The Ancient Poems of the Finnish People (Finnish: Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot / SKVR) is a 34-volume collection of Finnish and Karelian oral tradition published by the Finnish Literature Society between 1908 and 1948, with a supplementary volume published in 1997.
It contains 89,247 entries, including — among other things — epic and lyric poems, poems for specific occasions such as weddings, spells, and even nursery rhymes.
The idea was to publish all the traditional Kalevalaic poetry preserved in archives and literature, with the notable exception of material deemed unfit for printing due to its sexual nature, but it was however included in the final volume.
The material, which includes all the sources for the Kalevala and its companion, the Kanteletar, is found in its original unedited form, arranged geographically and further divided into categories by type. Elias Lönnrot, in the preface to his 1835 first edition of the Kalevala, already expressed a desire for such a collection to be published.
It contains 89,247 entries, including — among other things — epic and lyric poems, poems for specific occasions such as weddings, spells, and even nursery rhymes.
The idea was to publish all the traditional Kalevalaic poetry preserved in archives and literature, with the notable exception of material deemed unfit for printing due to its sexual nature, but it was however included in the final volume.
The material, which includes all the sources for the Kalevala and its companion, the Kanteletar, is found in its original unedited form, arranged geographically and further divided into categories by type. Elias Lönnrot, in the preface to his 1835 first edition of the Kalevala, already expressed a desire for such a collection to be published.
Words against pain:
“Thither I send the pains away, thither I shove the grievous aches, into the middle of the open sea. The vehement maid of Kipula¹ is sitting in a lazy way on the lower end of a speckled stone, on the edge of a bulky flag², spinning pains on a copper spinning-staff, into a ball she winds the pains, into a bundle gathers them, into the water she flings the ball, to the depths of the sea she hurls it down, whence it may never more be fetched during the span of worldly time, while the moon sheds its golden light.”
— Elias Lönnrot: Ancient Spell Poems of the Finnish People³, 10 b (p. 23), 1880. Translated by John Abercromby⁴.
Notes:
¹) The domain of pain, from Finnish kipu (pain).
²) A flagstone (flag) is a generic flat stone.
³) Finnish title: Suomen Kansan Muinaisia Loitsurunoja.
⁴) Magic Songs of the West Finns, Vol. 2, 1898.
“Thither I send the pains away, thither I shove the grievous aches, into the middle of the open sea. The vehement maid of Kipula¹ is sitting in a lazy way on the lower end of a speckled stone, on the edge of a bulky flag², spinning pains on a copper spinning-staff, into a ball she winds the pains, into a bundle gathers them, into the water she flings the ball, to the depths of the sea she hurls it down, whence it may never more be fetched during the span of worldly time, while the moon sheds its golden light.”
— Elias Lönnrot: Ancient Spell Poems of the Finnish People³, 10 b (p. 23), 1880. Translated by John Abercromby⁴.
Notes:
¹) The domain of pain, from Finnish kipu (pain).
²) A flagstone (flag) is a generic flat stone.
³) Finnish title: Suomen Kansan Muinaisia Loitsurunoja.
⁴) Magic Songs of the West Finns, Vol. 2, 1898.
Born in the famous Karelian poem singers' village of Vuonninen in 1868, sage Anni Lehtonen is a lesser-known character of huge importance. The Ancient Poems of the Finnish People contains 4,500 verses from her. She was "discovered" by Samuli Paulaharju, who between 1911 – 1916 wrote down around 200 folk poems, 250 spells, and 8,000 sayings that she recited to him from memory.
A. R. Niemi wrote in 1921:
“A similar phenomenon as Larin Paraske was in the south is Anni Lehtonen in the north. Like Paraske, Anni appears in the final stage of folklore-collecting and astounds the world with the infinite wealth of the poetry preserved within her. Although their poems are of a very different kind, both of these seemingly ordinary women have one thing in common: the painstaking preservation of an ancestral poetic treasure. […] It's as if in Anni Lehtonen the entire collective ancient wisdom and poetry of an entire tribe once more was rekindled into a brightly-burning flame before finally being extinguished.”
A. R. Niemi wrote in 1921:
“A similar phenomenon as Larin Paraske was in the south is Anni Lehtonen in the north. Like Paraske, Anni appears in the final stage of folklore-collecting and astounds the world with the infinite wealth of the poetry preserved within her. Although their poems are of a very different kind, both of these seemingly ordinary women have one thing in common: the painstaking preservation of an ancestral poetic treasure. […] It's as if in Anni Lehtonen the entire collective ancient wisdom and poetry of an entire tribe once more was rekindled into a brightly-burning flame before finally being extinguished.”
A tapestry (Finnish: ryijy) with a large Tursaansydän ('heart of Tursas'; a 卐 within a +), a sacred symbol of good luck, 1823.
A ryijy is a woven Finnish long-tufted tapestry or knotted-pile carpet. In medieval times these valuable items were mostly used as bedcovers with the tuft side down, and their decorations were few and simple. Later they were used the other way around, and the decorations became more elaborate. Two-sided ryijys would have been decorated only on one side.
In the 1700s decorative ryijys became common among ordinary people, who would display them on festive occasions, and a special ryijy was used in wedding ceremonies, then later as a bedcover by the newlyweds. In the era of national romanticism the ryijy became primarily a decorative tapestry.
Photo: The National Museum of Finland.
A ryijy is a woven Finnish long-tufted tapestry or knotted-pile carpet. In medieval times these valuable items were mostly used as bedcovers with the tuft side down, and their decorations were few and simple. Later they were used the other way around, and the decorations became more elaborate. Two-sided ryijys would have been decorated only on one side.
In the 1700s decorative ryijys became common among ordinary people, who would display them on festive occasions, and a special ryijy was used in wedding ceremonies, then later as a bedcover by the newlyweds. In the era of national romanticism the ryijy became primarily a decorative tapestry.
Photo: The National Museum of Finland.
A girl scrying¹ into springwater on #Midsummer night in hopes of catching a glimpse of her future husband. Midsummer was, among other things, a celebration of fertility, and thus many of the associated customs revolved around finding a mate — and they usually required being naked.
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¹) Scrying is a method of divination, commonly using a reflective surface. Scrying into water is alternatively called hydromancy.
Illustration: Erkki Tanttu.
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¹) Scrying is a method of divination, commonly using a reflective surface. Scrying into water is alternatively called hydromancy.
Illustration: Erkki Tanttu.
Wäinölä 🇫🇮
Worker Hannes Nieminen found this granite sphere underneath two meters of gravel while digging a tunnel at the Nokia rapids. Its diameter is 30.5 centimeters. He sold it to a museum in 1924. Whether it is natural or man-made remains unknown.
The Nokia rapids in the 1890s. Photographed by I. K. Inha.
The midnight sun on #Midsummer Night. Photographed by professor Väinö Tanner in Lapland in 1904.
The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, the Sun appears to move from left to right, but in Antarctica the equivalent apparent motion is from right to left. This occurs at latitudes from 65°44' to 90° north or south, and does not stop exactly at the Arctic Circle or the Antarctic Circle, due to refraction.
The opposite phenomenon, polar night, occurs in winter, when the Sun stays below the horizon throughout the day.
The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, the Sun appears to move from left to right, but in Antarctica the equivalent apparent motion is from right to left. This occurs at latitudes from 65°44' to 90° north or south, and does not stop exactly at the Arctic Circle or the Antarctic Circle, due to refraction.
The opposite phenomenon, polar night, occurs in winter, when the Sun stays below the horizon throughout the day.
In the Central and Northern Ostrobothnia regions of Finland it was customary to erect a tall and slender #Midsummer spruce in the middle of the yard. The tree was peeled and debranched, save for the top part and a couple of branches some distance below it. The tree was left standing until fall, or even Midsummer the following year.
The Midsummer spruce was particularly favored by young boys who would hold climbing competitions, as the surface of the trunk became ideal for said purpose when the tree was peeled while its sap was flowing, i.e. during the growing season.
According to archaeoastronomist Marianna Ridderstad, the Finnish Midsummer spruce tradition might be connected to the Baltic custom of erecting a debranched tree to observe the position and path of the Sun, and there might possibly even be a connection all the way back to the astronomically aligned so-called Giant's churches from 2,000 – 3,500 BCE.
Photo: A Midsummer spruce in Kalajoki, Finland. Photographed by Samuli Paulaharju, 1924.
The Midsummer spruce was particularly favored by young boys who would hold climbing competitions, as the surface of the trunk became ideal for said purpose when the tree was peeled while its sap was flowing, i.e. during the growing season.
According to archaeoastronomist Marianna Ridderstad, the Finnish Midsummer spruce tradition might be connected to the Baltic custom of erecting a debranched tree to observe the position and path of the Sun, and there might possibly even be a connection all the way back to the astronomically aligned so-called Giant's churches from 2,000 – 3,500 BCE.
Photo: A Midsummer spruce in Kalajoki, Finland. Photographed by Samuli Paulaharju, 1924.
A round convex bronze brooch¹ of Appelgren type F with a curved 卐 pattern (in addition to a + and arguably even a ⊕) from circa 950 – 1050 CE.
Found in 1928 by farmer Eelis Kautto while harrowing his field in the village of Mämme, some 5.6 km NW of the Äänekoski church.
These Viking Age brooches are common finds in Finland, and they have long been considered a typical Finnish form of jewelry — especially the ones with protruding rodlike decorations, a style most likely born in the Vakka-Suomi region (the westernmost third of Finland Proper in the SW corner of the country).
Convex brooches were usually worn in pairs, often with a connecting chain arrangement hanging on the chest, which was sometimes adorned with pendants.
Pictured on the right is the Eura costume (a 1982 reconstruction of an early-11th-century burial garb from grave number 56 of the Luistari cemetery) replete with brooches and chain.
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¹) Cat. No. KM11929:1 in The National Museum of Finland.
Found in 1928 by farmer Eelis Kautto while harrowing his field in the village of Mämme, some 5.6 km NW of the Äänekoski church.
These Viking Age brooches are common finds in Finland, and they have long been considered a typical Finnish form of jewelry — especially the ones with protruding rodlike decorations, a style most likely born in the Vakka-Suomi region (the westernmost third of Finland Proper in the SW corner of the country).
Convex brooches were usually worn in pairs, often with a connecting chain arrangement hanging on the chest, which was sometimes adorned with pendants.
Pictured on the right is the Eura costume (a 1982 reconstruction of an early-11th-century burial garb from grave number 56 of the Luistari cemetery) replete with brooches and chain.
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¹) Cat. No. KM11929:1 in The National Museum of Finland.
Early-11th-century round and convex bronze brooch of Appelgren type D with a beautiful 卐 from grave number 34 of the Luistari cemetery in Eura.
Cat. No. KM18000:1034 in The National Museum of Finland.
Illustration colorized by
[ Wäinölä 🇫🇮 ]
Cat. No. KM18000:1034 in The National Museum of Finland.
Illustration colorized by
[ Wäinölä 🇫🇮 ]
After the assassination (16 June 1904) of Nikolay Bobrikov, the Governor-General of Finland, the Finnish lion was added to our striped flags. These were used privately, but were not permitted at meetings or other similar occasions.
The examples pictured are from Satakunta Museum, Pori, and the Turku Provincial Museum.
The examples pictured are from Satakunta Museum, Pori, and the Turku Provincial Museum.