Sampo
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- Sampo is also a Finnish company in banking and insurance.
- Sampo is also a Taiwanese brand (http://www.sampo.com.tw) of consumer electronics and computer displays.
In Finnish mythology, the Sampo was a magical artifact that brought good fortune to its holder; nobody knows exactly what it was supposed to be. According to Lönnrot's interpretation in the Kalevala, it was a quern or mill of some sort that made flour, salt, and gold out of thin air.
The Sampo was a pivotal element of the plot of the Finnish epic poem Kalevala, compiled in 1835 (and expanded in 1849) by Elias Lönnrot based on earlier Finnish oral tradition. In the expanded second version of the poem, the Sampo is forged by Ilmarinen, a legendary smith, as a task set by the Mistress of Pohjola in return for her daughter's hand.
If you can forge the Sampo
brighten the bright-lid
you'll get the maid for your pay
for your work the lovely girl.
Ilmarinen works for several days at a mighty forge until finally the Sampo is created:
And then the new Sampo ground
and the bright-lid rocked;
ground a binful at twilight -
one binful to eat
another it ground to sell
and a third to store at home.
The Sampo has been interpreted in many ways: a world pillar or tree, a compass or astrolabe, a chest containing a treasure, or a mint stolen by Vikings from Constantinople as the poet Paavo Haavikko has suggested. The discovery of the Antikythera mechanism prompted some to compare features of its construction with the Sampo. When Ilmarinen's homeland later falls upon hard times and sends an expedition to retrieve the Sampo, it is ultimately smashed and lost at sea in the ensuing battle.
In 1959 the joint Russian-Finnish film production "Sampo" (titled "The Day the Earth Froze" when released in the United States) adapted the Kalevala to the big screen. Directed by Risto Orko and Aleksandr Ptushko, and written by Väinö Kaukonen and Viktor Vitkovich, the movie somewhat alters the circumstances surrounding the Sampo's creation; the evil witch Louhi kidnaps Ilmarinen's sister Annikki to compel him to build a Sampo for her. However, the movie remains reasonably true to the original tale in broad outline, and the Sampo's fate is the same.
Episode 422 of Mystery Science Theater 3000, produced in the 1992/93 season, featured "The Day the Earth Froze." Though the movie does explain what a Sampo is, the MST3K characters are talking during the explanation, and miss it, and are therefore confused throughout the film as to what exactly a Sampo is. The Sampo was thus thrust into modern-day Internet folklore as a terribly important and useful artefact that nobody understands the importance or use of.
Sampo is also quite a common given name in Finland.
See also
- The cornucopia of Greek mythology also produces endless goods.