# Mariatta — The Kalevala character guide

> Mariatta in The Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Virgin Mariatta, the troubled Mariatta

**First appearance:** 0053-rune-l-mariatta-wainamoinen-s-departure

## Snapshot

A chaste shepherd-girl whose innocent plucking of a mountain berry leads to a miraculous pregnancy and a child destined to unsettle the old order.

## Who they are

Mariatta guards her virtue carefully, refusing to ride behind an unworthy steed or milk another's cows, yet a talking berry finds its way to her lips and she conceives. Her mother and household cannot read her strange condition, and the maiden withdraws into shame and silence. Her story closes the Kalevala's old cycle and opens the door to a new one, making her the quiet hinge between pagan song and Christian dawn.

## Relationships

### [Ilmarinen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kalevala_se/characters/ilmarinen)

_romantic_

Ilmarinen is a suitor to Mariatta, but their relationship is strained by his jealousy and her divine destiny.

## In the story

### [Rune L: Mariatta—Wainamoinen’s Departure](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kalevala_se/chapters/rune-l-mariatta-wainamoinen-s-departure)

Virgin-mother who conceives from a mountain-berry and gives birth to a holy child.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kalevala_se/characters/mariatta
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kalevala_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kalevala_se/characters