by wombat’s world
A rock painting at Astuvansalmi, Finland. Photo by Kate Laity (enhanced by me to bring out detail)
As you know, I’m intrigued by Finnish connections. A while back, through the wonders of Technorati, I checked out a link back to my blog from a post called Touching Ancient Finland.
The writer was going to Finland to see the Astuvansalmi rock paintings! I learned Wombat’s World is the “blog for medievalist K. A. Laity, author of the novel Pelzmantel: A Medieval Tale, who is “Currently working on Unikirja, a collection of short stories based on the Kalevala, Kanteletar, and other Finnish myths and legends”.
Well, that piqued my attention, so I delved a little deeper and learned that American Kate Laity has Finnish roots. I began to follow her blog for reports on her trip: Terve from Helsinki and Finland recap. Many of the sights she visited were familiar to me, but not the rock paintings in real life, so these excited me the most.
Impatient to see some of her photos, though I knew Kate Laity was busy with a new teaching post this fall, I emailed her to ask if she would be posting any of them. Kate and I have enjoyed some nice “conversations”, both being keen about our Finnish connections. Her photos of the boat trip to see the Asuvansalmi rock paintings are now up and I’ve enjoyed browsing through them several times, reaffirming my desire to make that journey myself! She kindly sent me an essay ‘on traveling in search of ancient Finland’ that is being published in New World Finn. Here are a couple of excerpts:
For the past couple years, I have been at work on a collection of stories influenced by The Kalevala, the ancient mythology of Finland. At the back of my mind, however, was a big worry. How could I write about ancient Finland, when I had never been there? […] How then to get a sense of this lost past? Naturally enough, a visit to modern Finland would be a good place to start. I was fortunate that the generous folks at the Finlandia Foundation found my journey a worthwhile exploration to fund. Their gift allowed me to go in search of the world of Finnish mythology this past August.
While I would very much enjoy my visit to the National Museum’s exhibit on ancient life in Finland, and I was thrilled to find Kivikäs’ book at the Academic Bookstore in Helsinki, the memory of the visit to the rock paintings has stayed vividly in my mind. It has sent me back to my stories with a new zeal for authenticity, and it has helped me to reshape some of the narratives to better reflect that glimpse of the ancient past. It may be a world lost to us now, but I hope my stories–buoyed by my taste of ancient Finland–can give readers a window on that distant time.
I’m so happy to have met Kate and I’m looking forward to the completion and publication of her Unikirja (a Finnish word meaning dreambook) and must find her novel Pelzmantel: A Medieval Tale.
By the way, Kate refers to Kivikäs’ book, which I also own and wrote about a while ago.
P.S. Off the subject a bit, something else I learned at Wombat’s World is about a Finnish/Chinese movie Jade Warrior. According to the gorgeous website, Jade Warrior combines kung fu with the Kalevala, ancient China and modern Finland. It was shown at the recent Toronto Film Festival (it did not get a good review) but does not appear to be at the currently running Vancouver International Film Festival, so the chance that I would ever get to see it seems small.
October 9, 2006 in Blogging, Books, Finland, Estonia & Finno-Ugric, Folk Legends & Myths, Rock Art & Archaeology by Marja-Leena
What a great connection for you to have made! It’s fascinating to see the pictographs from another culture. Thanks!
The movie sounds interesting, in spite of the negative review. And you’re right–the website is beautiful. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!
Yes, MB, I’m always excited by these connections, especially related to the Finnish rock paintings that I’ve been studying and which have inspired some of my art works.
Patry, I really love the fairy-tale-like story presentation, and it’s connection to Finland’s national epic. And thanks, Thanksgiving was great. We went to one of our daughter’s for dinner yesterday, a treat for me not to cook the big meal myself as i’ve done for decades! Saturday and today we were doing a lot of garden work and enjoying the glorious sunny weather. How about you- it was Columbus Day today in the US – any special events around that?
A fascinating post – you have certainly made me think much more about Finland, although so much good has and continues to come out of there. About the film: it is so easy to access interesting films these days through their dvds, which usually do not take long to appear after the film’s release. Just keep looking out for it.
Omega, glad it amused. You are right about DVDs, though I imagine this would be only found somewhere online and at some cost. I don’t usually buy them, preferring to rent, unless it’s something I know I must have in my library, like some good art books.
Marja-leena:
I’m intrigued about the Kalevala. I recently borrowed a music CD from the public library – it’s a modern Finnish group. The music is incredible. I don’t know if it’s based on mythology, though the translated lyrics show that the songs are all fairy-tale-like. They sing about witches and spirits and mythical creatures. I will send you the group’s name and cd title as soon as I find it (since it’s Finnish – I can’t remember either).
Marja-leena: Okay, found my library records. The group is Varttina, the album I had was “Ilmatar”. I found the group on Amazon – they have a large number of albums, billed as ‘folk-rock’.
I checked out the movie trailer for Jade Warrior. I hope it comes out on DVD so I can rent it – but if it plays at an art film theater here, I’d definitely shell out the money to see it!
Hi Jackie! How neat that you have listened to one of the Värttinä albums – I’ve been thinking I should get one! Did you know they had a hand in the Lord of the RIngs stage production? I wrote about it here. And if you’d like to learn more about the Kalevala, this is a good site.
Värttinä is wonderful! I highly recommend their CDs and performances (if you’re lucky enough to see one). I’d also recommend other “new folk” artists like Garmarna, Frifot and Loituma (many are distributed over here via Northside Records). Some of Värttinä’s songs come directly from folklore and the Kanteletar — they’re really fun.
Ilmatar, by the way, is the goddess of the air who gives birth to the first human, Väinämoinen, the eternal sage.
Marja-leena: Thanks for that link. I didn’t realize that Varttina was involved in the Lord of the Rings stage production until I found their website. They have put out an amazing number of albums. The one I borrowed is apparently the 3rd in what they say are a trilogy based on Finnish folklore. The music is haunting – even though I can’t understand the lyrics. It has that ‘primal’ feel to it. I just love the women’s voices – they remind me Ukrainian singing. Which shouldn’t be too surprising – since the Ukraine and Russia along the Volga was ‘influenced’ by invading northern tribes, and Finland is Russia’s nextdoor neighbor. I have read about the Viking influence on the Volga region – but I don’t know if Finns were considered Vikings or it was the Danes and other Scandanavians?
If you go to Amazon and search for Varttina, it will pull up their albums, with some selections you can listen to. Though I find the brief sections of songs on Amazon to be just barely enough to whet my appetite!
Hope you’re out of your artist’s ‘block’ by now!
Hi Kate, great to have you here! You have convinced me that I must get some Varttina CDs, (I’ve just been lazy) and maybe I can catch a performance when in Finland next time. And you are right about Ilmatar!
Jackie, what you and Kate together have told me, as well as what I’ve read about the group, means I must put my money out! I’ll check out Amazon too, thanks! Are Finns Vikings? – no, they aren’t even real Scandinavians, only geographically speaking. The influence thing is pretty fascinating stuff and still seems open to interpretation, depending on which “expert” you read!
Oh, and thanks Jackie, I’m over the “block”. I’ve been “playing” with about a dozen small pieces as warm ups, and I like many of them. I forgot to take a photo of them today for show ‘n tell!