Suomen kansan vanhat runot
Suomen kansan vanhat runot, or SKVR, is an edition of traditional Finnic-language verse containing around 100,000 different songs, and including the majority of the songs that were the sources of the Finnish epic Kalevala and related poetry. The collection is available, free, online.
Contents
The original fourteen volumes were published by the Finnish Literature Society from 1908 to 1948. A supplement, containing, among other things, some of the field notes of Cristfried Ganander and Elias Lönnrot, was added in 1997. The supplement also contains poems on highly sexual subjects, such as spells to obtain a sexual partner or to improve sexual performance, which had previously been considered unsuitable for publication. Most of the songs in the collection come from the archives of the Finnish Literature Society, but many come from elsewhere, including archives in other countries.SKVR includes over 89,000 poetic texts in Kalevala-meter, though it is also rich in prose stories and other poetic forms. It does not include all Finnish folklore; around 60,000 texts, for example, are held in unpublished form by the Finnish Literature Society.
The songs in SKVR are organised into fourteen regions from which they were collected; most volumes then arrange the material by geographical location within the region, and then into four genres:
- lyric songs
- epic or narrative songs
- occasional songs
- incantations.
The regions covered are as follows:
| SVKR series number | number of parts | Suomalainen kirjallisuuden seuran toimitusksia series number | editor | years | region |
| I | 4 | 121 | A. R. Niemi | 1908–21 | Vienan lääni |
| II | 1 | 144 | A. R. Niemi | 1921 | Aunus, Tver, and Novgorodin-Karjala |
| III | 3 | 139 | Väinö Salminen and V. Alava | 1915–24 | Länsi-Inkeri |
| IV | 3 | 140 | Väinö Salminen | 1925–28 | Keski-Inkeri |
| V | 3 | 141 | Väinö Salminen | 1929–31 | Itä- and Pohjois-Inkeri |
| VI | 2 | 142 | J. Lukkarinen | 1934–36 | Savo |
| VII | 5 | 143 | A. R. Niemi with Kaarle Krohn and V. Alava | 1929–33 | Raja- and Pohjois-Karjala |
| VIII | 1 | 145 | Y. H. Toivonen | 1932 | Varsinais-Suomi |
| IX | 4 | 146 | Hämäläis-osakunta Keisarillisessa Suomen Aleksanterin Yliopistossa | 1917–18 | Häme |
| X | 2 | 147 | T. Pohjankanervo and J. Lukkarinen | 1933–34 | Satakunta |
| XI | 1 | 148 | J. Lukkarinen | 1933 | Etelä-Pohjanmaa |
| XII | 2 | 149 | Martti Haavio | 1934–35 | Pohjois-Pohjanmaa |
| XIII | 4 | 150 | Väinö Salminen | 1936–45 | Etelä-Karjala |
| XIV | 1 | 151 | Väinö Salminen | 1948 | Uusimaa |
| XV | 1 | 685 | Matti Kuusi and Senni Timonen | 1997 | various |