Circus in Finland

Sunday 9/13/20, time 11:53 PM

I have always been a great fan of circus. It all begun when me and my kid brother hadn't even started school yet. Our Mum took us to a circus which had come to our home town Kuopio in Finland. We saw lions, dogs, horses and one Indian elephant doing their act with their trainer or tamer behind his or her whip. Nowadays there are no wild animals in circuses in Finland. That's the law. I believe that's ok. Lions belong to Africa.

There's one image though that will stay in my mind forever. A trapeze act is an essential part of any circus. In 1960's there were no safety nets in circuses. That first ever evening at the circus there was this already a bit elderly German couple with their only son in his twenties. The son flew through the air and his parents kept watching him closely at the same time taking care of the ropes that controlled the trapeze bars. Suddenly the son couldn't catch the bar coming towards him and he came down almost head first and thudded on the sawdust. The poor mother run screaming to his son and started caressing gently his back with her hand. Soon we heard the ambulance. The paramedics did their act and in no time the ambulance headed to the hospital with the whole family in it. The circus band started playing again and the ringmaster announced the next performance. The show must go on! 

Circus in Finland Series - Click here: Circus in Finland

The Pictorial Mag No. 96 published a long article The Show Must Go On on my circus images together with an interview - Click here: The Show Must Go On

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Keywords: circus in Finland, circus, sirkus Filandia, sirkus florentino, sirkus Caliba, finland, Suomi, Simo Väisänen, SimoVaisanen