“Sleep well. First warm spring day you’ll have me here again.”
Snufkin’s spring letter is a promise of his return to Moominvalley on the first spring day after his wintry wanderings. This year’s Moomin’s Day mug depicts this eagerly anticipated moment in fresh colours. The mug will be available as a limited edition from Moomin’s Day, 9 August 2024.
The new mug celebrates Moomin’s Day for the seventh time. Named Spring, it is the third mug in the Moomin’s Day mug collection featuring an illustration of a particular season in Moominvalley. The first two from 2018 and 2021 depict summer and winter. The Spring mug is illustrated by Tove Slotte.
The wait is rewarded with a joyful reunion
“Cheerio, Sleep well. First warm spring day you’ll have me here again. Don’t start the dam building without me. Snufkin.”
Every year, before wandering south for the winter, Snufkin leaves Moomintroll a spring letter that brings comfort and promises the reunion of the best friends in spring. In the novel Moominland Midwinter (1957), Moomintroll wakes up in the middle of the hibernation. He finds Snufkin’s letter in its usual spot, on the cabinet in the Moominhouse’s salon, and reads it many times. To make up for the silence of the sleeping house, he even sings the message out loud.
In the mug’s illustration, snow has already melted, and the bright sun has attracted the first tulips and daffodils out – also Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden. On the turn side is the main star of the mug: Snufkin’s return from his winter wanderings to Moominvalley is a sign of spring’s arrival and an eagerly anticipated event, especially for Moomintroll. He gets to spend time with his best friend again.
Snufkin from Tove Jansson’s aquarelle
For the new mug’s illustration, Tove Slotte re-drew Snufkin based on Tove Jansson’s original aquarelle piece and added flowers to his hat. The aquarelle illustrates a spring song in a Moomin songbook, originally published in Swedish in 1993 as Visor från Mumindalen.
Moomintroll, Snorkmaiden, the stream, and other elements on the mug Slotte picked from the comic story Moomin’s Winter Follies (1955). The daffodils are from Moominland Midwinter.
Moomin’s Day mug available from 9 August
As usual, the new Moomin’s Day mug will be available as a limited edition on Moomin’s Day, 9 August. The swiftest can get the special mug for themselves at selected sales points.
“We are expecting to see many keen Moomin mug fans and collectors, as always on Moomin’s Day,” says Mirka Paasikangas, Global PR and Communications Manager for Moomin Arabia.
The Moomin’s Day mug 2024, Spring, is an exclusive special edition. It will be available from 9 August 2024 at 12 pm from the Moomin Arabia webshop moominarabia.com. The physical Moomin Arabia brand stores and selected Iittala stores start their sales according to their normal opening times.
The mug is also sold at the moomin.com webshop (also starting at 12.00 pm (EET) and in Moomin shops (according to their opening times). The mugs are available only as long as the limited stock lasts. There will also be a limited stock of a Moomin’s Day kitchen towel.
Interested in a collaboration with Moomin? Send an e-mail to licensing@rightsandbrands.com