Finnish paganism Religious rituals Finnish culture (English: "Vakka festival". Finnish "bushel", certain kind of wooden container) also known as ("Ukko's ''s''". Finnish "Old man", in this context familiar term for "overlord, highest of the gods") or simply (Vakkas), was a sacred festival celebrated in

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 ...

in honor of the god

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, ...

. The were commonly held in May coinciding with the spring sowing. During ''s'' it was customary to consume or otherwise offer a container or some other vessel (Finnish: ) of an alcoholic beverage or food as sacrifice. It appears that often the festival was held in the community's sacred grove or where an animal sacrifice was sometimes also performed as part of the same festival. This ceremony was believed to guarantee good weather for the coming year and thus a good harvest. They were often held close to holy springs, and included dancing. After introduction of Christianity, other religious activities were banned as idolatry, but the festival continued despite this. The festival is first documented in 1542–1547, when peasantry in Savonia were fined for having celebrated what was referred to by the authorities as festivities to

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

(as the god Ukko was identified by the Swedes as the Finnish version of the god Thor). The festival is mentioned by the Finnish reformer

Mikael Agricola Mikael Agricola (; c. 1510 – 9 April 1557) was a Finnish Lutheran clergyman who became the de facto founder of literary Finnish and a prominent proponent of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden, including Finland, which was a Swedish territory ...

in his account of what from his point of view was Finnish

idolatry Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were God. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the A ...

. In 1670, the festivals reportedly continued as before and it was reported that the peasantry did not consider it a sin. Reportedly, the festival was still celebrated in at least some part of the country as late as 1910.

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