There is a Finnish comic strip called "Väinämöisen paluu" (The Return of Väinämöinen) by Petri Hiltunen, where Väinämöinen returns from thousand-year exile to modern Finland to comment on the modern lifestyle with humor.
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It is after praying to the sun, the moon, and the great bear (the stars, referring to Ursa Major) he is able to escape his mother's womb and dive into the sea.
The opera was not premiered until 1908; at the first performances, in Wiborg, the title role was taken by Mally Burjam-Bergaas, while that of Väinämöinen was sung by Abraham Ojanperä.
The landing involved over 20 cargo ships, the two coastal defence ships Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen, as well as the three gunboats Uusimaa, Hämeenmaa and Karjala.
W.F. Kirby, an English translator of the Kalevala, notes that in Runo 49, Väinämöinen uses rhabdomancy, or divination by rods, to learn where the sun and moon are hidden, but this interpretation is rejected by Aili Kolehmainen Johnson (1950).