Meatball Monday

This might happen in various parts of the world, but it simply won’t ever happen with my wife, regardless of the time of the year.

It sounds strange, but it’s actually a competition called “Eukonkanto” that started in of all places Finland and dates back to

As it is known, there are various stories of this “sport” that have been passed down from one person to another about a man named Herkko Rosvo-Ronkainen, who was considered a robber in the late 1800s.

He lived in a forest, and ran around with his gang of thieves causing harm to the villages that he passed through, regardless of the time of the year.

It is said that there are three ideas to why/how this sport was invented or started, centuries ago and you can judge for yourself.

First, Rosvo-Ronkainen and his thieves were accused of stealing food and women from villages in the area he lived in; then carried these women on their backs as they ran away, (hence the “wife” or women carrying).

The second idea, it has been said that young men would go to villages near their own, steal other men’s wives, and then have the woman become their own wife.

These wives were also carried on the backs of the young men; this was referred to as “the practice of wife stealing.”

The last was the idea that Rosvo-Ronkainen trained his thieves to be “faster and stronger” by carrying big, heavy sacks on their backs, which could have eventually evolved to a sport because of the hard labor (endurance), and muscle strengthening; which most sports ensure.

Even though this sport has been considered by some as a joke, competitors take it very seriously, just like any other sport.

Wife carrying is now practiced in the countries such as Australia, the US, Hong Kong, Estonia and  yes even Canada!

Strange but true, this “sport” actually has a category in the Guinness Book of Records.

Oh yea – Wife Carrying World Championships are held annually in Sonkajärvi, Finland, since 1992 where the prize depends on the wife’s weight in of all things – BEER.

Check this video out and let me know if your Wife is up for entering??