Finnish Mythology

This a Useful Notes page.

"Mastered by desire impulsive By a mighty inward urging, I am ready now for singing Ready to begin the chanting Of our nation's ancient folksong Handed down from bygone ages." —"The Kalevala", by Elias Lonnrot, translated by John Martin Crawford in 1888.

The mythology of the Finns, Lapps, and Karelians. Related somewhat to the myths of their neighbours, the study of Finnish myth first began in the 1500's, when bishop Mikael Agricola published a book listing the various gods of the ancient Finns. The first strictly scholarly study of Finnish mythology was the book Fennica Mythologia, published during the late 1700's. Study of Finnish myth spiked during the 1800's, when Elias Lonnrot collected together a bunch of Runos (poems, ballads and folksongs), and combined them together to make The Kalevala, the Finnish national epic.

Tropes used in Finnish Mythology include:

• Cosmic Egg: The world was hatched from a Pochard egg.
• Continuity Snarl: What the Sampo even is. The Kalevala identifies it as a magic mill which grinds out salt, gold, and flour simultaneously, and which has a rainbow lid. Other sources meanwhile identify it variously as a pillar which holds up the sky, a shield, a treasure chest, a compass, or even an astrolabe.
• Creation Myth: The Kalevala contains several, one telling of the creation of the world, and the others of the origins of iron,beer, fire and snakes respectively.
• Magic Music: Finnish folk magic is based in incantations which function this way.
• Shock and Awe: Ukko, the thunder god.
• Top God: Again, Ukko.