Perhaps you already know that February 28 is Kalevala Day and the day of Finnish culture overall. Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, was published by Elias Lönnrot first in 1835 and later in 1849 as an expanded version, but the content of the book called “Kalevala” is far older. The Kalevala is a collection of songs in a fixed metre that were preserved in Karelian oral tradition.
Kalevala has not aged well in all aspects: some of the teaching, sometimes given explicitly in the verses, has long been out of date, such as advice on how to treat your disobedient spouse (verse XXIV) Nevertheless, like many good stories they can provide a lot of life advice even for our hectic modern lives (and of course it has the charm of an almost-lost tradition and worldview).
Ilmatar, a deity of the air, by Robert Wilhelm Ekman (1860)
1. Accidents can have good results
The creation myth in Kalevala is the following: a sea duck lays her seven eggs on the knee of Ilmatar, a deity or spirit of the air. When the she writhes, the eggs fall from the nest and crash. However…
“In the sand they do not perish,Â
Not the pieces in the ocean;Â
But transformed, in wondrous beauty
All the fragments come together”
The fragments turn into the earth, the sky, the sun, the moon and stars. It might seem that an event will have horrible results, but you never know: they might be not so bad after all.
2. Greed profits nobody
Much of the woe in Kalevala is caused by Sampo, a magical machine that produces flour, salt and gold. Ilmarinen the blacksmith builds it as a dowry in order to marry the daughter of Pohjola, but later – having seen the wealth is gives its owners – he and some other heroes team up to steal it back. In the end, no one gets the Sampo. Â
The forging of the Sampo, as seen in a fresco National Museum of Finland, by Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1928)
3. Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched
Or should we say “Don’t sing before you reach safety.”
The reason no one gets the Sampo is because one of the heroes blessed with neither wits nor a singing voice decides to sing out in celebration before the thieves have reached home. The sorceress of Pohjola wakes up and notices the Sampo is gone. In the ensuing battle the Sampo is lost in the depths of the sea.
4. Greed profits nobody…but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get what you want.
One of the adventures of Väinämöinen, the age-old heroic bard, tells of his attempts to learn the words of power known only to the great sage Antero Vipunen. However, Väinämöinen ends up being swallowed by Vipunen, who won’t let his prisoner go until Väinämöinen finally puts his foot down. The old knowledge must be passed on and be preserved even after Vipunen is dead, Väinämöinen argues. Vipunen quickly lets Väinämöinen go, not wanting a tenant in his belly.
“Satisfied am I to lingerÂ
In these old and spacious caverns,Â
Pleasant here my home and dwelling;Â
For my meat I have thy tissues,Â
Have thy heart, and spleen, and liver,Â
For my drink the blood of ages,
Goodly home for Väinämöinen.”
The heroic mom, “Lemmikäinen’s Mother”, by Gallen-Kallela (1897)
5. Be grateful for your mother
Not all mothers are worth the praise (even in Kalevala), but some truly deserve a breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day. The worthiest example is the mother of Lemminkäinen, who gave her son some good advice. Even when he did not follow it and ended up being torn in pieces that were strewn in a river, his mother put him back together and brought him back to life.Â
“These the means the mother uses,Â
Thus she joins the lifeless members,Â
Thus she heals the death-like tissues,Â
Thus restores her son and heroÂ
To his former life and likeness.”
6. Keep it in your pants or you’ll regret it
The great tragedy of the Kalevala is the story of Kullervo, whose tale is the tale of a bad childhood and unsuccessful anger management. The culmination of his fateful story is when he manages to seduce a woman who later turns out to be his own sister. Both ended up choosing death by their own hands.
Aino and Väinämöinen, part of a triptych by Gallen-Kallela (1891)
7. Don’t promise what’s not yours to promise
Another unhappy woman in the Kalevala is Aino. To save his own skin, her brother promised her hand in marriage to Väinämöinen. While he regrets the promise, it is Aino who weeps bitterly. Eventually she drowns herself and becomes a spirit of the lake in the form of a salmon. Even Väinämöinen has the shame to feel regret. Â
8. Enjoy natural light while you have the chance
With spring returning after the long dark winter, surely we can all appreciate this. As revenge for stealing the Sampo (see above), the sorceress of Pohjola steals the Sun, the Moon and fire, causing frost and famine. Ilmarinen the smith attempts to replace them with a Sun made of gold and a Moon of silver. However, they can’t replace the real things (just like a woman made of gold could not replace Ilmarinen’s wife). When light is regained, so is the prosperity of the village. Give that a thought the next time you close the curtains in the middle of a beautiful day.
“Greetings to thee, Sun of fortune,Â
Greetings to thee, Moon of good-luck,Â
Welcome sunshine, welcome moonlight,Â
Golden is the dawn of morning!”
Väinämöinen with his kantele (harp), by Johan Zacharias Blackstadius (1851)
9. Poetry and music is awesome
Väinämöinen and Antero Vipunen are both singers and powerful magicians. Singing competitions are on par with any other duel. And Kalevala itself is oral sung tradition. They who possess music and the words possess a great wisdom. Perhaps music is no longer a sign of power, but sometimes it’s good to sit down, relax, and read some epic poetry.
“Handed down from by-gone ages.Â
In my mouth the words are melting,Â
From my lips the tones are gliding,Â
From my tongue they wish to hasten.”
The English translations here are taken from a translation by John Martin Crawford (1888) that is available online. If you want to enjoy the original, the version in Finnish from 1849 can be found on the site for the Finnish Literature Society (SKS).