Sori for the delay, but here's some answers for you Barb, hope I got them all and that I don't confuse you completely!

Ole hyvä (= be good; be my guest, or also, please. Tack is kiitos, many thanks is paljon kiitoksia, though many young people of today simply say 'tänks':-)!

What exactly do you mean by hard/soft vowels? The undottet/dotted difference, perhaps? If that, here's the rule:

- Vowel harmony: if there is /a/o/u/ in the first syllable, then /ä/ö/y/ can not occur in that word and vice versa, /e/i/ are neutral in that respect (the same applies to the long vowels). Eg: sulhanen (bridegroom) tyhjä (empty) levätä (to rest) lepo (rest) talo (house) tölli (small house, cot) talli (horse)stable).

Finnish /ä/ is quite near to the Swedish (am I right to presume that you are somewhat familiar with it?) /ä/ pronounced before an /r/ (eg nära, här), the other Swedish ä's are too much e-like (hälsa, vän). Also, the difference between English cut/cat isn't that far from katko/kätkö (break, cut/hide-out, stash); and bath - RP, not Am. - /bad would quite nicely compare to paatua/pääte (to become cold-hearted/terminal, ending).

Finnish /ö/y/ are front vowels, ie. differ from /o/u/ (being back v's) so that tip of the tongue is close to the front teeth. Say /u/ (as in Eng. soothe), keep your lips at that rounded position and try to say /i/ (as in need); you should be making Finnish /y/ which btw is to Swedish /y/ (as in ny). You'd be getting an /ö/ by saying /e/ (as in bet) with rounded lips. Again, Swedish /ö/ is similar (as in söka).

Notice also that Finnish vowels can be combined into diphtongs in various ways.

In many versions it in fact isn't the daughter-in-law she's waiting for but her brother: 'miepä vuotin veijoani, veijoani, minjoani' (... for my brother ...). The sister could also sing as a representative of her mother, I guess. The Finnish word that nowadays 'means brother's wife or husband's sister' is käly, but if I remember correctly it originally meant only one of them - don't remember which one. And there are two technical reasons why 'käly' couldn't be used a) it does not cope with the rule of alliteration and b) it does not fit metrically (two short syllables instead of one long one short).

The brother and the spokesma/en have been at the leaving ceremony at the bride's house and are returning with the bride, accompanied by singers, perhaps some players too, though instruments weren't so much used in Karelia, and of course wedding guest from the bride's kin. If the wedding took place in the winter time - or if no waterways were available - horses and sleighs were used for transport instead of boats.

The ceremonies included lots of singing, I think all parties involved did at least some of it. Some of it was instructive, some expressed both sorrow and glee about the change that was to be in the lives of the young couple, some were to praize them, and, also, to mock them. That was part of the ritual and the negative side of it was done for the sake balance; too much praizing would cost its price later. Thus the 'lie' about the groom to come back with nothing.

Yes you're right, they sing it 'tullehikse' (in fact dullehikse which is hypercorrect, even the Karelian /t/ is not that voiced, the Finnish never is). That, again, is simply a matter of dialect, in modern Finnish that would be 'tulleeksi'.

And yes, the sun also rises, in Finnish, too. In modern dictionaries 'päivä' is given the meaning 'day', but it has originally meant also 'sun' for which we now use word 'aurinko' that, I think, is a loan word from some germanic language.

Still hunting for the Finnish lyrics sites!

terveisin (with greetings) AKS