Baltic Finnic paganism, or Baltic Finnic polytheism was the indigenous religion of the various

Baltic Finnic peoples The Baltic Finnic peoples, often simply referred to as the Finnic peoples, are the peoples inhabiting the Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe, Northern and Eastern Europe who speak Finnic languages. They include the Finns, Estonians (including ...

, specifically the

Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...

Estonians Estonians or Estonian people () are a Finnic ethnic group native to the Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe, primarily their nation state of Estonia. Estonians primarily speak the Estonian language, a language closely related to other Finni ...

Võros Võros ( Võro: ''võrokõsõq,'' pronounced , , ) are the indigenous inhabitants of historical Võromaa (''Vana Võromaa''), a region in Southeastern Estonia (Võru and Põlva Counties with parts extending into Valga and Tartu Counties). Th ...

Setos Setos (, , , ) are an indigenous Finnic peoples and linguistic minority that have historically lived in the borderlands between modern day Estonia and Russia. Setos have historically spoken the Seto language and been Orthodox Christians.Kalku ...

Karelians Karelians (; ; ; ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group who are indigenous to the historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russia. Karelians living in Russian Karelia are considered a distinct ethnic group closely ...

, Veps,

Izhorians The Izhorians (; ; ; ) are a Finnic indigenous people native to Ingria. Small numbers can still be found in the western part of Ingria, between the Narva and Neva rivers in northwestern Russia. They are also referred to as Ingrians, although the ...

, Votes and

Livonians The Livonians, or Livs, are a Balto-Finnic people indigenous to the Livonian Coast, in northwestern Latvia. Livonians historically spoke Livonian language, Livonian, a Uralic language closely related to Estonian language, Estonian and Finnish lan ...

, prior to

Christianisation Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...

. It was a

polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...

religion, worshipping a number of different

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

. The chief deity was the god of

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

and the

sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

Ukko (), or ( Finnish for 'male grandparent', 'grandfather', 'old man'), parallel to Uku in Estonian mythology, is the god of the sky, weather, harvest, and thunder across Finnic paganism. , the Finnish word for thunder, is the diminutive ...

; other important deities included

Jumala (), () or ( Mari)A History of Pagan Europe, P. 181
means in the

, Ahti, and Tapio. Jumala was a

sky god The sky often has important religious significance. Many polytheism, polytheistic religions have deity, deities associated with the sky. The daytime sky deities are typically distinct from the nighttime ones. Stith Thompson's ''Motif-Index o ...

; today, the word "Jumala" refers to a monotheistic God. Ahti was a

god of the sea A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Anoth ...

, waters and fish. Tapio was the god of the forest and

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

. Baltic Finnic paganism included necrolatry (worship of the dead) and

shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

( tietäjä(t), literally "one who knows"), and the religion was not always uniform across the areas it was practiced, as customs and beliefs varied during different periods of time and regions. Baltic Finnic paganism shares some features with its neighbouring

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

, Norse and Germanic pagan beliefs. The organic tradition was sidelined due to Christianisation starting from ca. 12th century and finally broken by the early 20th century, when

folk Magic Folk religion, traditional religion, or vernacular religion comprises, according to religious studies and folkloristics, various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion. ...

and

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

s went extinct. Baltic Finnic paganism provided the inspiration for a contemporary pagan movement Suomenusko (), which is an attempt to reconstruct the old religion of the Finns. It is nevertheless based on secondary sources.

Deities

Baltic Finnic pagans were

, believing in a number of different deities. Most of the deities ruled over a specific aspect of nature; for instance,

was the god of the sky and thunder (''ukkonen'' and ''ukonilma'' Ukko's air"are still used in modern Finnish as terms for

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

s). These deities were often pan-Finnic, being worshipped by many different tribes in different regions. The Baltic Finnic pagans were also animists, worshipping local nature deities at site-specific shrines to that particular deity. These shrines are thought to be mainly "tree-gods": wooden statues or carvings done in trees or treestumps, depicting human figures, and have been scarcely preserved. One confirmed Stone Age wooden statue has been found in Pohjankuru, and folklore about worshipping tree-gods has been documented. Another kind of shrine are "cup-stones" (Finnish: '' :fi:kuppikivi''), large natural stones into which cup-sized recesses have been drilled.

Votive offering A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

s of food or drink were left in these cups. Despite Christianization, offerings on these cup-stones continued up to the early 20th century.

Major deities

Several key deities were venerated by all the

and some other

Finnic peoples The Finnic peoples, or simply Finns, are the nations who speak languages traditionally classified in the Finno-Permic languages, Finnic language family, and which are thought to have originated in the region of the Volga River. Currently, the l ...

, these pan-Finnic deities controlled many aspects of nature. * The chief deity was

(also hought to beknown as

Perkele () is a Finnish word meaning ' evil spirit' and a popular Finnish profanity, used similarly to the English phrase '' God damn'', although it is considered much more profane. It is most likely the most internationally known Finnish curse word. ...

), who was the ruler over the sky and thunder. A corresponding figure is known in countless other cultures of the world. * Another deity that appeared very significant to the Baltic Finnic pagans, but about whom modern scholars know very little, was Jumi, whose name is related to "

Jumala (), () or ( Mari)A History of Pagan Europe, P. 181
means in the

", the modern

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

word for a

monotheist Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...

God. * There were many other important deities who ruled over a specific aspect of the natural world. Such as the deity of water was often called Ahti, and the deity of the forest was Tapio. * Other major deities included

Äkräs Äkräs or Äyräs is a haltija or god of various plants in Finnish mythology. She was first mentioned in writing by Mikael Agricola in 1551: "Egres created peas, beans, rutabagas / Brought forth cabbages, flax, hemp" (''Egres hernet Pawudh Naurit ...

, the god of fertility;

Mielikki Mielikki () is the Finnish goddess of forests and the hunt. She is referred to in various tales as either the wife or the daughter-in-law of Tapio (Metsän emäntä, Mistress of Forest or Metsän miniä Daughter-in-law of Forest), and the mothe ...

, the goddess of the forests and the hunt; Kuu, the goddess of the moon; and Lempo, the god of wilderness and archery. * Deities, who turned into Great heroes, who had, in mythology, once been human, such as

Väinämöinen () is a deity, demigod, hero and the central character in Finnish folklore and the main character in the national epic ''Kalevala'' by Elias Lönnrot. Väinämöinen was described as an old and wise man, and he possessed a potent, magical sing ...

and

Ilmarinen Ilmarinen () is a god and archetypal artificer from Finnish mythology. He is immortal and capable of creating practically anything. In addition, he is described as working the known metals of the time, including brass, copper, iron, gold, and sil ...

, were also objects of worship, in a way similar to the Greek pagans' worship of mythical human heroes like

Herakles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through Amphitr ...

was previously a sky god, being replaced by Ukko.

Ukko

is the chief deity in Baltic Finnic paganism, he is the god of the sky,

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...

(mostly

rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

and clouds), a god of

harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

and

fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...

. He is also given the

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

''Ylijumala'' ('Supreme God' or 'Highest God'The epithet ''Ylijumala'' ("Supreme God" or "Highest God"), can be interpreted in two ways; either that he really was the greatest, "highest," of the gods, or simply that he lived up in the sky.) in at least the Finnish,

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

n and Ingrian regional variants of the pagan faith. He was associated with the sowing season during springtime according to

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 territo ...

. Ukko also had characteristics of a

war god A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been portrayed in their mythologies ...

, and would be prayed to help in battle. Ukko was sometimes given the epithet ''Isäinen ylinen Luoja'' ('Fatherly Supreme Creator'), and Salo notes that this could also be related to the sky-god '' *Dyēus'' of

Proto-Indo-European religion Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-In ...

. Ukko is perhaps to a significant extent derived from the various

Baltic peoples The Balts or Baltic peoples (, ) are a group of peoples inhabiting the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea who speak Baltic languages. Among the Baltic peoples are modern-day Lithuanians (including Samogitians) and Latvians (including Latgalian ...

. The Latvian (''Pērkons)'' and Lithuanian (''Perkūnas)'', which are the same thunder deity, are known to be the origins for the Finnish word ''Perkele'' (which is also hought to beanother cognomen for Ukko). Ukko is thought to have entered Baltic Finnic paganism in the first millennium BC, replacing other chief deities who were more unique per region, such as Taara in Estonia. Before the influences of the Balts, the various Finnic people ost likelyhad an earlier, original sky-god.

, who is known as the blacksmith in the

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' () is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling a story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and retaliatory ...

, is the earliest known to be sky-god of the various

Uralic peoples The Uralic languages ( ), sometimes called the Uralian languages ( ), are spoken predominantly in Europe and North Asia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian. Other languages with speakers abo ...

. The Udmurt sky god corresponds to the Finnish

. Memories of Ilmarinen's status as the sky deity have been preserved in Kalevala myths, such as the belief that he forged the

firmament In ancient near eastern cosmology, the firmament means a celestial barrier that separates the heavenly waters above from the Earth below. In biblical cosmology, the firmament ( ''rāqīaʿ'') is the vast solid dome created by God during the G ...

and the

Sampo In Finnish mythology, the ''Sampo'' () is a magical device or object described in many different ways, constructed by the blacksmith and inventor Ilmarinen and which brings riches and good fortune to its holder, akin to the horn of plenty (corn ...

Tapio

Tapio is a major deity in Baltic Finnic paganism (in its most recent form), he is the

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

and god of the forest and

. Tapio was prayed to for luck in

, because of his control over

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

. Tapio would often be

sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...

d to, by sacrificing of

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

s, such as

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s. Tapionpöytä ((

Picea abies ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, ...

), literally 'Tapio's table') are spruce trees where sacrifices were made to Tapio. Tapio was extremely significant due to the tribal nature of the Baltic Finnic peoples during the time when Tapio was worshipped, as hunting and game was extremely important for survival, making Tapio one of the most important deities. Tapio possessed over various spirits and was himself also a spirit, possessing ('Tapio's spirits/elves'), the spirit beings were central to the hunter's catch, and Tapio's spirits were thought to live in the deepest

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. Ravines may also be called a cleuch, dell, ...

s of the

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

and took care of plants and animals, in the darkness of the deep forest, which was called . Tapiola was a kingdom which Tapio ruled over, and was sometimes used as the name for Finland by the Baltic Finnic pagan believers during the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

Ilmarinen

is a major deity and former chief deity, in the form of a

sky deity The sky often has important religious significance. Many polytheistic religions have deities associated with the sky. The daytime sky deities are typically distinct from the nighttime ones. Stith Thompson's ''Motif-Index of Folk-Literature'' ...

in Baltic Finnic paganism, alongside the Proto-Uralic religion until his replacement as the chief deity. Ilmarinen may have ossiblyalso been a thunder deity under the name ''Ilmaričče.'' Other names for

are ''Ilmorinen'' and ''Ilmollini'', as found from runes. Ilmarinen is also described in the pagan faith as the forger of the

aurora borealis An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

and the colors of the

morning Morning is either the period from sunrise to noon, or the period from midnight to noon. In the first definition it is preceded by the twilight period of dawn, and there are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and nigh ...

and

evening Evening is the period of a day that begins at the end of daylight and overlaps with the beginning of night. It generally indicates the period of time when the sun is close to the horizon and comprises the periods of civil, nautical and astronom ...

. Ilmarinen was said to have the achievements of inventing

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and "" according to folklore. He is also described as a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and is thought to have gained his smith status through

Proto-Finnic Proto-Finnic or Proto-Baltic-Finnic is the common ancestor of the Finnic languages, which include the national languages Finnish language, Finnish and Estonian language, Estonian. Proto-Finnic is not attested in any texts, but has been linguisti ...

contact with

iron-working Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistory, prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from Meteorite, meteoritic Iron–nickel alloy, iron-nickel. It is not know ...

cultures such as the Balts or

Germanic people The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...

Agricola's list of deities

In 1551,

published a present across Tavastia and

, most of the deities were also widespread and known to those who practiced the pagan faith outside of those regions.

Haltija

Local

animistic Animism (from meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, Rock (geology), rocks, rivers, Weather, ...

deities, known as haltijas or haltias, were also worshipped. Haltijas would act as spirits,

gnome A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

, or

elf An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...

-like creatures in that guard, help, own, or protects somethin or somebody. These haltijas could be male or female, and could take a human or another animal's form. Haltijas could be found everywhere in nature, both in the biotic and abiotic parts. Every human has a haltija, usually called haltijasielu (haltija soul) or luontohaltija (nature haltija), which is one of the three parts of a person's soul. The tradition blends with the Swedish

tomte A (, ), (), , or () is a household spirit from Nordic folklore which has always been described as a small human-like creature wearing a red cap and gray clothing, doing house and stable chores, and expecting to be rewarded at least once a ye ...

: the Finnish ''tonttu'' was a being analogous to haltija, but which lives in a building, like a home (''kotitonttu'') or a sauna (''saunatonttu'').

Maan haltija

Certain "haltiat", known as "maan haltija" (literally "tutelary of land"), guarded the property of an individual, including their house and livestock.

s would be given to these haltijas at a shrine, as thanks for the help given and also to prevent the haltija from causing harm. Sometimes haltijas of certain families and farms acted against other families and their farms by stealing their wealth or making the animals infertile, for instance. Many local haltijas were believed to have originally been the sacred spirits of ancestors. In some cases a haltija was the first inhabitant of a house. Sometimes while making a new house a local spirit of nature could be "employed" to work as a maan haltija.

Väki

Different elements and environments had their own haltijas. Haltijas were grouped into types or races called väki. "Väki" has multiple connected meanings of "strength", "force", "throng", "military troop"; in the magical context, it referred ambiguously to magical strength and numbers. There were, for instance, different väki of water, forests, and graveyards. Väkis could become angry if people acted in a disrespectful manner in their area. For example, cursing close to water made the väki of water angry. When angry, väkis could cause diseases and other misfortune to befall the human victim. Some väkis were always angry, like the väki of fire, explaining why every time you touch fire it burns, no matter how respectful you are around it. Each tribe of väkis belonged to specific environments and if they were misplaced, problems occurred. For example, most väkis were misplaced if they attached to a human being, and they made the human being ill because they were in the wrong place. Illnesses were removed by sending väkis back to their right places. Shamans who cured diseases were returning the cosmic balance. For example, it was believed that on contact with the ground, as in falling on one's face, diseases could spread to the human, caused by the "väki" of the earth. Similarly, löyly (

sauna A sauna (, ) is a room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is used to meas ...

steam) was believed to contain a väki spirit (löylyn henki), which could cause open wounds to get infected. According to the concept of väki being divided in two (into power and folk of haltijas) the ancient Finns believed that the world was totally animistic in that no force of nature or intelligent life existed without väkis or haltijas. In other words, nothing happened in the universe without it being caused by a group of spirits. Even a person's soul consisted of many spirits.

The Universe

Birth of the Universe

In Finnic mythology, there are two different theories on the

creation of the universe Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe. Overview Scientific theories In astronomy, cosmogony is the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used in ref ...

and the earth. This includes the , in which the god sent a Black-throated loon into the Alkumeri ( Finnish: ) to collect

mud Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...

and

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

to build the earth. This

myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

is common in various

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

n ( Chukchi, Yugaghir and Ainu),

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

and North American native folklore. Another creation theory is that the world was born from the

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

of a

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

. This myth which is thought to be of origin from the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, is possibly to have come from Uralic interaction with

Indo-Iranians The Indo-Iranian peoples, also known as Ā́rya or Aryans from their self-designation, were a group of Indo-European speaking peoples who brought the Indo-Iranian languages to parts of Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia in waves from the f ...

. This myth however was only well known among the

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

, Komi and

Mordvins Mordvins (also Mordvinians, Mordovians; ; no equivalents in Moksha language, Moksha and Erzya language, Erzya) is an official term used in Russia and the Soviet Union to refer both to Erzyas and Mokshas since 1928. Names While Robert Gordon ...

End of the World

There is said to be no

eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of Contemporary era, present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic and non-Abrah ...

(the end of the world) in Finnic mythology. However based on similarities in other Uralic beliefs, it can be assumed that Finnic paganism included the idea that the world is in cyclicity and that it will be recurring at regular intervals.

Soul, death, and the afterlife

Soul

The Finnic pagan belief about the

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

dictated that the human soul is composed of three different parts: ''henki'', ''luonto'' and ''itse''. Each of the three were autonomous beings on their own. Similar beliefs about multiple autonomous souls are found amongst other peoples speaking

Uralic languages The Uralic languages ( ), sometimes called the Uralian languages ( ), are spoken predominantly in Europe and North Asia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian. Other languages with speakers ab ...

, such as the

Khanty The Khanty (), also known in older literature as Ostyaks (), are a Ugric Indigenous people, living in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as " Yugra" in Russia, together with the Mansi. In the autonomous okrug, the K ...

and

Mansi Mansi may refer to: * Mansi people, an Indigenous people of Russia ** Mansi language *Mansi (name), given name and surname *Mansi Junction railway station * Mansi Township, Myanmar ** Mansi, Myanmar, a town in the Kachin State of Myanmar (Burma) * ...

, who believe in two souls: the shadow and the ''lili'' (löyly). '' Henki'' (translated as "life", "breath" or "spirit", sometimes also referred to as ''löyly'') was a person's life force, which presented itself as breathing, the beating of one's heart and the warmth of their body. ''Henki'' was received prior to birth and it left at the moment of death. The word ''hengetön'' (lit. "one without henki") can be used as a synonym for dead in the

even now. ''Henki'' share several similarities with the Norse idea of ''Andi'' which carry almost identical basic meaning. '' Luonto'' (translated as "nature") was a guardian spirit or protector. ''Luonto'' has also been referred to as the ''haltija'' of a person. A strong willed, artistic or otherwise talented person was believed to have a strong ''haltija'' who granted them good luck and skills to complete their tasks well. A weak ''luonto'' could be strengthened by various spells and rituals. ''Luonto'' could leave a person's body without the person dying, but its lengthened absence would cause problems, such as alcoholism and other addictions. Unlike ''henki'', ''luonto'' was not received prior to birth but instead either at the time of getting the first teeth or being given a name. A newborn child was thus considered to be particularly vulnerable. ''Luonto'' share several similarities with the overlapping ideas of ''

Hamingja The hamingja was a type of female guardian spirit in Norse mythology. It was believed that she accompanied a person and decided their luck and happiness. Consequently, the name was also used to indicate happiness, and that is what it means in mod ...

'' (luck), ''

Fylgja In Norse mythology, a fylgja (Old Norse: , plural ) is a supernatural being or spirit which accompanies a person in connection to their fate or fortune., Summarized and translated @ They can appear to people in their sleep as dream-women, or a ...

'' (follower, companion guardian spirit), Vörðr (warden, a protection spirit) and individual norn (a person's fate goddess) in Norse belief. ''

Itse Ajattara is a sextet black metal band from Helsinki, Finland, led by Pasi Koskinen (ex Amorphis). They formed in 1996, split up in 2012, and reformed in 2016. They were signed to Spinefarm Records and have released eight albums, their most rec ...

'' was a spirit received at the time of birth or a few days after. It was believed to define one's personality and receiving ''itse'' made one a person. In modern-day Finnish the word ''itse'' means "self", but in old days ''itse'' was different from one's self, ''minuus''. Like ''luonto'', ''itse'' could leave one's body without the person dying but long absence would cause illnesses and misery. Depressions, for instance, was seen as a result of having lost one's ''itse''. If a person was diagnosed to be ''itsetön'' or ''luonnoton'' (without one's ''itse'' or without one's ''luonto''), a shaman or a sage could try locating the missing part of the soul and bring it back. Although ''itse'' and ''luonto'' were usually lost after a traumatising event, it was possible to purposefully separate one's ''itse'' from their body. This was required if a missing part of the soul needed to be found. ''Itse'' could also leave the body to appear as an ''etiäinen'' (a sort of false arrival apparition). At the time of a person's death their ''itse'' joined the other deceased of the family or, in some cases, stayed among the living as a ghost. ''Itse'' share many similarities with the Norse concept of '' ''Hugr'''' (mind, thought, willpower, courage), and to some extent also Vörðr (especially the false arrival apparition).

Burial

In some traditions, it was a habit to pause at a half-way point while transporting the dead body, from the dwelling to the graveyard. Here, a karsikko-marking was made on a big pine tree. The marking was for people to remember the person; and in the event that the spirit were to awaken and try to make its way back home from the graveyard, it would see its own karsikko-marking, then realize that it is dead and instead try to find the path to the spirit realm. A forest with karsikko-marked trees was a kind of supernatural barrier between dwellings of the living and the burial grounds. After a person died there was a transitional period of thirty to forty days while their soul searched Tuonela, the land of dead, and tried to find their place there. During this period, the soul could visit its living relatives either as a ghost or in the form of an animal. The soul visited relatives especially if it was unhappy. To please an unhappy soul, one would show respect by not speaking ill of the deceased or by having a sacrifice in the spirit's name. After this transitional period, the soul moved permanently into Tuonela. However, the soul could still come back if it were unhappy, or if it were asked to return by its relatives who needed help. Some souls were not able to settle down or were not welcomed in Tuonela, and they continued haunting, i.e. bastard children who were killed and buried outside a cemetery usually ended up as permanent haunters of some place, typically screaming in terror, until someone digs up their bodies, blesses them, and buries them in a graveyard.

Ancestor veneration

People were afraid of ghosts, but spirits of ancestors could also help their living relatives, and they were asked to help. A

shaman Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

could be sent to Tuonela to ask for knowledge of spirits or even to take a spirit to the world of living as luonto. A Spirit of the dead had to be honoured by giving him/her sacrifices. Places where sacrifices were given to ancestors were called

Hiisi Hiisi (; plural ''hiidet'' ) is a term in Finnic mythologies, originally denoting sacred localities and later on various types of mythological entities. In later, Christian-influenced folklore, they are depicted as demonic or trickster-like ent ...

( = ''sacred forest'', also a kind of open air temple, often included the Offering-stone, ''uhrikivi'', collective monument for the dead of the family). Christianity held hiisi to be evil creatures and places. The old sacred places were often desecrated by being used as the building sites for the churches of the new religion, and the old sacred trees were hacked down.

Afterlife

The Finns believed in a place of afterlife called

Tuonela Tuonela (; )Oinas, Felix J., and Juha Pentikäinen. "Tuonela." In ''Encyclopedia of Religion'', 2nd ed., edited by Lindsay Jones, 9396-9397. Vol. 14. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. ''Gale eBooks'' (accessed January 3, 2021)/ref> i ...

, or sometimes also called Manala. In most traditions, it was situated underground or at the bottom of a lake, though sometimes it was said to exist on the other side of a dark river. Tuonela was ruled over by the god

Tuoni In Finnish mythology, Tuoni () was the god of Tuonela (the underworld), and darkness personified. He was the husband of Tuonetar. Their children included Kipu-Tyttö, Tuonenpoika, and Loviatar, who were divinities of suffering. When in human form, ...

, and his wife, the goddess

Tuonetar Tuonetar () is the Queen of the Underworld in Finnish mythology. Tuonetar is the wife of Tuoni, with whom she rules over the Underworld Tuonela. In the 16th song of Kalevala, Väinämöinen () is a deity, demigod, hero and the central char ...

. Tuonela was a dark and lifeless place, where the dead were in a state of eternal sleep. Shamans were sometimes able to reach the spirits of their dead ancestors by traveling to Tuonela in a state of trance created by rituals. He had to make his way over the Tuonela river by tricking the ferryman. While in Tuonela, the shaman had to be careful not to get caught: the living were not welcome there. Shamans who were caught could end up decaying in the stomach of a giant

pike fish ''Esox'' is a genus of freshwater fish commonly known as pike or pickerel. It is the type genus of the family Esocidae. The type species of the genus is '' Esox lucius'', the northern pike. ''Esox'' have a fossil record extending back to the ...

with no hope of returning to normal life. If the shaman died during the trance ritual, it was believed that he had been caught by the guards at Tuonela.

Mythology

The pagan Finns had many myths about their gods and their great heroes. Because they lived in a non-literate society, the stories were taught orally as

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, and they were not written down. Finnic mythology survived Christianisation by being told as myths. Many of these myths were later written down in the 19th century as the ''

'', which was created to be a national epic of Finland by

Elias Lönnrot Elias Lönnrot (; 9 April 1802 – 19 March 1884) was a Finnish polymath, physician, philosopher, poet, musician, linguist, journalist, philologist and collector of traditional Finnish language, Finnish Oral literature, oral poetry. He is best k ...

Sanctuaries

Rock paintings

Rock paintings were common in Baltic Finnic paganism, and were often done with red clay during the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

. These paintings would often symbolize common animals such as

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

and fish, along with

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

s and palm prints. Folk poetry may have also been preserved on these rocks, however they have not survived on these rock paintings, and instead have been carried through generations via oral tradition. It is believed that most of these rock paintings were done by the

Comb Ceramic culture The Comb Ceramic culture or Pit-Comb Ware culture, often abbreviated as CCC or PCW, was a northeast European culture characterised by its Pit–Comb Ware. It existed from around 4200 BCE to around 2000 BCE. The bearers of the Comb Ceramic cultu ...

Hiisi

sacred woods ''Sacred Woods'' (French:'' Le bois sacré'') is a 1939 French comedy film directed by Léon Mathot and starring Elvire Popesco, Gaby Morlay and Victor Boucher.Oscherwitz & Higgins p.113 It was based on a play by Robert de Flers and Gaston Ar ...

were places where people often went to during

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

s or served as a

burial site Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and object ...

to take

s. Within these sacred woods, there would often be a special enclosed area for sacrifices, in which it was forbidden to enter, except for those who were doing the sacrificing to the deities. In Baltic Finnic folklore, hiisi sites were also likened to be the creation of the Hiidet (

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

s), and through oral tradition, jotuni or giants were said to dwell in hiisi sites.

Wetlands

Wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s, such as

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s, springs and

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s were holy places, especially for the use of sacrificing. The archeological findings of

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

and

tinderbox A tinderbox, or patch box, is a container made of wood or metal containing flint, firesteel, and tinder (typically charcloth, but possibly a small quantity of dry, finely divided fibrous matter such as hemp), used together to help kindle a fi ...

has shown that they have been used for the execution and disposal of those unwanted people in the tribe. Children who were born out of wedlock or those who had disabilities would also be killed in the wetlands. The word "Suomi" () is also thought to come from the word "Suo" ().

Sacred animals

Bears

Finns heavily relied on hunting for survival before and during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. As such the animals that they hunted became vital to their survival, and they were treated with respect. The

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

was considered sacred and was venerated in the pagan beliefs of the Finns. Peijaiset, which was a memorial feast held to honour a slain animal, the most common animal to hold peijaiset to was the bear, and during the peijaiset, the bear was eaten and the bones were buried, and the skull placed on a venerated

pine tree A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as c ...

known as , kallohonkas were sacred places and it may have been a metaphor for the world tree. Peijaiset are also an important part of other Finno-Ugrics (

and

) and Siberians (

Yugurs The Yugurs, Yughurs, Yugu (; Western Yugur: ''Sarığ yoğır''; Eastern Yugur: ''Shera yogor''), traditionally known as Yellow Uyghurs, are a Turkic- Mongolic ethnic group and one of China's 56 officially recognized ethnic groups, consist ...

). According to a pagan folk belief, the first bear came to people's dwellings to do evil, however a

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

slapped the bear on the ear, and the bear had to beg for mercy. A deal was made: the bear promised to stay in the

from then on, eat

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

, and dig up common

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

s; the bear also promised to sleep all winter soundly in his nest. However, if it came back, people would then shoot and spear it. It kept its promise otherwise, which now sometimes ate

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

from the forest, from its own area. The story also follows a belief about why domestic animals came to the attention of people: to escape from the bear.

Other animals

In Karelia and Eastern Finland, before going hunting, hunters would pray to the emuu, the ancestral mother of the animal species being hunted, for help. The word ''emuu'' is Karelian and is related to the word ''emo'' "animal mother". Each species had its own emuu. From ancient drawings,

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s, it is clear that the

elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

was a very important animal. Elk is also very important to other peoples of the region, such as the

Komis The Komi ( also ) are a Permian ethnic group who are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit a region around the basins of the Vychegda, Pechora and Kama rivers in northeastern European Russia. They mostly reside in the Komi Republic, Perm Krai, Murm ...

, who depict their sky god Jenmar as half-human and half-elk. It appears much more than bears do, and it is theorised that the bear was such a holy animal that it was forbidden to depict it. Also, the bear's name was almost forbidden to say, so many

euphemism A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...

s were developed. The most usual Baltic Finnic word for bear in modern language, ''karhu'', is just one of the many euphemisms, and it means "rough fur." Among the many names of bear ''otso'' is probably the original "real" name, as suggested by the wide spread of the word otso and related words among many of the

. Many euphemisms for bear are local. Many water birds were holy for Finns and other

Baltic Finns The Baltic Finnic peoples, often simply referred to as the Finnic peoples, are the peoples inhabiting the Baltic Sea region in Northern and Eastern Europe who speak Finnic languages. They include the Finns, Estonians (including Võros and Se ...

. They were often depicted on petroglyphs. It was believed that if you killed a water bird, you would die soon after. The holiest water bird was the swan. With its long neck, it could look to all the levels of the world, including ''

'', the land of the dead. Birds are found often in Uralic mythology. For example, there are many stories about a bird creating the world. A very common Uralic myth is where a hunter (Finnish:

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 ...

, Mari Salij) travels to the underworld to marry a woman and comes across the primordial waterbird on the river of the underworld, the hunter shoots the waterbird with his bow, but the waterbird escapes and terrible things happen to the hunter. In many traditions it was believed that the world was created by the egg of a bird. In other traditions it was believed that the world was created on mud that bird took in its beak while diving. In Karelia it was believed that a bird brings the soul to a newborn baby, and that the same bird takes the soul with it when that person dies. This soul-carrying bird was called ', "soul-bird". In some traditions people carried artifacts depicting their sielulintu. Sielulintu was believed to guard their souls while they slept. After the person died, the artifact-bird was inserted to sit on the cross at the person's grave. Such crosses with soul birds still exist in graveyards in Karelia. This is one example how Christian and Pagan beliefs still existed side by side hundreds of years after the Christianisation of the Finnish and Karelian people.

Shamanism

Shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

played a big part in Baltic Finnic paganism, as it did (and still does) in

n ( Chukchi, Yugaghir and Ainu) as well as in other Finno-Ugric pagan faiths. A ''

tietäjä Tietäjä (, pl. ''tietäjät'', 'seer', 'wise man', literally 'knower') is a magically powerful figure in traditional Finnic culture, whose supernatural powers arise from his great knowledge. Roles The activities of a ''tietäjä'' were primari ...

'' (

, literally "one who knows") is a wise and respected person in the community, believed to have a special relationship with the spirit world. Shamans go into a

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

to commune with spirits and ancestors or to take a journey into the spirit realm, the shaman would go into these trances via aid, such as witch drums, bear teeth and paws, and dancing. During trances shamans may ask their ancestors or various nature spirits for guidance. They believe that nature has the answers to all questions. Shamans were typically men of high standing in the local society, often landed peasants; it was thought that wealth was evidence of magic powers. Shamans would most often play the roles of

medical doctors A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis a ...

, and would receive their medical information through their trances by visiting spirits and deities. Shamans would also have important religious influence, as tietäjä were fortunetellers,

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

s and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

s. Among the Finns' western neighbours, the Norse of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, it was a common belief that the Finns were wizards. In the

Norse saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

s, inclusion of a Finnish element almost always signifies a supernatural aspect to the story. According to tales, foreign seafarers bought ropes tied with three knots from Finns. By opening one knot, a seaman could raise a wind to make his ship go faster. However, opening all three knots would raise a storm. Finnish wizards were known and feared by neighbouring peoples around the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

Christianisation

The Christianisation of Finland, Estonia and Karelia began in Finland with Christian missionaries to entering Finland in around the 1000s.

In Finland

Swedish Crusaders entered Finland in and with the conquests by Sweden of Finland, Christianity began to have influence across Finland, however the native pagan religion persisted.

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

began to gain more influence and power to convert with the establishment of the Bishopric of Turku in 1276, and with the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, when Mikael Agricola translated the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

("''Se Wsi Testamenti''") into the Finnish language.

In Karelia

With the conquests of East-Karelia by the

Novgorod Republic The Novgorod Republic () was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries in northern Russia, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east. Its capital was the city of Novgorod. The ...

and various Finnish-Novgorodian wars,

Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

began to have influence over much of Karelia. Written information about Baltic Finnic paganism began to be collected in the 1800s, especially in Karelia, when Christianity was already the main religion across much of the Finno-Ugric community. Despite this, especially in Orthodox Karelia, many old beliefs and myths survived. The stories about

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

and

, as well as the stories about

and the God of Christianity, lived side by side and sometimes even got mixed up. Much information about the pagan faith has been preserved as part of folk tales, which, especially in

Songs and incantations

In the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, Baltic Finnic folk magic often incorporated chanted or sung incantations. These incantations might bring healing or presage a '' tietäjä's'' (

, literally "one who knows") ecstatic trance. In the twentieth century, an American researcher in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

reported sung charms for summoning cattle, avoiding hiccups, and avoiding cold based on interviews with a Finnish immigrant.

Baltic Finnic Neopagan movements

In the 20th century, with the rise of the

neopagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Despite some common simila ...

movement across the world,

Finnish neopaganism Modern Finnish paganism, also known as Finnish neopaganism or the Finnish native faith (: "Finnish Belief / Belief of Finland"), is the contemporary revival of Finnish paganism, the pre-Christian polytheistic ethnic religion of the Finns. A pre ...

arose as a reconstructed form of the old religion. It is mainly practiced in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

where it has had an official minority religion status since 2013. Finnish neopaganism accounts for a relatively small percentage of the population. In 2020, the registered religious community of Finnish neopaganism, Karhun kansa (''The Folk of the Bear''), had approximately 80 members. In Estonia,

Estonian neopaganism Estonian neopaganism, or the Estonian native faith, spans various contemporary revivals of the indigenous religion of the Estonian people, adapted from their local myths and culture.Jüri Toomepuu. Maausk, the belief system of indigenous Eston ...

was also founded in the early 20th century, Estonian neopaganism adapted many beliefs and myths of the ancient faith.Jüri Toomepuu.
Maausk, the belief system of indigenous Estonians
'. Presentation at KLENK 2011, published on January 7, 2012. St. Petersburg, Florida. There are two major

sect A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...

s of Estonian neopaganism, which includes Maausk and Taaraism. Maausk is considered an 'umbrella' of native faith movements, encompassing deities, nature worship and earth religion, while Taaraism is a

monistic Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...

faith centered around

Tharapita Taara (variations of the name include Tooru, Tharapita and Tarapitha), also known as Uku or Jumal, is a prominent god in Estonian mythology, with a strong resemblance to the Finnish Ukko and the Germanic Thor. Etymology The Livonian place nam ...

, who is a pagan deity similar to

. There were 3,860 self-declared adherents of Maausk and 1,770 adherents of Taarausk in 2021, in Estonia.

Holidays

Finland under Swedish rule Finland was an integral part of Sweden from the Middle Ages until 1809. The starting point of Swedish rule is uncertain and controversial. It is traditionally linked to the First Swedish Crusade in the mid-12th century. Historical evidence of ...

, the practice of Baltic Finnic paganism was forbidden from the 1600s onwards, however there were still

sacred grove Sacred groves, sacred woods, or sacred forests are groves of trees that have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. These are forest areas that are, for the most ...

s where the pagan faith was practiced during the 1700s, which churchmen and authorities tried to eradicate. Among the current official mainstream holidays in Finland,

Juhannus Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of European or ...

(known as ''Ukon juhla'' before Christianisation) and Kekri were originally celebrations that belonged to the pagan faith. Many ancient holiday practices have gone extinct over the years, however holidays such as , Vakkajuhlat, and are still sometimes celebrated by smaller communities such as village associates or pagans.

Notes

References

External links

{{Finland topics Karelian-Finnish folklore