Finland Has a Word for Fall — And You Can Chase It

Hello all you Leaf peepers. Leaf chasers. Youuuu Fall fanatics.

Whatever we're calling ourselves this year (it seems there's a new hip term every year), Finland has had its word figured out for a very long time:

Ruska.

And suddenly my annual obsession with staring at trees feels wildly underdeveloped.

Because here in the United States, fall foliage tends to turn into a sport.

We watch peak-color maps.
We plan weekend drives.
We photograph the same tree 47 times because LOOK AT THAT RED.

And I support every second of it.  I do it too!

Fall is fleeting. Look at all those pretty leaves.  Death never looked so beautiful!

But while we're busy admiring what's happening outside our own windows, I started wondering:

What does this season look like somewhere completely different?

So we're leaving North America.

Beauty Beyond is going to Finland.

First things first: where exactly are we going?

Pull the map out for this one.

Finland sits way up in Northern Europe, part of the Nordic region. Sweden is to its west, Russia to its east and Norway curls around its northern edge.

And then look toward the very top of Finland.

That's Lapland.

We're talking Arctic Circle territory.

And that is where our fall story begins.

Meet ruska

Ruska is the Finnish word used for the brilliant changing colors of autumn foliage.

But this isn't simply a nice patch of orange trees.

Every year, ruska begins in northern Finland and then moves south through the country as the season progresses. Visit Finland says the wave can travel roughly 500 kilometers in only a couple of weeks.

Five hundred kilometers.

That's about 310 miles of fall on the move.  Similar to our maps along the east coast.  

Which means there is an actual opportunity to follow autumn as it travels.

Excuse me while I add “chase Finnish fall across an entire country” to a list I didn't know I had.

In northern Finland, peak color generally arrives around the second week of September and lasts about ten days, although weather can shift the timing from year to year. Southern Finland usually catches its color toward late September and early October.

Ruska isn't waiting around for anybody.

But look DOWN too

Here's where Finland takes things up another notch.  As I was looking at images, I was thinking to myself, ok cool - but so much of this looks like what we have here on the east coast.

However...

In Lapland, autumn isn't happening only overhead.

Low-growing plants, shrubs and vegetation across the forest floor can turn brilliant shades of red and yellow too — a phenomenon Visit Finland calls maaruska.

So instead of walking beneath fall color...

you can be surrounded by it.

Trees above you.

Red and gold vegetation below you.

Mountains and lakes stretching out ahead.

This is exactly why Beauty Beyond exists.

Sometimes this planet seems determined to remind us that we're not paying nearly enough attention.

And yes, the Finns have a word for going to look at it

Of course they do.

Ruskaretki.

It's essentially an outing, trip or hike specifically taken to enjoy the fall colors.

And according to Visit Finland, a ruskaretki can last anywhere from two hours to two weeks, depending on just how committed you've become to the cause.

Two weeks?

Now we're talking.

There is something I love about having an actual word for intentionally going outside simply because it's beautiful.

Oh. but Wait....Finlands Not DONE... Look Up at night

September brings another rather outrageous bonus to northern Finland.

As the bright summer nights fade and darkness returns, Northern Lights season begins again.

Auroras can be seen in Finnish Lapland from late August into early April, and September and October are actually among the more active periods of the season.

So theoretically, your September day could look something like this:

Spend the afternoon walking through a landscape covered in reds, oranges and golds.

Watch the sun disappear.

Then look up and wait to see whether the sky turns green.

Finland. Holy Hell. Calm down. LOL

Beauty Beyond

I love our fall.

I love driving through Ohio when suddenly the entire road seems to be glowing. I love sweater weather. I love that first morning when the air smells different and you realize summer has officially loosened its grip.

We should notice all of it.

But that's what I love about looking beyond our own little corner of the world too.

Somewhere else, another season is unfolding in a completely different way.

Another landscape is changing.

Another group of people has found words, traditions and reasons to stop what they're doing and pay attention to it.

In Finland, they call it ruska.

Hope you enjoyed reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it.  Enjoy the season.  

Til The Next One,

BrookeLynn