Kalevala Day
February 28 · Level 2 · #1988 of 2238
Kalevala Day honours the Finnish national epic, one of the great symbols of Finnish culture. In Finland it is also celebrated as the Day of Finnish Culture.
How it is celebrated: flags go up on public buildings, libraries and theatres read passages aloud, and there are concerts, exhibitions and literary evenings, while children draw heroes from the poems.
Elias Lönnrot signed the preface to the first edition of the Kalevala on 28 February 1835, which is why the day falls on this date. The expanded 1849 version has 50 poems, and Tolkien admitted that the epic inspired his tale of Túrin Turambar.