The prize is the wife's weight of beer

@punasinerva So... if she weighs the same as a duck...

@punasinerva Seems cool

Fun fact: The whole thing originated in the late 1800s with a local brigand known as Ronkainen, who put his men thru a grueling obstacle course to see if they were fit enough for his gang. It was also the time of arranged marriages, so it wasn't all that uncommon for men to steal their sweethearts in the dead of night and whisk them away.
Not to mention that Ronkainen was allegedly very handsome and a hell of a lover... so several of the women went along with him willingly.

The World Championships are held in the village I grew up in.

Isn't there something about them also winning their wife's weight in beer, or something.

@TheEyesArtist Yup.

It's popular in Maine, too. Which makes sense, since Maine has a decent-sized Finnish-American population.

Wife carrying is starting to catch on here too....redneck games are redneck games. I knew i liked the Finns for a reason

@TexasRuss There's even a finnish word for redneck

Punaniska

@Juhani ....see, darkmage? there it is. and we all wear the title of redneck, proudly. no matter what our country, or language. it's a good thing

@TexasRuss This is not a redneck game. I grew up in the village where the whole thing originated, and they're not rednecks. >

@DarkMage7280

Not even by a local equivalent term?

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy came up with a pretty good definition for "redneck" (which he absolutely includes himself in): "A glorious absence of sophistication".

@Hinoron It's just that... "redneck" carries, at least to me, the connotation of inbreeding, mental retardation, xenophobia etc. when the wife-carrying thing is just harmless, hilarious summertime fun.
Ah, hell, maybe I'm just too touchy because of my connection to the place.

@DarkMage7280, BWAH HA HA...we know our own...even jeff foxworthy would look at at this event and say "yep. that's about as redneck as it gets"

Next to mobile phone throwing, boot throwing, and other strange Finnish sports

There is an event of this in England too because a few years ago my brother in law surprised my sister by entering them in it. They actually placed pretty well ( my brother in law runs marathons and my sister is tiny)

Hehe Nice!

Has anyone done it? Is it fun?

And I thought Swedish traditions were weird...

Man, I'd be terrible at that...

@AReasonableAmerican
Stop being unreasonable

@NapalmRocks666 context: I'm single and hence ontologically incapable of performing this feat
;)

@AReasonableAmerican She doesn't have to be your wife. Any woman will do.

@AReasonableAmerican
Carry her far enough, maybe she'll be impressed and amend your unfortunate singleness?

Helps if you carry her past your $90,000 sports car, across the lawn of your $800,000 house, and pass by your workplace where you make over $100,000/year. After a ride like that, she'll carry YOU to the altar! ^_^

@Hinoron Ick, gross.

@AReasonableAmerican

...Not earning your screen name today, are you? ^_^;

@Hinoron I don't find it unreasonable to be mildly sickened by the suggestion of winning a woman's heart by flaunting your material wealth.

@AReasonableAmerican

Women are a mysterious combination of romantic and pragmatic.

Spending the rest of her days living in abject poverty and misery is not, and will never be, attractive to her.

By contrast, traditional romantic gestures are most often considered more meaningful based on the time, effort, thought, and yes monetary value that went into them.

Wanting to live the remainder of your life in reasonable comfort is not, by itself, an unreasonable thing. Arguably it's a less-urgent scale of the self-preservation instinct we all have.

It's also tied to our family drives; where is the man she is confident can provide for her and any children she has in the future? In line at the unemployment office? likely not. By contrast, the man in line at the Mercedes dealership most likely would not struggle to feed her and 2-3 kids, dress them warmly, give them a safe and comfortable home life, get them into good schools, put them on the road to a bright future, etc.

I didn't make the world as it is, my friend, but I'm not convinced it's completely broken either. There are reasons for things, and the reasons aren't always bad ones.

Man, he just looks so lovestruck...

interesting

ANOTHER FINNISH INVENTION!

...that's cute