The story of Lönnrot collecting all those old song-stories from the rune singers must make a great tale in itself. I'd love to visit that part of the world. I have a good friend with roots in Stockholm so maybe before too long.
I haven't gotten far into the Kalevala, so I can't give you much reaction. I managed to get my hands on a highly recommended translation by Eino Friberg with these crazy awesome illustrations by Bjorn Landstrom. But I'm reading my way through a couple of histories of iron age to late Roman Europe, so I paused on the Kalevala. I'm trying to get a sense of what life was like for those people living in Europe then and through the Migration Period.