and President
Risto Ryti inspect troops in Enso (today
Svetogorsk) on Marshal's birthday in 1944. During 1919–1939 it was called the Day of the War People's flag fest () and was celebrated on May 16th as the Victory Day of the Troops of the Republic of Finland, i. e. the
Whites over the
Reds in the
Civil War 1918. President
K. J. Ståhlberg confirmed the Day of the War People's flag fest as an official holiday in 1921. The last War People's flag fest parade was held twenty years after the White victory parade in 1938; after the
Winter War there were no need to maintain the dichotomy of Finnish society and the celebrations of 16 May were ended. In 1942, during Mannerheim's 75th birthday, the
Finnish Government declared that from then on 4 June would officially celebrated as the Birthday of
Marshal of Finland (). When the 85th anniversary of Mannerheim's birth had passed and Finland was about to celebrate its 35th anniversary in 1952, the flag-flying ceremony of the Defence Forces was celebrated with a parade in
Helsinki's
Senate Square. Forty divisions and over two thousand people from the Defence Forces and the
Border Guard participated in the parade. The parade was received by the President
J. K. Paasikivi, together with
Aarne Sihvo, the
Chief of Defence. ==In popular culture==