Honey - The Kalevala

Honey - The Kalevala


THERE is no better illustration of the belief in the magic power of honey than in the romantic tales of the Kalevala, the national epic of the Finns. Through the magnetic effect of honey, steel was produced, beer was brewed, the dog created, and with the help of honey's blissful charm wounds were healed and the dead restored to life.

In Finland, the Land of the Thousands of Lakes, we find many delightful fables intimately connected with honey. The Finnish supposedly are a Mongolian race, like the Hungarians, Mordvins and other nations of kindred tongues. Apiculture was far advanced among them. Honey has been in great favor in Finland since time immemorial. The Kalevala, the epic poem of Finland, which is comparable only to the Iliad, Niebelungen, or Roland legends, often alludes to honey.

The Kalevala (the abode of heroes, a bardic designation of Finland) is a charming national epic and one of the most significant poetic works in existence. Its origin and introduction, in addition to its literary value, are extremely instructive from a historical viewpoint. The old sagas, the mythical and allegorical folktales and proverbs which the Kalevala contains, in the form of songs, ballads and incantations, were on the lips of the ancient people of that cold, bleak and desolate country for over a thou-sand years before they were collected by Zacharias Topelius and Elias Lönnrot, both practicing physicians of Helsingfors, and their collaborators, who spent many years of travel in Finland, Lapland and Russia, recording the popular songs and stories of the peasantry and fishermen. They traveled through forests, marshes and ice-plains, on horseback, in sledges drawn by reindeer, in canoes and other primitive conveyances to collect the legends and precious runes from the lips of the minstrels. The epic, filled with the power of magic, is a Herculean prototype of unwritten history. Longfellow must have had great admiration for the beauty of the Kalevala because the Hiawatha is a faithful imitation of it, both in respect to matter as well as to meter.

The enormous influence of the Kalevala on the Finnish population, since it was first published (1835), is best proven by the remarkable transformation, real regeneration of Finland. The disclosure of these romantic tales of wonderful heroism aroused patriotism and resulted in a surprisingly universal civic and moral revival of the nation. Formerly the upper classes of Finland had been absorbed by Sweden and Russia, while the majority of the population, as William Sharp remarked, became "a listless and inert mass."

Today Finland, after long lethargy and constant retrogression, is a new-born progressive country, full of hope, pride and ambition. The fact that Finland is the only country paying its inter-national debts, is the best evidence. Of course, Providence is kind. Finland is a poor (which may be the reason why it pays its debts), barren country, otherwise it would long ago have been swallowed up by enterprising nations. Ethiopia, which is supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world, should envy Finland its indigence.