Kousa tankard from Rusko

The ‘kousa’ tankard was used at catechetical meetings in the village of Hujala in Rusko in the 19th century. At the end of each meeting, it was taken in a procession to the house where the next meeting was to be held. The date 1542 has been painted on the tankard. The cup part of the vessel bears the Latin inscription “Cras erit vobis salus, cum incaluerit sol” – “To morrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye shall have help” from the Bible (I Samuel 11 or I Kings 29). Made of spruce rootstock and painted red, the vessel is 2.3 litres in volume and 75 cm in height.

The kousa is the only Finnish celebration tankard that has been preserved, and it was probably custom-made. Scandinavian museums have over twenty of them. The majority of the celebration tankards, which are closely linked with Finnish-Swedish noble families, have survived in Sweden, where they were taken from Vakka-Suomi. The vessels usually have the coat of arms of some noble family.