KalevalaA Finnish Folk Epic

with 22 795 verses divided into 50 songs

Elias Lönnrot (1802 – 1884)

Physician, botanist and linguist

Made 11 collecting trips over 15 years

Worked to promote the Finnish language

The first collecting trips…Lönnrot set off in April 1828

The first version of Kalevala

was published in 1835 and the

2nd version

that Finns read today

was published in 1849

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8UfdehDqm4&list=RDA8UfdehDqm4

Lemminkäinen sets off to woo Kyllikki, a maiden of Saari Island. He makes merry with the other maidens and abducts

Kyllikki.

“You might be surrounded by clouds, but you'll be like sunshine to me.”

― Richelle Mead, Shadow Kiss

He later abandons her and leaves to woo the maiden of Pohjola. With his singing he bewitches the people of Pohjola to leave the farmhouse at North Farm. Only one person, a cowherd, does not

fall under his spell.

Lemminkäinen asks Louhi for her daughter, but Louhi demands that he first hunt and kill the Demon's elk, then the Demon's fire-breathing gelding, and

finally the swan in Tuonela River, which is the boundary between this world and the

next.

There the vengeful cowherd kills

Lemminkäinen and throws his body into

the river.

Lemminkäinen's mother receives a sign of her son's death and goes out in search of him. She rakes the pieces of her son's body out of Tuonela River, sews them back together and elicits help to bring her son back to life.

Kalevala – a major impact on Finnish culture, language and arts

Finnish companies use the names of characters:Lähi-Tapiola (insurance and banking)

Pohjola (insurance and banking) Lemminkäinen (asphalting, construction company) Kalevala-related place names , such as Tapiola in

the city of Espoo. Popular Finnish names :  Sampo, Ilmari or Aino.

Jean Sibelius1865 – 1957

Inspiration from Kalevala:

Kullervo Lemminkäinen Suite --one of the four movements: the Swan of Tuonela https://www.youtube.co

m/watch?v=OtNWUw0afqI

Amphorishttps://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb2gjwq1WXg

A day's light told me of my son's fateThe sun showed the way, grim and severePulled under the raging waters, my childSank in the drowning currents, my sonMy sonMy son

My strength is not enough, my powers failed meI need the heavens help, I ask for thunder's forceI plead for you oh lightning, forge an iron toolA magic rake for dragging, a river for my sonMy son

God of fire bring your lightForger of sun help me nowGuardian of the shore will sleep in your warmthLull the folk of cold waterBanish the serpents of the darkTo the river let me go, and fetch my son away

Read more: Amorphis - Silent Waters Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

Silent waters

Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865 – 1931) Lemminkäisen äiti (Lemminkäinen’s Mother)

February 28th is Kalevala Day

Kalevala Day play at Käpylä Elementary School

Kalevala: LemminkäinenJere, Stefan, Santeri

The adventures of Lemminkäinen

By Jenni, Julia, Laura & Essi

Lemminkäinen and Kyllikki meet and fall passionately in love.

But nothing lasts forever. Lemminkäinen isn’t happy with Kyllikki’s behaviour and they start to bicker and grow apart.

Lemminkäinen gets fed up with his unhappy married life, decides to leave Kyllikki and find himself a new wife.

Lemminkäinen travels North to meet the Vicious Witch of the North called

Pohjolan Emäntä. Lemminkäinen asks to marry one of her daughters.

The devious witch gives Lemminkäinen three tasks to complete in order to get her daughter’s hand in marriage.

His first mission is to kill the Devil’s Moose. He succeeds.

The second mission is to slay the Devil’s Gelding. Again, he succeeds.

The third and final mission is to kill the sacred Swan of the Underworld, Tuonen Joutsen.

Lemminkäinen tries to putthe Swan of the Underworld to death.

Lemminkäinen fails to kill the Swan and gets attacked by a venomous serpent. It kills him.

Lemminkäinen’s concerned mother desperately tries to find her son.

The desperate mother goes to the Witch to ask where Lemminkäinen is. The Witch tells her that her son can be found

dead and in pieces in the River of the Underworld.

Lemminkäinen’s motherrakes up the pieces of her son.

Lemminkäinen’s mother sews the pieces of her son back together and brings him back to life.