Väinämöinen is the central hero of the Kalevala, an old and wise singer whose magical voice and kantele playing are the engine of the epic, and whose first runo makes him the son of Ilmatar, born after her centuries-long pregnancy in the sea. He is a demigod and culture hero rather than a god of a cult: no cult prayer addresses him, though Karelian and Ingrian incantations keep him as a primordial singer whose words are power. Elias Lönnrot compiled the Kalevala (1835, expanded 1849) from oral runic poetry collected in Karelia and Ingria, so the heroic Väinämöinen is partly the compilation's shaping of older shamanic material.
Modern Practice
Väinämöinen is worked with as a teacher of craft: memorised song, the kantele, the poem learned by heart and said aloud, and the rule that a word given is a word that acts. The offering is the song itself, and the practice belongs to anyone keeping an oral tradition rather than to a congregation.