Answers for things I've been asked! Either IRL or on other websites for the most part. Most of this is controversial so this is the uncomfortable section.
Q: Do you believe in gnomes?
A: No.
Q: Are you opposed to science?
A: No, I am in favour of science, modern medicine and vaccines, for instance. One feeling I get when reading runosong healing incantations is sadness. I feel sad that people had to resort to incantations, hoping some relief from supernatural forces, instead of having the access to medicine.
Q: Is this a religion? Only things based on faith are religions.
A: Religions are large concepts with culture, tradition and worldview woven into them. It is sometimes difficult, if not impossible, to draw the line between a religion and a philosophy. I personally see what I am doing as more of an environmental philosophy than a religion, but I'm not really torn over if you categorize this as a religion. After all, religions such as strict monotheism would make holding this philosophy at the same time impossible. In either case, you might want to look up on naturalistic paganism, also called secular paganism or humanistic paganism.
Q: Why is this so important to you?
A: I am from a region where less than a century ago, things like Kekri harvest festival and Peijaiset bear festival were alive and well. After WWII, there was a time period when they were close to disappearing due to culture shifting towards "unified Finnish culture" presented by the school system, radio and TV. Over 20 years ago, when I was just a little child unaware of any of this, some people in my town realized: Why is Kekri not celebrated anymore like it was in our childhood? And in cooperation with the town, they started organizing Kekri celebrations not only with old stuff, but also with brand new events of celebration more fitting a modern town for this celebration that was initially born in the countryside. I have regularly participated in these celebrations for over a decade, and am very greatful for the efforts of those people who started organizing them 20+ years ago. When runosongs became an obsession for me to read and read about, I've wanted to spread the information I've learned. On one hand, I want to talk about my interests. On the other, I wish to see people utilize the information and maybe create something nice in the future.
Q: Don't you know nationalists wrote down runosongs?
A: I fail to see how it is the fault of the songs or their singers that nationalists have written some of them down. Are you trying to imply that the over a millenium old tradition of runosinging should be killed just because a nationalist has found them interesting? (I have honestly heard this kind of arguing and I disrespectfully disagree.)
Q: Why care about this fake revival?
A: Runosinging, as well as traditions like old festivals and sacred trees, never "died off". They are living, unbroken traditions. They've become rarer but not gone, and wanting to give them some new light is fine. If you find it a "fake revival" then, I don't know, mind your business or something. (Luckily people who say this are usually foregners fully ignorant on the topic so it doesn't actually affect the tradition irl.)
Q: Hi, I'm Spanish and I think this is fascism because I saw a German name among the runosong archives.
A: Hi, I think you are an idiot.
Q: A Germanic pagan did [literally anything].
A: Ok, it has nothing to do with me.
Q: Hi, I'm Swedish and I think these traditions died off a thousand years ago, why are you doing this Medieval LARP?
A: Hi, I think you are fully ignorant of Finnish history and this topic.
Q: Is "pagan" a good term for this?
A: Of course not. But it is the English word for many non-Abrahamic religions including pre-Christian European ones, and those such as Native American indigenous, Hinduism, Shitoism, etc. Let me know if they come up with a better term in English and I'll start using it ASAP.
The reason why I don't call this polytheism is because I actually see it as animist in many ways.
Q: Hi from Sweden again, why do you use the term "native faith" which I find to be cringy?
A: Because they have that on Wikipedia.
Q: What is this called in Finnish?
A: There is no universally accepted term. Many sources speak of Suomenusko "Finnish faith", but many don't want to use it because it sounds like this is somehow connected to the state of Finland, which it is not. I believe the officially registered practitioners (which I'm not one of) prefer the term Väenusko "Väki faith". I prefer to say perinneusko "traditional belief". Some say kansanusko "folk belief". I heard hiiteläisyys "Hiisiism" once and it's kind of based imo.
Q: Do you think you are oppressed for your religion?
A: No.
Q: Do you think these traditions are threatened by immigration?
A: No. The main thing that threatens it is Finnish people only reading USAmerican social media and becoming detached from their own country and region's culture and politics. Plenty of young people in Finland who can, for example, name this and that issue with racism in the US but are completely blind to it in their own communities.
Q: Are there neo-Nazis in these circles?
A: When it comes to neo-Nazis, they like to appropriate symbols and vaguely speak about "we should teach traditional faith in schools maybe" but it's all talk. They do not have much knowledge on the actual nature and cosmology of Finnish folklore. Finnish mythology is also often not cool, war-like or authoritarian enough for fascist tastes, which has resulted in many Finnish neo-Nazis using Germanic paganism for their symbolism instead which is, of course, hilarious as fuck because that is a foreign culture for us and kind of defeats the point of their RETVRN TO TRADITION bullshit. Case in point, Soldiers of Odin.
As said, far-right circles are not usually interested in learning about the actual cosmology itself as it serves them no purpose. Instead, it is common for them to spread the completely ahistorical conspiracy theory that Finland was, once upon a time, a great unified kingdom, but most of the evidence was destroyed by Sweden in order to turn Finns into a servant-people who don't know their "real" glorious history. They also accuse the Finnish Heritage Agency of being controlled by Swedes who actively try to destroy any evidence of this glorious past that gets unearthed, or ignore them by not investigating them and pretending that there is nothing. People working at the Finnish Heritage Agency say they'd love to investigate many of the yet untouched archeological sites in Finland if they ever got like, a single drop of funding maybe as they quite simply cannot afford to investigate them.
I was actually asked about what kinds of people do I see in "paganism in Finland" around me for a study and I told the truth of what I see: mostly young women and non-binary people, mostly those who dislike conservatism. I also see a lot of connections to artistic and activist spaces in things like zine-making.
Q: What's up with the regions?
A: The inequality of different regions is actually a constant, very hot topic in Finnish politics.
Q: This runosong exist in Eastern Finland and Karelia but not in Western Finland. I think this means that it is Karelian only and not Finnish at all.
A: While many of the issues brought up by Karelians are real and legitimate, this is not one of them. You cannot claim that only Western Finnish things are Finnish and that us Eastern Finns have no right to celebrate our traditions because you happen to share them. If you wanted to talk about how Western Finland is wealthier and healthier than the East and in many ways, the East gets treated unfairly by the state compared to the West, then we would be on the same page.
Q: What you are doing is cringy in my opinion.
A: 
