ManifestChallenge, Day 13 - A journey through Kalevala, a mythology present even today

I've been quite with the #manifestchallenge for almost a week because of my job in my civil service has taken most of my awake hours and I only recently got my account functioning for the Vantaa city's computers (my job is in public sector as a janitor in clinics which provide services for recovering addicts). Also for this week my work place is in the Western clinic - instead of the Easter - which is further away from my home and lengthens my day even more; I usually get home at 5 PM. when I wake up at 6:30 AM. All this and that, I've had some problems for committing time for writing. But now I can finally do some writing at work on quite hours (do not worry, it won't disturb my janitoring as sometimes the job is just sitting on my ass without anything happening, and something to do besides the job is pretty much required to not get bored unless you're a zen monk).

But enough with the yada yada; I'll present another one of my goals:

Some of you might already know I'm currently reading Kalevala, a mythological Finnish epic folklore poetry collection from which I'm doing my own "Kalevala series" here on Steemit.

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This is the Kalevala (1983 edition) I borrowed from library. There were also pocket sized ones but I had to take this one because it feels much more epic!

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Basically what I do is I'm writing the Kalevala in a series of short stories in English, so that everybody can get into the world of Kalevala easily without reading the whole poetry thing (though translations have been published so I do recommend it if you're interested). This means my goal is to write in total of 50 stories; one from every rune and I'm already at Part 10!

I'm telling the story in a free form except for dialogues which I do in the Kalevala meter (also known as trochaic tetrameter; it's basically just counting to eight when reading a verse). I don't translate dialogues literally from the Kalevala; I rather pick some moments which I feel essential and reform them to create a natural progression of events. It's a challenge that requires some adaptation but I like playing with words!

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The first rune from the Kalevala (1983 edition) in Finnish. The language is old and very dialected that even today's native speakers (even I) have to stop at times to understand the text. But when you get into it the reading becomes very enjoyable.

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So, finishing Kalevala and my series is another goal of mine that of mine that I figured I wanted to present to the #manifestchallenge community also who might not be familiar with it.

I'm trying to make one story per week, not too much more, for I have limited time on my hands like I explained and I still want to do at least a little something else than just Steemit and Kalevala.

We'll see again on tomorrow's manifesting post!

But not before you've said hello to...

Väinämöinen, the great wizard and a wise sage who has found his way from Kalevala to my home city's, Kerava, tunnel wall. He has expanded his immense knowledge and powers from singing to the art of graffiti as well.

...and...

The witch Louhi, the Mistress of the North - disguised as eagle - who also seems to have updated herself for today's era along with Väinämöinen.

Source
Akseli Gallen-Kallela: "The defence of the Sampo" (1896)

The resemblance is obvious, isn't it? ;)

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I've also made an introductory post to Kalevala: Kalevala: An epic folklore of Finns - A source of inspiration for Tolkien's mythology, so check that out if your interested.