Finland was part of the Swedish Empire for centuries. Its culture is firmly Nordic, its life dotted with Scandinavian standbys like coffee with cardamom buns and red wooden houses. But Finland’s shared border with Russia and ties to the Baltic states have effects that permeate its culture and politics. Like its sister language Estonian, Finnish is a Uralic language, neither Scandinavian nor Slavic—nor indeed Indo-European—and the oral folklore that preceded all Finnish literature, though it shares threads with all its neighbors, is utterly unlike any other and filled with magic. The heroes of Finland’s epic Kalevala are not Vikings but shamans.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 18:30:16 +0000
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