Finnish expression for giving' a daughter in marriage. In an
old song occur the line®: “ lie sold his daughter; he took a
price for the maid.” The bridegroom'replies to an inquiry who
had been the purchaser, “ Thou wast sold to me ; to me wast
thou disposed of.” The bride expresses indignation at the
smallness o f the price at which she was estimated, which was
a war-horse töThe father, a eow to the mother, a pair of oxen
to the brother, and a sheep to her sister. Of gallantry and
tenderness not a trace is to be found. The lot of married women
was that of superior domestic slaves.
S ec tio n V.— Of the Religion and Poetry o f the Finns and
Lappes.
An inquiry into th e religious no tionsand,superstition s of the
Finns seems likely to give us a further insight into their intellectual
and moral state than the traits that are preserved of
their external manners, arts, and customs. We can obtain but
a very imperfect account of the religion, if it deserves, that
name, prevalent among the old pagan Finns, and, y e t, there
are perhaps more traces of it extanfthan thpgeiffihicjh remain
from the mythology of the Celtic nations. This is owing.to
the comparative lateness of the period when the Finns were
converted toChristianity; and to the fact that there were among
the clergy who converted them some who took pains^Jp gqjJfQt
the fragments, of their ancient songs of Finnland before their
memory had been entirely lost, and to preserve information
respecting the superstitious customs of antiquity.’ By an investigation
of these relics, northern antiquarians have sucr
ceeded in throwing a ray of light on the ancient Finnish
superstitions. An inquiry into the degree of mental culture
that existed among the ancient Finns is intimately .connected
with the ethnography of the aboriginal inhabitants of northern
Europe, and. I shall therefore lay before my readers such information
respecting it as I have been able to collect, the sources
of which are not to many persons easily accessible.
The Finnish word for sopg, runo, in the plural runot, whence
runoniecka, a poet, bears but an accidental resemblance-to
thefsound of the, Scand inavian runes.* The Finnish v erse is without
rhyme, and consists., of, similar .octosyllabic lines, in which
,a; .soun.d n0tmnharmonious .to^a-practised ear is produced by a
r.egnlated ,.alliteration,» every, liner containing two- words which
commence with ?the same, syllable^ or letter.. The thoughts
•tq,,b£ exprasggdfeins§aoK couplet:’arc repeated, the second line
fiontainingn'repetition of the ’^>m%seNtk®en1i delivered in the
preceding'member/ bi^setiCrtb ii|;differenty;and*if possible, in
stronger,,.words;; The., old ipoetsmb the* Timas* sang, the| ad7
venturesinf;gpds\ andi;heroe,s^ th e .exploits,pf their ancestors,
and all the j oy ful and .fep^rqwfulnYpn-ts.of-life,- but none.of their
historical songs have^jeQine-.down ^opfqur time. A The.' oldest
piey ^ e x ta n t .a fe^n g sfo f magic,.which were belie,véd to have
great influence in preventi^g^di^a's'es^aüd ;oth|?r^calamities.
T i|]jr melodies a i^^pnefally rsiftiplé> sW’d1 mjelancholy^airs.
They^ had ^several/stringed^ instruments,'^ds-wëlk as fifes tand
shawms, which’, with -th’eir "genbdn# Finnish4 namest' havé»w e n
preVerved‘#0‘ modern
| t ^.Leneqhi;^ ‘oÉêfb f -thétttMtï l-M^&tWrlt'efs óddhöFiöhish
.m y th » l© g y ^ e g in s h is a c é b d n 'tb f e ^ ith d h e s e Tgeh%rë,lre'merks:-f-
* Riins, Tibi, supra.
-j- 'Quod de idoloitiania atqde superstitious'Fennorum proferre possum, id ipsum
mavimarn partem ex hujusmOdi'carrndnibus coriquidtdin est4-2 qu® & fnajOTiDuis aë-
cepta v.ulgi ore in, remotiopbifet1 arrgulis' .a'dhuc. feruntürconsultisi reMjpaiiSOprise®
^uperstitianis adhuc ^xtantibus apud plebem ijnecpone?r
- tmod Episcopus quondam Aboensis M. Michael Aarieola, y e l lp Fennorum com-
posuit; dni su®*Psalterii Davidid piamisnj anno 1552 edftaê. * Hot barmen
lücübratiohibiis ëiidsbum brevi bommentariolo ihiseméru-nt Episcopus Pettüs’Bang,
in Histi'Eceles. SyeO-Goth. et RE .Gabriel,; Arctopolitanus, 'in dissertatione edita
Upsali®,. Ap. 17,38, £LBeQriginp. etR^gio^J^pmorum.” i^ ,-E 1.Lepc,qui^t.X,
, Thete are two’works published at Abo in latep times' expressly treatingjm the
religion'of the éiicient Finns; ohë ify Christfrid Ganander, in mepnffop»' (fic-
dbnkry, 'or alphabetically arranged. Itiisfin Swedish, and contains under thè èaimes
of particular gods, a collection of Finnis]i^M^ó^!iIl'^str|^i'^óf,^eir>iattributes, &c.
It is in 4to, 1789., The other,is an academical; essay in Tatra byj Lepcquist
1782 entitled,y Specimen Academicum dgsupfiisutione veterum IJennorum.’^ It
coht’aits a collectlóti óf' tiie' Rufidt, with Latin' translations, &nd ébftractS'from the
mythological poëm-:of Bishop 'Michael Agricola.
Of this~Aéric°la there is, a brief biographical skfetdjpn.JU. PauIJéy^fen’a Chro-
is‘ nicoA Episcop. Finlenden^iura^jpp. ;7 3 3 t^ e q . 11 f seenis.^tha|.he was-some time
a disciple Tjf" Luther and M^lWchfhon at Witlgnbergiapa a great prompter of the.
Reformation ih Finnland; r 'Beforë' hië time scarcely ahytmng hkd been committed
t to writing in the Finnish language. ;4Sbe J;a'Ufeten’’s> Chromicon, p. f3B8W