Ukonkivi, (English: ''Ukko's rock''), is located on the island of Ukonsaari in lake

Inari Inari may refer to: Shinto * Inari Ōkami, a Shinto spirit ** Mount Inari in Japan, site of Fushimi Inari-taisha, the main Shinto shrine to Inari ** Inari Shrine, shrines to the Shinto god Inari * Inari-zushi, a type of sushi Places * Inari, ...

Finnish Lapland Lapland ( fi, Lappi ; se, Lappi; smn, Laapi; sv, Lappland; la, Lapponia, links=no) is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the region of North O ...

. The

Inari Sami Inari may refer to: Shinto * Inari Ōkami, a Shinto spirit ** Mount Inari in Japan, site of Fushimi Inari-taisha, the main Shinto shrine to Inari ** Inari Shrine, shrines to the Shinto god Inari * Inari-zushi, a type of sushi Places * Inari, ...

name for the island is Äijih. The area of the lake is called Ukonselkä. Ukonkivi was considered by the local

to be an extremely important '' siedi'' ( smn, siejdi, fi, seita), or sacred natural formation, and was used as a sacrificial site, perhaps as recently as in the 19th century. The names "

Ukko Ukko (), Äijä or Äijö (Finnish for 'male grandparent', 'grandfather', 'old man'), parallel to Uku in Estonian mythology, is the god of the sky, weather, harvest and thunder in Finnish mythology. Ukkonen, the Finnish word for thunder, is th ...

" and " Äijih" refer to

sky deities The sky often has important religious significance. Many religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, have deities associated with the sky. The daytime sky deities are typically distinct from the nighttime ones. Stith Thompson's ''Motif-In ...

in the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

and Sami mythologies, respectively. The island is about high, broad and a long. The distance from the village of

to Ukonkivi is approximately . There are guided tours to the site during the summer from the harbour of the Sami museum,

Siida The siida is a Sámi local community that has existed from time immemorial. A ''siida'' ( se, siida; smn, sijdâ; sma, sïjte; smj, tjiellde; sjd, сыййт, translit=syjjt; sjt, се̄ййп, italic=no, translit=siejjp; sms, paalǥâskå ...

. There are two known siedis at Ukonsaari. The first one to be studied was a sacrificial cave. One of the most important

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

findings in Lapland was made at Ukonkivi in 1873 by the British archaeologist

Sir Arthur Evans Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. He is most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. Based on t ...

, when a silver jewellery fragment was found in the cave. An additional siedi was discovered in 2007 by Finnish archaeologists. The names of some of the numerous islands adjacent to Ukonsaari may suggest other religious sites, for example: * Palo Ukko (Finnish: ''Fire-Ukko'') * Pikku Ukko (''Little Ukko'') * Ukonkarit (''Ukko's

skerries A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. Skerry, skerries, or The Skerries may also refer to: Geography Northern Ireland * Skerries, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh * Skerry, County Antrim, a ...

'', a series of islets close to Ukonsaari) * Hautuumaasaari (''Burial ground island'') * Aviosaaret (''Marriage islands'') * Tissikivisaari (''Breast-stone island'') * Junttisaari (Juntti is a complex word approximately meaning a jokel or hillbilly.Finnish word juntti
/ref>) * Vanha hautuumaasaari (''Old burial ground island'') * Ristisalmensaaret (''Cross sound islands'')

See also

References

Further reading