{"id":71962,"date":"2026-01-28T16:37:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/?p=71962"},"modified":"2026-01-28T16:38:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:38:24","slug":"opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"tw-target-text\">Hancock, Michigan, is home to a unique festival called <em>Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4<\/em>. Created in 1999, the festival draws inspiration from the culture and folklore brought by Finnish immigrants who came to work in the copper mines of Keweenaw, Michigan, starting in the 1860s. The festival&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitkeweenaw.com\/heikinpaiva\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">website<\/a> emphasises that Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 celebrations are a kind of tribute to Finnish-American identity in Copper County.<\/p><p>Due to extreme weather conditions, most outdoors events were cancelled or rescheduled. The festivities overall did proceed as planned, however, and included a snow sculpting challenge, as well as the handover of Tsirk, the symbol of the Capital of Culture, which arrived in 2025 from Narva, the Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 Greetings from Hancock 2026 Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x6fazqO4L1E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>An exhibition of art inspired by the animals of the epic poem <em>Kalevala<\/em> opened at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CCCAC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Copper Country Community Art Center<\/a>, and a dance evening <em>(iltamat<\/em>) was held at the Finnish American Heritage Center.<\/p><p>On 25 January 25, Takka Sauna Center hosted a <em>flow<\/em> yoga class (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitkeweenaw.com\/event\/takka-flow-with-sascha\/5950\/\">Takka Flow Yoga<\/a>) and sauna sessions, kicking off a week of &#8220;Sauna Stories,&#8221; during which American Finns&#8217; sauna memories will be recorded.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"557\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/heikipaev-2026-557x720.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-71896\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/heikipaev-2026-557x720.jpg 557w, https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/heikipaev-2026-309x400.jpg 309w, https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/heikipaev-2026-155x200.jpg 155w, https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/heikipaev-2026-768x994.jpg 768w, https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/heikipaev-2026-1187x1536.jpg 1187w, https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/heikipaev-2026-1200x1552.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/heikipaev-2026.jpg 1583w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px\" \/><\/figure><h3 id=\"heading-c4f54ab8\">Fenno-Ugria&#8217;s celebration<\/h3><p>In parallel with the Hancock events, on 24 January, the club Uus Laine in Tallinn hosted a celebration of the 2026 Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture in honour of Hancock. At the event, <a href=\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/event\/heikinpaiva-tallinn-2026\/\">Heikip\u00e4eva celebration<\/a>, Finno-Ugric music was played and a documentary film about Finnish Americans (Uusi Aika: Changing Times in Finnish-America) was screened. Video greetings were exchanged during the evening, with Hancock being greeted by project manager <strong>Patrick O&#8217;Rourke<\/strong> on behalf of Fenno-Ugria.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fenno-ugria_video_greeting_for_hancock_heikinpaiva2026.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure><div class=\"my-12 my-md-16 px-4 pt-6 border-primary-top content-section\">\r\n    \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-links\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitkeweenaw.com\/things-to-do\/museums-history\/finnish-inspired-travel\/finno-ugric-capital-of-culture\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2026 Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture (Visit Keweenaw)<\/a><\/li>\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitkeweenaw.com\/heikinpaiva\/\">Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 2026 (Visit Keweenaw)<\/a><\/li>\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitkeweenaw.com\/heikinpaiva\/heikinpaiva-schedule\/\">Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 2026 schedule (Visit Keweenaw)<\/a><\/li>\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/fahc.finlandiafoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Finnish American Heritage Center<\/a><\/li>\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/video\/uusi-aika-changing-times-in-finnish-america-ucteav\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Uusi Aika: Changing Times in Finnish-America (PBS, 09.10.2024)<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture year was opened in Hancock, Michigan on 24 January at Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 celebrations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":71893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1096],"tags":[3825,3243,3867],"class_list":["post-71962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2026-en","tag-capitals-of-culture","tag-hancock-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026 - Fenno-Ugria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 2026 Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture year was opened in Hancock, Michigan on 24 January at Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 celebrations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026 - Fenno-Ugria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 2026 Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture year was opened in Hancock, Michigan on 24 January at Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 celebrations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fenno-Ugria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fennougria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T14:37:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T14:38:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e3c02367-080a-486d-b74a-fe1b98c8293a.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Patrick O\u00b4Rourke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Patrick O\u00b4Rourke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Patrick O\u00b4Rourke\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f9a66f424ae54026dc0c3c1630b85833\"},\"headline\":\"Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-28T14:37:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T14:38:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/\"},\"wordCount\":293,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e3c02367-080a-486d-b74a-fe1b98c8293a.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"2026\",\"Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture\",\"Hancock\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/\",\"name\":\"Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026 - Fenno-Ugria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e3c02367-080a-486d-b74a-fe1b98c8293a.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-28T14:37:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T14:38:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f9a66f424ae54026dc0c3c1630b85833\"},\"description\":\"The 2026 Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture year was opened in Hancock, Michigan on 24 January at Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 celebrations.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e3c02367-080a-486d-b74a-fe1b98c8293a.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e3c02367-080a-486d-b74a-fe1b98c8293a.jpeg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Fenno-Ugria\",\"description\":\"Koost\u00f6\u00f6s soome-ugri rahvastega aastast 1927\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026 - Fenno-Ugria","description":"The 2026 Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture year was opened in Hancock, Michigan on 24 January at Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 celebrations.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026 - Fenno-Ugria","og_description":"The 2026 Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture year was opened in Hancock, Michigan on 24 January at Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 celebrations.","og_url":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/","og_site_name":"Fenno-Ugria","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fennougria\/","article_published_time":"2026-01-28T14:37:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-28T14:38:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e3c02367-080a-486d-b74a-fe1b98c8293a.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Patrick O\u00b4Rourke","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Patrick O\u00b4Rourke","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/"},"author":{"name":"Patrick O\u00b4Rourke","@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f9a66f424ae54026dc0c3c1630b85833"},"headline":"Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026","datePublished":"2026-01-28T14:37:19+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-28T14:38:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/"},"wordCount":293,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e3c02367-080a-486d-b74a-fe1b98c8293a.jpeg","keywords":["2026","Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture","Hancock"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/","url":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/","name":"Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026 - Fenno-Ugria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e3c02367-080a-486d-b74a-fe1b98c8293a.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-01-28T14:37:19+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-28T14:38:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f9a66f424ae54026dc0c3c1630b85833"},"description":"The 2026 Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture year was opened in Hancock, Michigan on 24 January at Heikinp\u00e4iv\u00e4 celebrations.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e3c02367-080a-486d-b74a-fe1b98c8293a.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e3c02367-080a-486d-b74a-fe1b98c8293a.jpeg","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/opening-ceremony-of-hancock-2026\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Opening ceremony of Hancock 2026"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/","name":"Fenno-Ugria","description":"Koost\u00f6\u00f6s soome-ugri rahvastega aastast 1927","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71962"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71969,"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71962\/revisions\/71969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fennougria.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}