In this condensation of his paper the author discusses traditional Finnish attitudes toward suicide as reflected in the Kalevalia. In this national epic, suicide is accepted as a logical consequence of life’s events & man’s own deeds. Although church & state law strictly condemned suicide & cast shame upon it, people still committed it. However, negative attitudes seem to have affected suicide rates, & since this century, with its new, permissive laws, suicide has increased tenfold. (GW)