Introduction to Finnish Mythology

While Finland was part of Sweden for a long time, it was never part of the Viking world. Rather than being populated by the Germanic Norsemen, Finland was populated by Finnic-Baltic people, a unique ethnic group with their own culture and religion. This is a brief overview of what we know of native Finnish paganism before the conversion to Christianity.

Sources for Finnish Mythology

What we know of ancient Finnish religion comes from three main sources, all of which date to well after the general conversion of the Finns to Christianity in the 12^th and 13^th centuries.

The first was written by a Lutheran clergyman called Mikale Agricola, who was involved in the reformation of the Finnish church in the early 16^th century and produced the first Finnish translation of the Bible. His contribution comes in the form of a preface to Psalms, in which he provided a list of 12 pagan deities from the Tavastia region and 12 deities from the Karelia region. While he calls them gods, many actually seem to be legendary heroes from folklore.

Next is the Mythologia Fennica, written in 1789 by Chritfried Ganander. This is a kind of encyclopedia that contains 430 alphabetical entries that cover Finnish mythology, folk poetry, and spells.

Finally, in the 19^th century, a group of anthropologists including Elias Linnrot, J.F. Cajan, M.A. Castreu, and D.E.D. Europeaus traveled around Finland and collected folk poetry and songs to learn more about pagan beliefs. Lonnrot later compiled this into the Kalevala, a work that is now considered the national epic of Finland, and an accompanying volume called the Kanteletar.

When collecting stories, they mostly spoke to Teitajat, which are Finnish shamans. The very first man created, Vainamoinen, was reportedly one such shaman. There are reports of them in the 18^th century, and they survived in some regions of Finland until the 20^th century.

As shamans, they were responsible for healing and preventing illness, enabling farming and hunting when times were tough, dealing with witchcraft, detecting thieves and other criminals, and generally ensuring good luck and prosperity.

They mainly achieved this through magical songs, which are also common in Finnish folklore. The underlying basis of the songs is an understanding of the mythical origins of natural phenomena. Understanding their origins gives you knowledge of their songs which can be used to sing spells.

Important Finnish Myths

Creation

The world was believed to have been formed out of a bird’s egg, though the type of bird and number of eggs changes. The sky was believed to be the upper cover of the egg. The movement of the stars is explained by the sky-dome’s rotation around the North Star. The resulting whirl allows souls to exit the world to the land of the dead, Tuonela.

Earth was believed to be flat. At the edges of Earth was Lintukoto “the home of the birds”, a warm region in which birds lived during the winter. The Milky Way is called Linnunrata, “the path of the birds”, because the birds were believed to move along it to Lintukoto and back. Birds brought a human’s soul to the body at the moment of birth and took it away at the moment of death.

Väinämöinen and Creation

Väinämöinen is the son of the primal goddess Ilmatar or was born from one of the eggs of creation. Väinämöinen lives in the womb for 700 years so he is born with the wisdom of ages. He creates magical songs that control the essence of nature and uses this to shape the world.

Väinämöinen set about shaping the nascent world. From the broken eggshells, he fashioned the Earth. Using his magical powers, he kneaded and molded the land, giving it shape and form. As his hands danced across the void, mountains rose majestically, rivers flowed sinuously, and forests carpeted the landscape.

Väinämöinen recognized the vital importance of water for life. Summoning the power of the elements, he conjured vast oceans and shimmering lakes. The rhythmic ebb and flow of the tides filled the air with a soothing song, marking the passage of time and nurturing the burgeoning ecosystem.

Yet, even in the midst of abundance, Väinämöinen sensed a void. The world lay shrouded in perpetual darkness. Determined to dispel the gloom, he embarked on a perilous quest to find fire. Braving countless challenges, he finally stumbled upon the elusive flame and brought it back to Earth. With its warmth and radiance, fire brought light, heat, and the possibility of societal advancement.

With the Earth teeming with water and fire, Väinämöinen’s creative spirit yearned to populate it with life. From the fertile soil, he summoned forth lush forests and vibrant meadows. With his breath, he gave birth to countless species of plants, each imbued with its own unique beauty and purpose. Animals of all shapes and sizes emerged from the depths of the forest, the rivers, and the skies, fulfilling the tapestry of life on Earth.

The pinnacle of Väinämöinen’s creative endeavors was the creation of humans. He fashioned the first man from an oak tree and the first woman from a birch tree. With his divine powers, he breathed life into their clay bodies, imbuing them with consciousness and the gift of language. Thus, humanity was born, destined to become the stewards of the world he had created.

Väinämöinen in the Kalevala

His search for a wife brings the land of Kaleva into, at first friendly, but later hostile contact with its dark and threatening neighbor in the north, Pohjola. This conflict culminates in the creation and theft of the Sampo, a magical artifact made by the blacksmith god Ilmarinen, the subsequent mission to recapture it, and a battle that ends up splintering the Sampo and dispersing its parts around the world to parts unknown.

At the end of the Kalevala, a maiden Marjatta becomes pregnant after eating a berry, giving birth to a baby boy. This child is brought to Väinämöinen to examine and judge. His verdict is that such a strangely born infant needs to be put to death. In reply, the newborn child, a mere two weeks old, chides the old sage for his sins and transgressions. Following this, the baby is baptized and named king of Kalevala. Defeated, Väinämöinen goes to the shores of the sea, where he sings for himself a boat of copper, with which he sails away from the mortal realms.

The Underworld

Tuonela was the land of the dead: an underground home or city for all dead people, without moral judgment. It was a dark and lifeless place, where everybody slept forever.

Tuonela is in the northernmost part of the world but is sectioned apart from the world of the living by a great divide. In the divide flows the dark river of Tuonela. The river is wild, and the dead can be seen trying to swim across it. The dead must cross the river, either by a thread bridge, swimming, or taking a boat piloted by the daughter of Tuoni. The river is guarded by a black swan that sings death spells.

At times living people visited Tuonela to gather information and spells. The journey required a trip through thorn thickets and dangerous woods, and the defeat of the monster Surma, a flesh-tearing monster that works for the goddess of decay, Kalma. Once in Tuonela, the living were not allowed to leave. They would be welcomed by Tuonetar, who would offer them a memory-erasing beer to erase their former lives. Shamans could visit Tuonela by falling into a trance and tricking the guards.

Finnish Gods and Goddesses

• Ukko: Sky god of thunder and ruler of all the gods. Read our full Ukko profile.
• Vainamoinen: demi-god who is the hero of the Kalevala. The son of the virgin spirit of the air Ilmatar, he was the first man and the first shaman. According to Mikael Agricola he “formed the chants” essential to Finnish magic.
• Tuoni: God of the underworld Tuonela and darkness personified, his children are the spirits of suffering. He sometimes assumes human form to walk the world and appears as an old man with a hat of darkness and only three fingers on each hand.
• Tuonetar: Goddess of the underworld and consort of Tuoni. She gives Vainomoinen a black poison made from frog spawns, young poisonous snakes, lizards, adders, and worms. If he was to drink this beer of oblivion, he would forget that he had ever existed and be unable to return to the world of the living.
• Loviatar: Blind daughter of Tuoni and is a goddess of death and disease. She is impregnated by a great wind and gives birth to nine sons, which are the nine diseases, and as a tenth girl child.
• Ilmatar: A virgin goddess of the air and the mother of Vainamoinen.
• Louhi: The wicked queen of Pohjola, the land of evil. She is a shapeshifter and capable of powerful enchantments. She has several beautiful daughters that heroes try to win as wives in various stories, at great risk.
• Ahti: The Finnish god of the sea. He lives in a sea castle called Ahtola at the bottom of the sea with his wife Wellamo.
• Tapio: A forest spirit and god of the hunt. He is the consort of Meiliki, the goddess of the forest, and the father of several deities. He has a beard of lichen and eyebrows of moss.
• Äkräs: The god of agriculture and harvest. He was closely associated with the turnip, beans, peas, cabbage, flax, and hemp.
• Tuulikki: The goddess of the winds.
• Ilmarinen: The master blacksmith, he created the mystical Sampo.
• Mielikki: Gentle goddess of the forest and the wife of Tapio. She receives prayers and offerings from hunters and shepherds as well as those collecting mushrooms and berries. She is a healer and will heal the paws of animals that have escaped from traps. She knows all the healing herbs and will help humans find them.
• Kalevatar: The goddess of creation, radiates with the warmth of sunlight and the essence of growth.
• Peko: Finnish god linked to crops and brewing mentioned by Mikael Agricola. In some modern traditions, black candles are lit for Peko and he receives beer as sacrifices from men who call themselves his priests. His idol was sometimes placed in granaries.
• Iku-Turso: A malevolent sea monster, often described as having a thousand heads or a thousand horns. He may have come from Pohjola, the land of evil in Finnish myth. He is sometimes described as the father of Vainanmoinen, which would make him a primordial creature. He is sometimes called the father of diseases, and also a god of war, apparently allocating victory in war.
• Lempo: God of love and fertility, which is unusual for male gods in many religions. He is described as a slightly fiendish and erratic spirit, who can be capricious and dangerous. He could possess humans and use them to cause destruction. He appears in the Kalevala and battles with Vainamoinen with the help of two demon cohorts.
• Otso: A sacred bear considered the king of the animal kingdom. Rather than being a single bear, he is the collective spirit of all bears. He may have been created with Ukko threw wool into the sea. The wool that emerged onto land was formed into the first bear.
• Nyyrikki: Son of Taipo and Meilikki and god of cattle and the hunt.
• Kalma: A personification of death or the grave. She is sometimes described as watching over elves and other supernatural beings.
• Kuutar: Goddess of the moon. She owns the gold of the moon, spins golden yarns, and weaves golden clothing.
• Paivatar: Goddess of the sun. She is the owner of the silver of the sun which she uses to spin silver yarn to weave clothing. She is described as a great beauty and maidens would often pray to her. She is also known as the mother of wasps and the creator of fire.
• Vedava: A water goddess often depicted as a kind of mermaid with long hair and large breasts and the lower body of a fish. She is sometimes said to seduce humans with music. She received the first catch as a sacrifice and fishermen followed several taboos to avoid angering her. It was an ill-omen to see the goddess and usually meant that someone would drown.
• Wellamo: Goddess of water, lakes, and seas also often depicted as a mermaid. She is tall and beautiful and could bring good luck to fishermen. She can also control the winds, storms, and rain to help sailors. She has a magical cow that lives in her underwater fields, and sometimes during the mist, she brings her cos to the surface to eat. She wears a blue dress made from sea foam.

The Finnish Soul

The soul is composed of three different parts: henki, luonto, and itse. Each of the three parts are autonomous.

Henki (translated as “life”, “breath” or “spirit”, sometimes also referred to as löyly) was a person’s life force, which presented itself as breathing, the beating of one’s heart, and the warmth of their body. Henki was received before birth and it left at the moment of death. The word hengetön (lit. “one without henki”) can be used as a synonym for dead.

Luonto (translated as “nature”) was a guardian spirit or protector. Luonto has also been referred to as the haltija of a person. A strong-willed, artistic, or otherwise talented person was believed to have a strong haltija who granted them good luck and skills to complete their tasks well. A weak luonto could be strengthened by various spells and rituals. Luonto could leave a person’s body without the person dying, but its lengthened absence would cause problems, such as alcoholism and other addictions. Unlike henki, luonto was not received prior to birth but instead either at the time of getting the first teeth or being given a name. A newborn child was thus considered to be particularly vulnerable.

Itse was a spirit received at the time of birth or a few days after. It was believed to define one’s personality and receiving itse made one a person. Like luonto, itse could leave one’s body without the person dying but a long absence would cause illnesses and misery. Depressions, for instance, were seen as a result of having lost one’s itse. If a person was diagnosed to be itsetön or luonnoton (without one’s itse or one’s luonto), a shaman or a sage could try locating the missing part of the soul and bring it back. Although itse and luonto were usually lost after a traumatizing event, it was possible to purposefully separate one’s itse from their body. This was required if a missing part of the soul needed to be found. Itse could also leave the body to appear as an etiäinen (a sort of false arrival apparition). At the time of a person’s death their itse joined the other deceased of the family or, in some cases, stayed among the living as a ghost.