What is "laskiainen"

Laskiainen is a celebration with Finnish origins, which is associated with Shrove Tuesday and is often described as a "mid-winter sliding festival".

One of the places the festival is celebrated in is the community of Palo, Minnesota (between Aurora and Makinen, on the shores of Loon Lake). Palo is the home of one of the longest continuously held Finnish–American festivals in the United States.

Many smaller groups and Finnish–American clubs have various Laskiainen celebrations, but the large one which developed and became more organized in Palo in the 1930s is notable for both size and longevity.

In North America, it is traditional to have a split-pea soup with ham meal, and slide down either snow-covered or iced tracks, often on toboggans.