NORDISK MUSEOLOGI 2005 ● 2, S. 114-119

Peilikäs raanu as a mirror

HELENA LONKILA

Helena Lonkila works as a researcher-conservator at the Kainuu Museum. This article is based on the thesis of the same name that the author wrote for her master’s de- gree. She is thus the first person in to have an MA with museology as the main subject. The paper was published by the Department of Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Culture, Science and Technology Master’s Programme and the Kainuu Museum in January 2005. The publication is available in Finnish at http://www.kajaani.fi/kainuunmuseo.

One of my tasks as a museum conservator and TRADITIONAL RAANU exhibition copywriter and designer involves work with the physical and visual appearance The Peilikäs raanu used to be a simple rep wo- of objects. In this respect, I have found it im- ven half-woollen quilt, made of such materials portant to study which properties of the arte- as were available for handicrafts, according to fact are referred to in a particular situation traditional patterns. Unlike the decorative raa- and what is considered significant in its essen- nu textiles of western Finland, the Peilikäs was ce. used as a quilt or blanket. Due to its heavy During joint projects on recording the textile structure and warm materials, it was most sui- heritage in Russian Karelia and creating new table for this purpose. products based on it, I have realised that the In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pe- cultural and especially symbolic values linked asant women would tuck up family members, with a particular object can be very different, farmhands and visiting friends and relatives and can also be determined by national back- under a Peilikäs, regardless of whether they ground. slept in the bedroom, on the floor or on the I shall discuss the determination of the mu- benches in the living room. A Peilikäs was also seum value of one particular object, the Peili- a necessity for men, who would use it to cover käs raanu from eastern Finland, in the provin- both their horse and those sitting in a sleigh ce of Kainuu. I shall study the phenomenon as behind the horse. a process during which the Peilikäs was trans- In the province of Kainuu, the traditional use formed from an everyday piece of bedclothing and production of Peilikäs raanus went on for to a building material of clear Finnish identity a long time. While similar woven fabrics were and a symbol of Kainuu folk culture. substituted by decorative raanu wall hangings PEILIKÄS RAANU AS A MIRROR

in western Finland in the 19th century, the 115 plain woollen rep woven raanus were used as blankets and quilts in and Kainuu until the 1950s. This interesting phenomenon is connected with the occasional revival of tra- ditional means of making a living as everyday survival strategies during crises in modern so- ciety. Even though various arts and craft schools and consultation carried out by civic organisa- tions had been spreading new methods, mate- rials, weaving patterns, handicraft textiles and bedclothes in Kainuu since the early 20th cen- tury, people would hold on to old practices when they were most needed. This happened, The name of this Peilikäs refers to the surface pattern of for example, during the depression of the the fabric. Squares formed by rep woven stripes of diffe- 1930s and the period of reconstruction in the rent tones seem to be reflected up and down and to both 1940s. At such times, there were increases in sides as if by a mirror. As a matter of fact, the word pei- both weaving and the use of traditional texti- likäs is derived from peili, the Finnish for a mirror. A repeat of Peilikäs raanu 1999. Drawing: RIHMA © les. Anu Heikkinen. Kainuu Museum.

PEILIKÄS RAANU IN NATIONAL COLLECTIONS A few years later, Blomstedt and Sucksdorff published a narrative of their journey in two The first Peilikäs textiles were recorded in the volumes entitled Karjalaisia koristemuotoja collections of the State Historical Museum, la- keskisestä Venäjän Karjalasta (Karelska byggna- ter the National Museum of Finland, during der och ornamentala former, Karelian buildings the golden era of collecting Finnish folk cultu- and ornamental forms) in Finnish, Swedish re in the late 19th century. and German. In 1894, inspired by the idea of nationality, However, the quilts and drawings collected architects Yrjö Blomstedt (1871-1912) and on the Finnish side of the border did not Victor Sucksdorff (1866-1952) went to Rus- make their way into the book, and for the sian Karelia to study Finnish architecture and most part, the account of their travels in Kai- collect artefacts of ornamental art. En route to nuu also remained unpublished. , they changed their initial plan and As a result, textiles from Kainuu, the Peilikäs stopped for a few days in the Finnish province raanus among them, were forgotten for over of Kainuu. To their surprise and delight, the half a decade. Although raanus were collected two researchers discovered interesting and rare and studied in other parts of the country, such old materials to be studied. In particular, they as Finland Proper, , Satakunda found the skill of local weavers admirable and and Lapland, publications on folk culture – local patterns very charming. including the Atlas of Finnish Folk Culture HELENA LONKILA

116 (1976) – overlooked textiles from Kainuu. It must also be noted that the collections of Blomstedt and Sucksdorff, located in the Na- tional Museum of Finland, had no effect on the general view that there were no elaborate or decorative handicrafts or folk art to be found in eastern Finland.

PEILIKÄS RAANU AS A PRODUCT OF HANDI- CRAFT

It was not until after the Second World War that the Peilikäs was rediscovered. This time, it was done by developers of handicraft in Fin- land: the Union of Handicraft, the Handicraft Department of the National Rural Board and handicraft associations, all of which underli- ned the importance of provincial patterns and products based on them as promoters of na- tional arts and craft skills and means of living. In Kainuu itself, raanu textiles entered the spotlight in 1948 during the 40th anniversary celebrations of the handicraft associa- tion. The inspector of women’s handicraft schools of the National Rural Board, textile researcher Toini-Inkeri Kaukonen, encoura- In a family photo taken by Joonas Härkönen in the ged local school teachers to collect and exhibit 1920s–1930s, the women are posing in front of a Peili- käs. Kainuu Museum. old, valuable textiles. In newspaper interviews, she specifically mentioned the Peilikäs raanus, pointing out that they were both genuine and rare examples of fundamentally Finnish folk FROM A SWATCH TO MUSEUM COLLECTIONS culture. After this, the director of the handicraft asso- Gradually, the renaissance of raanu, triggered ciation, Mrs Salme Tervonen, also took an by the handicraft associations, also started to interest in the matter. As a result of a few change museum experts’ attitudes towards tra- years’ product development, production of ditional raanus. The very first artefacts to be modern raanu textiles based on authentic he- accepted into museum collections were swat- ritage of the province was started. As a symbol ches of traditional raanus and such modern of this production, the genuine handicraft tex- products of handicraft based on them as had tile from Kainuu, the Peilikäs, was presented. proved to be commercially successful. PEILIKÄS RAANU AS A MIRROR

The first Peilikäs donated to the Kainuu Mu- pieces of them since the 1960s. The registra- 117 seum (in 1956) was a piece of raanu collected tion work was connected with the post-war re- for use as a swatch by Bertta Koivula, a teacher vival of provincial spirit and regional research, of the handicraft school. This was followed by the goal of which was to preserve the national provincial raanu collections designed on the values threatened by the developments in mo- basis of local tradition. dern society. The collections in the National Museum of The purpose was not to collect old patterns to Finland and local history museums in Kainuu be used by modern weavers, but to preserve have been enlarged with Peilikäs textiles and the raanus as examples of Kainuu handicraft

Fabric samples from , and Lentiira, Finland. Collected by Blomstedt and Sucksdorff in the summer of 1894. Photo: Helena Lonkila. HELENA LONKILA

118

Peilikäs quilts from northern Kainuu, summer 2000. Photo: Helena Lonkila. RIH- MA: Kainuu Museum.

furnishings and a disappearing way of life. textile artefact for which both the production The collections in the National Museum of and use were presented in their traditional Finland were first supplemented with Peilikäs contexts. when the Halla house was relocated in 1961 As regional museum work began in the from Kainuu to the Seurasaari Open-Air Mu- 1980s, the necessity of recording and resear- seum in Helsinki, the Finnish capital. Halla ching Kainuu textile heritage was recognised was furnished with raanus, among other and encouraged in the IKI journal, published things. Several newly established museums of by the museum. The theme issue of IKI local history also exhibited the first raanu (1/1983) presented several Kainuu raanus quilts in the interiors of museum houses. mainly as products of handicraft, and depic- In the central regional museum, the Kainuu ted the preservation of raanus in the collec- Museum, the value of the Peilikäs was not ma- tions of the National Museum of Finland and nifested until the museum was municipalised the Wetterhoff Handicraft Teachers College in in 1977. In the permanent exhibition at this Hämeenlinna. Thanks to this publicity, Peili- new museum, however, Peilikäs was the only käs started to win public approval. PEILIKÄS RAANU AS A MIRROR

The interactive nature of the process of buil- val of provincial spirit increased the regional 119 ding the cultural value of Peilikäs was manife- emphasis on the conception of Finnish handi- sted by the fact that in the Finnish Weaving craft. Developing the handicraft industry also Handbook of 1985, the Kainuun Peilikäs was brought textiles from Kainuu into the spot- for the first time presented together with ot- light. It was at that time that the Peilikäs beca- her Finnish traditional raanus. me recognised as a genuine part of national handicraft heritage. The provincial significance of the raanu was FORMING OF THE MUSEUM VALUE OF PEILI- manifested in a product called Kainuun Peili- KÄS RAANU käs, which on the one hand, formed a basis for a flourishing business and on the other hand, The fact that Peilikäs was warm, easy to weave carried on an old local tradition. and had several other favourable characteris- The re-evaluation of the importance of the tics promoted its long life in traditional use. raanu carried out by the handicraft associa- The same properties also contributed to the tions and schools furthered the recognition of building of its museum value. the museum value of Kainuu textiles. Peilikäs Even though the first models of Peilikäs had were recorded as model examples of traditio- been recorded in the collections when the na- nal raanus and design products. tional museum was still being established, the In connection with the Kainuu Museum be- definition of folk art and traditional handi- coming a municipal institution and the esta- craft continued to exclude simple quilts from blishment of museums of local history, the eastern Finland. The fact that the Peilikäs was museum value of the Peilikäs was linked with in practical use until such a late period also se- the entirety of traditional raanu textiles. Thus, ems to have made it non-historical and consi- the genuine Finnish and Kainuu properties re- dered unworthy of conservation as a museum presented by the raanu approached the inter- object. pretation of ordinary people’s everyday lives. In the new post-war circumstances, the revi-