Finland: Moomins

History
Tove Jansson was a finnish author and illustrator who created the Moomins. She studied art, and published her first Moomin book in 1945, titled The Moomins and the Great Flood.

The word 'Moomin' was derived from her uncle who told her as a child that a Moomintroll lived in the kitchen cupboard as she kept stealing food. Her original drawing of a Moomin was also thin and ugly, as she tried to create the ugliest creature possible. This is quite ironic as the Moomins were then pleasant creatures and aimed at children.

In 1952, The Evening News asked Jansson if she wanted to create comic strips in English for the paper which she did until 1959 when her brother then took over until 1975.

These were the works she did about the Moomins:

Here is what the Moomins look like:

They resemble Hippopotamus' and their personalities are based on those of people Jansson knew.

Comic Strip
Originally written by the creator, Tove Jansson, and her brother Lars, they were published between 1947 to 1975. The first strip was published in the children's section of a newspaper called Ny Tid. The first strip was called Moomintroll and The End of The World. 

The strip was extremely successful as it was published in over 40 countries, and with an audience of over 20 million. After the TV show, Moomin was aired, a Scandinavian country published a comic book verson during the 1990s which Jansson had no part with. 

Drawn and Quarterly have been publishing all of the comic strips since 2006 in hardcover books, which you can now buy, and include 7 volumes.

Here are some of the comic strips:

TV Show
There have been a few adaptions of the comic strips and books into TV series and films, the first being in 1969. 
However, there are two which have remained popular. One was a Japanese anime version shown in 1990 and broadcast in South Africa, Scandinavia, United Kingdom, Mexico, Poland, Nepal, Spain, Greece, Israel and Hawaii. The other show was a stop motion series shown in 1977 released in Polish, Finnish, German and English. 

This show helped create a moomin craze labelled the Moomin Boom, and there was also a film after it aired called Comet in Moominland. It lasted for two years and had 226 episodes.

This version was broadcast in the UK in 1983 and was narrated by Richard Murdoch. This version is the one that stays true most to the original books, and Tove approved each episode before production. Each episode was 5 minutes long, and there was 100.

Books
Tansson wrote a series of books as well as the comic strips, which the TV series were based upon. The list goes as:

The books in the series, in order, are:

1. The Moomins and the Great Flood (Originally: Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen) – 1945.
2. Comet in Moominland, Some editions: The Happy Moomins – (Originally: Kometjakten/Kometen kommer) – 1946.
3. Finn Family Moomintroll (Originally: Trollkarlens hatt) – 1948.
4. The Exploits of Moominpappa, Some editions: Moominpappa's Memoirs (Originally: Muminpappans bravader/Muminpappans memoarer) – 1950.
5. Moominsummer Madness (Originally: Farlig midsommar) – 1954.
6. Moominland Midwinter (Originally: Trollvinter) – 1957.
7. Tales from Moominvalley (Originally: Det osynliga barnet) – 1962 (Short stories).
8. Moominpappa at Sea (Originally: Pappan och havet) – 1965.
9. Moominvalley in November (Originally: Sent i november) – 1970 (In which the Moomin family is absent).

Characters 
Moomintroll
This is the main character of the series, and the son of MoominPapa and MoominMama.
Description: 'a spirited troll with a keen sense of adventure and fun. Moomin lives life fully, and views the world with a feeling of wonderment for such simple pleasures as collecting stones and shells. As gullible as he is enthusiastic, he is also naïve and extremely good-natured. He is in love with The Snork Maiden. In the cartoon strip he finds himself beset by endless problems, and is almost always unhappy, though this is by no means the case in the books.'

Moominpapa
This is MoominTrolls dad, and always writes his memoirs.
Description: 'orphaned in his younger years, he is a somewhat restless soul who left the orphanage to venture out into the world in his youth but has now settled down, determined to be a responsible father to his family. He is almost always wearing his black top-hat, inside which is painted, "M.P. from your M.M." to differentiate it from all the other top hats in the world. Moominpappa also lived on a ship with three Hattifatteners for a few days, observing their behaviour..'

Moominmama
This is Moomintrolls mum, and is a very motherly figure.
Description: 'She very rarely gets cross and takes even the most distressing circumstances (such as the arrival of a comet, or being washed away by a flood) in her stride. Moominmamma would permit anything to her child and his friends, even smoking (she says it's good for the stomach). Moominmamma is almost never without her handbag, which contains essentials like woolly socks, tummy powder, and bark. She makes bark boats every summer, and the first one goes to her favorite.'

Here is a description of their close friends from Wikipedia:

• Sniff (Sniff: sniffa, "to snuff/sob; to sniff") (Nipsu in Finnish) - Moomintroll's immature friend. He is a small animal of unknown species, though he somewhat resembles a brown rat or mouse. He is one of the few characters who is sincerely interested in money, and is always on the lookout for another way to get rich quick.
• Snufkin (Snusmumriken: dialectical snusmumrik or mumrik, "old man who talks carelessly; old codger, old bore; old snuff-taker; snotty or scruffy old man," derived from snus, "snuff," + interjection mum, also in mumla "mumble," with pejorative ending -ik) (Nuuskamuikkunen in Finnish) - Moomintroll's best friend, who goes south every winter and returns in the spring. He is the son of the Mymble and the Joxter, and is half-brother to The Mymble's Daughter and Little My. Snufkin is an adventurer and a vagabond, admired by those who are small and shy. Snufkin wears old green clothes and a wide brimmed hat he's had since birth. He lives in a tent, smokes a pipe, and plays the harmonica. Snufkin also has a great dislike for The Park Keeper, and the many regulation signs and fences he puts up. At one point he sabotages The Park Keeper by planting Hattifatteners in his garden, causing them to grow and drive him out. He is based on Tove Jansson's friend Atos Wirtanen.^[1]
• Little My (lilla My: my, "micron, mu") (Pikku Myy in Finnish) - She is a small, determined and fiercely independent Mymble. When she wants something done, she does it straight away. She is very aggressive and totally disrespectful, but can be a good friend. She has a brash personality. She is Snufkin's half-sister. A comment in MoominPapa at Sea about people who have been adopted may be read as implying that little My was adopted into the Moomin family.^[2]
• The Snork Maiden (Snorkfröken: snorkig, "snooty, snotty"; fröken, "Miss") (Niiskuneiti in Finnish) - Moomintroll's fair lady friend and admirer. She does fall in love with others sometimes, but returns to Moomintroll before things get too serious. She has blonde hair and sports a golden anklet. She changes color according to her mood, with her baseline color in the books described as pale yellow. Snorks are almost identical to Moomintrolls except that Snorks come in different colors (Moomintrolls are white), and a Snork's skin changes color depending on their mood.
• Snork (Snorken) (Niisku in Finnish) - The Snork Maiden's brother, also friends with Moomintroll. He and his sister first meet Moomintroll in Comet in Moominland. He is described as mauve in colour, though changes to a pale green when frightened. His character is obsessive over details, rules and protocol in the books. In the Japanese TV series, he develops as an avid inventor, constructing crazy things including once a tricycle for Moominmamma's birthday.

Merchandise 
As the Moomin's are so popular, there is a lot of merchandise for collectors and children. When I went to Finland, nearly every shop I went into was full of Moomin merchandise. 

There is everything from kitchenware, clothing, stationary, beauty products, books to keyrings.

Moominvalley
Moominvalley is where the Moomins live and where the books and tv series are set. It is described as a pastoral setting with trees, greenery, flowers, rivers and a sea. To me it seems as though it is based on Finland, as it is also a country with lots of nature. 

Moomin Museum
Situated in Tampere, Finland, the Moomin Museum features over 2,000 items and original drawings by Tove Jansson. There is also a replica of the Moomin House where they live, which went on tour before having a permanent position at the museum. 

Moomin World
Moomin World is a children's themepark in Naantali, Finland. There's a feature that has shows several times a day every day during Summer. There are many eateries related to the Moomin's such as Mama's Kitchen and The Groke's Iced Yoghurt. There's Snufkins Camp, a Scenic Lookout Point, Snorks Flying Machine, the Moomin House and Hemulen's House amongst other things.

Here is a map of the park:

Audience
Although the Moomins are aimed at children, it has been criticized for sometimes being scary in parts and dealing with serious issues such as floods and characters such as the Groke.

There is an article on the top scariest children's shows, and the Moomins is featured on it:

The Groke is an almost indescribably terrifying creature that occasionally invades the show for no apparent reason. You never actually see the Groke move: It slips between the seconds, its gaze fixed on your soul, as it emits a low, horrid breathing sound, like a recording of death itself. The worst part? It kills everything it touches. In one episode, we see a butterfly approaching it ...

Every other character in the show is terrified of the Groke to the point of hysteria. Another episode shows the Moomins panicking and barricading themselves into their house because they know the Groke is coming that night. Desperate, Moominpappa runs to the attic and grabs a shotgun.

The next morning, when they head out to investigate the spot in the garden where the Groke was, they find it dead and frozen, as if the warmth of a loving God just blew away like leaves in the wind. Then the narrator says, "Oh, what could they do? The terrible Groke would surely return"


Long Live the Moomins
This article on the Moomins is very interesting, and it actually suggests that one of the stories is inspired by Jansson's visits to one of the Finnish Islands:

Although most of the Moomin stories take place in Moominvalley – a generally peaceful and breathtakingly beautiful place where everyone is welcome and magical garden parties continue long into the white, warm summer night – some adventures are set further away.

Moominpappa and the sea seems to be inspired by Tove Jansson spending a great part of her life on the Pellinge islands east of Helsinki, Southern Coast of Finland. In the far-end islands, the nature and weather affected life in many different ways, bringing along daily surprises and challenges. It was from this creative, real island life that Jansson contrasted some of the situations and characters straight into the Moomins.