Larin Paraske, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Larin Paraske

Izhorian oral poet

Date of Birth: 27-Dec-1833

Place of Birth: Saint Peterburg County, Saint Petersburg Governorate

Date of Death: 03-Jan-1904

Profession: writer, poet, singer

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Larin Paraske (December 27, 1833 – January 3, 1904) was an Izhorian oral poet.
She is considered a key figure in Finnish folk poetry and has been called the "Finnish Mnemosyne".
Her frequent listeners included several romantic nationalist artists, such as Jean Sibelius, seeking inspiration from her interpretations of Kalevala, an epic poem compiled from Finnish folklore by Elias Lönnrot.Paraske could recite over 32,000 verses of poetry, which made her an important source for Karelian culture.
Her poems were written down by Adolf Neovius in the 1880s, and after several years of work, approximately 1200 poems, 1750 proverbs and 336 riddles were documented, along with several Finnic lamentations known as itkuvirsi, performed by crying and sobbing.In 1936, sculptor Alpo Sailo created a statue of Paraske.
It was planned for the Kalevala building, which however never realized, so the statue was erected in 1949 in the Hakasalmi park, off Mannerheimintie, in Helsinki.
A street named after Paraske is located in Kaarela, a district of Helsinki.
In 2004, Paraske placed 87th on Suuret suomalaiset, a vote arranged by YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, to determine the "100 greatest Finns".
Paraske is also one of the people on stamps of Finland.