Lemminkäinen () or Lemminki () is a prominent figure in

Finnish mythology Finnish mythology is a commonly applied description of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many features shared with Estonian and other Finnic mythologies ...

. He is one of the

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...

es of the ''

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 ...

'', where his character is a composite of several separate heroes of oral poetry. He is usually depicted as young and good-looking, with wavy red hair.

Description

The original, mythological Lemminkäinen is a shamanistic figure. In the Kalevala, he has been blended together with epic war-heroes Kaukomieli/Kaukamoinen and Ahti Saarelainen. In one myth, he drowns in the river of Tuonela (the underworld) in trying to capture or kill the black swan that lives there as part of an attempt, as

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 ...

once made, to win a daughter of

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 ...

as his wife. In a tale somewhat reminiscent of

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

' search for

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He wa ...

, Lemminkäinen's mother searches heaven and earth to find her son. Finally, she learns of his fate and asks

to fashion her a rake of copper with which to dredge her son's body from the river of Tuonela. Thus equipped, she descends into the underworld in search of her son. On the banks of the river of the underworld, she rakes up first Lemminkäinen's tunic and shoes, and then, his maimed and broken body. Unrelenting, she continues her work until every piece of Lemminkäinen's body is recovered. Sewing the parts together and offering prayers to the gods, the mother tries to restore Lemminkäinen to life, but while she succeeds in remaking his body, his life is still absent. Then, she entreats a bee to ascend to the halls of the over-god Ukko and fetch from there a drop of honey as ointment that would bring Lemminkäinen back to life. Only with such a potent remedy is the hero finally restored. One of the challenges Lemminkäinen faced was a character named Surma. Surma was a terrible beast which embodied sudden, violent death and guarded the gates of the Tuonela to prevent escape. Surma is often described as being a large dog with a snake-tail and can turn people into stone (with a stare). An often-used Finnish metaphor is ''surman suuhun'' "into Surma's mouth", as if the victim was mauled to death by Surma.Pulakka, Raisa; Tuikka, Raili. ''Eläimet saattavat kuoleman maahan.'' Yle Kulttuuri 15.01.2016

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Lemminkäinen in arts

Lemminkäinen is the subject of the four-part " Lemminkäinen Suite" by

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

, and of an overture by Väinö Haapalainen, both of them Finnish composers. The 2007 album ('' Silent Waters'') of Finnish

metal A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...

band Amorphis is about the story of Lemminkäinen. The 2008 song (''

River of Tuoni ''River of Tuoni'' is the debut full-length studio album by Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn. The songs "River of Tuoni" and "My Only Star" from the album were the first Amberian Dawn tracks to have a music video recorded, in M ...

'') by Finnish

band Amberian Dawn is about Lemminkäinen's mother's search for him in the river of Tuoni. Lemminkäinen appears as Lemminkal Heikkinen the Warrior-Mage in Mercedes Lackey's 500 Kingdoms Series' homage to Sámi, among other Scandinavian and northern European myths and legends, '' The Snow Queen'' (2008). The 2018 song The Bee by Finnish

band Amorphis also references the story of Lemminkäinen and of the bee entrusted by his mother to retrieve honey from the halls of the over-god Ukko. Lemminkäinen is the protagonist of the 1959 film, ''

The Day the Earth Froze ''Sampo'' (russian: Сампо) is a 1959 Soviet– Finnish fantasy film based loosely on the events depicted in the Finnish national epic ''Kalevala''. In the United States, it was released in an edited version, ''The Day the Earth Froze'', by ...

''. The ''Dungeons & Dragons'' character Mordenkainen is partially named after him.

Lemminkäinen in Films

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"Back to Lemminkäinen"
– (Documentary Series, 2020)

Gallery

References

Books