FINNISH MYTHOLOGY

ROOTS OF FINNISH MYTHOLOGY

• Finnish mythology is closely related to Finnish paganism--a small religion still practiced today that worships multiple deities.
• The roots of Finnish mythology can be traced back many centuries, but it was made famous through a series of long poems about legendary heroes, titled Kalevala.

Gods

• Ukko (“Old Man") is the god of the sky, weather, and the crops. He is one of the most significant gods in Finnish mythology. Ukko used either a hammer, axe, or a sword to strike lightning. A viper with a saw-figure on its skin has been seen as a symbol of thunder.
• Ahti, also known as Ahto, is the god of the sea and of fishing. He is described as a fierce sea-going warrior.

Gods

• Tapio is the god of the forest, who is sometimes described as half human and half tree.
• Äkräs is the god of fertility and the protector of plants, especially of the turnips. Snakes were sometimes seen as a symbol of fertility.

Goddesses

• Vellamo is the goddess of the sea, is sometimes described as "cold hearted", and is often pictured as a mermaid.
• Akka (“Old Lady”) is the wife of Ukko, who is the goddess of fertility and could be seen as the female side of nature.
• Kuu is the goddess of the moon. People would sometimes pray to this goddess to protect themselves from negative energy.

Mythical Places

• Kalevala, which means "land of the descendants of Kaleva," is an imaginary region associated with Finland.
• Tuonela is the land of the dead. It is believed that the fate of the good and bad would both travel to Tuonela and wander the afterlife as shadow-like ghosts.

Mythical Places

• Lintukoto is a mythical place where birds were believed to have migrated to in the wintertime. Lintukoto is used as a metaphor for a "happy place" in Finnish.

Mythical Creatures

• Iku-Turso is a vengeful sea monster in the Finnish mythology.
• The bear is an extremely worshipped animal in Finnish mythology. The Finnish believed the bear had come from the sky and had the ability to reincarnate. It is believed that the bear was so sacred that it was forbidden to use the word 'bear' in casual conversations or used in an art form.

Creation Myths

• In the Kalevala, it is believed that the world was created from pieces of an egg laid by a diving duck on the knee of Ilmatar, who is the goddess of air.

An excerpt from the Kalevala describes this belief-- "One egg's lower half transformed
And became the earth below,
And its upper half transmuted
And became the sky above;
From the yolk the sun was made,
Light of day to shine upon us;
From the white the moon was formed,
Light of night to gleam above us;
All the colored brighter bits
Rose to be the stars of heaven
And the darker crumbs changed into
Clouds and cloudlets in the sky."

Explanatory Myths

• The movement of the stars was believed to be caused by the sky-dome's rotation around the North Star. A great whirl was caused at the North Pole by the rotation of the dome, which souls could use to travel to the land of the dead.
• Earth was believed to be flat, and at the edges of Earth was Lintukoto, "the home of the birds".

Explanatory Myths

• Birds were believed to have brought a soul to human's the moment of birth, and then would take it away at the moment of death. In some areas, it was crucial to have a wooden bird-figure nearby to prevent the soul from escaping when sleeping.

Spiritual Beliefs

• In old Finnish mythology, everyone is believed to have three souls. These are separate spirits that inhabit the body at different times in one's life. The first, Henki, we are born with. Henki is responsible for breathing and blood flow.
• Then we acquire Itse, which means "self" in Finnish, at the age of a few days. Itse is capable of staying behind on Earth as a ghost after the person's death.

Spiritual Beliefs

• Lastly, when a child gets their first teeth they also acquire the third and final soul, Luonto. This spirit acts as a guardian angel and protects the person.