Kalevala Day

Kalevala Day (Finnish: Kalevalan päivä), also known as Finnish Culture Day (Finnish: suomalaisen kulttuurin päivä), is celebrated on 28 February in honor of Finnish culture and the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. It is one of the official flag flying days in Finland.

The date is based on the day in 1835 when Elias Lönnrot signed the preface to the first edition of the Kalevala. The version of the book usually read today, the New Kalevala, was published in 1849. Celebrations of Kalevala Day are observed based on both the first edition of 1835 and the new edition of 1849.

The first celebration took place in 1865, organized by Savo-Karelian university students in Helsinki. Over time, the event grew in significance, with major public celebrations held on the 50th and 75th anniversaries of the Old Kalevala. Large-scale celebrations also took place on the 100th and 150th anniversaries of both versions of the Kalevala. The events reached their largest scale during the 1920s–1930s.

In 1978, an additional title, "Finnish Culture Day", was officially adopted, reflecting a shift in focus from exclusively celebrating the Kalevala to recognizing Finnish culture more broadly. Since its founding in 1919, the Kalevala Society has played a central role in organizing the celebrations.

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