The geographical proximity and the linguistic affinity between Estonia and Finland, as well as their close cultural and scholarly contacts, can easily lead to the assumption that the shared roots of the two nations’ identities and their historical bonds are a subject for ceremonial speeches rather than a contemporary research topic. In a nutshell, one finds a humorous reflection on this approach from Estonia's biggest weekly newspaper, which topped its list of Finns who have made a significant mark in the history and consciousness of Estonians with Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884), the author of the Finnish epic Kalevala, followed by Vanemuine, the Estonian clone of the Finnish Väinämöinen, the protagonist of Lönnrot's epic.

Both Lönnrot and Vanemuine play an important role in the shaping of Estonian national identity: Lönnrot not only provided an examplar for the Estonian epic, but made a walking tour in Estonia in 1844, studied the Estonian language under the guidance of Friedrich Robert Faehlmann (1798-1850) in Tartu (Ger. Dorpat), and paid a visit to Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803-1882) in Võru (Ger. Werro). At the time, Faehlmann was working on the literary folktales that were to become the foundation of Estonian mythology as it became widely accepted in the nineteenth century. He also started to compile an Estonian national epic, proceeding from the example of the Kalevala, a project later concluded by Kreutzwald.

The Estonian epic Kalevipoeg starts by addressing Vanemuine, the god of song and music. The pantheon evoked in the literary folktales and the epic was later employed in the cultural and, later, even political, popular movements of the so-called period of national awakening of the Estonian people. The Vanemuine Society, founded in Tartu in 1865, established the tradition of Estonian song festivals (1869), which flourishes even today, and the amateur theatre (1870) that later became the first professional theatre Vanemuine (1906). The Estonian athletic association Kalev (1901) was named after the mythical hero Kalev, and his son Kalevipoeg became the symbol of political (re)nascence and armed struggle for freedom. Toompea fortress in Tallinn (Ger. Reval), the stronghold of rulers throughout the ages, in this pseudo-mythology became Kalev's grave, and ceremonies to commemorate the victims of Soviet mass deportations are conducted at the bronze statue of Kalev's widow, Linda.