Loviatar (, alternative names Loveatar, Lovetar, Lovehetar, Louhetar, Louhiatar,

Louhi Louhi () is a wicked queen of the land known as Pohjola in Finnish mythology and a villain of the ''Kalevala''. As many mythological creatures and objects are easily conflated and separated in Finnish mythology, Louhi is probably an alter-eg ...

) is a blind daughter of Tuoni, the god of death in Finnish mythology and his spouse Tuonetar, the queen of the underworld. Loviatar is regarded as a goddess of death and disease. In Runo 45 of the '' Kalevala'',''Kalevala'', translated by John Martin Crawford (1888) Loviatar is impregnated by a great wind and gives birth to nine sons, the Nine diseases
. In other folk songs, she gives birth to a tenth child, who is a girl.

In the ''Kalevala''

Loviatar appears in Rune 45:

Relation to Louhi

When Elias Lönnrot compiled the '' Kalevala'', he made Loviatar and

two different characters. However, in the folk songs from which he compiled the epic, the names are often used interchangeably, and in some songs Louhi herself is the mother of the nine diseases.For example, poem 2104 in Part I4 o
''Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot''
(''SKVR''), the corpus of Finnish folk songs (in Finnish). Other songs give Loviatar the title "Whore Mistress of

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 nationa ...

".For example, poem 2039 in Part VII4 o
''SKVR''
Wilfrid Bonser, "The Mythology of the Kalevala, with Notes on Bear-Worship among the Finns" (1928), pp. 344-358. There is one difference between Louhi and the various forms of Loviatar in the songs: Loviatar's name occurs only in

spell Spell(s) or The Spell(s) may refer to: Processes * Spell (paranormal), an incantation * Spell (ritual), a magical ritual * Spelling, the writing of words Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Spell'' (1977 film), an American t ...

s where diseases are banished to go back to her, while Louhi's name occurs also in

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

or narrative songs. She gives quests to heroes,As in poems 1020 in Part I2 and 364 in Part VII1 o
''SKVR''
and opposes

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-loo ...

in a spell contest.Poem 815 of part I2 o
SKVR
One hypothesis is that Louhi and Loviatar were regional variants of the same

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

, and that the epic songs were composed in an area where Louhi was the primary name. A large portion of the epic songs about the Mistress of Pohjola do not give her any name.There are about 50 such poems in Part I1 o
''SKVR''

References

Finnish goddesses Death goddesses Characters in the Kalevala Evil deities {{deity-stub

In the ''Kalevala''

Relation to Louhi

See also

References