The Frazden School of Boundless Joy Turns 106

The Four Houses of Frazden

Hosted by Aaranya Susipetonen, a magizoologist from Alberta and an ex-MeriPelle, who was a student of DJ Bohm and Newt Scamander. She has a doctorate in Magizoology and has written a textbook on Thestrals and Occamies. She is currently in Sodankylä (Lapland) to write her second textbook (SARtastic Beasts and Where to Find Them).

As we celebrate the 106th founding day of Frazden, Aaranya shares the origins of the four houses of Frazden: MeriPelle, MeriKotka, MeriMies, and MeriMetso. The house names are in Finnish because this imaginary school is based in Lapland, and each house is named after its patronus. For example, MeriKotka literally means Sea (Meri) Eagle (Kotka).

But why seabirds?

Letty’s favorite bird of prey is a white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster). For more historical context, see Why Articulate With Ease?

MeriPelle

Loves the wilderness and all its inhabitants (naturalists to the core)

• Founder: William. J. Long (1867 to 1952)
• Patronus: Atlantic Sea Puffin (NL, Canada)
• Leader: Dora Tonks (Hufflepuff)
• Mascot: Dog (Koira/Hund/Chien)
• Color: Puna ruskea (red brown/ochre)
• Song: Pohjola by Olli Halonen
• Key: Muggle-worthy

MeriKotka

Loves to outsmart others and tries to transcend thought (pioneers to the core)

• Founder: David. J. Bohm (1917 to 1992)
• Patronus: White-bellied Sea Eagle (Agonda, Goa, India)
• Leader: Luna Lovegood (Ravenclaw)
• Mascot: Occamy
• Color: Sinivihreä (teal)
• Song: Kaikista mailman maista by Petri Laaksonen
• Keys: A circle has no beginning and I see them too

MeriMies

Loves to chase new frontiers and implement ideas (entrepreneurs to the core)

• Founder: Allan. W. Anderson (1922 to 2013)
• Patronus: Albatross (North Pacific Ocean)
• Leader: Rubeus Hagrid
• Mascot: Hippogriff
• Color: Myrskyn harmaa (storm gray)
• Song: Mä en pelkää by Lauri Tähkä
• Key: Follow the spiders

MeriMetso

Loves the unfathomable. Is Unruffled by the unknown (mystics to the core)

• Founder: Alan. W. Watts (1915 to 1973)
• Patronus: Cormorant (Widespread)
• Leader: Severus Snake
• Mascot: Thestrals
• Color: Valkoinen (White)
• Song: Isä by Vesterinen Yhtyeineen
• Key: Muffliato (radar jamming cue)

Podcast Note

This is a non-commercial project and a work of fiction, so everything herein is imaginary with some dangling facts. To use Kate Wolf’s songs, see ⁠⁠⁠Using a Kate Wolf song⁠⁠⁠. This episode was published on December 05, 2023, and it was edited on July 15, 2024, to include a few seconds of a Kate Wolf song: Back Roads (1975). You might hear your host humming Minun Suomeni somewhere during this episode.

Cover Image

Taken by Letty in September 2022 when she and her best friends, Frazer and Denvor, went on a road trip to Lapland.

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