Martti Haavio (1899–1973)

Perhaps too often, I read several books at the same time, and this one dealing with Finnish folklore has survived many other titles. The slim format hides 450 bible-thin pages and makes this a rather exhaustive tome.

The subject in question is unlikely to move many readers of this review – except then of course to remind about the relevance of one's own heritage, wherever it may stem from. In my case, this book, title roughly translated being "The World of Ancient Finnish Lore", brings me back all the way to the times before our first history books, revealing this ancient world through a huge array of stories, poetry, lore, traditions, historical variations and myths – always with the aim of seeing the world of those times – in a way, not to look at the lore in itself so much as to look through it as a window.

Through that window we can see how the relations were t
o our neighbours (often warlike indeed), we hear how giants helped to build churches but hated the tolling bells, how ghosts warned about approaching deaths, how the maiden killed the wealthy foreigners who threatened her honour.

I left my homeland at the age of three, grew up near to it but yet on foreign soil – but what I'm not physically bound by, I hold even more dear inside – and while the myths of Egypt and Ur fill me with awe, I'm always to compare them to characters my own heritage speaks of. Because of this I'm always grateful for the tremendous effort Haavio put not only into this volume but in general his vast research and production.… (mer)