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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
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