In 1970, during the early days of the reawakening of Finnish ethnic consciousness in North America, a chance radio advertisement created a now-popular folk character in the Finnish ethnic community on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan This character, Heikki Lunta [hay’-key loon’-ta], was originally presented in a song, and immediately became a parcel of the local cultural life.
Heikki Lunta stands as a metaphor for many things, and as his uses continue to grow, so do his meanings from person to person He can cross ethnic, economic, and geographic lines, but his survival in folklore depends on those who first imagined him, the residents of the Upper Peninsula.