Every design for Kaustinen

Kaustinen lies inland from Kokkola, up the river valley along which its first settlers moved away from the coast, and its very name points back to a village on that shore. The neighbours are Halsua, Veteli and Kokkola, and the land is open Central Ostrobothnian farmland.

Ask anyone what Kaustinen feels like and they will talk about July. The Kaustinen Folk Music Festival fills the village every summer, fiddles sound from every corner, and JPP, one of its best-loved house bands, plays at home. The violin on the coat of arms is no decoration: the old folk tradition never stopped here, carried by the likes of Konsta Jylhä, fiddler and master pelimanni, and the kantele player Kreeta Haapasalo. In Finnish, even Woodstock, the little bird from Peanuts, is called Kaustinen. Europe's largest lithium reserve lies under the area too, though the music is what people mention first.

For anyone who grew up here, the map holds the year in miniature: the Kaustisen kotiseutumuseo on a school trip, the Musiikkimonumentti on the way through the centre, and the evenings when the whole village turned into a stage.