"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. Archeologists have uncovered evidence of this scratched on the thigh bones of the giant bears that once roamed northern Europe. The grapes were threatened by a plague of grasshoppers until St. Urho banished the lot of them with a few selected Finnish words.

"In memory of this impressive demonstration of the Finnish language, Finnish people celebrate on March 16, the day before St. Patrick's Day. It tends to serve as a reminder that St. Pat's Day is just around the corner and is thus celebrated by squares. At sunrise 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 what St. Urho chanted many years ago: "Heinasirkka, heinasirkka, menetaalta hiiteen." (Translated: "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go away!")

"Adult male (people, not grasshoppers) dressed in green costumes gather on the hills overlooking the lakes, listen to the chant, and then kicking out like grasshoppers, they 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.

"Color for the day is royal purple and nile green."

"It started as a joke, when certain fun-loving members of a department store staff in Virginia, Minnesota, decided to turn the tables on their Finnish manager. On St. Patrick's Day he had been guilty of the heinous heresy of refusing to be impressed by the Irish claims for their saint. Pooh, said he. Finns have an even greater hero named Urho, and he told tall tales of the saint's mighty prowess. His staff bided their time. On the day which he had named as the feast day of St. Urho, they greeted him with a hand-carved nutcracker purporting to be the image of the saint, a frog, and a hand-lettered scroll on which an Irish lass (no less) had written a pidgin-Finn rhyme that sang the deeds of his legendary hero.

"It was meant only as a bit of mild teasing to be shared among themselves. But a reporter was present, and the next day the hoax hit the front page of the Mesabi Daily News. Finns of the area, needing a midwinter frolic during cabin fever season, seized upon it with glee. In the space of only a few years (the original rhyme was written in 1956), the idea spread until the celebration is now observed in [all 50] states, with governors proclaiming with straight faces the significance of St. Urho's Tay (not "Day").

"...Originally the story went that Saint Urho, a strong, brave Finn, saved his country from an influx of frogs by the simple expedient of asking them to leave, and for this deed was to be revered forever. The first date settled upon for this occasion was May 24th, but later wags set the date as March 16th, thus superseding by one day the Irish festival of St. Patrick. The enemy he drove from Finland underwent a metamorphosis from frog to grasshopper, and this now seems to be the accepted version."