National Veterans’ Day is celebrated on 27 April
National Veterans’ Day is celebrated in honour of Finnish war veterans and to commemorate the end of the war and the beginning of peace. Celebrated on 27 April, the day when the Lapland War ended, National Veterans’ Day in Espoo includes the traditional raising of the flag at the Tapiola Amfi and a wreath-laying ceremony at Espoo Cathedral’s war graves.
The main Veterans’ Day event is held in a different city each year, and other municipalities also organise their own events. This year’s main event will be held in Turku under the theme “The lessons learned from our wars – securing our future”. The capital region event for invited guests will be held at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet.
The flag-raising and the blessing of the wreath bearers at the Tapiola Amfi start at 9:30 and last about 20 minutes. You can also watch the raising of the flag at espoo.fi/stream. The event will be interpreted into Finnish sign language.
The lessons learned from our wars – securing our future
This year’s theme reminds us that the sacrifice made by our veterans is not just a memory from the past – it is part of the present. It lives in our values, actions, words and decisions. The best way to honour the work of our veterans is to make sure that the lessons learned from the past are taken into account in our decisions.
On National Veterans’ Day, we should all pause for a moment and remember what veterans did for our country and reflect on how we can keep their legacy alive.
The main event in Turku will be shown on Yle’s channels.