“What news from our village?”
Helena Palosaari
The author is a recorder of Kuusamo’s history from Lämsänkylä and a local heritage councillor.
Before the wars, the people of Kuusamo used to gather at the church to celebrate and at the market to meet their relatives and residents of other villages on major holidays. When they met at festivals and markets, the men and women of different villages asked about others and told the news of their own villages. Already acquaintances greeted each other and strangers each introduced themselves to each other in their own way.
According to the story, Riika of Harju, a woman from Lämsänkylä, a woman from a better house from Kuolio, and a woman from a poorer house from the direction of Kantokylä met each other at the Mikkeli Day market.
The woman of the better house in Kuolio spoke fluently about the life of Kuolio. According to her, there were enough travellers in Ouluntie and visitors and overnight stayers in the tavern, who brought liveliness to the village. When it was Riika of Harju’s turn to tell about the life of her home village, she tightened her scarf around her neck, grabbed her skirt with her hand and said: “I’m from Lämsänkylä, and I’m not ashamed at all!” In the same breath, she praised the big vendace catches of the Korteniemi master and told how well the autumn work was going.
It took a long time before the woman from Kantokylä started talking. She raised her shoulders a little, stared at the tips of her leather shoes and said: “What news from our village, day after day only need and need. Nothing but need.”
The story took on a life of its own and the constant complaining about “need, need, nothing but need” gave the corner of the village the name Puutteenkylä (village of need).
Later, according to a new story, perhaps in the 1980s, there was an attempt to change the name of the village to Eloranta (lively shore). However, that name didn’t catch on.
I have always been greedy for stories, listening to them and telling them forward. This story was once told to me by merchant Veikko Kantola and my father-in-law Eemil Palosaari, aka Eemeli of Harju.