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Juhannus on merkkipäivä, jona mennään mökille.

Juhannus on merkkipäivä, jona mennään mökille.
Midsummer is an occasion on which people go to the cottage.
From Lesson 288:Relative pronouns in essive and translative (jona, joksi)·Finnish

Breakdown of Juhannus on merkkipäivä, jona mennään mökille.

olla
to be
mennä
to go
mökki
the cottage
merkkipäivä
the special day
juhannus
midsummer

Questions & Answers about Juhannus on merkkipäivä, jona mennään mökille.

Why is the relative pronoun joka in the form jona here?
Jona is the essive case of the relative pronoun joka. We use the essive case with days, dates, and occasions to express "on which" or "during which". Here, it refers back to the noun merkkipäivä, meaning "an occasion on which".
Who is actually going to the cottage when the sentence uses mennään?
Nobody specific! Mennään is the passive present form of the verb mennä (to go). In Finnish, the passive is commonly used to express what "people" or "one" generally does. Here, it translates naturally as "people go".
Why do we use the allative case mökille instead of going into it (mökkiin)?
By convention, Finnish treats cottages and cabins as open properties or estates rather than just enclosed buildings. Therefore, you use the external locative cases for them: you go to the cottage (mökille), stay at it (mökillä), and leave from it (mökiltä).
What makes up the compound word merkkipäivä?
It combines merkki (mark, sign) and päivä (day). In Finnish, a merkkipäivä is a significant day, milestone, or special occasion, literally a day worth marking on the calendar!

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