As a kid, I’d get home from school, grab a packet of crisps and juice carton, and sit in front of the TV for my daily dose of cartoons—usually some combo of the explosive Battle of the Planets, the mysterious Ulysses 31 or the ridiculous Scooby Doo.
But in 1983, a quirky, odd and somewhat meditative cartoon appeared. I, like many children of the ‘80s, was instantly captivated by the adventures of a group of gentle, hippo-esque characters living in a magical valley with their quirky friends—the wandering Snufkin and outspoken Little My. These cozy yet melancholic stories blended whimsical adventures with deeper themes about belonging, seasonal change, and finding comfort in both solitude and community. The Moomins had entered my world.
But it was in 1945, 80 years ago, when Tove Jansson’s first Moomin book, The Moomins and The Great Flood, was published where Moominmamma and Moomintroll search for the missing Moominpappa while crossing a great flood to find a new home. Jansson wrote and illustrated all her Moomin books, creating a whole new world.
But what makes these stories timeless isn’t just their whimsy. It’s their distinctly Finnish relationship with the landscape. And that’s how I found myself, walking the streets of Helsinki on a warm late June morning, retracing the steps of their creator: Swedish-speaking Finnish author, painter and illustrator Tove Jansson.