Traditions & stories
Kuhmo, located in Arctic Lakeland, Finland, has a rich cultural heritage and a deep-rooted tradition of storytelling. Oral poetry collected in the region helped shape the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, while the battlefields and memorials of the Winter War tell the story of a more recent and difficult chapter in Kuhmo’s history. Traditional Finnish food and folk-healing practices also preserve knowledge passed down through generations.
One of Kuhmo’s most distinctive living traditions is traditional tar burning. Pine tar production was once an important livelihood in Kuhmo and remains an essential part of the region’s cultural identity. The skills, stories and customs connected with tar burning are still carefully preserved and shared today.
Kalevalaic Rune Singing
Rune singing, also known as Kalevalaic singing, is an ancient Finnish and Karelian oral singing tradition. It is the poetic tradition from which Elias Lönnrot drew both the form and much of the content for the Kalevala.
In the Viena Karelian village of Rimmi, located in Kuhmo, the tradition of rune singing remains a living part of the local cultural heritage. This unique tradition is also kept alive through the annual Sommelo folk music festival, which celebrates and promotes traditional music and singing.
Traditional Healing
Kalevalaic traditional healing practices, including Kalevalaic bone setting, are centuries-old treatment methods that gently work with the body’s tissues by utilising the natural range of motion of the joints. The aim is to restore the body to its natural balance, allowing it to function without unnecessary tension or protective responses.
Traditionally, the skills of Kalevalaic bone setting were passed down within families through an apprenticeship-based learning tradition, with knowledge transferred from one generation to the next.
Today, the future of this unique healing tradition remains strong thanks to its active community of practitioners and those who continue to value and use these traditional methods.
Log Driving Heritage and Log Driving Championships
Kuhmo has a long history of timber floating and log driving, which once played a vital role in the local economy and way of life. Until the 1980s, logs were transported along waterways, requiring highly skilled log drivers. As timber transport methods changed, these traditional skills evolved from everyday work into a recreational activity and an important part of the region’s cultural heritage.
Although commercial log driving has ended, the tradition lives on through log driving competitions and demonstrations, where enthusiasts showcase the techniques and skills once essential for working on the rivers.
Kuhmo hosts Finland’s most important annual log driving heritage event. The programme includes traditional log driving demonstrations as well as the Finnish Log Driving Championships. In 2025, the event also featured a log driving camp for anyone interested in learning the traditional skills.
The aims of the competitions are to preserve the heritage of log driving, demonstrate the skills once required in the timber floating industry, and encourage participants to maintain their physical fitness. For many competitors, the greatest reward is not winning, but challenging themselves and keeping this unique tradition alive.
