The Kalevala is the national epic poem
of Finland. It was compiled by Elias Lönnrot
between 1833 and 1840. Full of stories of heroes who do great,
mystifying, even senseless, deeds, The Kalevala’s
23,795 verses are divided into 50 songs.
Mauri, my Finnish go-to guy while I was
writing “Some Like it Hot,” said, “The Kalevala is not
easy reading for a modern person, with the curious poetic structure
of the language. It’s
made of 4-phrase poems which sound very nice (but kind of archaic) to
a modern Finnish ear. The national epic has, of course, inspired
countless artistic minds, including that of Akseli Gallen-Kallela in
painting and Jean Sibelius in music.”
Among those tales in its 50 runes, or
poems, The Kalevala described common sauna scenes of daily life in 15
of the runes — which is where I come in. What was the sauna like
back in the day?
In the next post, I’ve
included some lines from the Magoun translation. Notice the rhythm —
if it reminds you of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s
“The Song of Hiawatha,” it’s
believed that the Kalevala was part of his inspiration. J.R.R Tolkien
credited the Kalevala in his “Silmarillion.”
Plus, that particular tale from The Kalevala ends
my series on what health concerns the sauna can cure — and why.
That bit of tradition makes the perfect transition to Saint Urho’s
Tay (coming March 16). The Kalevala even has its own holiday.
Nikki
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