Happy Kalevala Day!
In Finland 28th of February we celebrate Finnish culture and Kalevala, the national epic of Finland! Kalevala is based on different folktales, ballads and poems that a Finnish philologist and collector Elias Lönnrot gathered all around Finland and synthesized in 1830's. In Kalevala we learn, how the world is born from an egg of a bluebill, and how a sage named Väinämöinen causes mayhem everywhere he goes being an old creep on the side.
In the picture above, Väinämöinen is fighting against Pohjan Akka, Louhi, a witch and ruler of Pohjola. Väinämöinen is actually on a raid, trying to steal this magical charm, Sampo, celestial sphere, that can grind salt, grain and money from nothing. So who is the villain here, is debatable, I guess. This painting is by a famous Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela and it is called Sammon puolustus (engl. The Defense of the Sampo). He also made a ceiling fresco with the same name at the Exposition Universelle of 1900, four years later.
In Kalevala, Väinämöinen slays a pike and from this creature's jawbone he crafts a kantele, which he uses for playing his tunes and enchantments. He also has his gang with him on his adventures. One of the main fellows is Seppo Ilmarinen, a blacksmith, who was the one who made the Sampo for Louhi to get one of her world-famous beautiful daughters. This proposal journey went well, until it didn't.
In the picture below is one of Akseli Gallen-Kallela's paintings as well and it is called Lemminkäisen äiti (engl. Lemminkäinen's Mother). Lemminkäinen, Kaukomieli, was a womanizer, who abducted this fine maiden Kyllikki, to be his wife (come on, what is it with these dudes??). But because Kyllikki had her own will, Lemminkäinen went his own way to propose (surprise, surprise) to Louhi's daughters. Well, it does not go well and he ends up in pieces to the river of Tuonela (Finnish Underworld), from where his grieving mother rakes his pieces and puts them back together. Poor woman. This painting pictures mother's grief very well.
There's so much more in Kalevala, like in all epic tales around the world, but I won't go into it more (this was probably already too much, sorry). But I would like to point out, that probably the best way to take in Kalevala is to sing it or listen to it being sang. That is becuase Kalevala is written in trochaic meter, that we call Kalevala metre. Here's an example from the 41st poem (or rune) of Kalevala:
Vaka vanha Väinämöinen
laulaja iän-ikuinen,
– –
Otti soiton sormillensa,
käänti käyrän polvillensa,
kantelen kätensä alle.
(Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura)
Here's English translation:
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
The eternal wisdom singer,
––
Takes the harp by him created,
In his hands the harp of fish-bone,
With his knee the arch supporting.
(I found the translation from here. But to be noted, it is not a direct translation, because in the end of the day, it is a poem. I find some of the lines are mixed and so on.)
Here we can see, that every line is eight syllables long. Telling stories in this poetic manner made them easier to remember and that is how oral folklore was spread over generations. But this is very common for epic tales in general. Anyway if you are interested in listening Kalevala being sang with kanteles, I recommend these guys! They have a project to sing the whole Kalevala from the beginning to the end. They have a video, where they explain in English how this project came to be. It's really interesting!
Anyway, have a good day, y'all!