The Kalevala is the great Finnish epic, which like the Iliad and the Odyssey, grew out of a rich oral tradition with prehistoric roots. During the first millenium of our era, speakers of Uralic languages (those outside the Indo-European group) who had settled in the Baltic region of Karelia, that st[...]

A compelling insight into the myths and folklore of Finland, The Kalevala is often compared to such epic poems as Homer's Odyssey. Drawing from oral storytelling traditions, Elias Lonnrot made this collection in the 19th-century, and it helped to cement Finnish identity in the turmoil of the 20th-ce[...]