 Tuonela is best known for its appearance in the Finnish national epic Kalevala.In the 19th song of Kalevala, Väinämöinen, a shamanistic hero, travels to Tuonela to seek the knowledge of the dead.On the journey, he meets the ferryman, a woman, Tuonen tytti, or Tuonen piika (Death's maid), who takes him over the river of Tuoni.