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Ahti
In Finnish mythology, Ahti () is a heroic character in folk poetry who is sometimes given the epithet Saarelainen (, "Islander"). Ahto is a Finnish sea god. The connection between the hero Ahti and the god Ahto, if any, is unclear. Description Ahti In the Kalevala the compiler Elias Lönnrot conflated several mythological persons into the main characters in an attempt to create a consistent narrative from several songs. The heroic figures '' Kaukomiele'' and ''Ahti'' were condensed into '' Lemminkäinen'' in the work. Ahti's story is of a man so eager to fight that he abandons his young wife and sets out on an adventure with his friend ''Teuri''. The original songs in the Ahti cycle have been tentatively dated to the Viking Age because of their references to sea voyages, but Oinas also sees an adventurous element in both Ahti and Kaukamoinen's tales. ''Ahti Saarelainen'' is described as a fierce seagoing warrior. He makes a double vow with his wife ''Kyllikki'', binding him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finnish Mythology
Finnish mythology is a commonly applied description of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many features shared with Estonian and other Finnic mythologies, but also shares some similarities with neighbouring Baltic, Slavic and, to a lesser extent, Norse mythologies. Finnish mythology survived within an oral tradition of mythical poem-singing and folklore well into the 19th century. Of the animals, the most sacred was the bear, whose real name was never uttered out loud, lest his kind be unfavorable to the hunting. The bear ("karhu" in Finnish) was seen as the embodiment of the forefathers, and for this reason it was called by many circumlocutions: ''mesikämmen'' ("mead-paw"), ''otso'' ("browed one"), ''kontio'' ("dweller of the land"), ''metsän kultaomena'' ("the golden apple of the forest") but not a god. Study of Finnish mythological and religious history The first historical mention ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lemminkäinen
Lemminkäinen () or Lemminki () is a prominent figure in Finnish mythology. He is one of the heroes of the ''Kalevala'', where his character is a composite of several separate heroes of oral poetry. He is usually depicted as young and good-looking, with wavy red hair. Description The original, mythological Lemminkäinen is a shamanistic figure. In the Kalevala, he has been blended together with epic war-heroes Kaukomieli/Kaukamoinen and Ahti Saarelainen. In one myth, he drowns in the river of Tuonela (the underworld) in trying to capture or kill the black swan that lives there as part of an attempt, as Ilmarinen once made, to win a daughter of Louhi as his wife. In a tale somewhat reminiscent of Isis' search for Osiris, Lemminkäinen's mother searches heaven and earth to find her son. Finally, she learns of his fate and asks Ilmarinen to fashion her a rake of copper with which to dredge her son's body from the river of Tuonela. Thus equipped, she descends into the underworl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vellamo
Vellamo (), also spelled Wellamo, is the goddess of water, lakes and seas in Finnish mythology. Vellamo is said to be tall and beautiful, and is much respected by fishermen, who pray to her for good fishing luck. Vellamo can also control the winds to help sailors, and she controls the storms and waves. Vellamo has magical cows that live on underwater fields. Sometimes, during the morning mist, she brings her cows above the surface to eat water hay. Vellamo wears a blue dress that is made from sea foam. The name "Vellamo" comes from the Finnish word 'velloa', which means 'movement of water and waves'. Vellamo's husband is the Finnish sea god Ahti. The , which is located in the city of Kotka, Finland, is named after Vellamo. In popular culture Ambient Folk artist Archaic Earth has a track "Vellamo's Song" on the EP ''Hiraeth'' Further reading * ''Suomen sanojen alkuperä'', Finnish Literature Society The Finnish Literature Society ( fi, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura ry or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''hero'' is often used to refer to any gender, though ''heroine'' only refers to women. The original hero type of classical epics did such things for the sake of glory (honor), glory and honor. post-classical history, Post-classical and modern history, modern heroes, on the other hand, perform great deeds or selfless acts for the common good instead of the classical goal of wealth, pride, and fame. The antonym of ''hero'' is ''villain''. Other terms associated with the concept of ''hero'' may include ''good guy'' or ''wikt:white hat, white hat''. In Classics, classical literature, the hero is the main or revered character in Epic poetry, heroic epic poetry celebrated through ancient legends of a people, often striving for milit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Poetry
Folk poetry (sometimes referred to as ''poetry in action'') is poetry that is part of a society's folklore, usually part of their oral tradition. When sung, folk poetry becomes a folk song. Description Folk poetry in general has several characteristics. It may be informal and unofficial, generally lacks an owner and may "belong" to the society, and its telling may be an implicitly social activity. The term can refer to poems of an oral tradition that may date back many years; that is, it is information that has been transmitted over time (between generations) ''only'' in spoken (and non-written) form. Thus as an oral tradition folk poetry requires a performer to promulgate it over generations. The definition can also be extended to include not just oral epics, but latrinalia, many forms of childlore (skipping-rope rhymes, the words of counting-out games etc), and limericks; as well as including anonymous or improvised poems. Narrative folk poetry is often characterized by repetit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It can also be a descriptive title: for example, Pallas Athena, Phoebus Apollo, Alfred the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent, and Władysław I the Elbow-high. Many English monarchs have traditional epithets: some of the best known are Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionheart, Æthelred the Unready, John Lackland and Bloody Mary. The word ''epithet'' can also refer to an abusive, defamatory, or derogatory phrase. This use as a euphemism is criticized by Martin Manser and other proponents of linguistic prescription. H. W. Fowler complained that "epithet is suffering a vulgarization that is giving it an abusive imputation." Linguistics Epithets are sometimes at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalevala
The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and retaliatory voyages between the peoples of the land of Kalevala called Väinölä and the land of Pohjola and their various protagonists and antagonists, as well as the construction and robbery of the epic mythical wealth-making machine Sampo. The ''Kalevala'' is regarded as the national epic of Karelia and Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature with J. L. Runeberg's ''The Tales of Ensign Stål'' and Aleksis Kivi's ''The Seven Brothers''. The ''Kalevala'' was instrumental in the development of the Finnish national identity and the intensification of Finland's language strife that ultimately led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917. The work is also well known internationally and has partly inf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elias Lönnrot
Elias Lönnrot (; 9 April 1802 – 19 March 1884) was a Finnish physician, philologist and collector of traditional Finnish oral poetry. He is best known for creating the Finnish national epic, ''Kalevala'', (1835, enlarged 1849), from short ballads and lyric poems gathered from the Finnish oral tradition during several expeditions in Finland, Russian Karelia, the Kola Peninsula and Baltic countries. Education and early life Lönnrot was born in Sammatti, in the province of Uusimaa, Finland, which was then part of Sweden. He studied medicine at the Academy of Turku. The Great Fire of Turku coincided with his first academic year. As the university was destroyed in the fire, it was moved to Helsinki, the newly established administrative center of the Grand Duchy and the present capital city of Finland. Lönnrot followed and graduated in 1832. Early medical career Lönnrot lived in the village of Paltaniemi, when he got a job as district doctor of Kajaani in Eastern Finland d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teuri
Teuri Island (天売島 Teuri-tō) is an island in the Sea of Japan 30 km west of Haboro port in Haboro, Tomamae District, in the Rumoi Subprefecture in Hokkaido. The Island, along with neighboring Yagishiri island on its east side, belongs to the town of Haboro in Rumoi Subprefecture. The island has an area of 5.5 square kilometers (2.1 sq mi), with 12 km of coastline, and the population is 317 people as of March, Heisei 20 (2008). It is said that the name of the island comes from the Ainu language, where the name could either be interpreted as “fish back” or “leg.” Overview The island's cliff-lined northwest coast serves as a breeding ground for common guillemot, Rhinoceros Auklet, Spectacled Guillemot, Japanese cormorant, and slaty-backed gull. For this reason, on August 8, 1939, Teuri island was appointed as a natural monument and now is known as "Teuri Island seabird breeding ground". The island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viking Age
The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germanic Iron Age. The Viking Age applies not only to their homeland of Scandinavia but also to any place significantly settled by Scandinavians during the period. The Scandinavians of the Viking Age are often referred to as ''Vikings'' as well as ''Norsemen'', although few of them were Vikings in sense of being engaged in piracy. Voyaging by sea from their homelands in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, the Norse people settled in the British Isles, Ireland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Normandy, and the Baltic coast and along the Dnieper and Volga trade routes in eastern Europe, where they were also known as Varangians. They also briefly settled in Newfoundland, becoming the first Europeans to reach North America. The Norse-Gaels, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sampo
In Finnish mythology, the ''Sampo'' () is a magical device or object described in many different ways that was constructed by the blacksmith Ilmarinen and that brought riches and good fortune to its holder, akin to the horn of plenty (cornucopia) of Greek mythology. When the Sampo was stolen, Ilmarinen's homeland fell upon hard times. He sent an expedition to retrieve it, but in the ensuing battle it was smashed and lost at sea. In the Kalevala The Sampo is a pivotal element of the plot of the Finnish epic poem ''Kalevala'', compiled in 1835 (and expanded in 1849) by Elias Lönnrot based on Finnish oral tradition. In the expanded second version of the poem, the Sampo is forged by Ilmarinen, a legendary smith, to fulfill a task set by the witch queen of Pohjola, Louhi, in return for her daughter's hand. : ''"Ilmarinen, worthy brother,'' : ''Thou the only skilful blacksmith,'' : ''Go and see her wondrous beauty,'' : ''See her gold and silver garments,'' : ''See her robed in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
