Väinämöinen
   HOME
*



picture info

Väinämöinen
Väinämöinen () is a demigod, hero and the central character in Finnish folklore and the main character in the national epic ''Kalevala'' by Elias Lönnrot. Väinämöinen was described as an old and wise man, and he possessed a potent, magical singing voice. In Finnish mythology The first extant mention of Väinämöinen in literature is in a list of Tavastian gods by Mikael Agricola in 1551. He and other writers described Väinämöinen as the god of chants, songs and poetry; in many stories Väinämöinen was the central figure at the birth of the world. The Karelian and Finnish national epic, the ''Kalevala'', tells of his birth in the course of a creation story in its opening sections. This myth has elements of creation from chaos and from a cosmic egg, as well as of earth diver creation. At first there were only primal waters and Sky. But Sky also had a daughter named Ilmatar. One day, Ilmatar descended to the waters and became pregnant. She gestated for a very lon ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

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]  


picture info

Joukahainen
Joukahainen () is a character in the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish epic poem. He is a rival of the main character, Väinämöinen. Description After clashing with their horses and challenging Väinämöinen to a fight, they engage in a battle of song. He loses and is magically sung into being swallowed by a mire. In his plea for help from Väinämöinen, he pledges his sister Aino to him. But she objects to Väinämöinen, and rather than marrying him she drowns herself. Joukahainen is enraged by all that has taken place and even though his mother tries to stop him, he ambushes Väinämöinen with his crossbow. Joukahainen misses Väinämöinen but hits and kills his horse from under him, making him plunge into the icy waters of Pohjola. In the original translation into English (by John Martin Crawford (1888)) this character's name was Anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of c ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ilmarinen
Ilmarinen (), the Eternal Hammerer, blacksmith and inventor in the ''Kalevala'', is a god and archetypal artificer from Finnish mythology. He is immortal and capable of creating practically anything, but is portrayed as being unlucky in love. He is described as working the known metals of the time, including brass, copper, iron, gold, and silver. The great works of Ilmarinen include the crafting of the dome of the sky and the forging of the Sampo. His usual epithet in the Kalevala is ''seppo'', a poetic word for "smith". and the source of the given name Seppo. Etymology and origin Cognates of the Finnish word ''ilma'' ('air') are attested in almost all the main Finno-Ugric languages apart from the Mari and Mordvinic languages, allowing the reconstruction of proto-Finno-Ugric *''ilma'' meaning something like 'sky'. This noun is also attested as the name of a god in Khanty (''Num-Iləm''), Komi (''Jen''), Udmurt language, Udmurt (''Inmar'') and the Finnic languages, suggesting ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

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]  


picture info

Kalevi (mythology)
Kaleva – also known as Kalevi or Kalev – and his sons are important heroic figures in Estonian, Finnish and Karelian mythology. In the Finnish epic the ''Kalevala'', he is an ancient Finnish ruler. In Estonian mythology and Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald's epic poem ''Kalevipoeg'', King Kalev was the father of King Kalevipoeg and the husband of Linda. History Some historians have suggested that the oldest known written reference to Kaleva (Kalev / Kalevi) can be found in the 6th- or 7th-century Anglo-Saxon poem "Widsith", which was copied into the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English poems compiled in the late 10th century. "Widsith" states that Caesar ruled the Greeks, Caelic the Finns ... I was with the Greeks and Finns and also with Caesar ... Some historians have interpreted the term "Caelic" to refer to the ancient Finnish ruler Kaleva mentioned in the Kalevala. The first clear written references appear in a list of deities published by Mikael Agricola in 1551 and ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

World Egg
The world egg, cosmic egg or mundane egg is a mythological motif found in the cosmogonies of many cultures that is present in Proto-Indo-European culture and other cultures and civilizations. Typically, the world egg is a beginning of some sort, and the universe or some primordial being comes into existence by "hatching" from the egg, sometimes lain on the primordial waters of the Earth. Eggs symbolize the unification of two complementary principles (represented by the egg white and the yolk) from which life or existence, in its most fundamental philosophical sense, emerges. Vedic mythology The earliest idea of the "cosmic egg" comes from some of the Sanskrit scriptures. The Sanskrit term for it is Brahmanda (ब्रह्माण्ड) which is derived from two words – 'Brahma' (ब्रह्मा) the 'creator god' in Hinduism and 'anda' (अण्ड) meaning 'egg'. Certain Puranas such as the Brahmanda Purana speak of this in detail. The Rig Veda (RV 10. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Pike (fish)
''Esox'' is a genus of freshwater fish commonly known as pike or pickerel. It is the type genus of the family Esocidae. The type species of the genus is ''Esox lucius'', the northern pike. ''Esox'' has been present in Laurentia (which later became North America) and Eurasia since the Paleocene. Modern large pike species are native to the Palearctic and Nearctic realms, ranging across Northern America and from Western Europe to Siberia in North Asia. Pikes have the elongated, torpedo-like shape typical of predatory fishes, with sharply pointed heads and sharp teeth. Their coloration is typically grey-green with a mottled or spotted appearance with stripes along their backs, providing camouflage among underwater weeds, and each individual pike marking patterns are unique like fingerprints. Pikes can grow to a maximum recorded length of , reaching a maximum recorded weight of . Etymology The generic name ''Esox'' (pike fish) derives from the Greek ἴσοξ (''ee-soks'', a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Pohjola
Pohjola (; from 'base, bottom', but used in derived forms like ''pohjois-'' to mean 'north' + ''-'' 'place'), sometimes just Pohja (), is a mythical place, location in Finnish mythology. It is one of the two main polarities in the Finnish national epic, the ''Kalevala'', along with Kalevala or Väinölä. Pohjola and the ''Kalevala'' storytellers C. Ganander (1789), characterised Pohjola as : 'the most extreme North ... a dark and terrible place. Tartarus and Thule, Ultima Thule'. :''Yttersta Norden, beskrives såsom en mörk och förfärlig ort. Tartarus & ultima Thule'' : ''Mythologia fennica'' : ''eller förklaring öfver de nomina propria deastrorum, idolorum, locorum, virorum, &c. eller afgudar och afgudinnor, forntidens märkelige personar, offer och offer-ställen, gamla sedvänjor, jätter, trol, skogs- sjö och bergs-rån m.m. Som förekomma i de äldre finska troll-runor, synnyt, sanat, sadut, arwotuxet &c. samt än brukas och nämnas i dagligt tal; til deras tjenst, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ilmatar
In the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic, Ilmatar () was a virgin spirit and goddess of the air. Origins The name Ilmatar is derived from the Finnish word ''ilma'', meaning "air," and the female suffix ''-tar'', corresponding to English "-ress". Thus, her name means ''Airress''. In the Kalevala she was also occasionally called Luonnotar (), which means "female spirit of nature" (Finnish ''luonto'', "nature").Lönnrot, Elias, compiler. ''The Kalevala, or Poems of the Kaleva District: A Prose Translation with Foreword and Appendices''. Translated with foreword and appendices by Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963. She was impregnated by the sea and wind and thus became the mother of Väinämöinen. Sibelius’s ''Luonnotar'' Jean Sibelius composed the tone poem '' Luonnotar'', for soprano and orchestra in 1913. In this work, the mythical origin of the land and sky, recounted in craggy verses from the ''Kalevala'', becomes an intense ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Stream Pool
A stream pool, in hydrology, is a stretch of a river or stream in which the water depth is above average and the water velocity is below average. Formation A stream pool may be bedded with sediment or armoured with gravel, and in some cases the pool formations may have been formed as basins in exposed bedrock formations. Plunge pools, or plunge basins, are stream pools formed by the action of waterfalls. Pools are often formed on the outside of a bend in a meandering river. Dynamics The depth and lack of water velocity often leads to stratification in stream pools, especially in warmer regions. In warm arid regions of the Western United States, surface waters were found to be 3-9 °C higher than those at the bottom Habitat This portion of a stream often provides a specialized aquatic ecosystem habitat for organisms that have difficulty feeding or navigating in swifter reaches of the stream or in seasonally warmer water. Such pools can be important for fish habitat, espe ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination, or to aid human beings in some other way. Beliefs and practices categorized as "shamanic" have attracted the interest of scholars from a variety of disciplines, including anthropologists, archeologists, historians, religious studies scholars, philosophers and psychologists. Hundreds of books and academic papers on the subject have been produced, with a peer-reviewed academic journal being devoted to the study of shamanism. In the 20th century, non-Indigenous Westerners involved in countercultural movements, such as hippies and the New Age created modern magicoreligious practices influenced by their ideas of various Indigenous religions, creating what has been ter ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Sammon Puolustus
Sammon may refer to: People * Sammon (surname), notable persons with the surname Sammon Other *Jimon and Sammon and , also known as the Enchin and Ennin factions, respectively, were rival branches of the Tendai sect of Buddhism created in the 9th century and based on Mount Hiei just outside Kyoto. Jimon's head temple was Mii-dera, at the foot of Mount Hie ..., one of the factions of Tendai Buddhism * Sammon projection, an algorithm that maps a high-dimensional space to a space of lower dimensionality {{disambig ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]