Browsing by Author "Kujansuu, Sanna"
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Kujansuu, Sanna (2017)Christmas is celebrated as the biggest calendar festival in Finland. With its permanent traditions it is in contrast to the quickly changing society. The Christmas meal is one of the most important symbols of Christmas and the idea of it is based on experiences of past Christmases and the food that has been eaten. The purpose of this study is to find out the position and meaning of Christmas and especially the Christmas meal as part of Finnish identity and tradition. The aim of this study is to understand the reasons that lead to the repetition of the same Christmas traditions every year and the reasons that make the traditions change. From the point of view of household and society, the theme is of interest given that stability and traditions are often in contradiction with the values of modern society which values dynamism and quick change. For this study twelve people were interviewed. (Six over 85-year old and six 18-20-year.) The idea of interviewing representatives of two generations was to get perspective to the social change and on the other hand the stability and meaning of traditions. The interviews were carried out in Helsinki, Naantali and Turku. The recorded material was transcribed and analyzed in two stages. First, material relevant to the research questions was derived from interviews. Second, interviews were coded and categorized using the theoretical frame of reference of the study. The study shows that celebrating Christmas is a way to express ones own individual and national identity. The rituals and symbols of Christmas are mainly learned in childhood and are repeated in current Christmases. Christmas and the Christmas meal is seen as a part of ones community's heritage and as a part of being accepted as a member of the community. The differences in the understanding of the significance of the Christmas meal between two generations were small. The elderly were a little bit more against change in it than the younger interviewees, who saw change as a realistic and positive development. Nevertheless, the young were insecure about making big changes in their Christmas meals, especially if it meant leaving something out from it. Based on the results of this study, Christmas meal traditions are one way for a person to experience continuity and the feeling of security that comes with it.
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Kujansuu, Sanna (2014)The forms of iron, especially iron oxides, are significant in the geochemical cycle of phosphorus and many trace elements in the sediment. In aerobic conditions, the iron oxides of the sediment bind phosphorus and trace elements. In anaerobic conditions, on the other hand, iron oxides dissolve, in which case the bound trace elements and phosphorus are released. When phosphorus is released from the sediment and migrates to a water column, this may further aggravate the eutrophication problem of the Baltic Sea through internal load. Thus, the goal of this thesis is to clarify and gain new information on how the forms of iron and their amount vary in the sea areas of the Baltic Sea with different oxygen conditions and what significance this may have with regard to the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. Water and sediment samples were collected in April 2006 on board the research vessel R/V Aranda and, in October 2006, on board the research vessel Geomari. The sample stations were situated in the Bothnian Bay, the Bothnian Sea, the northern part of the Baltic Sea Proper, and the Gulf of Finland. Water and sediment samples were collected from several different depths. Of the water samples, temperature and salinity as well as the concentrations of oxygen, hydrogen sulphide and phosphate phosphorus were determined. In all the sample stations, the oxidation-reduction potential and pH of the sediment were measured. Of the sediment samples, the overall concentrations of iron, manganese, phosphorus, sulphur, nitrogen, and carbon as well as the forms of iron were analysed. The analysis of the forms of iron was carried out with a sequential leaching method, in which the four separated forms were: 1) iron bound in carbonates (siderite and ankerite) or iron bound in acid-volatile sulfide (AVS), 2) easily reduced iron oxides (ferrihydrite and lepidocrite), 3) reducing iron oxides (goethite, hematite, akaganeite) and 4) magnetite. The results show that the different oxygen conditions in the water near the bottom in the studied stations can be seen as variation of the forms of iron in the sediment, especially regarding iron oxide concentrations. The sediments of the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea have, due to good oxygen conditions in the water near the bottom, plenty of easily reduced and reducing iron oxides, especially in the sediment's surface layers. Instead, in the sulfidic sediments of the occasionally anaerobic Gulf of Finland and especially the northern part of the Baltic Sea Proper, which has been anaerobic for a long time, there are few easily reduced and reducing iron oxides. From the point of view of internal load and the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, the aerobic sediments containing plenty of iron oxides in the stations of the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea could act as binders of phosphorus and other trace elements. Instead, in the station of the Gulf of Finland the amount of iron oxides in the sediment can vary due to the occasional anaerobic state and, in the station in the northern part of the Baltic Sea Proper that has been anaerobic for a long time, there are few phosphorus binding iron oxides, in which case phosphorus is released from the sediment to the water and can mix with the productive layer to be used by algae.
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