The name given to a compilation of Finnish legends, published by Elias Lönnrot in 1835, and now regarded as the Finnish national epic. The poem is in a trochaic metre, imitated by Longfellow in Hiawatha.
Of the tens of poem singers who contributed to the Kalevala, significant ones include:
Arhippa Perttunen (1769–1840) Matro Ontrei Malinen (1780–1855) Vaassila Kieleväinen Soava TrohkimainenLönnrot’s contribution to Kalevala
Lönnrot arranged the collected poems into a coherent whole.
Publishing
The first version of Lönnrot's compilation, Kalewala, taikka Wanhoja Karjalan Runoja Suomen kansan muinoisista ajoista (The Kalevala, or old Karelian poems about ancient times of the Finnish people), also known as simply the Old Kalevala, came out in two volumes in 1835–1836.
Lönnrot continued to collect new material, which he integrated into a second edition, Kalevala (the Kalevala), published in 1849. This "new Kalevala" contains fifty poems, and is the standard text of the Kalevala read today.
Translations
Of the five full translations into English the older translations by John Martin Crawford (1888), William Forsell Kirby (1907) and the more recent Eino Friberg translation (1989), follow the original rhythm (Kalevala meter) of the poems (which may sound cumbersome to English ears).
Partial list of translations in chronological order by language (Based partially on the list created by Rauni Puranen):
| Language | Year | Translator | Remark |
| Swedish | 1841 | M. Castrén | old Kalevala (original of 1835) |
| 1864–1868 | Karl Collan | new Kalevala (original of 1849) | |
| 1884 | Rafaël Hertzberg | free translation | |
| 1944 | Olaf Homén | abridged Swedish edition | |
| 1948 | Björn Collinder | entire Kalevala | |
| 1999 | Lars Huldén och Mats Huldén | entire Kalevala | |
| French | 1845 and 1867 | Louis Léouzon le Duc | |
| 1927 | Jean Louis Perret | ||
| 1991 | Gabriel Rebourcet | entire Kalevala translated using old French vocabulary | |
| German | 1852 | Franz Anton Schiefner | |
| 1885-1886 | H. Paul | ||
| 1967 | Lore Fromm, Hans Fromm | ||
| 2004 | Gisbert Jänicke | ||
| English | 1868 | John Addison Porter | Partial translation, via. Franz Anton Schiefner's version |
| 1888 | John Martin Crawford | Full translation, via. Franz Anton Schiefner's version | |
| 1907 | William Forsell Kirby | First translation directly from Finnish | |
| 1963 | Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. | prose translation | |
| 1989 | Eino Friberg | editing and introduction by George C. Schoolfield | |
| 1998 | Keith Bosley | ||
| Hungarian | 1871 | Ferdinánd Barna | |
| 1909 | Béla Vikár | ||
| 1971 | Kálmán Nagy | ||
| Russian | 1888 | Leonid Petrovic Belsky | |
| Estonian | 1891–1898 | M. Eisen | |
| Czech | 1894–1895 | J. Holecek | |
| Ukrainian | 1901 | E. Timcenko | |
| Danish | 1907 | Ferdinand Ohrt | selected parts |
| 1994 | Hilkka and Bent Søndergaard | ||
| Italian | 1909 | I. Cocchi | |
| 1910 | Paolo Emilio Pavolini | ||
| Japanese | 1937 | Kakutan Morimoto | |
| 1976 | Tamotsu Koizumi | ||
| Hebrew | 1954 | Saul Tschernichovsky | |
| 1978 | Sarah Tubia | ||
| Yiddish | 1954 | Hersh Rosenfeld | |
| Romanian | 1959 | Iulian Vesper | |
| Chinese | 1962 | Shih Hêng | |
| 1985 | Sun Yong | ||
| Esperanto | 1964 | Johan Edvard Leppäkoski | |
| Turkish | 1965 | Hilmi Ziya Ülken | |
| 1982 | Lale and Muammar Obuz | ||
| Norwegian | 1967 | Albert Lange Fliflet | "i attdiktning ved" (nynorsk) |
| Fulani | 1983 | Alpha A. Diallo | |
| Dutch | 1985 | Maria Mies le Nobel | |
| Tulu | 1985 | Amrith Someshwar | |
| Latin | 1986 | Tuomo Pekkanen | |
| Vietnamese | 1986 | Cao Xuân Nghiêp | |
| 1991 | Hoàng Thái Anh | ||
| 1994 | Búi Viêt Hòa's | ||
| Hindi | 1990 | Vishnu Khare | |
| Arabic | 1991 | Sahban Ahmad Mroueh | |
| Slovenian | 1991 | Jelka Ovaska Novak | Partial translation |
| 1997 | Jelka Ovaska Novak | Full text translation | |
| Swahili | 1991 | Jan Knappert | |
| Bulgarian | 1992 | Nino Nikolov | |
| Greek | 1992 | Maria Martzouk | |
| Faroese | 1993 | Jóhannes av Skarði | |
| Tamil | 1994 | R. Sivalingam (Uthayanan) | Full translation |
| Catalan | 1997 | Ramon Garriga-Marguès, Pirkko-Merja Lounavaara | |
| Spanish | 1997 | Ramon Garriga-Marguès, Pirkko-Merja Lounavaara | |
| Polish | 1998 | Jerzy Litwiniuk |
The Storyline
Synopses
Cantos 1–10: The first Väinämöinen cycle: Creation of the world;
Characters
The main character of the Kalevala is Väinämöinen, a shamanistic hero with the magical power of songs and music.
Louhi the Hag of the North, is a shamanistic matriarch of a people rivalling those of Kalevala who at one stage pulls the sun and the moon from the sky and steals the fire away from the people of Kalevala.
Influence of the Kalevala
As a major part of Finnish culture and history the influence of the Kalevala is widespread in Finland from music to fine arts.
Celebration
The Kalevala Day is celebrated in Finland on the 28th of February, which is how Elias Lönnrot dated his first version of the Kalevala in 1835.
Several of the names in Kalevala are also celebrated as Finnish name days, although this has no direct relationship with the Kalevala itself.
Artwork
Several artists have been influenced by the Kalevala, most notably Akseli Gallen-Kallela who has painted many pieces relating to the Kalevala.
In 1989 the fourth full translation of Kalevala into English was published, richly illustrated by Björn Landström.
Literature
The Kalevala has not only been translated into over 45 languages but it has also been retold in many languages and adapted to different situations.
It is often claimed that the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg (compiled and written by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, first published 1853) was somewhat inspired by the Kalevala.
The Neustadt Prize winning poet and playwright Paavo Haavikko who is regarded as one of Finland's finest writers, is also known to have taken a lot of influence from the Kalevala.
Music
Music is probably the area which has the richest influence from the Kalevala, which is fitting because of the nature that the original folk singers would perform the poems. Because of the folk music history of the Kalevala there have been a few folk music records and anthologies based upon or claiming inspiration from the Kalevala. See: Kalevala (band)
The Finnish rock band Amorphis have based several concept albums on the Kalevala using the original translation as lyrics.
In 2003, the Finnish progressive rock quarterly Colossus and French Musea Records convinced 30 progressive rock groups from all over the world to compose musical pieces based on assigned parts of the Kalevala. See: Kalevala (project)
Film
In 1959 a joint Finnish/Soviet production entitled The Day the Earth Froze was released, inspired by the story of the Sampo from the Kalevala. performed by John Soininen on November 5, 1939 in Berkeley, California
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