Pikakuvia Raja-Karjalasta

Pikakuvia Raja-Karjalasta by Ernst Lampén is a collection of travel sketches and cultural essays written in the early 20th century. It offers a vivid, witty portrait of Border Karelia—its people, beliefs, language, and folklore—set against the meeting of Orthodox and Lutheran traditions. Framed by a journey with a frontier major and encounters in places like Pitkäranta and Suistamo, the work blends on-the-road impressions with historical reflection. The opening of the work begins with a playful meditation on inspiration—the “fly” that buzzes creative zeal into human heads—before turning to the narrator’s guide, Major Leo Kyander, an ardent admirer of Border Karelia. The narrator recalls a harrowing descent into the Pitkäranta mines and sketches lively vignettes of local life: an irreverent church guide, and portraits of famed runo-singers Onoila and Shemeikka, to suggest the region’s pagan-Christian weave. He then provides a brisk historical primer from medieval border partitions and confessional struggles through later wars, resettlement by Savonians, and shifting sovereignties that shaped today’s identities. Arriving via Sortavala to Pitkäranta, he meets his travel party, jokes about their Savonian roots, notes a landlord family turned Orthodox by marriage, and shares a tender scene with “Kokko-Mummo,” an elderly Orthodox woman whose piety moves him. The section closes as the group heads toward Suistamo, pausing at the apothecary and reflecting on how the new railway will transform a district famed for its singers even as the old runo tradition wanes.