The proverb Sitä kuusta kuuleminen,
jonka juurella asunto [‘You have to listen to the advice given by the
spruce you live next to’] is one of the oldest known Finnish proverbs. The
proverb is still in use. As known, the constellations of proverbs are quite
permanent. However, even if the proverbs are unchangeable, their meanings are
not.

Folklore studies as well as
folkloristic paremiology have always been connected with the nationalistic
ideas as a part of cultural and political independence. In the late 19th
century, the nation state was being built in Finland. For many reason the
above-mentioned proverb became to symbolise Finnishness. On the centennial of
the Finnish independence the paper focuses on proverbs as a part of nation
building in Finland.