 Who is St. Urho you ask? Read on.
One of the lesser known, but extraordinary legends of ages past is the legend of St. Urho - Patron Saint of the Finnish vineyard workers.
Before the last glacial period wild grapes grew with abundance in the area now known as Finland. The wild grapes were threatened by a plague of grasshoppers until St. Urho banished the lot of them with a few Finnish words.
In memory of this impressive demonstration of the Finnish language, Finnish people celebrate St. Urho Day on March 16. Finnish women and children dressed in royal purple and nile green gather around the shores of the many lakes in Finland and chant three times what St. Urho chanted many years ago.
Heinäsirkka, Heinäsirkka, mene täältä Hiiteen!
("Grasshopper, Grasshopper, Go Away!")
Adult men, dressed in green costumes, gather on the hills overlooking the lakes, listening to the chant and then kicking out like grasshoppers, then slowly disappear to change costumes from green to purple. The celebration ends with singing and dancing polkas and schottisches and drinking grape juice, though these activities may occur in varying sequences.
It is unclear how this legend came to be, though many sources point to Minnesota for it's origins sometime in the mid 1950s. Even if this is true, Finland has embraced it and Finns worldwide celebrate exuberantly.
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you're all just trying to steal patrick's thunder. pick another month you finns, c'mone.