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Finland - Culture

Finland - Culture
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.75

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    afar, chords, culture, literature, fans, musical, based, focus, collection, traveled, youth, works, imagination, history, unique, during
     content words:    Jean Sibelius, Elias Lonnrot

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Finland - Culture
By Ekaterina Zhdanova-Redman 		  
1     To understand Finnish culture, one has to understand a little Finnish history. Some of the most interesting parts of Finnish culture are tied strongly to its history. Parts of Finnish music, art, and literature are stories about Finland's past.
 
2     For most of its history, Finland and its people, the Finns, were ruled by another country. For about 500 years, Finland's neighbor to the west, Sweden, ruled it. And for another hundred years, Finland's neighbor to the east, Russia, ruled it. During those years, each ruling country tried to force its language and culture on the Finns. Sometimes, Finns accepted their rulers, sometimes not. Sometimes, the Finns openly fought against the forced culture of their rulers.
 
3     One of these times was during Russian rule of Finland in the 19th century. During this time, Finns had to work hard not to adopt the Russian language. Finns made learning the Finnish language important. They published many books in the Finnish language. A man by the name of Jean Sibelius was born during this time. He would eventually become one of Finland's greatest composers.

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