Mythgard Institute Scholars Group discussion

Hyvia Paiva all

At lunch today I went on a web search to see what exactly this sampo that Illlmarien is making is and found some interesting Kalevala web related links that may be of interest.


http://www.finlit.fi/kalevala/index.p...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampo

http://edj.net/mc2012/finn.htm

According to the Wikipedia Link on Sampo

"The Sampo has been interpreted in many ways: a world pillar or world tree, a compass or astrolabe, a chest containing a treasure, a Byzantine coin die, a decorated Vendel period shield, a Christian relic, etc. In the Kalevala, compiler Lönnrot interpreted it to be a quern or mill of some sort that made flour, salt, and gold out of thin air. The world pillar hypothesis, originally developed by historian of religions Upo Harva and the linguist Eemil Nestor Setälä in the early 20th century, is the most widely accepted one.[1]"

Also if anyone has Tolkien Journal Volume 7 (most recent one) there is a brilliant article by Verlyn Flieger (who will be teaching one of the Kalevala courses)including a lecture Tolkien gave on the Kalevala and his early attempt to create his own version of the Kullervo story (which also shows evidence of his early Qenya language).

Continuing to explore - back to opera!!!!

Kiitos Paljon

Andy

I well remember the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring the Finnish film "The Day the Earth Froze" and the sampo. My family and I still quote lines from that episode, including "it's a sampo" for just about any unidentified thing. I got the impression from the movie that the sampo was something magical that produced gold for its owner.

I quite like the uncertainty about what the Sampo is, and can't help but wonder whether it was part of the draw The Kalevala had for Tolkien. Look at all the wonderful, infuriating mysteries he included in his work, like the whereabouts of the Entwives or the classification of Tom Bombadil. They make his work deeper and leave this unknown territory about which we can speculate all we want but we will never have a definitive answer to.

Kris wrote: "I well remember the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring the Finnish film "The Day the Earth Froze" and the sampo. My family and I still quote lines from that episode, including "it's a s..."

Haha, Kris - it's funny you should say that. I've been worried that MST3k's "Jack Frost" might color my reading of The Kalevala a little more than I'd like.

Also, what you say about a sampo producing gold for its owner reminds me of the Philosopher's Stone, the end product of alchemy, turning any metal to gold.

Hi all,
I just read an interesting article on the Kalevala in Tolkien Studies Volume 10. Andy Tolkien's version contains a wonder dog too! XX Penny

Penny

Yes Musta (darky) a precursor to Huan perhaps (Tolkien and dogs there is an article). There is also a good article in Tolkien and The Kalevala in Jane Chance's Tolkien and Myth book must dig out this week. Verlyn Flieger's work on Tolkien's early Kalevala is work is brilliant - there is some evidence of early qenya in this work as well!.

Andy

I just downloaded a audiobook version of the Kalevala from Audible.com. It's only $9.95 for members.