In a way, the Jukola Relay culminates in its message. The message is a greeting related to a cause regarded important and dedicated to some current organization or society. The message, figuratively carried by the competitors of Jukola with them throughout the relay, has been an essential element of Jukola since the second, 1950 relay. As tradition has it, the message is read out loud by the last leg runner of the winning team on Sunday morning, although even other members of the team have had this honour over the last few years.
The Louna-Jukola message is composed by the long-time prominent figure in orienteering, Seppo Väli-Klemelä, who himself has also once celebrated Jukola victory. The first message written by “Sepi” was experienced and heard in Kytäjä-Jukola 2010. During the soon 70-year history of Jukola, Väli-Klemelä is only the sixth message composer in order.
– Well, this is quite an honorific task, if you look at the names of earlier composers of the message, Väli-Klemelä says about the list “starred” by the late Antero Viherkenttä and Matti Salmenkylä.
Väli-Klemelä’s work begins in November, when the Jukola management group has decided the addressee of the message and informs him about it. First to be done is a very familiar task.
– After learning the addressee I always read Seven Brothers from beginning to end. I reflect the tones of the text and, above all, look for an apt quotation. I strive to use Kivi’s lyric more than before and incorporate social message into the text. Usually I write the final version of the message on Christmas holidays, Väli-Klemelä describes.
Of the six messages he’s composed, this year’s text was maybe the most challenging to formulate. Väli-Klemelä cannot put his own texts into rank order, but the personally most memorable message is not impossible to name.
– In the text I wrote for Jämsä-Jukola in 2013 everything matched perfectly. It was almost like Aleksis Kivi had written the gutsy lines by Juhani of Jukola about “through-distressed hearts” and “barging headlong” just for that moment, Väli-Klemelä looks back at the greeting dedicated to the High Performance Unit of the Finnish Olympic Committee.
What kind of delicacies has ”Sepi” picked from Seven Brothers this time and to whom will the message be dedicated? You will find out those on early Sunday morning, right after the fight for victory has ceased. On the other hand, you can listen to the composer himself as the commentator on Jukola radio broadcasts on Yle Puhe channel – only in Finnish, though.
In addition to Jukola messages, Seppo Väli-Klemelä also writes regularly as a journalist, like here in 10mila in Sweden this spring. Photo: Antti Veijalainen.
