The Finnish National epoch Kalevala was written in mid 19th century. It was composed of many different oral poems collected by Elias Lönnrot between the years of 1828 and 1849. Before the New Kalevala (aka Kalevala) was published in 1849 a number of smaller collections were published. Lönnrot modified the poems he collected, by combining them, moving certain things around and concerting the wording. He even worded some completely new poems in order to create a unified plot.
Lönnrot was not the first to collect poems from the old villages in Finland and Karelia. During the 18th century prof. Henrik Gabriel Porthan and his student Christfried Ganander from the Academy of Turku collected some poems for Mythologia Fennica.
The actual story of the epoch aside. My interest is mainly concerning the people living in the world of Kalevala.
'What kind of people inhabited the world' is an interesting question in and of itself, because you could say that The World indeed was inhabited by The People (Väki).
Every nook and cranny, every tree, the winds, the hills, lakes, rivers and seas, all of them were inhabited by The People, respective to their realms, each and every one of them a being of power deserving reverence and respect. The whole world was alive and sentient, and if humans weren't careful and treat the world with appropriate deference, then woe was unto them.
The large distances between the settlements meant for a large part that the world was wrought with unknown peril. It took a great hero to travel long distances and return unscathed back home.
For a large part Kalevala is about the great godlike heroes who shaped the world itself, by giving rise to the land and shaping the earth and the bottom of the seas with their movement (Väinämöinen) or smithing and forging the sky itself (Ilmarinen).
The central theme for the heroes needs desires and aspirations is about...their attempts to find a wife for themselves and pretty much failing each and every time. :D
It's been a while since I've read Kalevala or taken any comparative religion or ethnographic classes on Fenno-Ugric world-view, so my take on the subject might be quite limited..