— Ch. 1 · The Fire And The Cabin —
Elias Lönnrot.
~4 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
Elias Lönnrot was born in a small wooden cabin called Paikkarin torppa, located in the village of Sammatti. This event took place on the 9th of April 1802. At that time, Finland belonged to Sweden rather than being an independent nation. His early education began at the Tammisaari Pedagogio school between 1814 and 1815. He then moved to Turku Cathedral School where he studied from the 5th of April 1816 until spring 1818. After leaving that institution, he worked as a tailor and singer in local villages. He enrolled again at Porvoo Gymnasium on the 20th of March 1820 but departed just days later on the 9th of April. For two years he trained as an apothecary student in Hämeenlinna. In the summer of 1822 he returned to Sammatti to prepare for his high school exams. On the 11th of October 1822 he finally entered the Academy of Turku to study medicine. That same year the Great Fire of Turku destroyed the university buildings. The fire forced the entire institution to relocate to Helsinki. Lönnrot followed the move and eventually graduated in 1832.
Doctor In The Wilderness
Lönnrot lived in the village of Paltaniemi when he accepted a job as district doctor of Kajaani. This position placed him in Eastern Finland during a period marked by famine and pestilence. While treating patients in remote areas, he began collecting folk tales from rural people around the same time. His work started in 1827 when he wrote about the early Finnish language. In 1831 the Finnish Literature Society was founded. Lönnrot became one of its founders and received financial support for his efforts to collect folk tales. He took extended leaves of absence from his medical duties to tour the countryside. These journeys covered Finland, Sapmi or Lapland, and nearby portions of Russian Karelia. The expeditions led to several published books including Kantele between 1829 and 1831. He also produced Kalevala between 1835 and 1836 which served as an edited collection of epic poems. Later works included Kanteletar in 1840 and Sananlaskuja or Proverbs in 1842. An expanded second edition of Kalevala appeared in 1849.