Preface
In this
country the term Finn is generally restricted to the natives of
Finland, with perhaps those of Esthonia thrown in. But besides
these
Western Finns there are other small nationalities in Central and
Northern Russia, such as the Erza and Mokša Mordvins, the Čeremis,
Votiaks, Permians, and Zịrians, to whom the term is very properly
applied, though with the qualifying adjective—Eastern. Except by
Folklorists, little attention is paid in Great Britain to these
peoples, and much that is written of them abroad finds no response
here, the 'silver streak' acting, it would seem, as a non-conductor
to such unsensational and feeble vibrations.
Although
the languages of the Eastern and Western Finns differ as much
perhaps
among themselves as the various members of the Aryan group, the
craniological and physical differences between any two Finnish
groups
is very much less than between the Latin and the Teutonic groups,
for
instance. All the Finns live nearly under the same latitudes, and
in
pre- and proto-historic times, which are not so very remote, the
differences in customs, religious and other beliefs, could not have
been very great. This is important; it allows us to supplement what
is missing or defective in one Finnish group by what is more
complete
in another, with far greater certainty than when dealing under
similar circumstances with the Aryan-speaking groups. In the first
five chapters of the first volume I have tried, with the combined
aid
of craniology, archæology, ethnography, and philology, brought up
to
date, to sketch as succinctly as possible the pre- and
proto-historic
history of the Eastern and Western Finns, showing the various
stages
of civilisation to which they successively advanced after contact
with higher civilisations, at different periods of their evolution
from neolithic times to the middle ages. Chapters six and seven
contain an analysis of the beliefs of the Western Finns, so far as
they can be gathered from the text of the Magic Songs in the second
volume; and a perusal of them will facilitate the comprehension of
the Magic Songs themselves. The second volume, containing 639 magic
songs, some of considerable length, classed under 233 headings, is
a
translation of a very large portion of the
Suomen
kansan muinaisia Loitsurunoja
,
edited and published by the late Dr. Lönnrot in 1880. As the
translation was made for Folklorists it is as literal as possible,
without additions, without subtractions, and the vocabulary
employed
is in conformity with the subject, with the humble social status
and
homely surroundings of the original composers. The metre of the
original is the same as in the Kalevala, which cannot be reproduced
in a language like English, where the ictus of the metre has to
coincide with the natural stress-accent of the words. But where it
could be done without loss of exactness a certain rhythm, generally
three beats to a line, is given in the translation, though to save
space the lines are printed in prose form.
In
the work of translating the Magic Songs I owe a debt of gratitude
to
Lektor Raitio, with whom I first began to study them a good many
years ago, for much friendly assistance. Finally, I acknowledge
with
thanks the reproduction of four illustrations borrowed from Mr. J.
R.
Aspelin's
Antiquités
du Nord Finno-ougrien
,
four from Mr. Kudriavtsev, three from Mr. Inostrantsev, one from
Mr.
Spitsịn, and twelve from photographs given me by Mr.
Novokreščennịkh. The six illustrations from sketches made by
myself were made hurriedly, and are not absolutely correct, though
adequate, I hope, for the purpose.
