Editing Kalevala (section)

==Interpretations==
[[File:Erik Cainberg - Väinämöinen Plays Kantele.jpg|thumb|''Väinämöinen Plays Kantele'', a 1814 relief by {{ill|Erik Cainberg|fi}} made before the publication of the Kalevala and considered to be the first depiction of Väinämöinen<ref name="viholainen">{{cite journal |last1=Viholainen |first1=Aila |title=Vellamon kanssa ongelle – eli kuinka merenneitoa kansalliseksi kuvitellaan |journal=Elore |publisher=Suomen Kansantietouden Tutkijain Seura ry. |date=2009 |volume=16 |issue=2 |doi=10.30666/elore.78806 |doi-access=free }}</ref>]]
The ''Kalevala'' has attracted many scholars and enthusiasts to interpret its contents in a historical context. Many interpretations of the themes have been tabled. Some parts of the epic have been perceived as ancient conflicts between the early [[Finns]] and the [[Sami people|Sami]]. In this context, the country of "Kalevala" could be understood as Southern Finland and ''Pohjola'' as [[Sápmi (area)|Lapland]].<ref name="Kalevala mythology">Juha Pentikäinen, Ritva Poom, ''Kalevala mythology'', 1888.</ref>

[[File:Coat of Arms of Kalevalsky District.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|The coat of arms of the [[Kalevalsky District]] in the [[Republic of Karelia]]]]
However, the place names in ''Kalevala'' seem to transfer the ''Kalevala'' further south, which has been interpreted as reflecting the Finnic expansion from the South that came to push the Sami further to the north.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}{{refn|It may be noted that place-names and other evidence show that in the medieval period, the Sami lived much further south than in the modern age, well south of [[Lapland (Finland)|Lapland]], and place-names of Sami origin are not only found all over [[White Karelia]], but as far as the [[Svir River]] basin and [[Uusimaa|Nyland]]. [[Baltic Finnic peoples|Finnic peoples]], on the other hand, were in [[Ancient history|antiquity]], in the [[Iron Age]], probably originally limited to the coasts south of the [[Gulf of Finland]], in what is now Estonia, and no further north than the [[Karelian Isthmus]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Aikio|first1=Ante|title=An Essay on Saami Ethnolinguistic Prehistory|journal=Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne|date=2012|volume=266|pages=63–117|isbn=978-952-5667-42-4|url=https://www.academia.edu/4811760|access-date=23 January 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830234420/http://www.academia.edu/4811760/An_Essay_on_Saami_Ethnolinguistic_Prehistory|archive-date=30 August 2017}}</ref> In view of this, the possibility of identifying Pohjola with Finland/Karelia and ''Kalevala'' with Estonia (see further below on the location of the ''Saari'') suggests itself.|group="Note"}} Some scholars locate the lands of ''Kalevala'' in East Karelia, where most of the ''Kalevala'' stories were written down. In 1961{{Contradictory inline|date=October 2023}}, the small town of ''Uhtua'' in the then Soviet Republic of Karelia was renamed Kalevala, perhaps to promote that theory.

Finnish politician and linguist [[Eemil Nestor Setälä]] rejected the idea that the heroes of ''Kalevala'' are historical in nature and suggested they are personifications of natural phenomena. He interprets Pohjola as the northern heavens and the Sampo as the pillar of the world. Setälä suggests that the journey to regain the Sampo is a purely imaginary one with the heroes riding a mythological boat or magical steed to the heavens.<ref name="Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr."/><ref name="Emil Nestor Setälä (1864 - 1935)">{{cite web|url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ensetala.htm |title=Emil Nestor Setälä |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224054208/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ensetala.htm |archive-date=24 December 2014 }}</ref><ref name="Sammon arvoitus">Eemil Nestor Setälä. "Sammon arvoitus: Isien runous ja usko: 1. "Suomen suku" laitoksen julkaisuja. 1." ''Helsinki: Otava, 1932.''.</ref>

The practice of [[bear worship]] was once very common in Finland and there are strong echoes of this in the ''Kalevala''.<ref name="Crawford Kalevala"/>

The old Finnish word {{lang|fi|väinä}} (a strait of deep water with a slow current) appears to be the origin of the name Väinämöinen; one of Väinämöinen's other names is Suvantolainen, {{lang|fi|suvanto}} being the modern word for {{lang|fi|väinä}}. Consequently, it is possible that the {{langnf|fi|Saari|island|links=no}} might be the island of [[Saaremaa]] in Estonia and ''Kalevala'' the Estonian mainland.<ref name="Kalevala Lipas"/>

Finnish folklorists Matti Kuusi and Pertti Anttonen state that terms such as ''the people of Kalevala'' or ''the tribe of Kalevala'' were fabricated by Elias Lönnrot. Moreover, they contend that the word ''Kalevala'' is very rare in traditional poetry and that by emphasizing dualism (Kalevala vs. Pohjola) Elias Lönnrot created the required tension that made the ''Kalevala'' dramatically successful and thus fit for a national epic of the time.<ref name="Kalevala Lipas"/>

There are similarities with mythology and folklore from other cultures, for example, the Kullervo character and his story bearing some likeness to the Greek [[Oedipus]]. The similarity of the virginal maiden Marjatta to the Christian [[Virgin Mary]] is striking. The arrival of Marjatta's son in the final song spelling the end of Väinämöinen's reign over Kalevala is similar to the arrival of Christianity bringing about the end of Paganism in Finland and Europe at large.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Part 14 By James Hastings (Pg 642)">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x21RM5GuRLAC&pg=PA642 |title=The Finnish Virgin Mary myth. |access-date=17 August 2010 |isbn=978-0-7661-3690-8 |last1=Hastings |first1=James |date=1 January 2003 |publisher=Kessinger }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>