At the outset of the Kalevala, , a singer bemoans his separation from a beloved friend who grew up beside him. Today, the friends rarely meet “näillä raukoilla rajoilla, poloisilla Pohjan mailla” – lines which renders “on these poor borders, the luckless lands of the North.”
The Kalevala, a poetic masterpiece of nearly 23,000 lines, first appeared in 1835. Now, nearly 200 years later, those “luckless lands of the North” are .
On one side sits Finland, affluent and .” The Nordic nation of 5.6 million is a member of the European Union and, more recently, . On the other side sits the Republic of Karelia, with a population of around a half-million. Originally home to the Karelians, a people closely related to the Finns, today Karelia is part of the Russian Federation – and the percentage of Karelian speakers is in the single digits.
Finland , or the “Day of Finnish Culture.” Yet the epic’s songs were collected in both Finland and Karelia, reflecting a cultural affinity sundered by the politics of empire. And as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on, that border zone has become more tense.
Shared roots
The people of Finland and Karelia – “Suomi” and “Karjala,” in their own languages – have lived in the forests, lakes, marshes and farmlands of northeastern Europe since time immemorial. , but they differ markedly from Swedish and Russian, the idioms of the empires that in the Middle Ages. Finns came under the dominion of Sweden and were converted to Roman Catholicism – . Karelians came under the dominion of Russia and were converted to Orthodox Christianity.
Centuries of wars and saber-rattling between the Swedish and Russian empires created hardship for Finns and Karelians alike. Their lands became battlegrounds for warring forces, and their men served as conscripted soldiers for opposing sides in conflicts like of 1700–1721, which devastated both lands and populations.
Despite the enmity of rival emperors, over the course of centuries daily life and culture had remained remarkably similar for Finns and Karelians. Both sang songs of a mythic past, colorful heroes and powerful magic using a distinctive poetic meter – one that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow .”
Mythic songs
In 1809, after yet another war, as an autonomous grand duchy, bringing its people under the same crown as Karelians.
Finnish physician and admirer of folklore took advantage of this political union to collect folk songs across the region. Wandering from village to village, writing down songs from dictation, he amassed a body of texts out of which to make an epic.
The contents of the Kalevala are varied and intriguing – starting with the , and the that threatened to block out the sun.
One of the epic’s most famous tales is the forging of a mysterious object, – a sort of magic mill that will produce whatever its owner wishes. It becomes an object of conflict between the people of “Kalevala” and the people of “Pohjola,” the “north.”
The Kalevala hero Väinämöinen, a wizened worker of magic – along with Ilmarinen, the skilled but brooding blacksmith who originally created the Sampo, and their incorrigible friend, Lemminkäinen – attempt to steal the Sampo away from Pohjola, where Louhi, the stern Mistress of the North, has sequestered it. The resulting struggle destroys the Sampo, and its promised life of ease and prosperity.
Lönnrot hoped to unearth a history and an identity for Finns and Karelians, one separate from that of either Sweden or Russia. On the Finnish side of the border, in particular, the epic helped convince people that they were , distinct from the empires that sought to control them.
As the 19th century wore on, the Russian government became less friendly to its cultural minorities. Authorities attempted and other parts of the empire. But Finns resisted, drawing on images from Lönnrot’s Kalevala to articulate their cultural and historical independence.
The paintings of Akseli Gallen-Kallela for themes and inspiration at the turn of the 20th century. Composer Jean Sibelius’ famed Lemminkäinen Suite of 1896, or “,” made elements of the story familiar to audiences around the world and helped bolster international awareness of Finland’s culture. An early Finnish photographer, , retraced Lönnrot’s wanderings through Finland and Karelia in a book entitled “Finland in Pictures.”
Independent Finland
Finland achieved independence in 1917, in the aftermath of Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution. But between the “Finnish Whites” and socialist “Finnish Reds.” It was the first of several conflicts that shifted borders and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
After the Whites’ victory in Finland’s civil war, many socialist-minded Finns moved to Karelia hoping to build a workers’ paradise. After the rise of Soviet leader Josef Stalin, however, they were labeled as dangerous foreign influences. Thousands were , as Stalin sought to replace the population with Russian-speaking loyalists.
After decades of Russification, assimilation and migration, Karelian-speakers today represent only of the Republic of Karelia. Another small population , where they were resettled after the wars.
During World War II, Finland , striving to maintain its independence and even incorporate parts of Karelia. Finland managed to remain outside of the Soviet Union, but lost portions of its territory close to the Karelian border.
, signed in 1948, encouraged cultural exchanges between Finland and the Soviet Union. The feature film, 1959’s “Sampo,” was a recounting of the Kalevala spearheaded by Aleksandr Ptushko, the “Disney of Soviet film” – but stripped of any nationalist symbolism.
Rising tension
In the years following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Finnish-Karelian border became once again . Through the work of organizations like , the heritage of the Kalevala has been explored and celebrated on both sides of the border. Finnish and Karelian folk revival and for inspiration and materials. Shopping centers , and tourists began crossing the border in ever increasing numbers.
Yet Russia’s war in Ukraine has turned the Finnish-Russian border once again into a place of tension. in 2023, concerned by Vladimir Putin’s regime’s disregard for the rights of other sovereign nations. In December 2023, the Finnish government indefinitely closed the 835-mile (1,344-kilometer) land border, and is now . Meanwhile, Russia is near the border, as European countries .
On Feb. 28, the anniversary of the day on which Lönnrot completed the first edition of the Kalevala, public buildings in Finland . Schools and cultural institutions will organize events to and the cultural and political independence it helped achieve. On the other side of the border, perhaps Karelian speakers and some other inhabitants will celebrate as well. In a Russia where , though, any observance is likely to be far more muted: The situation remains regrettably tense “on these poor borders, the luckless lands of the North.”
Original article
Comments