Karelians Totally Explained

Everything about The Karelians totally explained

The Karelians is a name used to denote three Finnic-speaking tribes namely: Karelians proper, Livvi Karelians and Lyydi Karelians which all originated from the land bearing the same name (Karelia), where Livvi Karelians have populated Karelian Isthmus and north-western shores of Ladoga lake, Lyydi Karelians have been populating the lands between Ladoga and Onega lakes and Karelians proper have been populating lands of the central and northern Karelia. Karelians are closely related to Finns as both nations share the same folklore and mythology. During the struggle for political power and territories between Sweden and Russia the Karelians suffered a forceful sundering, that led to a formation of two groups of the so called "Russian Karelians" (mostly consisting of Karelians proper and Lyydi Karelians) that inhabit the Russian Republic of Karelia and the so called "Finnish Karelians" (consisting of Livvi Karelians) that live in eastern Finland. The centuries of living alomgst Russians and Finns have resulted in partial assimilation of Karelians into Finnish and Russian nations accordingly.

History

Since the 13th century the Karelians have lived in the tension between the East and the West, between Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Catholicism, later Lutheranism. Some of Livvi Karelians were christianized and subdued by Sweden, whereas others (Lyydi, Karelians Proper and part of Livvi Karelians) by Novgorod or Russia. Thus Karelia was split into two different and often hostile groups. The Kingdom of Sweden held Western Karelia and Karelian Isthmus but Central, Northern and Eastern Karelia were under the Russian rule. In the 17th century the tension between the Lutheran Swedish government and Orthodox Karelians triggered a mass migration of Livvi Karelians from Swedish Karelia into the region of Tver in Russia, forming the Tver-Karelian minority. People from Savonia moved to Karelia in large numbers and mixed with Livvi Karelians that remained in their homelands.
   By 19th century the cultural and lingual differences between Finns and Karelians were so thin that several linguists including Elias Lönrot went of Central and Eastern Karjala to gather folklore that Finns seemed to have partially lost by that time. Since that time however the differences seem to have grown as Finns boosted their identity whereas Karelians were struggling to preserve their cultural and lingual heritage.
   The Finnish Karelians considered themselves as Finns by nationality. The main dialectical division among the Finns, that between the East Finnish and West Finnish dialects, defines the Savonians and the Finnish Karelians as East Finnish.
   When Finland gained its independence in 1917 it was given parts of Karelian lands, however only a small fraction of the Orthodox Karelians lived in the Finnish Karelia. The lands were mainly populated by Finnish Karelians of Lutheran background. Finland have lost most of this area to the Soviet Union in World War II, when over 400,000 people were evacuated over Finland's new border from the Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga Karelia and, to a lesser degree, from the main part of East Karelia that had been held by Finland 1941–1944.
   The Russian Karelians, living in the Republic of Karelia, are nowadays rapidly being absorbed into the Russian population. This process began several decades ago. For example, it has been estimated that even between the 1959 and 1970 Soviet censuses, nearly 30 percent of those who were enumerated as Karelian by self-identification in 1959 changed their self-identification to Russian 11 years later.
   Many of the evacuees have emigrated, mainly to Sweden, to Australia and to North America. A large share of the over 70,000 Finnish war children that were evacuated from Finland, chiefly to Sweden and Denmark, came from Karelian families that had lost their homes due to the Winter War. A fifth of these children remained abroad and many more re-emigrated later.

Language

The Karelian language is closely related to the Finnish language, and particularly by Finnish linguists seen as a dialect of Finnish, although the variety spoken in East Karelia is usually seen as a proper language. (External Link

) The dialect spoken in the South Karelian region of Finland belongs to the South Eastern dialects of the Finnish language. The dialect spoken in the Karelian Isthmus before World War II and the Ingrian language were also part of this dialect group.(External Link

) The dialect that's spoken in North Karelia is considered to be one of the Savonian dialects.(External Link

)

Religion

The Russian Karelians are Eastern Orthodox Christians. Most Finnish Karelians are Lutherans.

Demographics

Significant enclaves of Karelians exist in the Tver oblast of Russia, resettled after Russia's defeat in 1617 against Sweden — in order to escape the peril of forced conversion to Lutheranism in Swedish Karelia and because Russians promised tax deductions. Olonets is the only city in Russia where the Karelians form a majority (60% of the population).

Culture

Karelian culture and language was a major inspiration for the Fennoman movement, and the unification of East Karelia with independent Finland (Greater Finland) was a major political issue in 20th century Finland.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Karelians'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://karelians.totallyexplained.com">Karelians Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.