Every self-respecting inhabited place of the Republic has an old tree that they insist is the Lönnrot’s Pine Tree and that exactly under it he recorded the runes of the famous epos Kalevala. The tireless Finnish collector of folklore, physician and philologist Elias Lönnrot, who made eleven field trips across Karelia and Finland, visited Ukhta (former name of Kalevala) three times in mid 1830 s. The tradition says that exactly under this pine tree he wrote down the national songs from the rune singers of Ukhta. Rune singers usually were simple Karelian or Finnish peasants. They sang the runes in one voice, sometimes interchangeably in duet, often accompanied by kantele — the national instrument.