The great work by Elias Lönnrot, Kalewala, taikka wanhoja Karjalan runoja Suomen kansan muinosista ajoista, was published in 1835 in the Grand Duchy of Finland, which was east of Sweden and west of Russia. The oral folk poetry singers in the Grand Duchy sang in Finnish, but Swedish was the language of the intellectuals and the administration. In order to make the people in the bourgeois families in Turku, Helsinki, Oulu and Uusikaarlepyy in the Grand Duchy understand the importance of this, it had to be written in Swedish. The Kalevala’s journey out in the world started at the home door.

Since then, the Kalevala has been translated into Swedish several times, both by our neighbours in the west and in Finland using the other official language in our country. The most recent Swedish translation was done in Finland: It is the translation that Lars Huldén and Mats Huldén did together in 1999. It was published simultaneously both in Finland and in Sweden.

(Petja Aarnipuu: ”Kalevala sivistysmaan käyntikorttina” – Kalevala maailmalla. Helsinki: SKS. 2012.
Lars Huldén: ”Kalevalan käännösongelmia” – Kalevala maailmalla. Helsinki: SKS. 2012.)