All people crave recognition, and Scandinavians have a particularly liking for recog-nition in the form of a medal or a title. In the case of Orders of Knights you get both and that is perhaps why the Danes established their Order of the Elephant already in 1462. The other Nordic countries soon followed suit. Iceland came last with its Order of the Falcon in 1921.

The establishment of Orders of Knights goes back many centuries. Many spiritual orders were set up in the Holy Land during the Crusades to promote and defend Christianity and protect the pilgrims. Despite their religious nature, these orders eventually became more civilian and were often led by kings. Napoleon Bonaparte shocked the European royal houses when he founded the French Legion of Honour in 1802, to bestow knighthood on common citizens who had given exceptional services to the nation.

It has been stated that the four symbols of an independent nation are its flag, its coat of arms, its national anthem and its decorations. Today most countries have some kind of order of recognition. In Europe it is only Switzerland and Ireland that no longer hand out decorations.

In the Nordic countries it is the head of the state who bestows the order on deserving persons, such as visiting heads of state. In most of the countries decorations are also granted to deserving citizens that often receive them automatically with a promotion.

A medal is often beautiful as a piece of jewelry with real gold and precious stones. The medal itself is generally only a loan and should be returned after the bearer has deceased, but many medals (and the miniatures carried at informal occasions) often appear at auctions.

A person may also be deprived the right to wear an order if he or she has been found guilty of an offence. Sweden fought hard to get back its medals from Rumanian dictator Ceaceasceau during his lifetime.

In Finland the medal remains the property of the person who has received it as he or she has to pay for the actual material cost.

The decorations are often criticized for being undemocratic and therefore undeserving of a modern country. The orders have an aura of being secret and in some cases this is true with the members being bound by an oath of silence. There are secret ceremonies, passwords, and symbols and you can never question the reason for a particular selection.

Most orders divide their members in various ranks such as Knights of the Grand Cross, Commanders or just Knights, but seldom according to merit. The level of decoration you receive depends on your social standing. All the same recipients are uniformly happy to receive an order and very seldom are they declined. For a country it is a very inexpensive way to award happiness.

FINLAND

While Finland was part of the Swedish kingdom, many Finns became knights of various Swedish Orders, such as the Vasa Order (1772), the Order of the North Star and the Order of the Sword (both 1748). After 1809 awards to Finns came from St. Petersburg, and the Czar was indeed generous with decorations of the Orders of St. Anna (1738) and of St. Stannislaus (1765). Less common were such Orders as the White Eagle (1705) and Alexander Nevski (1725).

General C.G. Mannerheim took the initiative for Finland’s first own order already in 1918 when the Order of the Freedom Cross was instituted. It is granted strictly for military merits, especially during times of war, so it is seldom awarded nowadays.

At the initiative of Marshall Mannerheim, the Order of Finland’s White Rose was established in 1919 in appreciation for extraordinary civil services to the nation. The insignia was designed by the artist Aksell Gallen Kalla. The third of the Finnish Orders, that of Finland’s Lion, was established by President Risto Ryti in 1942. It can be granted for either civil or military service. The lion, which of course is not indigenous to Finland happens to be the centerpiece in Finland’s coat of arms. The prototype of the lion can be found on Gustaf Vasa’s tomb in Uppsala Cathedral and it was his son, Johan III who was the only Swedish monarch to learn Finnish who designated the symbol.

The President of the Republic of Finland is the Grand Master of all Finnish Orders, and thus bestows the "Honor, Dignity and Insignia" to the deserving persons.

In Finland all awards are announced only once a year on Independence Day, December 6. The newspapers carry lists of names and photographs organized by Order and rank, such as Commanders I Class, Commanders, Knights I Class, Knights and other grades of merit badges, as well as military promotions. Recipients abroad may receive awards any time during the year.

In 1986 the Finnish military created a new order of sorts, when it awarded an oakleaf insignia to the 300 000 veterans who had been at the front during the war years 1939-45.