Finn-men, also known as, Muckle men, Fion and Fin Finn, were

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

sighted around the north of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Sightings

The first recorded sighting was in

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

, in 1682. James Wallace, writing in about 1688, described a Finn-man in his "little Boat" at the south end of

Eday Eday (, sco, Aidee) is one of the islands of Orkney, which are located to the north of the Scottish mainland. One of the North Isles, Eday is about from the Orkney Mainland. With an area of , it is the ninth-largest island of the archipelago. ...

being seen by the people of the island from the shore, and then fleeing swiftly when the islanders put out a boat to try and apprehend him. In 1684, a Finn-man seen at

Westray Westray (, sco, Westree) is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, with a usual resident population of just under 600 people. Its main village is Pierowall, with a heritage centre, the 15th-century Lady Kirk church and pedestrian ferry servic ...

was connected with the disappearance of fish from the area. A boat was captured in Orkney, and sent to the Physicians Hall in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Origins

They were originally associated with

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, although they were in fact

from the

Davis Strait Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer Jo ...

s, a fact recognised by Wallace. It was considered more probable that they could have travelled from Finland, Lapland, or another part of Europe, so the association persisted. Wallace's eldest son

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

added a note to a 1700 publication of his father's account, suggesting they had been driven to Scotland by storms. The most likely reason for their arrival is that they were escaped prisoners, having been taken by European ships as curiosities. Such was the concern about this practice that in 1720 the

Staten Generaal The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The State ...

of the Netherlands passed a law prohibiting the murder or kidnapping of Inuit.

Description

John Brand, in ''A Brief Description of Orkney'', described a sighting of a Finn-man.

Artefacts

Kayaks belonging to Finn-men are preserved in Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Mythology

The Finn-men were grafted onto the existing mythologies that surrounded the

selkie In Celtic and Norse mythology, selkies (also spelled ', ', ') or selkie folk ( sco, selkie fowk) meaning 'seal folk' are mythological beings capable of therianthropy, changing from seal to human form by shedding their skin. They are found ...

s and

Finfolk In Orkney folklore, Finfolk (sometimes Finnfolk) are Magick shapeshifters of the sea, the dark mysterious race from Finfolkaheem who regularly make an amphibious journey from the depths of the Finfolk ocean home to the Orkney Islands. They wade, s ...

, to the point that both creatures may have both been the same in folklore. Their appearance was interpreted in terms of those traditions.

Related media

The history of the Finnmen is discussed in the

Red Bull TV Red Bull TV is a global multi-platform channel owned by Red Bull GmbH, distributed digitally on connected TVs, smartphones, tablets, and on its website. The channel is available globally. Programming is in English (with optional subtitles and clos ...

series ''Explorers'' in the episode "Journey of the Finnmen".

References

Citations

Sources

* * {{cite journal , url=http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_046/46_213_241.pdf , title=The Aberdeen Kayak and its Congeners , journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , first=David , last=MacRitchie , year=1912 * Rogers, Norman (2012)
Searching for the finmen : an unplanned journey in homage to the kayak and its Inuit masters
Leicester : Matador. History of Orkney Inuit history 17th century in Scotland Scottish mythology