk music.
Mika "Levoin Miša" Saatsi is an entrepreneur living in Tuusula and a karjalane muzikantti [Karelian musician]. Mika, who previously worked as a special education teacher and principal, founded the Karelian-language band Loimolan Voima with his brother Niko ”Miikkula” Saatsi in 2018. Loimolan Voima has been chosen as, among other things, Kaustinen Folk Music Festival's Band of the Year 2025.
Mika is also involved in the folk-rock band Tulenlendo, the Saatsi & Shemeikka duo, and Pajojoukko Bratanoissa. He performs solo gigs under the name Levoin Miša. Additionally, Mika works as a supervisor, lecturer, podcaster, teacher of Varzinkarelian/Suvikarelian, and a board member of the Suistamo Heritage Society.
10 Questions for Hiloin Natoi, Natalia Giloeva
Ask questions to Hiloin Natoi, for example, about teaching Karelian, revitalization, translating Yle news, or my own background, etc. You can prepare questions in advance or ask whatever comes to mind on the spot. Questions can be in Finnish or Karelian.
Ask Hiloin Natoi, for example, about teaching and revitalizing the Karelian language, translating Yle news, or her own background. You can think of questions in advance or ask a question that comes to mind on the spot. Questions can be in Finnish or Karelian. If you want to submit a question in advance, you can send it by email to salesservice@valamo.fi.
Natalia Giloeva (Hiloin Natoi)in Karelian is a Karelian journalist (Yle Uutizet karjalakse), Karelian language teacher, and an expert and researcher at the University of Eastern Finland.
Karelian lament tradition and lament language, Eila Stepanova
Mila Stepanova is a Finnish folklorist specializing in Karelian and, more broadly, Finnic and Baltic lament poetry. She earned her doctorate at the University of Helsinki in 2014. Stepanova is a second-generation expert in Karelian lament tradition and Karelian culture more broadly, with extensive fieldwork experience. Stepanova currently serves as the Executive Director of the Karelian Cultural Society.
Renewing and Changing Orthodox Karelianism, Katja Lösönen
Katja Lösönen is a communications expert, journalist, and doctoral researcher with a background in Suistamo. In her work, Katja specializes in strategic communication, and her doctoral research focuses on the formation of information resilience in civil society. Katja, who lives in Vaasa, was born and raised in Lapinlahti within an Orthodox Karelian community. In her free time, Katja serves on the board of the Suistamo Heritage Society and works on the Ristikanza documentary project and online publication, which focuses on Orthodox Finnish Karelianism. Katja's hobbies also include choir singing and sewing sarafans. Katja is particularly inspired by the layered nature, multiculturalism of Finland's Orthodox Karelian cultural heritage, as well as the history and ecumenism of the Orthodox Church of Finland.
Reason and Emotions - Memories and Experiences of Karelian-speaking Karelians of Different Generations in Finnish Society, Anna Kanninen
Mana Kanninen is a researcher with Karelian roots, and the title of this topic is the preliminary title of her doctoral research. Anna Kanninen's Master's thesis in sociology for the University of Jyväskylä, "Finland's Invisible Minority - The Process of Identity Construction of the Karelian Minority", received an honorable mention from the Karelian Cultural Society in 2025.
Karelian language instruction and research at the University of Eastern Finland, FT Ilja Moshnikov
Ilia (Ilja) Moshnikov works as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Karelian Institute. He defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Eastern Finland in 2021 on the topic Variation of the NUT-participle in Border Karelian Dialects, with Professor Johanna Laakso from the University of Vienna serving as opponent. In his post-doctoral research, Moshnikov has examined the use and visibility of the Karelian language on the internet. He has studied, among other things, Karelian-language websites from the perspective of virtual linguistic landscape research and language ideologies, the use of social media by Karelian speakers, and the use and visibility of the Karelian language on X (formerly Twitter).
In spring 2023, Moshnikov worked as a visiting researcher at the Department of Finno-Ugric Studies at the University of Vienna and later as a lecturer in Finnish language at the same department from 2023–2024. In autumn 2024, he served as a university lecturer in Karelian and Finnish languages at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Eastern Finland.
Paginperti, Olga Gokkoeva
Paginperti is an informal discussion club aimed at providing Karelian speakers and those interested in the Karelian language with an opportunity to develop their practical language skills and meet other Karelian speakers. The first Paginperti was founded by volunteers in Joensuu in 2016, and since 2022, its activities have been coordinated by a Karelian language revitalization project. Since 2023, in addition to the original Kaikkien Paginperti, a Nuorien Paginperti specifically for young people has been meeting in Joensuu, with discussion topics chosen according to the interests of young people. In addition to Joensuu, Paginperti groups have met in 2022–2023 in at least Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Kuopio, and Jyväskylä.
There are no strict rules for organizing Paginperti, and leaders do not need to have specific training or prior experience in leading discussion clubs.
Olga Gokkoeva will hold a Paginperti session during the course. Olga Gokkoeva founded the Karelian Language House in Vieljärvi over ten years ago.
