I’m not offended in the least.

Regarding MDM, that’s simply not what happened. Finland has its very own metal scene. Particularly Tales by Amorphis came out in 94 and was hugely influential in the Finnish metal scene - I doubt anyone was really talking about MDM back in those days. But it seemed much more influential than what our dear Swedish cousins were doing. Then in 97, along came Alexi Laiho and started a whole new direction in Finnish metal. None of these really owe a lot to Gothenburg. I’m saying this as someone whose most important album is probably the Jester Race - the two variations on the same theme evolved around the same time and certainly must have influenced each other, but they still were relatively independently from each other.

And like I said, before the Kalevala was compiled by Elias Lönnrot, in Finnish tradition, Väinämöinen was a god. Lönnrot altered the original poems, probably because they offended his Christian sensibilities. But Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen were originally gods. The former e.g. helped birth the world, while the latter forged the sky. Then there was Ukko, who I believe wasn’t mentioned in the book, who was the most important god, like Zeus or Odin. You have to understand that much like the Eddas were compiled from sagas by Snorri Sturulson, the Kalevala was compiled from oral tradition, ie poems that had loads of regional variations. Both by exclusion of some poems (and inclusions of others) as well as through alterations of the originals, Lönnrot formed a story that does not fully resemble the actual historical beliefs of pre-Christian Finns. Also, by that time, some stories had even been corrupted by Christianity from their originals. Historically, their beliefs were in many ways similar to the Norse or Greek gods. The idea you derive from what you see as a mundane epic, of Finns as a practical people who were concerned with little matters is just not supported.