Sisu - Cultural Significance

Cultural Significance

Sisu has been described by The New York Times as "the word that explains Finland", and the Finns' "favorite word"—"the most wonderful of all their words." During the famous Winter War of 1939–1940, the Finnish perseverance in the face of the invasion by the Soviet Union popularized this word in English for a generation. In what might have been the first use of sisu in the English language, on January 8, 1940, Time magazine reported:

The Finns have something they call sisu. It is a compound of bravado and bravery, of ferocity and tenacity, of the ability to keep fighting after most people would have quit, and to fight with the will to win. The Finns translate sisu as "the Finnish spirit" but it is a much more gutful word than that. Last week the Finns gave the world a good example of sisu by carrying the war into Russian territory on one front while on another they withstood merciless attacks by a reinforced Russian Army. In the wilderness that forms most of the Russo-Finnish frontier between Lake Laatokka and the Arctic Ocean, the Finns definitely gained the upper hand. —Time magazine, January 8, 1940

Singled out for kudos for this attribute was "Finland's wiry old peasant President, Kyösti Kallio—73 years old and full of sisu (courage)—last week thought up a new scheme to get supplies for his country." It was also used to describe the Finnish stubbornness in sticking to its loose alliance with The Third Reich from 1940 to 1943:

Finnish sisu—meaning a peculiarly Finnish brand of doggedness, capable of facing down death itself—was at work against the Allies. ... The Finns are not happy. But sisu enables them to say: "We have nothing worse than death to fear." —Time magazine, May 10, 1943.

During the 1952 Summer Olympics, sisu was further described in the context of the continuing Cold War looming over the Finnish capital city of Helsinki:

HELSINKI, host to the Olympic Games, a city of 400,000, was abustle. ... The Finns are not stupidly hiding their eyes from their future, but they are determined not to fall into another fight with a powerful and predatory next-door neighbor 66 times their size (in area, Finland is the sixth largest country in Europe; in population it is the third smallest). Under popular, 81-year-old President Juho Kusti Paasikivi and able, unpopular Agrarian Premier Urho Kekkonen, the Finns have learned to walk the nerve-racking path of independence like tight-rope walkers. —Time magazine, July 21, 1952

Well into the 1960s, sisu was used to describe the Finnish resistance to the invasion of 20 to 30 years prior and its continuing discontents. In 1960, Austin Goodrich's book, Study in Sisu: Finland's Fight for Independence, was published by Ballantine. Also in 1960, a notable reviewer of Griffin Taylor's novel, Mortlake, wrote:

"HAVE you heard of Finnish sisu?" asks a character in "Mortlake" -- and it turns out that sisu is a sort of stamina or staying-power which the Finns have had to develop as a result of living next door to the Russians. —Nigel Dennis, New York Times Book Review

Even in 2009, sisu is so important to being Finnish that "to be a real Finn" you must have it: "willpower, tenacity, persistency."