Kalevala’s origins and myths

Vesa Matteo Piludu, Kalevala SuiteLecture 510.10.2011

Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Arts

Musicology

University of Helsinki

Mikael Agricola 1510-1557

Translated the Bible into Finnish

In his introduction to the Psalm, he included a list of 12 Finnish and Pagan deities

Purpose: eradicate superstition

Daniel Juslenius 1676-1752

Compared Finnish Folk poetry with the pastoral poetry of Antiquity

Henrik Gabriel Porthan (1739-1804)

De poesi Fennica (1776-78)

He understood the relevance of folk poetry for the development of Finnish literature and culture

He saw the harsh reality of life and hard work that underlay folk poems

Study of the structure of the poetry

Attention to the musical features of folk poetry

He believed that various separate folk epic song might yield a coherent narrative

Karl Axel Gottlund (1796-1875)

Pedagogical nature and common sense wisdom in Folk poetry

Odd romantic theory Finns: had been a civilized

people before the degeneration in medieval barbarism

Finns should have a noble prehistory, a “golden age” of heroes

It would be possible to built up a great epic narrative on basis of the “ancient” folk poems

Gottlund failed completely in writing his own epic poem

Elias Lönnrot

Gifted son of a tailor of Sammatti Mother tongue: Finnish

Enrolled at the University of Turku in 1822 Collegues and friends: Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877) and

Johan Vilhelm Snelman (1806-1881)

Teacher Reinold von Becker (1788-1859), who had gone on expedition to collect Finnish folk poetry and wrote an article on Väinämöinen

According to him Väinämöinen was a great warrior and a multi-skilled hero

Lönnrot wrote the dissertation De Wäinämöine, priscorum fennorum numine

The wanderer

1828 First expedition. Lönnrot wasn’t able to reach White Sea Karelia, but met the

singer Juhana Kainulainen in Kesälahti: Long song of Lemminkäinen, the singing battle of Väinämöinen and

Joukahainen, a fragment of the stealing of the Sampo, several spells and charms

1932 Third expedition to White Sea Karelia

1933 Lönnrot moved to Kajaani and worked as a district physician

White Sea Karelia: In Vuonninen Ontrei Malinen (1781-1856) sang nine long poems about

Väinämöinen Vaassila Kieväläinen remebered the order of the poems In Latvajärvi Arhippa Perttunen sang complete poems in a coherent order:

over 4000 lines

1828 – 18377 expeditions in Finland, Karelia and Lapland

Elias Lönnrot travelling

Elias Lönnrot in Finlandia is considered a true hero

Singer of Suistamo with kantele. Photo by Inha

Lönnrot and Kalevala

Lönnrot was convinced that the characters of the epic folk poems were historical heroes

Sacred prehistory of the Finns

Lönnrot tried to cut (mostly) all Christian elements from the songs and created an ideal pagan civilization