Who compiled the Kalevala from Finnish oral traditions?

The Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, was compiled by the folklorist and philologist Elias Lönnrot.12

Lönnrot gathered short ballads, lyrical songs, and incantations from oral tradition during his travels in Finland and surrounding regions. Believing these fragments belonged to a larger, continuous narrative, he joined them together with his own connective material and imposed a unifying plot to create the epic. He published the work in two editions: the first in 1835 and an enlarged version in 1849. His efforts were instrumental in fostering Finnish national consciousness and promoting the Finnish language.123