TIETÄVÄ Learning site

The Kalevala – a living epic

Discover the Kalevala!

The Kalevala is Finnish, Karelian, and European. Get to know the living epic and its author, Elias Lönnrot.

What is the Kalevala and who are its characters?

Who wrote the Kalevala?

Is the Kalevala oral tradition or literature?

Is the Kalevala Finnish, Karelian or European?

Why are there disputes about the Kalevala?

Where can we see the influence of the Kalevala?

Guidelines

Kalevala – European Heritage Label

“It is so that mind is settled,
brain has thought idea fettled,
ballad shortly I’ll be singing,
I shall soon its change be ringing,
ancient song from people springing,
that’s the song that I’ll be singing.”

The opening poem of the Kalevala, translated by Rupert Moreton