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Post by AngloSaxon on Feb 9, 2005 20:35:01 GMT 2
I know about Ukko and Lemminkainen. Ukko is the chief god, more or less a parallel to Odin, right? I know that many people confuse his hammer with Mjollnir. What other gods are there, and what are they known for? The title of the thread updated. -F/mod.
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Post by Hittavainen on Feb 9, 2005 21:12:05 GMT 2
Ukko is a god of thunder, so a colleague of Tor.
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Post by Humppaporo on Feb 9, 2005 21:19:39 GMT 2
Didn't you tell once that Hittavainen also is a god (or was that just in his/your own thoughts ;D ).
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Post by Hittavainen on Feb 10, 2005 1:57:16 GMT 2
Hittavainen is a god that brings rabbits from the bushes.
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Post by twilightheart on Feb 10, 2005 10:11:01 GMT 2
Hittavainen is God of fiddle and strange comments! ;D
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Post by illumina on Feb 10, 2005 10:53:27 GMT 2
Very strange! ;D Anglo-Saxon - have you read the Kalevala?
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Post by Humppaporo on Feb 10, 2005 12:33:22 GMT 2
Hittavainen is a god that brings rabbits from the bushes. Well, than do your work better....and bring them out! I suppose that 'rabbits' stands for 'exited fans' and 'bushes' for 'all over the world'...;D
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Post by HerraHirwi on Feb 10, 2005 18:55:46 GMT 2
A Finnish mythology in brief:
Ukko - God of thunder and the highest god of all
Ilmarinen - Originally a god of the sky. Later a master blacksmith.
Tapio - a god of forest. Mielikki is his wife.
Väinämöinen - Originally a creator of Earth. Later Väinämöinen formed to an old shaman and a leader of Kalevala's people, who also discovered kantele and brought singing and playing to Finnish people.
Ahti - a god of sea
Vellamo - a sea-maiden
Hittavainen - a god of rabbit hunters as mentioned
Rahkoi - A god of the moon. Here in Hämeenlinna we have a town part called Rahkoila named after Rahkoi.
Joukahainen - originally a god-brother of Väinämöinen and according to Timo Heikkilä, a king of Pohjola. Later it became only a young singer, who competes with Väinämöinen with bad results.
Louhi - a queen of Pohjola.
Lemminkäinen - originally a god of fertility and life, also called Lempo. Later Lemminkäinen was given a role of a warfull adventurer, who shares own pleasures with every women he sees. Lempo was later given a bad status and Lempo became a synonym for a devil.
Kiputyttö - a goddess, who sits on a top of Kipumäki (a Pain Hill) and lets all the pain flow in to the World.
Kaleva - a giant brave, who once was a great king and whose name after was the land called (Kalevala).
Pellonpekko - a god of ale
Turisas - a god of war. This is only represented in a folklore of Finnish tribe of Häme.
Antero Vipunen - an old shaman, who has becomed to a part of the land itself.
Hongatar - a goddess who gave the birth to a bear. Bear has been a holy animal throughout the whole Finno-Ugric and Siberian cultures.
Finns believed much a life after death. A body consists of three parts: ihte - a soul, which continues living after life, henki - which makes a body to breath and ruumis - the body itself. Forefathers are worshipped in Finland as it has been in other cultures too.
Finns also had much spirit-creatures, like haltija - who lived in the forests, unihuppiainen - who brought the travelers near the treasure, liekkiö - an evil spirit, who burned the fields, ajattara - a female devil who captured travelers, ihtiriekko - a crying soul of a dead bastard child, tonttu - a home god.
Finns had a shaman culture, and Finnish shaman is called noita. Noita traveled through three worlds and was a healer and wise man.
EDIT: Lemminkäinen added
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Post by Helran on Feb 10, 2005 19:09:53 GMT 2
Thank's Virva
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Post by Humppaporo on Feb 10, 2005 20:11:47 GMT 2
Virva, this is very interesting, thanks a lot.
I have a lot of books about this subject, but none of them is about Finnish mythology. Can you recommend one, in English or German. I hardly believe there is something in Dutch available.
In some aspects this mythology differs from those of other countries.
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Post by AngloSaxon on Feb 10, 2005 23:25:17 GMT 2
Thanks for the info, Virva. Very interesting! I remember some of these gods now from Deities and Demigods. Illumina, I have read the Kalevala, or much of it anyway. Amorphis' Tales From The Thousand Lakes made sure of that.
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Post by Hittavainen on Feb 11, 2005 1:54:11 GMT 2
This would make some good lyrical concepts, but it reminds me of one annoying person named Tapio. ;D Kaleva - a giant brave, who once was a great king and whose name after was the land called (Kalevala). Sometimes mentioned as the father of Väinämöinen. Those old folk poems are a bit messy.
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Post by twilightheart on Feb 11, 2005 9:06:22 GMT 2
Hittavainen - a god of rabbit hunters as mentioned I thought, it´s a joke. Because I asked Jonne in an old interview, what the word "Hittavainen" means, but he didn`t know it.
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Post by Humppaporo on Feb 11, 2005 10:27:35 GMT 2
Well, I googled a bit and found an article titled: "Hittavainen, the Karelian god of hares and hare-hunters." So Hittavainen must be right about Hittavainen.;D However, we could accuse him of divine aspirations, cause I don't believe that Hittavainen walks around, playing violin and is also named Jaakko. He only wants to be, of maybe even thinks that he is...;D His divine aspirations are fairly modest, he could also have called himself Väinämöinen... *If he really is divine, I hope he will not punish me for this blasphemy*
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Post by HerraHirwi on Feb 11, 2005 16:38:43 GMT 2
Illumina, I have read the Kalevala, or much of it anyway. Amorphis' Tales From The Thousand Lakes made sure of that. IMO Kalevala doesn't bring a good picture as a whole about Finnish ancient religion and how Finns saw the world in old times; Kalevala is more or less an edition of Elias Lönnrot. Lönnrot make the old folk poems and runo-songs look like as a whole epic and edited selected the poems. I recommend to read the original Finnish folk poetry. My own knowledge is from the original old Finnish folklore and some books, which are dealing the issue. Timo Heikkilä's book "Aurinkolaiva - Ritvalan helkajuhla ja Lemminkäisen kultti" is recommendable to everybody, who are interested. However, it's not yet translated to English. English written dictionary-style book "Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons" is a good book written in English. There you can find a good knowledge for Finnish gods, and gods of the other cultures also.
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