Kalevala

The book cover is blue, not the oceanic blue, but that shimmery blue that surrounds coastal islands and gently meets mainland sandy shores.

I have said it to myself and others many times. Many seas I've seen, many cities I've visited, but nothing nears the uncomparable harmonious link between the Baltic and my Northern spiritual homecountry, Finland.

Finland's collective soul was revealed to me today in this book. It's Finland's epic poem, consisting of 22.795 verses. - KALEVALA     

And surprisingly, I have found the first Portuguese edition, with a Preface of Jorge Sampaio, UN's High Representative of the Alliance of Civilizations.

Finn Elias Lonnrot compiled it from the country's folklore and oral traditions in the 19th century. Romanticism gave it a special aura and helped cementing the conscious of a nation and the strenght of a unique identity.

I'm already driven by the poem's characters. E leio. E sou, na minha memória das ilhas, das praias, dos portos e da cor calma das águas, o velho herói Vainamoinen. Em contínua viagem.

 - Old Vainamoinem, singing and playing his harp. (Halonan, 1897) -