I Should Have Reminded You to Set an Alarm

If you’re reading these words, you probably already woke up today — unless you’re a time traveler or you’ve learned to read in your sleep, my prediction is rather safe. And as a result, there’s a very slight chance that at least one person reading these words started their day with a rude awakening — and may still be soaking wet.

If so, here’s another prediction: that person lives in Finland.

Every year, some families in that nation celebrate a holiday of sorts called “Unikeonpäivä,” which literally translates to “Day of the Sleep One.” But it’s more accurately described as “National Sleepy Head Day” — and it’s not an excuse to sleep late. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. In households that celebrate, the last person to wake is dubbed the “laziest” of the household, and as Finnish publication YLE reports, that person was traditionally “awakened with water, either by being thrown into a lake or the sea, or by having water thrown on them.” Not the best way to start one’s day!

The custom dates back to the year 250 CE, when, per Christian legend, Romans persecuted seven young men for wanting to practice Christianity. As Wikipedia summarizes, the boys “sold their worldly goods to the poor and retire to a mountain cave to pray, where they fell asleep. The Emperor, seeing that their attitude towards paganism had not improved, ordered the mouth of the cave to be sealed.” The young men were later dubbed the “Seven Sleepers,” and parts of Finland celebrate (for lack of a better word) the legend via National Sleepy Head Day. In an effort to get people to not oversleep — lest they be sealed up in a cave — the latest sleeper received a watery punishment.

The custom has morphed over the years. While some families still splash the snoozer, many other places have removed the “sleeping in” part of the ritual. For example, as the Delco Times reported in 2015, “in the city of Naantali, a Finnish celebrity is chosen every year to be thrown in the sea from the city’s port at 7 a.m. The identity of the sleeper is kept secret until the event.” That person gladly takes the plunge before crowds of spectators. As Kari Vuola, the city’s parish organist and 2014 designee told YLE, “My selection as Sleepy Head for 2014 was completely unexpected. I wasn’t even in Naantali when I heard the news by phone. I thought about it for a moment, but I soon realized that you can’t refuse an honor like this,”

But if your area celebrates it less formally and you woke up soaking wet a few hours ago, my apologies — I should have warned you on Friday.

Bonus fact: According to a 2004 study (pdf here), people who sleep on their left side are more likely to suffer nightmares than those who sleep on their right. (It’s not clear what happens to those of us who flip sides during the night.)

From the Archives: The Village in Kazakhstan That Can’t Stay Awake: Sleeping sickness?