Karelianism and National Romanticism
From the very beginning, enthusiasm over the Kalevala was linked to the question of the epic's Karelian roots. Karelia was seen to be a treasure trove of poetry, an idyllic sanctuary of ancient myth and lifeways.
Romantic interest surrounding Karelia, the Kalevala, and Finland's distant past is known as Karelianism. This interest peaked in the 1890s but continued into the 1920s.
Folk poetry collectors and ethnographers travelled throughout Karelia, bringing back with them new and exciting finds after every journey. They also described their experiences in travel journals and in the press. For artists in particular, Karelia soon became a pilgrimage site, and the Kalevala became an extremely valuable source of inspiration and subject matter.
Soon after the Kalevala's publication, researchers emphasized that while most of the Kalevala's text is indeed based on authentic folklore, as a overall work it is the composition of a single man, Elias Lönnrot. In the Karelianist movement, however, the Kalevala represented ancient Finnish reality.
For the Karelianists, the landscape and people of Karelia were the present-day representatives of the world depicted in the Kalevala. As in broader trends of European thought, groups living in isolation from social and cultural centers were often seen to directly reflect the life of earlier eras.
In 1919, the Karelianists founded the Kalevala Society. One of the Society's aims was to found a Kalevala House which would be a centre for Kalevala art and research. Eliel Saarinen sketched the blueprints for the Kalevala House, but the project never went any further. Karelianist influences can be seen, however, in those of Saarinen's architectural works which were built, for example the National Museum and the Helsinki Railway Station.
In the 20th century, enthusiasm for Karelia and the Kalevala has sometimes waned, with Karelianism criticized for being an example of folklorism and over-romanticized escape from reality.
Now, however, on the brink of the new millenium, the Kalevala and folk poetry have once again become subjects of interest. In a way, we have come full circle, since after more than half a century it is once again possible to make trips to the folk poetry lands of Archangel Karelia.
