Various collected folklore pieces depict evidence of the richest of traditions, which are even arguably believed to have been passed orally before the writing system’s inception in the society of Finland.
Derived from the mythical terrain of the North, these stories are encapsulated in the work of literature known as Kalevala, the mythological epic of the Finnish people. The Finns may know of the book The Kalevala, compiled in the 19th century by Elias Lönnrot.
The book is an essential collection of historical myths known to the Finns. These fairy tales embody the finding of magic, courage, and natural beauty as the way that the Finns consider their land, which allows them to understand some features of the ancient Finnish mentality.
The Kalevala epic is traditionally thought to be the soul of Finnish tradition. It has been compiled from the Oral History of the poems and songs that have been traditional for generations. The rune singers recited such stories and acted as mediators of Finnish words and culture before the penetration of the writing mechanism in their society.
When Elias Lönnrot attempted to systematize these songs in the 19th century, he developed a unified text for the people of Finland as a companion to the epic and the country's mythology.
The story starts with the world's creation and the poem's main character—Väinämöinen —the ancient wise man. The illegitimate son of the virgin goddess Ilmatar, Väinämöinen is the wise and powerful antihero in Finnish epic par excellence. The epic narrates the success/failure of the heroes and, at the same time, reflects on the Finnish spirit during the awakening phase.
According to the Kalevala, which originated in Finland, the world owes its existence to natural and cosmic forces. The Kalevala has two creation epics: the first one is about Ilmatar, the spirit of the air, who had been on the water, and thus, the water was formed. Ilmatar had her eggs laid on her knees by the duck, and when they hatched, the heavens, earth, and stars were formed.
These poetic images faithfully convey the Finns’ attitude to nature and veneration of elements. What is most characteristic of the creation myths in Finlandian folklore is that they are all based on balance.
For instance, the story of the creation of the sun and the moon is not a mere myth of creation; it is a natural cycle that comes to life in the harshest climate possible in the populated regions of the north. Similar tales found in ethnographic literature relate to these narratives, providing a valuable source on how the prehistoric Finnish people perceived their surroundings in a double perspective of admiration and veneration.
It originated in the material culture of Finns and is centered on Väinämöinen, the main hero and one of the most popular characters in the Kalevala. Väinämöinen does not fit the picture of a stereotypical warrior, but he is a wise and potion-wielding bard.
His experiences, from creating the geographical features of Finland to fighting magical battles, underline an aspect of Fican culture: the importance of the brain and ideas. Perhaps the most well-known story of the Kalevala is the forging of the Sampo by Väinämöinen.
The Sampo symbolizes wealth and togetherness; however, stealing it, with the resultant mayhem and genocide, brings conflict. Väinämöinen was taken from his home and was the embodiment of Finnish legends with fantasies of cooperation and greed. Yet, the message left behind was that, as with all things earthly, they are impermanent.
Väinämöinen can be associated with wisdom, while Lemminkäinen is the passion, reckless temper, and energy of the young man. Regarded as Kalevala’s lover character and hero, Lemminkäinen’s adventures can be best described as exciting and unfortunate. The most interesting story relates to him as a hero who travels to the lower world to get an object.
In this typical heroic epic, like Orpheus, Lemminkäinen dies heroically while Searching for his wife. However, he follows his mother, who performs magic to bring her son back to life. This peculiar story exemplifies that in Finnish folk mythology, family members’ unity trumps everything; love and sacrifice are eternal.
Finnish legends have to have their dark side, too, and the Mistress of the North, Louhi, does a fine job of being the big baddie. Louhi is the mistress of Pohjola, which is portrayed as a cold and dark locality; she is portrayed as a witch. In the source material of the Kalevala, she is an antagonist of the main male characters and uses her sorcery to counter their actions.
Thus, Louhi’s character strongly represents Finnish Lappland: severe, enigmatic, and a symbol of nature's double-sidedness, both bosom and breast-bearing. She is one of the most terrifying characters in Finnish mythology since she can call plagues, control climate, and shapeshift into animals. Thus, Louhi is a rather multifaceted character, and the reader can see her as weak and wise at the same time.
Such toggling enables her to raise her status from a plain evil character and become a composite sign of humanity's struggles in domesticating nature's powers. Fights with Väinämöinen and his companions are probably the most striking parts of Finnish mythology; the motif reflects the spirit of heroism and the conflict between light and darkness.
Nature is very pronounced in Finnish myth and legend, and it is peopled by spirits and gods of the forest, the waters, and the sky. The Haltija spirits are the guardians of the territory or landscape and are supposed to sustain the proper functioning of ecosystems. Likewise, the Ahti deity controls the sea in Finland, and the Tapio spirit refers to forestry in the vast and dominated country.
According to the culture, spirits were to protect people who paid reverence to their territories and punish people who had wronged them. Finnish myths also suggest understanding nature as allegedly inferior to people, showing that ancient Finns had to learn how to coexist peacefully with the world.
Few of them represented the change of the seasons and the climate variation from the frigid winters of Scandinavian countries to the bright summer days. To this day, every once in a time, these ancient Finnish stories warn people about the adverse consequences of parasitic activities, and the need to embrace and preserve nature remains relevant.
The myths furthered by the Kalevala and its tales remain essential for Finns and other peoples today. Thus, the source of broad folk literature and art remains an inspiration for Finns in literature and other art forms, songs, movies, or anything else. Of course, these themes of endurance, togetherness, and arboreal reverence are pertinent to any time and place.
Other traditional Finnish myths also have an essential social responsibility of maintaining the Finnish language and culture. Initially written in Finnish, the Kalevala is the oldest known anthology of Finnish oral poetry, and today, the stories about ancient Finland are translated into many languages. Also, the yearly festivals and festivities, such as Kalevala Day, keep the Finnish myths fresh in the minds of the Finnish nationals.
Finnish folklore, compiled with incredible stories derived from Kalevala, is the key to understanding the country's nature. Apart from reflecting the heroism and wisdom of legends like Väinämöinen and Lemminkäinen, these ancient Finnish stories reveal the Finns’ concern with nature; the Finnish mythological world embraces Earth-related concepts such as the birth and death of the universe.
Finnish legends continue to enchant, both in creation myths that make one’s scalp tingle and in more cheerful narratives of mighty and wise archetypal characters. As eternal stories that connect the past and present, these myths illuminate Finland as an extraordinary heritage of today and open the door to the fantastic beauty of the North.
This content was created by AI