KALEVALA POEM

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

KALEVALA POEM

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed Jul 18, 2018 4:02 am

For the 100th anniversary of the publication of the epic poem Kalevala, Finland issued three stamps in 1935 which shows on the 2,00 M stamp a type of Viking ship in which the hero of the epos Väinämöinen escaped with the “sampo”, made by the blacksmith Ilmarinen.
When the Goddess Louhi finds out that the “sampo” was stolen, she changed in an eagle, took her warriors on her back and landed on the boat of Väinämöinen (as seen on stamp), where after a battle started in which the boat sank, which took with her the “sampo”.
Plenty more on this poem you can find on the internet,

Encyclopaedia Britannica gives:
Kalevala, Finnish national epic compiled from old Finnish ballads, lyrical songs, and incantations that were a part of Finnish oral tradition.
The Kalevala was compiled by Elias Lönnrot, who published the folk material in two editions (32 cantos, 1835; enlarged into 50 cantos, 1849). Kalevala, the dwelling place of the poem’s chief characters, is a poetic name for Finland, meaning “land of heroes.” The leader of the “sons of Kaleva” is the old and wise Väinämöinen, a powerful seer with supernatural origins, who is a master of the kantele, the Finnish harplike stringed instrument. Other characters include the skilled smith Ilmarinen, one of those who forged the “lids of heaven” when the world was created; Lemminkäinen, the carefree adventurer-warrior and charmer of women; Louhi, the female ruler of Pohjola, a powerful land in the north; and the tragic hero Kullervo, who is forced by fate to be a slave from childhood.
Among the main dramas of the poem are the creation of the world and the adventurous journeys of Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, and Lemminkäinen to Pohjola to woo the beautiful daughter of Louhi, during which the miraculous sampo, a mill that produces salt, meal, and gold and is a talisman of happiness and prosperity, is forged and recovered for the people of Kalevala. Although the Kalevala depicts the conditions and ideas of the pre-Christian period, the last canto seems to predict the decline of paganism: the maid Marjatta gives birth to a son who is baptized king of Karelia, and the pagan Väinämöinen makes way for him, departing from Finland without his kantele and songs.
The Kalevala is written in unrhymed octosyllabic trochees and dactyls (the Kalevala metre) and its style is characterized by alliteration, parallelism, and repetition. Besides fostering the Finnish national spirit, the poem has been translated into at least 20 languages; it has inspired many outstanding works of art, e.g., the paintings of Akseli Gallen-Kallela and the musical compositions of Jean Sibelius. The epic style and metre of the poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow also reflect the influence of the Kalevala.

Finland 1935 2.00M sg 307, scott 208. The painting shows the landing of Louhi on the boat, painting is made by Aksell Gallen Kallela.
Attachments
The_defence_of_the_Sampo.jpg
1935 sampo magical device.jpg

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