The Expert (OVERVIEW)

Our knowledge about Finnish mythology comes mainly from Kalevala (The Finnish National Epic), and some oral traditions. Kalevala is composed of a set of poems collected by Elias Lonnrot in the 19th century.
It contains something from Viking adventurers, stone age myths, Christian influences, and country folklore. Kalevala was basically oral before Lonnrot, so it is not an original work, even if the poems may seem original themselves.
Putting together the poems, Lonnrot made some changes and to make the long story coherent he also composed some poems himself.
The rustic mythology of country folk considered time as continuos; there was no beginning and no end at all. Each activity or fact was just a part of the endless time sequence: season after season, moon phase after moon phase, day and night, and so on.
It was thought that each happening from the beginning of time was dominant in the here and now: for instance, if someone had cut himself with an axe, the healing was done by reading the story of the Birth of Iron, a mythical holy story reciting the beginning of Iron.
Another important point in the Finnish ancient beliefs was the life/afterlife concept, the Ancestor Cult. As we can find in many religions, there was the world of the living and the world of the dead. The dead were still connected to their living family members because the dead inherit their offspring's life. From this evolves the Shamanistic character of the ancient Finnish culture, because the living had the ability to ask advice of their deceased, using the power of a shaman.
Shaman magic rites were done by chanting a sacred song. While singing, the shaman went into a transe and could meet the Dead and ask their advice. Some shamans, especially in Lapland, also used a drum. The shaman put a ring on the drum, and started to vibrate it using a reindeer's bone as a stick. Looking at the ring's movement over some mystical pictures painted on the drum, he was able to find answers and foresee the future.

(Text by Reijo)