Knitted Kalevala
The Knitted Finnish Kalevala
The love for Kalevala was initiated at the same time as my love for Finland.
While studying in London I got hold of the Kalevala in English, which sucked me to the world of the Kalevala. Thus began a lifelong pssion. At Art school I did a thesis on the Kalevala and its influence on Finnish art. A hunderd years ago we lived the golden age of the Kalevala art in Finland and still today our art and life are essentially intertwined.
Finnish Kalevala, hovering above like an invisible lid over Finland is like Finnish Feng Shui book, through which this age-old wisdom appears to us perhaps more easily than others.
The prime creator in Kalevala is Ilmatar, the Maiden of Wind and Water. The word FengShui is WindWater when translated.
The Kalevala expresses and renews itself through Finnish art and artist.
As knitwear design is my art, so to me the Kalevala opens up like a ball of yarn.
The Kalevala is the journey of human consciousness to this day from the beginning of time, and from now on. It is an everlasting creation story which is refreshed every time a new era arises for mankind. Väinämöinen, the Finnish national deva, has the role as an activator in the process.
Today the Kalevala women take us into a new era in which women play an active role.
In Kalevala, women are the daughters of Earth whom of the heavenly gods of Väinölä woo and court.
It is the story of Pohjolan Häät, the wedding of North, that tell the story of this inner marriage of spirit and matter. Now this courtship is over and the new woman is born.
The most important role of Knitted Kalevala is to help us remember your true essence, that part of mankind's memory that lives in the memory of our body, in the matter. This memory is opened with symbolic keys and codes of multi-level communication in Knitted Kalevala.
Aino
Kalevala epic is matriarchal by nature and the women of Kalevala have been the starting point of the feminine empowerment to many.
Aino is a role model of an independent and empowered woman.
Aino's story is a story of exploitation and coercion of another's will.
Aino chose to drown her womanhood, that no one could abuse it.
Her story represents the deep joy of womanhood blueprinted on our experience, which has long been lost.
Väinämoinen, promised to return when there is no moon nor the sun and no expression of joy.
The Moon represents femininity and Sun masculinity. These energies have been out of balance for long time here in the West. We have lost our femininity, our joy, romance, chivalry, all that which relates to the balance of these energies! What about the childlike joy of innocence?
We´ve had to push femininity aside since it has not been possible to fully experience.
New independence
Aino has grown into an independent and dignified woman who values herself and whom no one can no longer subject to their will. Aino opens up new understanding of the divinity of our body and femininity, in order to learn to carry our womanhood upright and gracefully.
Sampo, Excalibur, Sun Disc
The knowledge and joy of womanhood was drowned with Aino to the depths of the lake. Water represents our emotions. Aino's story touches the stories and legends of Sun Disc and King Arthurs Excalibur, the Sword of Truth. Sampo, The Magic Mill of Wealth and Abundance in Kalevala had a similar fate to fall into waters and to be broken into thousands pieces.
They are all held in the possession of the Lady of The Lake. The Celts believe that the sword will rise from the water, when the time is ready. Väinämöinen also promises to return at the end of the Kalevala when the time is ready.
Now is that time. Now we need to address feminine, Mother Earth, our bodies, to all womanhood to take a stand and heal the injustice and oppression that has been going on for aeons.
By truly embracing our femininity and by accepting the divinity of our bodies, our joy return.
The Knitted Kalevala
The time brought the new form,
water found a fresh flowing
to the people of the wind,
to the nation of the lakes
to dress the folk of the forests,
to adorn the fairies of the nature.
Lively and feminine,
to function anywhere,
on any form of goddess or queen,
as a joy of self-expression
and wellbeing of the beloved body.
What a magic garment:
loosens off the box,
frees to the flowing,
gives Wellamo´s and Louhi´s power
to the women of of Kalevala,
to the daughters of the North.
So knitted, so crocheted,
wove in the art as well,
worked in harmony
and the ancient wisdom,
to one size gathered
the large and the small,
the tall and the tiny.
Knitted now is Kalevala,
woven the great tale,
changed the old patterns,
opened the tightened knots
To begin the new day,
to start the new morning,
so that the the roots and the myths
of the Grail and the great nation
would not be forgotten
nor the skill of Sampo forging.
