2. Origins and purpose of the Deaf Culture Days

The original motivation for starting the Deaf Culture Days was twofold: the activities and mental competitions of the youth associations for the hearing during the 1950s and the desire to bring various deaf youth clubs together.

With a few exceptions, the deaf club members did not tend to compete with one other in any way. During the 1920s, the hearing organised "spoken recitation competitions" for the deaf and the deaf youth clubs and chess clubs later organised their own competitions. While it was possible for the deaf to participate in competitions for the hearing, the contest was truly fair and equal in just a few competitions, such as in visual arts. A key reason for this was that the competition jury did not know sign language. Having their own Culture Days promoted the growth of deaf young people's mental abilities, knowledge and skills. Young people now had the chance to compete and perform with other deaf people. The events also gave rise to new talent who later performed in various deaf clubs' events. The Culture Days also had an educational undertone that built character and helped the youth to find their own attitudes towards life.

The proposal to start organising mental competitions was first presented at the Finnish Association of the Deaf 1949 annual meeting. Erkki Tuliniemi from the Vaasa Deaf Club proposed that the former general meeting tradition would be restored and that mental competitions should be begun. However, his proposal was not supported at the time. The idea only started to become reality much later when Inkeri Koskinen from Vaajakoski presented the idea of Culture Days at the Helsinki youth club get-together.

At the 1955 annual meeting, Aura Ahlbäck proposed that youth culture days would be organised every three years and that the programme would include mental competitions. The proposed Culture Days would promote youth work and activate young people to take part in deaf clubs. As a result, the Culture Days Committee was founded. The original committee members included Aura Ahlbäck, Kaisu Korhonen, Kauko Mäkelä and Jarmo Narmala. Event organisers also included Sirpa Kostiainen, Terttu Martola and Esko Sänkiniemi, together with the representatives from each local deaf club.

The first culture days for deaf youth were organised in 1956 at the Helsinki Deaf Club. The event was an instant success, which also caught the organisers by surprise. A large audience showed up to see the competitions between 40 competitors from 14 different deaf clubs. The programme included five competition series: drawing, recitation, storytelling, presentation and folk dancing. The age limit was 40 in all competitions except folk dancing. The venue was packed to its limits as the event attracted as many as 300 participants. The event closed with a gala evening held at the Elanto ball room.

Lauri Pohjanpää's poem Soihdunkantajat ('Torchbearers') had already been selected as a mandatory piece in the poem recitation competition in the first Culture Days. The poem matched the spirit of the event perfectly. It was later turned into the 'torch of light' event symbol, which presented passing on mental achievements and traditions from one generation to another.

Culture Days have since been considered as dignified events that boost the participants' self-esteem and where new ideas, ways of expression and talent have been introduced. The events have also showcased how the competitors' skills have improved and provided an opportunity to compare skill levels and obtain new ideas.