"Village"
means nothing in Viena without the waters and forests that surround
the dwellings. Fishing is vital to the Karelians as much as a manifestation
of the immeasurable depth and antiquity of their culture as a source
of food. Likewise, the forest yields much more than just game: it
provides wood for houses and storage buildings; boards for boats;
birch bark used for knapsacks and other containers; wood strips
for baskets; moss for insulation between logs; berries to help survive
the winter; cones to feed cows and sheep; and hay from its meadows,
marshes and river banks. The forest has offered protection from
enemies and comfort amid any number of cares. When Marjatta is forsaken
by her mother, father and neighbors, the forest is her only recourse:
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Marjatta the lowly maid
thereupon burst into tears
and she put this into words:
'The time comes for me to go
as of old for the gipsy
or the hireling serf --
to go off to the burnt hill
to head for the lea of pines
With her hands she rolled her clothes
with her fists she grasped her hems
took a bath-whisk for cover
a sweet leaf for her shelter
and she trips along
in hard belly-pain
to the hut among the pines
the stall on Tapio Hill;
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The
area between Venehjärvi, Latvajärvi and Lapukka is the
last great wilderness in Karelia. For centuries, it has served the
needs of the people in the bardic villages in many ways. For example,
in addition to providing catches of fish and power for mills, the
rivers running through the area support rich beds of mussels. It
is here that Inha took some of his extraordinary photographs of
a pearl-catcher from Venehjärvi collecting mussels from his
raft. These forests still conceal wilderness huts built over a century
ago, as well as hunting platforms like those immortalized in the
drawings of Samuli Paulaharju in the 1910s. The forests are dotted
with any number of other hunting huts, built at various times, the
oldest of which still sport skillfully crafted birch bark roofs.
The huts were built for both hunting and fishing, for the forests
contains ponds, lakes and rivers where the perch may reach three
kilos. Game is abundant. Bears roam the woods, and capercaillie
thrive. And even the wild deer in the World Wildlife Foundation's
Red Book can be found wandering the backwoods of Viena.The
huts were built for both hunting and fishing, for the forests contains
ponds, lakes and rivers where the perch may reach three kilos. Game
is abundant. Bears roam the woods, and capercaillie thrive. And
even the wild deer in the World Wildlife Foundation's Red Book can
be found wandering the backwoods of Viena
The wilderness has a large natural population of predators. One
finds no fox or mink that have escaped from fur farms, but one may
encounter wolves, who cull the animal population as needed.
It is these forests that embody the identity of the bardic families
of Vuokkiniemi and of the Karelian people in Viena. These woods
are as much a part of the global cultural heritage as the Kalevala
itself, whose words have sprung to life like the berries that carpet
the forest floor. These forests - the fields of Tapiola, which hold
the secrets of many births, the entire mythology of Karelia - were
threatened with destruction in the early 1990s by short-sighted,
exploitative economic thinking. But the Revitalising Project of
the Viena Karelian Folklore Villages succeeded in staying the extensive
logging that had been planned, saving thereby this unique wilderness
area and preserving it as a monument to Karelian culture and a tribute
to its traditional livelihoods.
Venehjärvi
Vienansalo
What to see
Panorama
Audio sample
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