Second Day of FinnFest
Today is the second day of FinnFest in Duluth. I’m sharing some dark anecdotes and poetry about Finland and our connection to it.
The first Finn I knew by name, historically, in Duluth was Olli Kinkkonen. The story of his death is an unhappy one, one that reminds me that no matter how fractured we become lately, we have been more violent, toward outsiders, than we are now. Richard Hudelson offered some larger historical context for these sad events at conservancy.umn.edu.
There are dark passages in Richard Impola’s translation of the Kalevala. Perhaps this is the darkest. Tomorrow, we will come back up for air — FinnFest is a party, after all.
I’d heard of Olli Kinkonnen but in following the link I learned of a work of historical fiction about him by a local author that looks pretty good – Suomalaiset: People of the Marsh. A condensed version of the story can be found in a ballad that accompanied the release of the book.