Capítulo 9. Eficacia del MIRE
9.3 Discusión
Viena is considered the most conservative region for kalevalaic epic (cf. Virtanen 1968), but the region is characterized by its diversity. Krohn (1918b I:38) observed: “When we examine the Kalevala-related songs of Viena more closely, with the variants of each song organized by location, then it is easy to observe that nearly each village has its own particular way of singing.” Conservatism is characteristic within the family or kin group, in other words, diversity is variation “from village to village and family to family” (Tarkka 2005:163). Migrations into the region from Savo, Ostrobothnia and Kainuu, particularly in the 17th century resulted in multiple redactions in close contact (cf. Kuusi 1949; Siikala 2002b:40-41; Pöllä 1995, 1999). Conservatism within the region must be understood in specific terms of the diversity of redactions in close contact and interaction,
and also the relationship between redaction and identity within the systems of social networks which maintained distinctions between redactions, and in some cases this emerges in the ability to perform and attribute variant passages of a single song (e.g. I1.100; see further §17). Conservatism does not mean that poems remained unchanged. Siikala (2002b) proposes that the confluence of regional traditions resulting from migrations stimulated narrative activity with a generative effect on oral traditions. This is particularly evident in the diversity of dangers on Lemminkäinen‟s journey and the propensity of these dangers to accumulate within presentations of the journey (Supplement 3).
A significant question in LV research is whether the sources reflect a fusion of two or more similar narratives. Kaukomieli/Kaukomoinen/Kauko (§14.4.1.2) is considered the protagonist of a narrative assimilated by LV. This name survived as a name of a protagonist in Viena, but there is no evidence that he was associated with a narrative similar to but distinct from LV. A (very) few singers distinguished Lemminkäinen and Kaukomieli as cultural figures with distinct narratives (detailed in Supplement 4). These singers consistently identify “Lemminkäinen” as the figure who dies, but the separation of material into distinct narratives indicates separate attempts to either resolve or take
advantage of diverse variants of LV in circulation (cf. §17.3). Figure 6 summarizes the episodes with which LV concludes in Viena. The data emphasizes that the Isle of Women was a more popular sequence, and it reveals that other singers sought to resolve LV material in circulation by generating a coherent narrative sequence.
The Isle of Women adventure was adapted to other heroes in cycles of adventures unrelated to Lemminkäinen (I2.764; I2.804; I2.818; I2.790). The adventure on the Isle of Women was also commonly associated with The Sister’s Corruption92 with a common continuation into The Song of Kullervo on the return from the Isle of Women (also found in three LV variants: I2.704, I2.705, I2.724, classed here as “miscellaneous”; variants which conclude in the Escape Dialogue are classed with “Isle of Women” endings).
Figure 6. Concluding episodes in Viena
Episode Variants Collected
Uncertain93 37
Arrival in Päivölä -
Beer 1394
Duel 27
Death/Resurrection 20 (5 preceded by Isle of Women) Isle of Women 6095 (2 preceded by Death/Resurrection) Miscellaneous96 3397 (1 learned Death from Kalevala)
The Isle of Women was significantly more common than the Death/Resurrection. The majority of variants with the Death/Resurrection were only recorded in the earliest phases
92 Recorded in variants of The Sister’s Corruption:
Period Variants 1835-1839 3 1845 1 1871-1894 22
93 Many fragments are completely ambiguous. This category also includes variants in which it is clear that
the “narrative” has not reached a conclusion in the eyes of the performer (e.g. due to failing memory) or because the collector stopped recording although the performance may have continued in verse or in a prose summary.
94 I4.2167 integrates the Duel into the beer-brewing.
95 Although I2.789a and I2.789b are indexed as separate items they are counted as a single coherent
performance.
96 These are adaptations of LV or portions thereof adapted into other narratives (e.g. adventures of
Väinämöinen) or adaptations of LV or its material into lyric or incantation genres.
of collection discussed with Figure 7, below. No variants of the Death were documented in this region in the 20th century although collectors often sought descendants of the great singers of the 19th century.98 УПТК.2, recorded in the Tunguda Region99 in 1956, presents a near-exception. It concludes Šinne mäni ainuo poiga/šuarella kuolomaa, “Thus went the only boy/to die on the island” (УПТК.2.118-119). This variant maintains the single motif of “death” but no additional narrative indication of a Death/Resurrection sequence. It implies a fusion of the Death/Resurrection with the Isle of Women sequences. Death/Resurrection exhibits radical variation across Viena and it was clearly dropping out of circulation although LV continued to be sung.100 Vassilei Malinen concluded with the Isle of Women and stated that he did not know the song of Lemminkäinen‟s death (I2.810) although his brother Jyrki (below) performed it (cf. Niemi 1921:1152).
Five singers performed Death/Resurrection variants in which Lemminkäinen sings gold to all present except one figure. This was recorded from three singers: Arhippa Perttunen (I2.758: 1834, 1836), Martiska Karjalainen (I2.815: 1834) and an unattributed variant recorded by Lönnrot in 1834 (I2.828 in which the gold is exchanged for “gifts”). Arhippa‟s son Miihkali performed the gold-singing, but integrated it into his father‟s Kaukomoinen narrative (I2.764: 1871, 1877). He did not sing the Death/Resurrection as part of LV, but he sang the corresponding material as a (unique!) discrete entity describing an unsuccessful recovery of Väinämöinen from the sea (I1.59: see §4.3.9.6) as well as a discreet performance of his father‟s resurrection omen (I2.1183: see §26.1.3). Vihtoora Lesonen (I2.1025) also performed this narrative sequence learned from the
Kalevala but concluded without singing Lemminkäinen‟s Death.
The Death of these variants includes the umpiputki plant-weapon (I2.828 has “iron arrows”; see §9.5.2). The plant-weapon is also found in Jyrki Ontreinen‟s LV (I2.801;
98
This includes variants outside the core corpus.
99 This region is east of Viena. The earliest collectors did not record any epic poetry in this region and it
was therefore generally ignored. See Stepanova 2000.
100
The two variants of LV which were learned from the Kalevala (I2.1020; I2.1025) incorporate the Death/Resurrection material implying continued interest, but I2.1025, performed by Vihtoora Lesonen, concludes before the death itself. This may indicate a waning in interest, noting that Vihtoora was a tietäjä (see below) and performed the display of Lemminkäinen‟s power in overcoming adversaries with magic.
I2.802b) and a variant collected from the same village by Lönnrot in 1833 (I2.795): these clearly belong to the same family of redactions. The latter variant presents the Singing Contest, the Duel, and then the Death/Resurrection; Jyrki attributes the Duel to Kaukomoinen in one poem and the Singing Contest to Lemminkäinen, concluding with his Death, in another. Both incorporate the plant-weapon, although there is a significant range of variation between them. Jyrki (I2.801, I2.801a, I2.802b) is the only other singer to conclude with the Death (without the Resurrection) in Viena. Together, these will be considered the Umpiputki-redaction. The families associated with this redaction migrated from the west of the region (Pöllä 1995; Kuusi 1949).
This redaction exhibits the couplet siit’ oli hukka Lemminkäistä/tuho poikoa pätöistä, “that was the doom of Lemminkäinen/destruction of the able lad” (I2.801.81-82), prominent in Northern Karelia (Supplement 5). A variant of this couplet occurs in Huotari Lukkanen‟s LV (I2.793a.174-175), implying contact with variants of the death and resurrection of Lemminkäinen. The only other adaptation of this couplet outside of the Death/Resurrection is in a performance of The Song of Kojonen’s Son by a woman in Jyvöälahti.101 Like Huotari Lukkanen, this use is associated with a danger on the road:
üksi on susi Lemminkäińi, tuhat poikova pätöveä (I2.839.114-115), “one is the wolf
Lemminkäinen, one thousand able boys”. This variant includes the death-omen (I2.839.148-156) although the hero does not die and the Duel mysteriously concludes with the mother-in-law dying “into the sea”. This is a variant of LV according to the core corpus, but it is a unique fusion of material which seems to stumble from The Song of
Kojonen’s Son into a multiform associated with the Fiery Eagle danger, which emerges as
the Departure Dialogue.102 This appears characteristic of this singer‟s epic performances, observing that she makes a similarly abrupt transition in the Courtship Competition from the courting hero‟s approach to the maiden‟s home into the Flight Dialogue and Isle of Women (I1.507).103 This singer exhibits knowledge of these traditions and crafts them into entertaining (if bizarre) narratives, and the narratives she knew are all associated
101
Niemi (1921:1107) identifies this somewhat tentatively as Iro Ohvokainen.
102 See I1.569.63-82; I2.839 only presents the material conventionally identified with LV.
103 Cf. I1.237, which is a conventional performance of The Song of Aino (more consistent with the singer‟s
with courtship, associating them with wedding verses which appear to be more in her area of expertise. This unique representation of Lemminkäinen as a “wolf” may reflect an undeveloped knowledge of what, following Stepanova (2009) we might describe as the
context specific register of epic: hukka is used in LV in the meaning of „destruction‟, but
outside of the poetic register, it means susi, “wolf”, in Karelian.104 Nonetheless, even if she was not skilled in epic or saw these as little more than cheerful entertainment, her performances exhibit experience with some form of the Umpiputki-redaction.
The singing of “All-but-One” was adapted into the Island of Women in the Sirkeinen- family redaction in Uhtua (Krohn 1905:108). Kaukomieli has sex with all of the women except one old widow. She curses him on his departure and he dies at sea. This is followed by the omen, search and recovery by his mother (I2.834; I2.840; I2.845; I2.847).105 This will be termed the Sex-Death-redaction. This redaction appears extremely isolated, but I2.795 follows the sex of the Isle of Women with the plant- weapon death (adversary unnamed), and I2.784 (Lönnrot, 1834, Tollonjoki) concludes with the lines lepytteli saaren neiot/jäi yksi lepyttämättä (I2.784.110-111), “was satisfying the maidens of the island / one remained unsatisfied”.
Lemminkäinen is also sung to death (I2.722; I2.722a; I2.733; I2.771). Soava Trohkimainen (I2.730) performed a variant which opened with the Resurrection without an account of the Death and followed this with Lemminkäinen‟s adventure (Supplement 4). I2.835, I2.836 and I2.836a are notes by Cajan on the Resurrection from what appear to be two performances. These are considered the conclusions of songs. I2.711 concludes with the Duel, but is unclear whether Lemminkäinen is the victor or the victim. In I2.705, Lemminkäinen goes to Tuoni‟s (Death‟s) River to hide. In I2.774, Kaukomoinen claims Lemminkäinen (!) would catch him if he hid in the liver of a fish. I2.775 is a unique account of Lemminkäinen becoming a king of the sea following his escape into a fish. These variants can be compared with Lemminkäinen ending up in the river of death for the recovery attempt or ending up in or as a fish, which Arhippa
104 KKS I:326. This curious fusion of Lemminkäinen with the wolf is perhaps less surprising when in the
register of laments and wedding verses susi, “wolf”, is a circumlocution for the groom.
Perttunen (I2.758) claims was caught and eaten by Swedes (see §22.4.1). These may all be developments from the tradition of Lemminkäinen‟s Death/Resurrection as it waned in cultural activity.
The resurrection material is clearly identified with Lemminkäinen over “Kaukomieli” and the Resurrection Attempt was clearly associated with the Death, only absent in Jyrki Ontreinen‟s performances (and УПТК.2). The Death is clearly associated with magic. Figure 7 shows the periods in which variants with the Death/Resurrection were collected.
Figure 7. Dates and singers of Death/Resurrection in Viena
Period Variants Number of Singers
1832-1834 12 10
1871-1879 8 6
1886 1 *106
1892-1894 2 2
The 1871-1879 variants include Jyrki Ontreinen‟s performances and two of the Sex- Death-redaction variants. The 1892-1894 variants are a third Sex-Death-redaction variant and I2.1020, learned from Kalevala. Arhippa Perttunen‟s (I2.758) son Miihkali (I2.766) did not perform the Death/Resurrection and concluded with the Isle of Women. Martiska Karjalainen‟s (I2.815) son Maksima (I2.817) similarly performed the Duel rather than the Death/Resurrection performed by his father. The Death/Resurrection does not appear to have been used in the generation of “new” narrative songs.107 Incantation and lyric adaptations similarly focus on the journey and the beer. The recovery attempt only explicitly fails in performances by Arhippa Perttunen, who was a form-breaker.108 The attempt otherwise always appears to succeed.109
106 The singer was first recorded in 1872.
107 E.g. I2.826 names the protagonist Iivana, concluding with the Duel, in which he kills Väinämöinen. See
also the discussion on I2.839 above.
108
“Form-breaker” is a term used by Dégh (1995:44-45) to refer to a performer who actively deviates from conventions of tradition. See §17.1,
109 Success is often implied rather than explicit. When implicit variants are brought into comparison with
others from the same redaction (cf. I2.722/I2.722a and I2.733) and these are further placed within the patterns of the region there is no indication of a convention of Lemminkäinen remaining dead. Arhippa‟s performance stands in contrast to these as much as his son‟s use of the same multiforms to assert that the recovery of Väinämöinen from the sea failed (I1.59).
LV is connected to several other narratives. Beer’s Origin is commonly integrated into
the Beer-Brewing motif. The Great Ox is often incorporated as the description of the ox sung by Lemminkäinen in the Singing Competition.110 Some accounts of the Resurrection exhibit connections to the Visiting Vipunen. Visiting Vipunen begins the narrative in I2.809 and I2.849, where it is explicitly associated with learning how to get to Päivölä, and Ilmarinen goes to the Isle of Women following Visiting Vipunen in I2.790. Visiting Tuonela is integrated into the Beer Brewing (I2.759b; I2.774; I2.760; cf. XII1.69). Fishing for Vellamo’s Maiden was also associated with Lemminkäinen as a cultural figure. In research, this song became associated with LV as a cycle primarily through the authority of Arhippa Perttunen (I2.758, I2.758b).111 LV may also turn the Isle of Women into a Sampo-poem connecting it to fertility.112 Lemminkäinen is ploughing a field when he learns of the feast – when such information is included.113
The lack of contextualizing information makes the nature of some variants uncertain, such as I2.755, I2.827, I2.854 which could be incantations or lyric songs related to LV. One incantation variant is associated with weddings (I2.776). Tarkka (1990:249-250) points out that lines, symbols and motifs associated with LV were applied in incantations dealing with transition rituals related to birth and marriage. The Serpent-Fence appears particularly significant in this respect.
4.3.2. Kainuu
Kainuu is adjacent to Viena on the Finnish side of the border. The variants exhibit tremendous diversity, including unique variations on the dangers of the Journey. I2.745
110
See especially I2.749, in which The Great Ox dominates the conclusion, and I2.754, in which it is simply attached to LV without transition.
111 This results in certain Vellamo’s Maiden poems being classed as LV: e.g. I2.761, I2.770, I2.807, I2.814,
I2.822; I2.818 opens with Vellamo’s Maiden and presumably through associations with sexual relations and sailing, passes directly into the Isle of Women. The only singer besides Arhippa to associate this material directly with LV is Soava Trohkimainen (I2.729.1-8: see further Supplement 4).
112 I2.778, I2.803, I2.809, I2.853; cf. I2.820, I2.833; some redactions of the Sampo-Cycle exhibit
corresponding interference from LV (Kuusi 1949:§553).
113 Cf. Krohn 1924-1928:85. This is sometimes connected to the “danger” of ploughing the Serpent-Field
found in a few variants (see Supplement 3). Reference to ploughing the Serpent-Field may also otherwise be introduced (cf. I2.744.208-209).
Figure 8. Concluding episodes in Kainuu
Episode Variants Collected
Uncertain 3 Arrival in Päivölä - Beer - Duel 4 Death/Resurrection - Isle of Women 3 Misc. 2114
incorporates LV material into a larger cycle, preceding it with The Singing Contest. XII1.69 opens with Visiting Tuonela and exhibits striking similarities to corresponding variants in Viena (associated with families from the west). Changes in the cultural activity appear to have opened LV to dramatic revisions such as replacing the mythic dangers of the Journey with the journey of Väinämöinen’s Knee-Wound (XII1.107).
4.3.3. Aunus
Figure 9. Concluding episodes Aunus
Episode Variants Collected
Uncertain 12
Arrival in Päivölä -
Beer 11 (3 preceded by Duel)
Duel 9
Death/Resurrection - Isle of Women 19
Misc. 13
Aunus is separated from Viena by the wedge-like area of Seesjärvi, which appeared to lack surviving epic traditions and was avoided by collectors (Konkka & Konkka 1980:3- 4). Aunus variants reveal a significant range of variation in the handling of narrative material. Courtship or bridal-quest is introduced as the reason for Lemminkäinen‟s journey although it has no bearing on the progression of the narrative or its conclusion. Variants of Courting Hiisi’s Maiden also incorporate LV material. In several cases, LV appears to be handled as a folktale, for example:
Oli akalla kolme poikie An old woman had three sons
nuorin poik’ oli Lemminkäine the youngest son was Lemminkäinen
Lemminkäin’ on lieto poika Lemminkäinen was a lieto boy (II.193.1-3)
This variant climaxes in Lemminkäinen encountering and slaying his brothers (II.193.81- 86). Almost twenty years later, the same singer opened the song with Lemminkäinen going to see his mother and the brother-slaying is absent (II.193b). Over half a decade after that, he opened with the Departure Dialogue adapted to a request for permission to seek a bride (II.193a). Elements of LV sometimes appear in incantations in this region (cf. II.186, II.187, II.191), but variation in narrative presentation appears to be associated with LV’s position as a Märchen-like narrative in most communities. Siikala (2002b:28) associates this with informal performance in the home (cf. Kuusi 1949, Rausmaa 1964).
Beer’s Origin is not introduced into the beer-brewing episode, and incantation material
does not play a significant role in overcoming dangers on the journey.
The handling of the narrative whole was often subject to flexibility, but central multiforms of the region exhibit striking conformity and consistency. This is most pronounced in the dangers on the Journey, which were conventionally the Fiery Eagle, Fiery Grave, and the Serpent-Fence. This contrasts sharply with the range of dangers in Viena variants and how these were manipulated where the narrative structures otherwise generally exhibit far more stability. Lemminkäinen‟s death was not recorded in Aunus, although the omen of the bloody comb occurs combined with an omen signalling the birth of Christ (II.376) and II.199.71-82 mentions the one unsexed maiden on the Isle of Women.
4.3.4. Border/Ladoga Karelia
The majority of the Border-Karelian variants divide into three groups. The first group concludes with the arrival at Päivölä and equate this to becoming a great tietäjä. These variants are concentrated in Suistamo and will be referred to generally as the Tietäjä- redaction. The second group is associated primarily with the Shemeikka family in which
Figure 10. Concluding episodes in Border Karelia
Episode Variants Collected
Uncertain 25
Arrival in Päivölä 26
Beer 12
Duel 7 (3 Lemminkäinen dies)
Death/Resurrection 0
Isle of Women 4 (departure only115)
Misc. 5
Lemminkäinen is received by Väinö. Most of these conclude with the Beer. These will be referred to as the Väinö-Host-redaction. There is also a small group of variants in which Lemminkäinen dies in the Duel (VII1.773, VII1.799, VII1.799a, VII1.800116). VII1.791 may have some relation to this redaction but the narrative ends abruptly when Lemminkäinen is eaten by the Fiery Eagle (see §15.2.1). These will be referred to as the Border-Duel-Death redaction. The bridal quest associations are less prominent than in Aunus and only one variant continues into Courting Hiisi’s Maiden. There is no resurrection attempt in the core corpus. Jouko Hautala recorded a variant in 1939 which concluded with the Resurrection.117 The song is short and the beginning of the narrative exhibits a conflation of lyric material. Lemminkäinen dies in the Duel. There is no