Väinämöinen: Eternal Sage

Translated from the Finnish by Helen Goldthwait-Väänänen. Väinämöinen is the most outstanding figure of the "Kalevala". Everyone who has read Finland’s folk epic has formed an idea of him, and in literature a great number of descriptions are to be found. The oldest of these was written by Elias Lönnrot himself — "In these runes Väinämöinen is usually spoken of as grave, wise, and full of foresight, working for the good of coming generations, omniscient, powerful in incantation and in music — the hero of Finland. Furthermore, he is called old, although his age alone did not much affect his courting." On the whole, this is the Väinämöinen of the "Kalevala". But there is another Väinämöinen — the Väinämöinen of folk poetry. In these pages I shall try to sketch in his character, using for my sources chiefly those crumbs of information to be found in the Old Runes of the Finnish People. Now that my task is finished, I feel that I have come to conclusions that modify considerably the concept of Väinämöinen founded on the "Kalevala", as well as that which the older scholars formed of him based on folk poetry proper; and again, that image which I had formed in my own mind. This revaluation is, in my opinion, necessary. On the other hand, let me quote the words of Kaarle Krohn: "I have attempted to place each matter in its compartment; whoever finds it does not fit in one, let him take and put it in another."