In HaliPuu, a pine forest in the far north of Finland, a tree-hugging contest is held every year at the end of August. The name Halipsen Forest is derived from the Finnish words for hug (Hali) and tree (Puu). In fact, this thing, the same forest countries do not necessarily run out to have the same competition, Finland is not only the only, but also the first.

Now in its fifth year, organizer HaliPuu wanted to use tree hugging as a fun way to draw people's attention to nature, trees and forests.

Forests are very important to Finns, and this "tree hugging" tournament is said to be aimed at getting people closer to the wilderness of Lapland, cutting down fewer trees and enjoying the gifts of nature, with the beautiful name "Forest Bathing Art".

The first is "Speed Hugging", in which participants hug as many trees as possible within a set amount of time, with each tree hugging for at least five seconds, and the person who hugging the most trees wins.

The first is the "Dedication of Love," in which contestants choose their "tree of mind" and embrace it as affectionately as they can for one minute.

The first is "Freestyle", which, as the name implies, allows the contestants to be creative and embrace the tree in any way imaginable, with your imagination.


Italian Stefania won the first two "tree hugging competitions" in a row. In the first freestyle competition, she clasped her hands, bowed to the tree and embraced it, deeply touching the judges with her concern for nature; In the second race, she set a record for "speed hugs", hugging 10 trees in one minute.

Annie Rankira (Photo 6) from Helsinki won the third annual Tree Hugging competition with a quirky brown bear costume and a week-long holiday in the ski resort of Levy as her prize.

The organizers also launched an online competition like the previous one, where applicants from all over the world can record their tree-hugging ideas through videos and videos and share their own immersive moments with trees. This year, the time lasted from August 10 to August 31.

In 2020, the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic covered the entire earth, and Finland became an "island" in the Arctic Circle, where tourists stopped visiting and people even began to dare not hug their loved ones.

"If you can't hug people, hug trees!" With this in mind, the Recario family, the owners of Halipu Forest, started the "tree hugging contest" at the end of August 2020.

"We want to do something that makes people happier. Everyone was trapped in the epidemic, so I thought this was something we could do to cheer people up."

The judge of the first competition, Mintu Hemmerwerta, used to live in Helsinki. Suffering from depression, she moved to Lapland, away from people and into nature. In the embrace with the trees, she found herself.

"Trees don't ask for anything from you, you can be yourself in front of them." When I sit quietly in the woods and look at everything around me, inspiration just keeps coming."