Mateli Magdalena Kuivalatar (8 May 1771 – 29 December 1846) was a Finnish-

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

n folksinger,

seer In the United States, the efficiency of air conditioners is often rated by the seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) which is defined by the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, a trade association, in its 2008 standard AHRI ...

, and cunning woman. She is regarded as the most noted among the known Finnish-Karelian folksingers of her sex. She was a strong influence on '' Kanteletar'' by Elias Lönnrot.

Life

Mateli Magdalena Kuivalatar was born 8 May 1771, and her family belonged to the peasantry class. She was the sixth of eleven children of Antti Antinpoika Kuivalainen (b. 1741) and Valpuri Matintytär Muroke Tohmajärven Oskolasta. She married Pietari (Pekka) Antinpoika Ikonen in 1793 and had eleven children. She was widowed in 1832. Elias Lönnrot encountered Kuivalatar in September 1838. He was by then almost done with the '' Kanteletar'', but after meeting her and realizing her knowledge of the subject, he revised his work and started all over again. Her folk songs were rare, and often centered around a young woman's longing for love. Her poems were also included events of the ''

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and r ...

''. She died of cancer.

References

* Apo, Sato
The History of Nordic Women’s Literature
* Haavio Martti, Viimeiset runonlaulajat, WSOY Porvoo 1943. * Oja, Aulis: Mateli Kuivalatar ja hänen sukunsa. Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja, 1957, 37. vsk, s. 181–186. Porvoo: Kalevalaseura. (suomeksi) * Turunen Aimo, Mateli Kuivalatar – Koitereen laulaja, Kantelettaren runotar, Karjalaisen kulttuurin edistämissäätiö, Joensuu 1985. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuivalatar, Mateli Magdalena 1777 births 1846 deaths Finnish folk singers 19th-century Finnish women singers Cunning folk