Happy #Kalevala Day!

Yes, the Kalevala is the #Finnish national epic. Fifty #poems of heroes, monsters and a fishbone harp. But what if it's not just that? What if it's also a sculpture or a pair of socks?

Many years ago I earned a crust teaching European cultural history, and this #filtrit video on the Kalevala as an idea or a process is one of the leftover thoughts from that time that I never really got to explore properly before - so what better time than today! 💙

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac7Lu4Irz5U

Aloitin Filtrit-projektin toisen pitkän linjan aussisuomalaisen Anu Bessonin kanssa reilu vuosi sitten, ideana julkaista videoita silloin tällöin suomesta ja suomalaisuudesta.

Uusimmassa videossa Anu kertoi suomalaisesta pullakulttuurista, ja tässä on sille kaveriksi tietoa suomalaisen nimipäivä- ja liputusperinteestä.

https://youtu.be/aSdUi42CZxw

#filtrit #nimipaiva #liputus #suomi #suomalaisuus

Mistä pulla on meille tullut, ja miten pullakulttuuri Suomessa poikkeaa muista maista?

Filtrit-projekti tutkiskelee kaikenlaisia suomalaisia ilmiöitä, joskus suomeksi ja joskus englanniksi, ja tällä kertaa Anu Besson on suurten kysymysten äärellä kotimaisella kielellä 😊

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM5lBQfCo2o

#pulla #suomi #filtrit #suomalaisuus #perinne

If you like your colour palettes muted and your skies hanging low, you might also like my poetry 🤍

Have an explore of the 'straight lines' video collection: 'development', 'onion women', 'cappuccino strip', 'omen', 'paper', 'Gentlemen to Bed'.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCZYtH5JTJKekqiTCrWqGO6-1JCzxgLxX

#poetry

Back when I was still doing regular-ish poetry readings I thoroughly loved reading this one. It then occurred to me that just because I'm not hitting the scene, it shouldn't mean 'paper' can't.

#poetry #spokenword

If the Kalevala had not been translated into English, Tolkien might never have gotten into it. Galadriel would talk funny.

If the Kalevala had not been translated into Swedish, Finns themselves might not have gotten into their own national epic. Akseli Gallen-Kallela would have had so much spare time.

In the last Filtrit-video of the year I go through a history of translations of the Kalevala, and compare three different English translations of a specific poem, "The Battle of the Sampo" (Kirby, Magoun, Bosley).

Like, subscribe, share, use as fodder for dinner party conversations with language nerds etc.

#translation #translating #kalevala #finland #finnish #sampo #poetry #louhi #filtrit

https://youtu.be/X6NAIEdBlfc

Who among us *hasn't* been moved to write poetry about Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon?

#poetry #thetrip #winterbottom #coogan #brydon #GentlemenToBed #film #ekphrastic

There are thousands of scrolls of birch bark lodged in the soil in Novgorod, and they demonstrate a surprising level of popular literacy in the medieval period.

One of the scrolls (any word you use will be too fancy for the real thing, which is literally just a scrap of bark) is the earliest written text in a Balto-Finnic language (cool) and contains a spell or incantation of some kind (very cool).

I've been fascinated with birch bark letter #292 for a long time, so it was an obvious choice for a 'vaguely Finnish, weirdly specific' video.

Take a moment to enjoy my enthusiastic gesticulating about transliteration and back pain - and if you are particularly diverted, do give it a boost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1ie5fyrY0

#birchbark #gramota #filtrit #linguistics #archaeology #Finnish #finnic #literacy #myth #magic #medieval #Karelian

My turn! Tomorrow's Filtrit episode is *extremely* vaguely Finnish and very, very specific. Archaeological treasure, linguistic mystery, the concept of literacy and the ire of ancient gods - what's not to like?

I had to learn medieval Cyrillic to make it, so commitment to the bit is strong in this one. 📜💪

Subscribe at https://youtube.com/@drfiltrit and help validate my life choices.

#linguistics #archaeology #finnic #filtrit #myth #language #translation #translitteration #literacy #medieval