|
Our
Finnish Heritage
Land
of Heroes.
From
the western slopes of the Ural Mountains on the edge of Europe
and west in the New World to the mouth of the Columbia River
on the Pacific coast there are people who share a connection
with a mother tongue. They never had an empire to call their
own. They never rose up as a great civilization with vast armies
or fleets conquering their neighbors or cultural institutions
building great cathedrals, temples or cities. They desire to
live, settle, and move about the land as neighbors not as master
or subordinate. No one knows exactly where their mother tongue
originated, but the family of languages radiates from an area
between the upper Volga and the Baltic Sea. Although its roots
are thousands of years old, it was not recognized in its various
forms beyond its own speakers until the thirteenth to seventeenth
centuries. The people who developed and spoke these languages
lived in relative isolation and centered their lives around
woods, grazing lands, farms, and small settlements. The climate
of long cold winters, unpredictable frosts, and an environment
of endless forests, marshes, rivers, and lakes contributed to
a culture of endurance and a tension between the inevitability
of solitude and the need for community. Out of this setting
came the language, songs, legends, and character of a people
settled in the lands adjoining the northeast Baltic Sea known
as Finns, or as they refer to themselves, Suomalaiset.
During
the course of European history the Finnish speaking people of the
land known today as Finland were subjects, first of the Kingdom
of Sweden, and then the Russian Empire. From the twelfth to the
nineteenth centuries Sweden laid claim to Finland. Many Swedes settled
on the south and west coastlands. A layer of Swedish language, cultural,
educational, and political authority was imposed on the people under
Swedish rule. Unlike England for example, where Anglo-Saxon and
Norman French influences blended into a new language and culture,
most Finnish speaking folk, isolated by class or geography, kept
their own language and identity. However, Swedish influence, both
beneficial and detrimental, should not be underestimated; it was
tutor and midwife to the development and birth of Finland as a western
European nation. But the story of the Swedes in Finland and the
Finnish Swedes is for another time and place. The century of Russian
rule that followed Swedish rule had far less influence on Finnish
identity. In fact it was, in part, Russia's capricious shifts between
allowing autonomy and oppressing cultural identity that awakened
Finnish nationalism.
The
Suomalaiset had no heritage of courtly or conquering heroes
on which to build their national character. Their legendary
heroes would come from folk tales of men and women whose realms
were not much larger than homesteads surrounded by vast areas
of wilderness. The mythic stories of creation and spellbinding
powers were rooted in prehistoric times, perhaps spanning a
period of time from the Iron Age, about 400 CE, to the introduction
of Christianity in the twelfth century. From those preliterate
times until Elias Lönnrot and others began gathering and
compiling the stories in the nineteenth century, legends, songs,
charms, and folk tales were passed on from generation to generation
by oral tradition. They were often sung or chanted to the playing
of the kantele, a harp or zither-like instrument said to be
created by Väinämöinen, the primeval sage and
bard of the Kalevala. Väinämöinen, along
with Ilmarinen and Lemmikainen, symbolized the heroes of the
Kalevala. When Elias Lönnrot published the compiled
and edited stories and songs as the Kalevala in 1835
and the final version in 1849, most of the song cycles included
one or more of them as the main protagonists. Their adventures
and struggles were an extraordinary mix of heroic quests and
domestic pursuits, supernatural displays of power and very human
frailties. The land of Kaleva from which they came is a place
lost in the mists of time but resembled the timeless settings
of homesteads and settlements in the regions of forests and
lakes of Finland and Karelia. The Suomalaiset, the Finnish speaking
people found their unique vision and voice in the heroes, the
language, and the land of Kaleva. Persevering in the face of
overwhelming obstacles, prevailing over or mastering the environment
through understanding its sources and content, expressing the
wonder of creation, the gratification of hearth and home, and
the feelings of the soul, all these found their voice in the
heroes of the Kalevala.
The
New Land.
Around
1638, during the height of Sweden's power in Europe and the earliest
days of European settlement in Atlantic North America, Swedish colonists
settled along the Delaware River valley; among them were many Finns.
But the vast majority of Finnish speaking immigrants came to North
America during the last half of the nineteenth century and the first
two decades of the twentieth, precisely at the time of rising Finnish
nationalism, cultural identity and independence in the old country.
The Suomalaiset brought with them a newly minted sense of empowerment,
dignity and worth as a people. Tens of thousands settled in the
eastern industrial States of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan to work in the shops and factories,
mines and quarries. The majority, nearly 100,000, settled in Upper
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, and Washington
to work in the mines and forests. Many were physicians, attorneys,
merchants, teachers, architects and accountants, but most worked
on the land or labored with their hands. Most dreamed of having
their own homestead and settled on whatever land was available,
no matter how marginal it might be, not because they preferred it,
but because that was what was available, and they had the knowledge
and perseverance to make it work. Often they worked in the mines
or lumber camps until they could homestead cut over or abandoned
land.
Communication
and travel between Finland and North America was maintained at a
high level. Finnish language literature and music, religious and
cultural institutions, the temperance movement, the cooperative
movement among other ideas are shared values between Finns in Finland
and North America. Many of the immigrants or their children would
return to their home communities in Finland, often to stay, when
the need arose. Later, large numbers of Finnish–Americans would
visit Finland as a pilgrimage to explore their roots. Also many
relatives of Finnish–Americans would come to see their American
cousins.
Close
to Home.
In Upper Michigan, Northern Wisconsin, and Minnesota immigrants
and later visitors from Finland were astonished at the similarity
of climate and terrain with Finland. The glacial altered landscape
of moraines, eskers, and rocky outcrops, the forests, lakes, and
bogs, even the inland sea of Lake Superior reminded them of their
homeland. Finns, like many immigrant groups, tended to form communities
in which they could share their language, culture and resources.
The most visible sign of a Finnish presence was and is the sauna.
Farms, lake homes and cabins would have a traditional sauna with
a wood burning stove heating rocks in a small building near the
farm house or on the lakeshore. The coop store, the temperance hall,
and the Finnish church would also identify a Finnish immigrant community
in the early days. Finnish language publications, music, dance,
choral and theatrical performances allowed the expression of their
love of the language and folk ways in their culture. The largest
growth of the immigrant communities in the region occurred during
the decades around the beginning of the twentieth century. The Kalevala,
in several translations, and the symphonic works of Sibelius were
receiving international acclaim at that same time.
The
Finnish immigrant community drew inspiration from these cultural
icons, but none more than the Knights and Ladies of Kaleva. Although
the Fellowship of the Kaleva Knighthood resembled other closed fraternal
organizations and their auxiliaries, including the initiation rites,
degrees, offices, and membership benefits, it drew its focus on
loyalty, courage, and brotherhood from the heroes and stories of
the Kalevala. The symbols of knighthood, the shield, helm,
and sword became the visible signs in the rituals of fellowship
for the qualities of the heroes. The symbols of the tupa shed light
on the supportive role of the sisterhood. Being attentive, steadfast,
and compassionate are the keys to a secure and welcoming hearth
and home. The brothers and sisters from all walks of life, from
town and country, from modest means and prosperity found common
ground in those noble qualities and the harsh environment that developed
the character of their ancestors.
Many of the immigrant brothers in the early days of Great Bear Lodge
on Kaleva Island worked the earth as miners or farmers along the
Mesabi Range. The soil and rock dust was in the air they breathed
and the pores of their flesh. Finnish, the language of closeness
with "maa," the land, was on their lips. The test of hard
work and hard climate tempered by "sisu," – firmness
of mind and spirit, perseverance and unyielding courage in the face
of hardship or danger – defined their speech and action. The
sounds and rhythms of creation sang and danced in their poetry,
music and recreation. They brought the timeless strengths of the
Old Ways and embraced the wonder and energy of the new Finnish nation
and their new American home in their fellowship. Each generation
since then has endeavored to maintain that heritage and adapt to
an ever-changing world. But fewer brothers speak Finnish with each
passing year. Fewer brothers place as much value on the rituals
of the Knighthood as the founders did. Fewer brothers read, learn
or listen to the stories, poems, and songs of the Kalevala,
the Suomalaiset, the Finnish-American pioneers or the Kaleva Knighthood.
And fewer brothers pass this priceless heritage along to the rising
generation.
Finland
is a modern nation state with an advanced technological society.
The cell phone might be a more appropriate symbol of the contemporary
culture than the kantele. But much of what defines Finnish–America,
the language, the customs, and the connection with the homeland,
were defined by the people and events at the turn of the twentieth
century. Many Finns in twenty-first century Finland would find
the language and customs that have been preserved in Finnish
America – quaint. Many North Americans of Finnish descent
have lost touch with their roots and find the trail to rediscovery
gone cold in these changing times. But one constant remains:
the island. As long as there is a fellowship that values the
Kaleva Island Lodge as a place to gather in brotherhood, the
spirit of the Knighthood will endure. The lapping of the waves
at water's edge, the liquid song of the hermit thrush, the whisper
of the wind in the pines, the call of the loon across the waters,
the scent of wood smoke from the sauna, the hiss of steam on
the stove rocks, the aroma of cardamon and coffee, the crackling
roar of a midsummer's bonfire, the "laulu" of Finnish
speaking voices in the meeting hall, the shout of children playing
games or plunging into the cold lake water to swim, the long
summer twilight, the sharp crunch of blue winter snow, the breathtaking
cold of clear starry nights, the dancing northern lights, all
these are ageless.
In
the mystical connection of the Kalevala among all those who
cherish their common heritage, it is but a short span across the
tapestry of time to hear Väinämöinen sing of eternal
fellowship.
|
Anna
toisteki, Jumala,
Vastaki, vakainen louja,
Näin näissä ilottavaksi,
Toiste toimiteltavaksi,
Näissä häissä pyylypoian,
Pitkävillaisen pioissa!
Anna ainaki, Jumala,
Toisteki, totinen luoja,
Rastia rakettaviksi,
Puita pilkoteltaviksi,
Urohoisessa väessä,
Miehisessä joukkiossa!
Anna ainaki, Jumala,
Toisteki, totinen luoja,
Soivaksi Tapion torven,
Metsän pillin piukovaksi
Näillä pienillä pihoilla,
Kapeilla kartannoilla!
Päivät soisin soitettavan,
Illat tehtuävän iloa
Näilla mailla, mantereilla,
Suomen suurilla tiloilla,
Nuorisossa nousevassa,
Kansassa kasuavassa! |
Grant
us once again, Holy One,
In due time, steadfast Creator,
Just as now, to bring rejoicing,
Once again to bring fulfillment
By rejoicing for the Great One,
At the feast of the Adorned One!
Grant us ever thus, Holy One,
Once again, one true Creator,
That the guide posts be erected,
That the trees be blazed to guide us,
The heroic people gathered,
All the manly host among us!
Grant us ever thus, Holy One,
Once again, one true Creator,
That the horn of Tapio sounds forth,
That the forest pipe sounds clearly,
Even in this modest clearing,
Even in this enclosed homestead!
Through the day let music ring out,
Through the eve'ning make all joyful.
In these plots of settled country,
In these wide domains of Suomi,
With the rising generation,
With these youth now taking their place!
Kalevala,
Runo XLVI, 620–644
|
