Well, I am certain by now that you all have seen this video! I appreciate the love and support that the video has received, but I would like to address a couple of things! Firstly, Welcome to all of our new Finnish friends, glad to have you and we certainly hope to stay! I appreciate all the tips on Prounouncing your native tongue properly, as an Irishman, I intend to try in fervor to pronounce your words correctly, but likely will fail, so be patient with me, please! Second, at around the 9-minute mark, I showed a painting, as you can imagine there aren't many illustrations or photos of these characters out there, so my goal was to show suffering, however, I did not realize that the painting was famous! An oversight on my part and I do apologize, about a dozen of you provided the correct reference which is: "8:54 that is a painting made by Akseli Gallen Kallela, which is a representation of a storyline in Kalevala (the national Epic), where Lemminkäinen has died (the white man), and his mother has found her son's body in Tuonela (the afterlife) since she was given a hairbrush that bled once her son died." Third, I get my images through the "Copyright-free" filter on Google images. Apparently, there is an artist who made some of the darker images I used, Sp I am going to credit him here as well as adjust the description of the original video! (Tero Porthan instagram.com/teroporthan... Lastly, for all the new faces here, my Tavern(this youtube channel) requires a little bit of context. My family is a very old family of storytellers with traditions and collected stories dating back more than 15-1600 years. My Audience comes to me to hear the stories that have been preserved by my family. These stories come from all over the world from time periods as recent as 100 years ago, to as far back as 1600 years or farther. It is a part of our culture and tradition to teach these stories to our children and to pass them on as they were handed on to us. So the stories differ from what you may have heard or what might be commonly distributed in society. You are welcome to take them to heart or not as a version of the story, I'm certainly not out to change anyone's mind. All I ask you to accept is that telling stories is a part of my Culture, and I do it to share the wonder, mystery, and fantastic nature of the world that I was blessed with as a child and even as a man. For me this is not about religion, it isn't about politics or even society. For me, and my family, preserving and telling stories is a way of life and the foundation for our ancient culture and customs. I do not claim to know better, I only claim to know different! And I welcome you to share the version of these stories you know, respectfully, amongst your fellow storytellers and seekers here in my tavern! The Purpose of this channel is to share the wonder and open people's minds to the idea that there is more out there than we know or are comfortable with, and we should be constantly ready to hear new stories and share old ones! Thank you all for being here, stay bloodthirsty my friends, and all hail!
Just some direct word-for-word translations: Vammatar: vamma = injury/disability/trauma, -tar is a female nominal suffix = Injuress Kiputyttö: kipu = pain, tyttö = girl = Paingirl Tuoni: tuoni = death (as does mana hence Manala for afterlife) Tuonetar: tuone is derived from tuoni = Deathess (again, female) Kalma: death, also meaning cadaver (kalmo is a newer word for cadaver, kalmisto (literally place of cadavers) is graveyard) Iku-Turso = the eternal Turso (turso being a old name for several sea cretures). The grammar and suffix system makes translations difficult, not the only thing making them difficult mind you, but I gave it a go. Elsewhere in the comments, @timomastosalo gives a bit more depth to these things.
One reason why the pantheon is so odd is taht they are not gods in traditional sence of the word, rather spirits with very specific role. Forest is good example we have the Tapio king of forest but his family, wife and children hold specific roles in there. Yeah the family theme is there for a reson :D
@@Jaegerrants Yeah, I think we Finns thought of these creatures more like "spirits" or "forces of nature", rather than literal gods, but I understand why they would be referred to as gods, too, since they are rather immortal and represent things above human ability? :D Also, I'm divided on Louhi being a goddess, since she's portrayed more as a sorceress and a matriarch, but then again, some parts of Kalevala associate her with the Great Eagle, which is a spirit of creation, if I remember correctly..? :D Also, Finnish mythology: Mages absolutely everywhere.
Great video, this was the first one that I watched and as a Finn, really enjoyed it, thanks! Even Finnish people struggle with understanding these gods and demigods we have in our folklore, so in case they seem insane to you, the situation isn't much better in our heads :D
If you want to fix your pronunciation, just do a little Google text to speech. A lot of the names you mispronounced turned into entirely different words. For starters i makes an e sound, and finns pronounce every letter in their words.
It's probably the other way around considering germanic culture is alot older than finnish mythology. Older than celtic even. All the raiding and invading from the Norse probably left a bretty grim outlook on things in Finland, which would explain the finnish departure from other finno-urgic people like the sami who don't share this mythology.
A Finn here, hey! About naming children: I don't know if this is normal in other countries, but in Finland if there is even a slight change that the child might die during the birth or right after that (sickness, weakness, mother not well, birth of twins), doctors make parents give them a name beforehand. This is so that the child doesn't go nameless to the afterlife. And it doesn't need to be the legal name of the child if they survive, just something to call them if the worst happens. I've never thought this was weird, so is it unusual?
also, there used to be a huge taboo of naming the child after a living relative in fear the death will mistake the two and take the younger one. So you don´t see many juniors sharing the name of their father or mother around even this day. Also siblings got the names of their dead sibling (both my grandmas had the names of their dead sisters and they were born around 1910s when finns were still very superstitious about things.)
@@kissarococo2459 It was believed that the spirit of the dead family member would live on in the new child. Parents tried to look at the child for clues if someone from the family had been reborn. Sometimes if the name was wrong, the child would become sick, and could not recover before they're renamed. I hear Sapmi people still have a similar tradition.
"hätäkaste" or emergency baptism - is actually a quite common Christian ritual. A child will then become a member of the church, and his/her soul is saved If the child dies soon after. Possibly originating from some pagan ritual, as so many other Christian rituals and holidays also, though.
@@squidcaps4308 The Supreme God is the god of everything, The God of gods if you may... So saying that Ukko is The God of storms is a massive understatement and just plainly incorrect.
I wish we could have those myths and old believes alive in these days (ofc fitted for today, maybe no blood sacrifices atleast xD).. We had so rich culture before christianity.
The names are derived from words meaning the thing associated with their domain. Tuoni (tuone- is the old form, still seen in the feminine Tuometar) seems to come from the word tuonne 'to there' - so Tuoni would be something like 'Yond(er)' :) Then Tuonetar would be 'Yondess, Yondress' - the Finnish -tar/tär is a feminine ending, a lot like -ess in English. Tuonela is like 'Yonderland, Beyondland'. The ending -la often means a house, estate - so Tuonela can also be understood like 'Death's Mansion'. Some stories of the realm of death describe it as a house. Vamma means '(physical) injury', so Vammatar means 'Injuress'. Kalma means the 'death odour' of corpses. (especially of people), also the death pallor is linked with kalma. It may be just a very old derivation from the word for death, kuolema (old likely *koolema), so they would have departed in very ancient times - just needs that the 1st vowel changed (that that happens rarely, but it has happened). Kipu, kivu- in some inflected forms (compare life - lives) means 'pain', so she's 'Painess', and Kiputyttö means 'Pain Girl'. Loviatar I'm n ot sure, but it sounds like it comes from the lovi 'crack: dent, indenture; rift'. It would then linked to the idea of how they thought the shamans supposedly traveled to the realm of gods. They were said to 'fall in the crack'. I'm not sure, but I might remember this, or have made my own interpretation, that when the shaman high on 'shrooms fell down, and was off of this world, the ancient Finns believed he had found a crack, a rift, between the realms, where his spirit could go to the other world. It seems they believed the gods' world was underground, because they called it 'falling' ... to that world, through that opening.. Louhi is possibly an old Scandinavian loan word, and would link to Loki. Which, if said like in English 'Loky', would sound 'Louki' (ou as in 'soul'), and the k might have beem changed to a fricative kh, like the Spanish J - which the Engliah and Finns hear as H: Loukhi -> Louhi, José -> 'Ho-sey'. Ukko means now 'old man'. As a god Ukko was the supreme god in the Finnish pantheon, so not just a god of thunder - this mythology associated thunder with the supreme god, not to a war god, or god of smith work etc. Iku-Turso comes from iki-, iku- 'ever, forever', and is derived from ikä age'. Turso is a from of the word tursas, which means a giant octopus - not the small species - something that passes as a monster., if you face it alone with just a spear. So this character would be like 'Ever-Squid(do)'. Haltija, in mythology shortened a bit to haltia (J = Y in yes), was thought to be kind of spirit serving the gods: so like nature spirits, water spirits etc. They were believed to rule a smaller dominion than a god - so like a house, (small) forest, large rock (close to house or tent size), hill, brook, pond etc. It means 'holder', the stem halt- is related to the English hold - it's a Germanic word. I think the concept of haltia is older, just the new word was borrowed. Maybe it was more 'trendy' at some time.
Wow, this is a lot of really incredible information! I knew most of the stuff about the gods and Shamans, but almost NONE of the language details. Thank you so much for the comment! Haltija is a shared Germanic concept, borrowed from the Celts likely. My family celebrates a a spring festival called the Festival of Haltija, or we affectionately refer to it as the festival of many things, and this dates back hundreds of years. I Have two questions, 1.) Are you certain your language details are accurate? and 2.) If it is all accurate, would you mind if I pinned your comment so others can read these details? I may also quote and credit you in a future video, if you'd like. All the stories I know are from my grandfathers family books back in Ireland. So I know that the stories I learned are likely not the widely accepted stories. So I really appreciate the chime in and the effort that this comment took!
@@BlackDragonTavern I've studied languages, and I'm a Finn. Those language details are quite obvious in these details. Only that Louhi cones through education. And Loviatar has that extra a added to lovi - so I was guessing based on what I jbow of lovi. But, someone who is into this old Finnish religion might kmow more details about this. For me it's more historical interest. Don't take this as an insult: for me the worldview is primitive, just I see how it's common with the Scandinavian or Greek polytheism. Myself I'm a Christian, so these interest me nore in an intellectual and cultural influence ways. So I wouldn't quote me on these :) Though I only said what I've studied and heard. And the names are plain for any modern Finn: just google vamma, kipu, kalma etc. And Finns know the feminine ending in Kivutar etc. - because it's in modern words as well, like tytär (daughter - made from tyttö, girl), sisar (t drop?, sister, but more formal like in professions - sisko is the normal) & kuningatar (queen, made from kuningas, King). I see in religions how they have slowly drifted apart from knowing God, but every religion still has bits of biblical in it. Like punishments for breaking laws, evil will get punished, respect you forefathers & life. It's just when departing further and further from God, the gods we've made have become more humanlike, and culture specific. Whereas Bible speaks of the big picture that God is life itself. But it was revealed slowly, so people could receive it. We rather want someone we could satusfy with our offerings - whereas God should he must give the offering for us, because ours are just inadequate and tainted imitations. Like a 6 year old trying to build a car without having read any tech mags or physics. the gods we made ourselves, are the pyschological architypes of human needs and interests. Like if you look at the Greek gods on their mountain: it's like a soap opera of a medieva court,l or older. Love triangles, power struggles, jealousy, bitterness and vendettas... When atheism fell after Soviet Union did, one priest saw that polytheism will come instaed. And so it has in the superheros, admiring the Greek and roman legends, Celtic and Scandinavian pantheons. So I'm not 'angrily attacking' other religions, they just make me sad, I see people drifting slowly to colder and colder forest paths, slowly pulled in the swamp. and yet the path ends in a quick drop to a lake of lava, without a warning. Death is the end of that path, the drop. It was -93 I learned that God exists. I realized furst I have no way of paying for my own evil, my attempts always had selfish agendas, and so did those of the other. This is still the same as a christian. So Gid stops me from time to time - to remind I can't fix the holuness, god question and religious issues (including atheism: that's very religious too, and very Greek. Wonder why the Atheists often speak of the Greek gods? ... the psychological architypes). God keeps reminding I can't solve those sort pf things. He wants me to listen him how topve, vcare for other people better. There's more than a lifetime of work in that. I think haltija as a word is borrowed from Indo-Europeans. But Celts were the first IE to enter many parts of northern Europe, and studies show their languages mixed some with the previous populations. It's possible they adopted the nature spirit ideas from the old Europeans, the pre-Indo Europeans. Not much the Finns likely, they lived so far in the northeast of Europe, behind miles of forests, mainly neighbours of the Balts (who lived also further east before the Slavs took over during CE mainly). Finns may have met Celts when they were still in the east: the Celts were living near the Slavs at some point, and they have some nature spirit ideas like Finno-Ugric people. Just I have heard even the Siberian Finno-Ugric have these nature spirits. It's just common for the animistic. Even the Greeks have those elements, though their gods live in marble palaces with pillars - for some reason ;)
Ukko/Ilmarinen/Perkele/Piru, was also the god of war and fertility, he had many roles. Other deitys are less certain, we have a HUGE amount of oral tradition, and many gods STILL are unclear. Ukko was probably a pseudonyme, not the actual name of the god. Similar sky & thunder gods as the Finnish prime god was worshipped all over Europe and Central Asia, they originate (most likely) from Perkwunos, and there are many gods with nearly similar en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_thunder_gods#Northwestern_Eurasia names, Peko with Estonians, Perkons with Latvians, Perkunas with Lithuanians, Perun with Russians. So it is possible the names Finns know well, Perkele and Piru, were the holy name of the god (the former name maybe arrived through Balticum, the latter through Russia). But as they are not descriptive names, like many other spirits and gods seem to have, it's possible other more domestic names were as much the name of the god. For example Ilmarinen. Ukko which means old man, was probably a psedonyme, used instead of the actual name, but it was widely used, and "thunderstororm" (ukkonen) comes from word ukko. Ancient stone axes were called as "Ukko's arrow" (Ukonvaaja or Ukko's vasama) as they were believed to be what was left of lightning. Ukko was the god that wielded this hammer (ulkon vasara) which while he used it to forge metal, caused sparks (lightning) and thunderstorm, and also axe (Ukon kirves) is connected to him. There is another character in mythology who is called a smith, earlier mentioned Ilmarinen: his role seems to be very similar as the prime god's, and it is possible he is the same character, just another name, or a later branched from the prime god. That hammer and axe are connected to Ukko, and and workd "god" jumala is a Chalcolithic Age loan word from Proto Indo-Iranian, from the very direction that Battle Axe Culture and earliert copper items came to Finland and Scandinavia, with their stone battle-axes that were copies of copper axe-hammers used in the Ural Mountains region, connects god of hammer and axe also to metals. Iku-Turso, Tursas is much less known than the prime god. And is more often known rather as a sea monster than a god of war. The domain of war fts better to the prime god than Iku-Turso. I doubt he was actually a god of war: he would be better known, there would be spells and prayers to him.
When you have lived through the Finnish November (lasting from the November to March) in the everlasting, cold and wet twilight zone in the old times, suffering from the lost harvest, hunger, scurvy and regular attacks from the neighboring tribes suffering from the similar issues, the origin of these tales become quite obvious.
The funny thing is, November is named "Marraskuu" in Finnish. Yes. Marras, as in "death/dead body/living dead". We literally have a month called "Death Month" xD
@@mhyotyni as an American with partial-Finnish ancestry that loves magic mushrooms and mythology, it makes me very happy to see where the enthusiasm and passion descends from :)
Fun fact: Don Rosa made an Uncle Scrooge comic book about the Kalevala mythology. At least Louhi and Ikuturso appear in it. It is called "The quest for Kalevala"
It makes so much sense! This is actually the underworld!!! You know...you had a good life ahead of yourself as a young adolescents and then one night you were offered a black liquid by a stranger....It was all downhill from there...and you lost the sense if you were actually alive or not...Everybody keeps calling it as adult life...In reality, we are in Tuonela!
In a softer note about Finnish lore; the later Finnish god of love was called Sukkamieli (=Sockmind) because socks are soft like love. However the earlier god of love was called Lempo (lempi=love) and in the earlier times love was thought more as a dangerous and unpredictable thing that took over people and could even make them mad. Lempo is presented as an evil entity in most folk stories.
So I know about Lempo, though the stories I grew up with are likely different from the ones told in Finland proper. Sukkamieli however I was not aware of, that is really neat.💚 Unfortunately, there aren't many books on Finn Myth. Most of what I went on in this video were memories and notes of stories my grandfather taught.
@@BlackDragonTavern There is folklore archive in Helsinki but you need have quite good knowledge of old finnish dialects and the best or worst sections are only for scholars because of the nature of those poems and curses and spels. But they sells many studies and books in their shop. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura/kansanrunous arkisto www.finlit.fi/fi/yhteystiedot/kansanrunousarkisto#.X9d1BbdS-po
Could the finnish word for being jealous = mustasukkainen (literally meaning having black (=musta) socks(=sukka)😅 which has never made sense to me) originally come from this God of love?
@@Jjjjjj-to6wd Nope it came from swedish word Svartsjuka=jealous as false frend translation via western finland where dialect are quite heavely influenced by swedish.
I'm Finnish and this video made me a bit sad because there's so much I don't know about Finnish mythology. Christianity really screwed our culture over. Thank you for making this video, I want to learn more.
When you spoke about Kiputyttö, you used a picture of different myth, where Lemminkäinen's mother went to the river of Tuonela to beg her son to be revived after she raked his limbs out of the river.
Kalman haju - Smell of Kalma, is still used in the Finnish language today. Yes, it refers to smell of a rotting corpse. If you have ever smelled that you will remember the smell. Had the unpleasant experience of smelling it myself, but it also taught me one thing. When something made of meat starts to turn it first has kind of a sweet smell. That's the smell I first noticed when my neighbor had died. I was also there when they went in because smell was getting stronger and there was no answer. I can say the smell wasn't just sweet anymore, still had that sweet, but in all just overwhelming. A big difference between a corpse and some minced meat, but these days I always smell all the meats I'm going to cook. If there is too strong of that sweet smell I just can't use it, even though it's still okay for use; it's not okay for me thank to memory of having to smell the real deal. But it also has helped me not to throw away food, like something questionable, past expiration date can be and often is perfectly fine still. I just wanted to share, so someone might actually notice the early smell and maybe check up on it. Also because some assholes around the world might try to sell some questionable meat to you.
I had a similar experience when my dog died. I clearly remember that sweetness in the air. Fortunately I could put her to the earth before that next stage of decay...
Louhi-akka must be the most interesting character in Kalevala and finnic mythic stories. She is not exactly a pantheon, but she was the most feared clan leader in north. She had brilliant mind with war strategy and she knew how to use it.
I'm finnish, yet I don't know much about our folklore. This is absolutely fascinating! We aren't taught finnish folklore in schools and it makes me extremely sad.
I have heard that a lot in the comments of this video, and it does make me sad as well, back home in Ireland most myth and old tradition fall by the wayside, or is just generally eaten up as anglicized versions of old stories. It has been happening all over the world, i'm afraid, stories of old just changed or completely forgotten. Luckily, we as a community can share and keep as many tales as we can alive :)
Times must have changed, when i was a kid it was in the curriculum but i guess world of today doesn't really allow it, except if you take some history courses.
There's the thing: we are being taught Swedish language and history of Finns written by Swedes.... it's outrageous but also a tradition of hundreds of years. Finns were colonized and that was never even recognized by the Swedes and the rest of the West. No apologies, nothing.
@@finnicpatriot6399 No, that's not what I'm implying. I made that distinction because a modern person unfortunately and erroneously would consider a spiritual person someone not grounded in reality. That's the result of arrogant secularism we have been living in for decades. Personally, I don't think that. It's also one of the reasons I would love if the pre-Christian Finnic idea of nature and the cosmos was still the reigning view. That this specific land we live in is part of us and we're part of it.
@@Aivottaja Yes, and still today Finns are mostly grounded in reality and close to Nature, in an instinctive way regardless of which religion (if any) that they may follow. Thousands of years of struggle in harsh conditions has created this characteristic of the Finnish people.
Another thing shown is the situation of women in FInnish mythology and thinking. There are strong women in there (like the five daughters. There were no brothers). In Kalevala we have Aino, a young girl promised by his brother as a wife for Väinämöinen, an old man. Aino didn't like that, so she drowned herself. Lemminkäinen's mother (whose picture was in the video) raked the pieces of his son from Tuonela river, and brought him back to life. And then there's Louhi (mentioned in the video), who was the most powerful sorcerer in the whole Kalevala. Even Väinämöinen - a demigod - couldn't compete with her.
@@Aivottaja Arrogant secularism indeed. So tiring dealing with smug, intolerant know-it-all atheists who think they are so intelligent because they "don't believe in silly superstitions and fairy tales".
A short comment about pronunciation: - "j" in Finnish is pronounced like the "y" in "yes" - "y" in Finnish is a phonetic sound that doesn't exist in English. Vowels are tricky because so many English dialects pronounce them so differently but it's the sound between the "o" in "tomb" and "e" in "see". You might get pretty close by saying the "e" in "see" and then keeping the tongue in place but narrowing lips like you were saying the "o" in "tomb". That's probably more in-depth than anyone cares :D - also, google translate does horrible job in actual translation of Finnish but if you enter the word there, choose finnish and press the "listen" -button it does decent job of pronouncing the words
Easiest way to explain the "y" letter is like in the word "nEw" (nYY), only the VOWEL. Emo/Emä can be translated straight to mother, for animals and humans, it can be non-living as well, like "Emolevy" = "Motherboard".
@@pamelqtaylor8335 they do but they dont go into too much detail. We do learn about Kalevala , Aleksis kive's "Seitsemän veljestä" (7 brothers) but thats mostly it. If they teach anything else i cannot remember it so they might give us more info but they dont go into this much depht about each charater.
Elven culture originates mainly from Norway. They aren't rare but they are neither not so common in Finland. Main elven culture in Finland is part of Santa Claus.
@@newera478 Santa Claus being Joulupukki in Finnish. That's "Yulegoat" or "Christmas goat" for you not speaking Finnish. It probably comes from "Nuuttipukki". Nuuttipukkis were children dressed in goatskin, who walked from house to house in January to collect the leftovers of the holiday era.
@@saeshimizu3444 yes gnome is a better word for them. And i've heard that they weren't considered friendly. Only if you gave them gifts and food they would bring good thing to the house etc.
People talking about Finnish mythology is all ways welcome. Anyway, I'm sure you were aware of the other daughter and the only son of Tuoni and Tuonetar but decided to not mentioned them since they did not really fit. And in case you did not know the daughter was called Tuonentytti (Maiden of Tuoni/Girl of Tuoni), unlike her other sister she is pretty chill being a ferrier of the dead not much else is really know about her. The son was called simply as Tuonen Poika (Son of Death/Tuoni) and was also pretty chill being assign as a guardian of the Tuonela to prevent anyone from escaping and so far only one has managed so far.
Tuonentytti I was aware of, though how I had earned the stories as a boy she was just a servant of the family, not a daughter. So it's super interesting to think of her AS one of their daughters 🥺 Tuonen Poika I'm not sure I've even heard of, but that's really interesting 👆👆 I learned these stories from my grandfather, our family has many old lores from around the world, and they usually vary from whatever is widely accepted. But I f*kin love learning the variations of the stories and characters. Unless...is the son the demon dog like creature that guards the boundaries of Tuonela??
@@BlackDragonTavern Yes my own grandparent also used to tell me about old lore with one even talking about Tuonen Poika and how he laid traps and other defences measures around the Tuonela's river comparing them to how a fisherman would lay fish traps into the river.
There is a finnish saying (That I've actually heard being used) that goes pretty much like this: "Everyone has equal share of suffering in their life" Really intresting channel! Please carry on!
Are you meaning the saying "Jokaisella on oma taakka kannettavana"? Nice that you translated it to an equal share, but I think that it is "Everybody has his own burden to carry". Like I think that Finnish mythology also points out that your burden is not n equal to others. Seems also that harm is not caused by "karma", you have either good luck or back luck and that has nothing to do if you are a good or bad person. Even the many "hero" characters have "anti-hero" characteristics.
@@5000Kone same same different: "kaikki (niin rikkaat kuin köyhät) kärsii osansa" or something similar was in my mind at the time... cannot quite recall exact idea anymore
Well thank you for dropping in💚 I know that this likely differs from the versions told commonly in Finland. I was very fortunate, I grew up with my grandfather who's family has for many years(hundreds in fact) preserved stories from many parts of the world. And as children we were taught thousands of stories as a part of our education. Though, it has been made clear to me that my learned pronunciations are not accurate to the way native Finns would say them. Something I will have to work on, not being a native or fluent speaker 😅 Thank you for your support 💚🙏
a lot of boomer generation has done magnificent job in ignoring the old ways and knowledge that my grandma´s generation still had. My grandma knew lot of spells that my great-grandma used as a healer of her village but none of that was written down because no one was interested in the 20th century. Real pity as west coast lore is very badly known because karelian lore took so much importance and resources when it was studied in 19th century.
Me being a Finn I really should learn the Finnish mythology. Most of my life I haven't really cared about religions and such, the Kalevala was taught to us in school as a child, but I forgot about those quite quickly, except for the main parts of the story and characters. But recently I have become extremely interested in the old traditional pre-christian cultures of Europe, especially germanic culture and the northern cultures in general. It's gotten to the point that I might someday join some pagan movement, even though I don't necessarily believe in any of the gods or even spirituality in general. I just find the old traditions and cultures and their strong connection to nature extremely interesting. Anyways, it's quite interesting that even though Finland was (forcefully) christianized hundreds and hundreds of years ago, some of the parts of the old mythology are still alive in language at least. The word Tuonela is sometimes used, although I think I've only heard older people mentioning it. It also seems like it is used in context of afterlife in general everytime I've heard it, or at least that's how I've understood the person saying it. Also the graveyard, which officially is in Finnish "hautausmaa", is sometimes (although rarely) called "kalmisto", which is quite easily derived from Kalma. The word kalmisto definitely gives much more darker and haunting vibe than hautausmaa when said out loud lol. Hautausmaa feels like just a normal graveyard that everyone visits, but kalmisto feels more like the typical dark, foggy, abandoned and haunted graveyard from a horror movie. Oh and of course the word "ukkonen", which means thunder. That can't be anything but a derivation of the thunder god Ukko. It is in fact the official word for thunder in Finnish.
I also read some article in school years ago, that discussed the relationship Finns have with happiness and showing it! Like, it was believed that there was a finite amount of happiness in the world, so for you to gain happiness someone else had to loose it first. So if you were happy, you shouldn't show it, because a witch or some other evil could steal your happiness for themselves. In the article they considered how this was still visible in Finnish society - like, millionares can be seen driving around shitty cars or wearing crappier clothes than they necessarily had to. I admit this attitude might be changing at the moment, but it's still not that far from the truth. Boasting with wealth or other achievements isn't really something Finns do that well.
@@Alvarnea "Whoever has happiness, should hide it". "Kell' onni on, se onnen kätkeköön". Origin is a poem by Eino Leino. Used to describe the finnish state of mind that one should not boast with what one has. This saying is also a sort of a belief. If you show off how happy you are, you will lose it.
I left the christianity and church this summer. I don't have any religion I want to join, but somehow old finnish myths and gods feel more natural to me, like when I started to learn about it later age, I felt like it has parts that are coded in me. I never felt christianity were my thing, it felt like it was based on sins and humans while old finnish history were more about nature (harvesting, hunting etc). It is shame we are told so little about our own roots (atleast when I was a student) and how religion teaching were mostly about christianity (other religions were teached like with few sentences).
8:47 That is a famous painting called Lemminkäinen's Mother. She is not Kipu-tyttö. "The painting depicts a scene from a poem where the hero Lemminkäinen has died and his mother has dredged the pieces of her son's lifeless body from the river of Tuonela and sewn them together again. She is shown with the body in pietà style, waiting for the bee, a messenger of the god Ukko, to bring her honey from the gods to bring her son to life again." From Wikipedia. Nice video though 👍🏻 Ps. If you like me metal, Amorphis makes songs of Finnish mythology. The band turned 30 yo this year and here is an opening track of their latest album, The Bee: m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xf_4uvymwRw.html
I knew she wasn't Kiputyttö, I just chose the photo because of the woe it depicted and I couldn't find any good illustrations of her😅 I didn't know the history of the painting however, that's really cool. I appreciate you learning me something and everyone else😁 I'll take a look at your RU-vid channel 😁💚
Bonus fact! The painting is an indirect reference to the Period of oppression dealt by the Russian empire to the Finns, during the Finnish romantic and realistic era of art.
Interesting stuff. Now I understand what one of my favourite Korpiklaani songs Kipumylly (The Mill of Pain) is actually about. It tells of a young girl using a mill to grind pain and suffering for the world so I guess the girl is actually Kiputyttö (literally meaning 'Girl/maiden of Pain').
Could we please have more Finnish myths and lore. So much of it has been lost over the years and there are so many fascinating myths and stories. Gods, goddesses and creatures, how sacred bears once were (and partially still are). There would be so much to talk about.
That drink reminds me of two things: My mother kept reminding me to never ever accept any gifts from the dead not even in dreams. I told her that I have no controls over my dreams and she kind freaked out, but she never clarified what would happen according to her beliefs... I think that the Japanese goddess of the underworld is the most famous example of handing out food you'd better not eat...
I am thankful that I landed upon this video accidentally and was able to learn so much. Honestly, I didn't know anything about Finland before as an Indian, except the sauna part( which is cultural to Scandinavian regions). Since I am a Hindu, I can connect some dots from the lineage of Sanskrit and Hindu myths, 1- the 2nd daughter is somewhat similar to Yami or Yamini, the consort of Yama or lord of underworld in Hinduism. She is a protector of cremation grounds and sees that the dead is not violated. She is a Vedic goddess who is invoked in some rites. 2- Nirriti is the Hindu goddess of destruction and justified retribution, who lives in the underworld. She has functions similar to the 3rd and 4th Finnish daughter goddesses combined. There are some more but it kinda creeps me that Finnish lore has such similarities with us, despite being a Uralic linguistic group. I also feel a eerie backdrop of Sadness, inevitability in such descriptions of gods by the early Finns. This shows, how the Finns must have valued life over misery, a ray of hope even in dark times, but the Early Finns were a resilient and practical in nature, that's for sure. I would surely like to read the source of such finnish stories/ epics, like we Indians have Ramayana, Mahabharata and many more. Sorry, English is my 4th language, I am not very well versed in it so if I offended someone, be free to correct me.
There are many parallels between myths around the world, the whole point of my channel is to share the culture and stories from everywhere so we can all realize that we are far more alike than we are different. I'm grateful to have you stumble, even if accidentally, into my tavern 🙏
I am focusing on spreading out to broader spectrums, my channels focus is to show how much we have in common with my storytelling. Thank you for wandering into my Tavern 🙏
@@BlackDragonTavern well that has simple reason and that is finland was ruled by swedes and russians so long that the finnish mythology almost disapared and even today some weird reason we can't open old viking age graves somebody don't want to us know about our past don't know but something weird is behind that stuff
I freakin love that our myths have become such a legend now days ( I only wish hollywood stays out of it). Much appriciated!!! Our language, our history and our myths are not well appriciated nor preserved now days, and you are doing a great job preserving it in your way.
I can't take full credit for that, my grandfather's family has been collecting and preserving stories from all over the world for nearly 1600 years. I was just fortunate to be born into those traditions. But I am proud that I can share what we have preserved and spread the awesome legends of your culture well enough to be counted as a point of pride, thank you for watching and for the encouragement 💚💚
The painting at 8:57 describes Lemminkäinen (dead) and his mother. Lemminkäinen was killed and dismembered and the pieces thrown into the river of Tuonela. His mother picked the pieces and rebuild him. She is looking at a bee from Ukko's halls and hoping that it would bring honey from said hall to her, as the honey would revive him. It was painted by Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Edit: Apologies, someone else already said this.
No worries, I appreciate it! I knew it wasn't Kiputyttö, but I wasn't aware of the history of the image I used. I picked it because of the woe it was depicting. I appreciate you both dropping some education here for me and everyone else! 😁💚
About Kalma.. Here in Finland people speak about "Kalman katku". "Kalman katku" quickly translates to Kalma's Stence/Reek and that basically means here The Stence of Death. Also we have kind of a fancy name for graveyards "Kalmisto" and I think that comes from the name Kalma.
Try looking up Scrooge Duck and Kalevala together. You'll bear witness to one of the greatest works of Don Rosa while taking in a small dosage of finnish culture
"-tar" ending only says it's a female person. Lady is a nobel woman (or a fine woman), not a common woman or girl. Maiden of Injury would thus be good too.
@@Aurinkohirvi I speak Finnish as my first language so I know but I thought that lady felt more fitting in this case but you are right the '-tar' suffix only implies femininity not noble status.
There is also, Tuonen Tytti, ferrywomen that will take the dead across Tuonenjoki, the river of death, from the land of the living to the land of death.
I didn't include her for a couple reasons, primarily being I didn't know she was related. The way I learned the stories, she was a spirit that served the family, along with the demon who patrols the parameter of Tuonela. It's only been from the Finn's that have commented on this video that I have heard they may have been related😅 The second reason being that she's not super demented like the rest of the family. She's more typical of the ferryman stereotype 😁
@@BlackDragonTavern The name of "Tuonen Tytti" basically translates to Tytti of Tuone, which is like saying x is of/from/belongs to someone/somewhere. For a Finn, the name is a clear indication of belonging to "Tuone", although the type of relationship is not obvious from that alone.
That makes a lot of sense, thank you for being so proactive with this comment section :) I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little overwhelmed. My Finnish, as I'm sure you've gathered, is not great ,:D
A small Finnish lesson :D Tar is a tag on that makes a word mean a woman rather than a man, it's not always used so for example kuningas=king kuningatar=queen näyttelijä=actor näyttelijätär=actress So all the daughters had that at the end of their name, the part before that is linked to their tasks, abilities and/or characteristics, I saw someone already posted a comment on what they mean so I'm not going to make this any longer
unfortunately a lot of Finnish mythology has been permanently lost. As it was never written down, but passed on orally and with christianity it was more or less suppressed for more "civilized ways". Only at 1828 Elias Lönnrot started travelling across Finland and collecting these stories that he compiled into Kalevala.
As a Finn this was very interesting stuff. Nice breakdown. I subscribed your channel. If you are interested in there is Kalevala that you probably may know already. Many characters that you mentioned here are in it, like Louhi who is there messing things up. In Kalevala there is also a version of creation of universe (or world). It would be nice to see someone to look up creation stories in different cultures via folk lore. Cheers!
Cool Video! The picture depicting Kiputyttö in the video is the mother of Lemminkäinen who is one of the main focuses of Kalevala, also the name Kiputyttö and Kipumäki actually translate straight into girl of pain and hill of pain. Its also interesting that at least the names of Kivutar and Vammatar mean someone of pain and injury respectably, with Kalma being the simple one being just another word for death. Overall the translation is a mess since Finnish really cant be expressed as well in the English language and the meanings of things differ quite a lot as well. Hope i can see more cool stuff like this in the future as well, maybe something on Kalevala?
Hello! Love your video, but Kalevala is not the same as finnish mythology. Kalevala was written by Elias Lönnrot and it was published 1835. Lönnrot got his stories from karelian people's lore, stories and songs. It's still an adaptation even though very much true. Karelia is part of Russia since 1940's and its traditions and culture are very similar to finnish but not the same (my grandmother was karelian). Karelians also have their own language. Kalevala is part of finnish literature hence its part of finnish culture, but it's mostly just songs and stories and lore adapted to an epic by Elias Lönnrot, unfortunately not actual finnish mythology.
Btw keep the Finnish content going as like a fin my self would say " PERKELE nyt sitä seuraavaa kehii" nice content! first time on this channel you just got a new sub !
Bruh... I'm speechless how deep you got dug in Kalevala and the culture of Finnish. I learned so much today and for my surprise I didn't know nor remember Kalma being a thing. You also did a good job trying to pronounce every pantheon name correctly... of course not perfectly since Finnish is a monster of a language to learn. But I wish to see what you have to say about Finnish spirits and our forest gods and the most known is Tapio You Sir, have gained my like and subscription for your channel
I think you got Kipu-tyttö and Vammatar completely wrong, the opposite what they do. They are the ones that help people when they have pains or injuries. People ask Kipu-tyttö to take their pains away, She puts pains into the Kipu-stone where she crushes them, thus getting rid of pains. I think the daughters of Tuoni are seen favorably by people. This is part of a poem in Kalevala: Edit: second attempt! When I submitted the comment first time, the whole poem and the translation disappeared! Only the first part was posted. Tuonne ma kipuja kiistän, tuonne tuskia manoan (To there I pains deny, sufferings cast,) kivisihin kellarihin, rautaisihin raunioihin, (into stony cellars, irony ruins,) kiviä kivistämähän, paasia pakottamahan. (to pain the stones, to suffer the rocks), Ei kivi kipuja itke, paasi ei vaivoja valita, (Stone doesn't weep pains, rock doesn't moan sufferings,) vaikka paljo pantahisi, määrättä mätettähisi. (even though a lot was given, beyond measures put.) "Kiputyttö, Tuonen neiti, joka istut kipukivellä (Kiptyttö, Maiden of Tuonela, who sits on the Stone of Pain,) joen kolmen juoksevassa, veen kolmen jaka'imessa (crossroad of three running rivers, waters divided into three,) jauhaen kipukiveä, Kipuvuorta väännätellen! (grinding the Stone of Pain, wristing the Mountain of Pain!) Käy kivut kereämähän kitahan kiven sinisen, (Come collect the pains into the mouth of blue stone,) tahi vieretä vetehen, syytäise meren syvähän, (or roll them into waters, cast into deep sea,) tuulen tuntumattomahan, päivän paistamattomahan! (where wind doesn't blow, nor day shine!) "Kun ei tuosta kyllin liene, Kivutar, hyvä emäntä, (If it doesn't enough ease, Kivutar, good hostess," Vammatar, valio vaimo, tule kanssa, käy keralla (Vammatar, best of the wives, come also, walk with the other ones,) tekemähän terveyttä, rauhoa rakentamahan! (to create health, to build peace!) Tee kivut kivuttomaksi, vammat värjymättömäksi, (Make the pains painless, injuries not troubling,) jotta saisi sairas maata, huono huoletta levätä, (so that a sick one could lay, ill-faring without worries rest,) tuskahinen tunnin olla, vikahinen vieretellä! (one with pains be an hour, one with problems lay with others!) "Ota kivut kippasehen, vaivat vaskivakkasehen, (Take the pains into a cup, troubles into an iron bushel,) kivut tuonne vieäksesi, vammat vaivutellaksesi (to take the pains there, to make the injuries sink (disappear),) keskelle Kipumäkeä, Kipuvuoren kukkulata! (into the middle of Pain Hill, the rise in the Pain Mountain!) Siellä keittäös kipuja pikkuisessa kattilassa, (There brew in a small cauldron,) yhen sormen mentävässä, peukalon mahuttavassa! (where only one finger could go, only a thumb fits!) "Kivi on keskellä mäkeä, reikä keskellä kiveä, (The stone is in the middle of the hill, a hole in the middle of the stone,) jok' on väätty vääntiällä, puhkaistu purasimella: (which has been wrung with a pry, punched with an awl,) siihen kivut kiskotahan, pahat vammat vallatahan, (into there one pulls the pains, bad injuries conquers,) tuskat tuimat tungetahan, pakkopäivät painetahan (pains hard are stuffed, difficult days pushed,) öin yrittämättömiksi, päivin pääsemättömiksi." (not to trouble in nights, make days impossible to manage.) Excuse my horrible translation, but it is just not possible to translate it into good English. Typical to this poetry is call same things with multiple words, multiple ways, to describe it better, to emphatize it, to exaggerate even. It's often difficult to find several accurate words with another language that fits to the meaning of the Finnish words: it's usually easy to fond one word, but finding another which also fits, becomes harder. Also, some of the words just don't translate even into actual words: they are so poetic, more a name or description than a word.
People obviously even felt sorry for Kipu-tyttö (Pain Maiden) I think, for she had a hard (or painful) task getting rid of the pains by stuffing and grinding them into the stone, and thus she is in some poems described as crying. Or maybe she emphatized for the people she was helping to get better. Gods and spirits weren't all evil. Many gods people prayed to get help or strength, they asked for favors: luck in hunting, fortune in war, good harvest, make the beer ferment. Kipu-tyttö, Vammatar and Kivutar are similar. If Kalma has a beautiful face, maybe she wasn't seen evil either, but she was part of the cycle, with a necessary job.
In the same poem though, Louhi (also Loviatar) is described as worst of daughters of Tuoni, as a problem and as ugly, old and blind. She gets pregnated by the wind, goes to Pohjola, where she asks Ukko to help her in her pains of giving birth. The children she gives birth to are diseases and pains. On the other hand Louhi is also known as a good mother and gives birth to most beautiful daughters: she is not described always bad. Apparently it has more to do with the poem and its original singer, how she is portrayed.
It is still common to give an unborn child a "työnimi" (work name) and it can be anything from bug to a rainbow it's also common to give the child combination of both girl and boy names like Liisa-Matti. I was named Möykky (lump/gob/blob) and when born I was called by that name until I was given a proper name
If there is one thing people trying to pronounce Finnish words, it's that the emphasis is always on the first syllable. It was almost impossible to make out what some of those names were supposed to be.
For something a bit more out there, there is a Finnish-Chinese wuxia movie called Jade Warrior. The plot is heavily Kalevala inspired and involves what I'd describe as a version of the 9th son of Loviatar, as the main antagonist. The plot goes along with the version of the story where the 9th is never named by Loviatar, with the first 8 named though bit differently from the original lore, more akin in nature to the deadly sins. Fear, Pain, Madness, Ugliness, Lust, Hate, Greed and Blindness. It's been a while since I saw the movie, but I remember the 9th being named different names by the protagonist at some points in the movie, including Death and Hope.
I love finnish folklore so much! My granma used to told me about our old gods and myths when she was still alive. She passed away about 20 years ago and I wish I listened to her better back then. She hold invaluable information. I'm glad someone outside of our minor culture is interested in my ancestors' believes
Louhi is the main enemy of Väinämöinen. Louhi was "The hostess of the north" Pohjolan emäntä. Very powerfull character in Kalevala. And the Kalevala is much older knowledge than Celtic knowledge. In other words, the Finns did not borrow anything from the Celts, but the Celts borrowed from the Finnish legends.
Yeah afaik finnish people used to have some weird beliefs regarding names. I think I read somewhere that we used to believe that a child’s name, when the child was still without a name, was somehow powerful in the sense that a person with bad intentions could hurt the baby if they knew the name before the official name-giving ceremony. But when we had that ceremony, the child would get their own ”protector” or something and the person couldn’t use that name to hurt the kid anymore? Or something? And that is why they kept the baby’s name a secret until the name-giving day, aaaand that is why we still do it. I’m 22 and I haven’t met anyone who would’ve told the baby’s name to anyone prior to the christening/name-giving. It’s a funny tradition! (And in case it wasn’t clear, I’m a finn.) Great video!!
@@BlackDragonTavern it's areference to a Finnish folk tale if I'm not mistaken. If memory serves me right it's a part of the story of Lemminkäinen, from Kalevala.
There are different takes on what you do in Tuonela when you die. One story is that you sleep forever and depending how you lived is how you slept. Those who did bad deeds would sleep on bed of stones.
Not dissimilar to Gaelige Myth, there are dozens of variations on the gods, myths and afterlife. I am by no means an expert on the many variations, these stories are a part of the Traditions handed down by my grandfather and from his father before going back generations. I just decided to share the stories as they were told to me because the community asked for them, I honestly didn't expect this video to get so much attention 😅 I appreciate you sharing this version with me, thank you💚🙏
@@finnicpatriot6399 Found this from Wikipedia "Joissain perinteissä vainajat nukkuivat tai elivät hiljaista elämää Tuonella. Pahoilla ja moraalittomilla saattoi olla muita huonommat oltavat, esimerkiksi kivinen sänky. On myös joitakin kertomuksia pahaan paikkaan, kuten hauen suoleen joutuneista, joita ei saanut edes tietäjä takaisin. Ei tiedetä, millainen muinaissuomalainen manala oli ennen kristinuskon vaikutusta. Tuonpuoleinen rangaistus voi olla myös kristillistä perua.". No idea what that hippie stuff was tho. 😅
A thing to understand about Finnish mythology is that our knowledge of it comes from oral tradition, old songs and poems collected mainly in the 19th century. Famously, a scholar by the name of Elias Lönnrot went on long journeys to the Finnish countryside in early to mid 19th century, writing down the old songs sung by the people, mainly in the eastern parts of the country. He then collated and rewrote these songs into several books, the most famous of them being Kalevala, the national epic. The important point is that the conception of these fantastic characters living in a shared mythology was made by Lönnrot, a scholar of literature. In the original form, these characters existed in songs, that in an illiterate culture were the vessels of information and knowledge, handed down the generations. Songs were incredibly important, and there were songs about all kinds of things, from life and death, the afterlife and the heavens, to very mundane things, like how to build a boat, or how to do the harvest. So many of these characters you mention are metaphorical in nature, their names being references to actual, very concrete things. "Vammatar" refers to "Vamma", or "injury", "Kivutar" to "Kipu" or "Pain". A daughter of death grinding out suffering to spread to mankind does sound like the lyrics of a song, yeah? A heavy metal song perhaps, but then, we do have the highest concentration of metal bands per capita in the world. As for the names, words and names have always held special importance to Finnish culture. Words have weight, they hold meaning, and therefore should not be used frivolously. Even a large part of Kalevala is the main character's quest to find the words and songs to achieve his goals.
Kalma literally means the pallor of death in the Finnish language. In some versions Kalma is also representative of dying from something like an affliction like disease or other physiological complications. She allegedly had a pet in some iterations named Surma, the Finnish word for death in regards to being slain or killed by something or someone, which may also be the guardian of Tuonela, which was a pike (a type of predatory fish) that would consume the souls of intruding souls of the living, such as if a shaman tried to sneak their way into the land of the dead if they were not careful. The reason why gods had such specific tasks is likely in reference to how a household in Finnish culture worked pre-Christian times: Everyone had their own share of jobs to do, hence Tuoni and Tuonetar, being the patriarch and matriarch, welcomed "guests", i.e. the souls of the deceased, to their abode. Also interestingly, regarding Kivutar and Kiputyttö brewing pain and suffering: There are these geographical/geological phenomena in Finland which are holes seemingly bored into rocky terrains and cliffs: Formed during the recession of the Ice Age where a round stone got caught in an imperfection on the surface and thus it started to roll and bore a hole. These were Kivutar's "cauldrons" or Kiputyttö's mortar and pestles in myth, though after Christianization they're called Devil's Churns (Hiidenkirnu). Louhi's modern depiction is actually the result of post-Christian patriarchal norms, given that the Kalevala was written many centuries after the Finnish gods fell from favor: Louhi was originally a moon deity and often associated with magic. This was from a time when witches and shamans didn't carry negative meaning and were seen more as wisewomen and healers and whom to approach for assistance, particularly with matters of spirituality and sickness. It's likely Loviatar was originally a separate deity.
Yeah, in Finnish mythology, it is said that Tuonela has endless feasts where everyone ends up after death in the state where they are dead (drowned are wet, burned are on fire, etc. ). And in the past, it has been fantasized in Finland that it is always dark in Tunela, the food is rotten, the beer is full of worms and fish heads, and the bed is made of stone. And what makes the Kivutar, the Kiputyttö, special is that the Kivutar is also known as Väinämöinen's daughter. Possibly this is because it is told in the poem "Tuonelasta kosinta" (courtship in Tuonela) that Väinämöinen once slept with Tuonetar (also "Akka manteren alainen" or "Maaemo" ("the Underworld Widow" or "the Mother Nature") ). And then this Loviatar is actually the same person in mythology as Pohjola's Louhi. But Lönnrot made them separated person. Loviatar is also connected to the shamanistic Loveenlankeaminen -ritual. But Louhi is also Väinämöinen's mother's sister, Väinö's aunt (Väinämöinen's mother name is Iro and this is also the mother of Ilmarinen and Joukahainen too).
Damn. Its cool to see our pantheon getting some love, and this guy is doing a mega impressive job of covering it - its actually somewhat tough to find info on this even in finnish Hoping you'll do stuff on our oral traditions, the kalevala meter and finnish mythic sages in the future. The concept of knowing the mythic, 'deep origins' of things and singing that out to cure illnesses and so forth is the coolest original twist in finnish myth imo. Like telling a wound to stop fkin bleeding by telling it how the first wound was made, and thus gaining power over it
Honestly, I don't think it's that well known in Finland, either. With the exception of the best known gods like Ukko, Ahti, Tapio, most don't know much. And don't care to know.
Really enjoyed the video. It's nice to have our myths talked about by people from other countries :) Just a small nitpick: to my knowledge, spells are not spoken but are instead sung. We were (are) a very singy folk :)
@@Sotanuija Not excatly. While Lovecraft oftentimes called the creatures of his mythology undescribable, he did also oftentimes give very specific descriptions for them.
some fun facts about Iku-Turso; not only does he impregnate Louhi but it's thought that he impregnated lady Iro (one of the maidens of the wind, ilmattaret) who gave birth to the god-hero Väinämöinen. Iku-Turso is the Finnish god of war and in a battle against his own son, he was cursed by Väinämöinen to be stuck down at the bottom of the sea never to lay eyes upon man ever again (there's an extremely beautiful poem about the feelings Iku-Turso goes through because of his eternal imprisonment, written by Eino Leino, called Iku-Turso) while his actual appearance is unknown some descriptors of Iku-Turso say he has thousands of horns and thousands of heads, and was said to be bearded according to his epithets (Tuhatsarvi, Tuhatpää, Partalainen) Iku-Turso is often treated as a villain because of his attack on Väinämöinen but personally I feel he's just misunderstood and angry (tho I maybe biased because he's my patron)
I'm really interested in the mythology. As a Finn, I really haven't learned enoygh about our mythology. I know what "haltija" means in modern finnish (an elf or a person that has the control over something), but the mythological concept is still completely foreign to me. Thank you for explaining these things, it's really interesting!
Haltija is someone who has control of something; having control is "hallita" in Finnish. So, in English, haltija would be "controller" or "holder" In Finnish mythology, haltijas make up almost all of the spirits and mythological creatures. As the name suggests, haltijas usually control something, was it a lake, the sky, the ground or the woods. They take care of their respective areas. The forest haltijas protect the forest animals, the water ones the fish, the ground ones are assholes who steal your kids and replace them with a disabled one and the sky ones are mysterious and weird. There's also creatures called _kodinhaltija,_ the "haltija of the home". For example, kotitonttu, "home gnome", who you can 'hire' with food and stuff to protect your house from evil spirits or whatever. There's also a sauna variation, the saunatonttu, who takes care of your sauna. But if you don't pay these fellas, they'll fuck your house up. Also, don't go to sauna when the sauna gnome is in. He'll rip your scalp off.
Awsome video. Never had a clue finnish mythology was this exciting. I am a DM for a DnD group, and this pantheon is going to be implemented in my next world, thanks to your video.
Interesting stuff. Pronounciation was 70% correct. It was a good thing you put the text on screen, so we know what you talked about :) e.g. Kiputyttö is ”pain girl”, but you pronouciated it ”pain skill’ Don’t worry, I’m not any better with Nørse, Danemark eller Småland aksentering.. Cheers for the vid. Subbed!
Thanks for this entertaining video! I'm a Finn and I've also studied Finnish pagan religions a bit in the uni but I've forgotten most of it. There are some really cool books on the subject matter that don't use Kanteletar or Kalevala (or their sources) as a source material and which better take into account regional variations . Most tend to be in Finnish tho, I'm afraid. When still in uni I've read some really cool spells people used to "bargain" with Kivutar or Kiputyttö (most of the spells or prayers treat them as the same person, it's just a different way of saying the same thing, I've always assumed. She's one of the entities that controls illnesses - another very common is the spirit(s) of fire, often in the same spell, which kinda tells us how clumsy ancient Finns were around hot objects :/ ). It was fun to hear this really vivid and, well, enthusiastic description of their creating the ills as well - I'm sure I've read about that too but it's a bit more dull in an old poem :D :D (or then I was just drunk, as ppl tend to be when in uni) There's a huge amount of water spirits in Finnish mythology - Iku-Turso you already mentioned here. Obviously he's respected and revered by everyone who knows their Lovecraft but there are others worthy of mention as well. As in whole tribes of different water-folk (vedenhaltija) who are antagonistic towards one another and can be tricked to do the bidding of a crafty hunter or a fisher if one can convince them that they are thus doing harm to their enemy tribe. I'd love to hear your take on them and other mythical water creatures of Finns! I love the illustrations! I noticed one is from Akseli Galen-Kallela's painting, but are the others Minna Sundberg's work?
@@robinviden9148 I think the intent is to say that the uniqueness and variation of Finnish(and it's associated cultures) is the source of pride, not necessarily just the morbid and crazy gods of the Underworld XD lol
just to clarify Tuoni is a name. tuonitar is just a female version of the same name since the ending tar implies female. vamma means a wound. kalma is kind of description of how a corpse looks. kivu is an old way to say kipu which means pain. kiputyttö literally means pain girl. loviatar is just a name again.
Great info man, though all the names were pretty badly mispronounced :D Another thing is that besides these, the Finnish mythology has many more pleasant spirits and gods, such as Tapio and Mielikki, the lord and lady of the forest, divine beings who protect and clean the forests. And hunters in ancient Finland would sing songs and pay compliments to them while out hunting, so that they would have good luck while on the hunt. Then there were also trolls, elves and giants. The elves were especially numerous. For example there were the "Tonttu" -type elves that acted as the guardian spirits of places and buildings. And one belief is that for example if you fight in your home, that you will make the "kotitonttu" (home-elf) mad and they will then pay back by engaging in almost poltergeist-like activity of dropping things and causing noise etc. And also the evil counterpart to the "tonttu", the "maahinen" was a type of nature spirit/elf, and they were somewhat like leprechauns. They lived in their own world underground, and despised humans, often trying to trap and trick people and hurt humans if the mood struck them. And then there's one specific spirit belief that is very much still alive today, in fact something people experience constantly, called "etiäinen". An "etiäinen" is essentially a spirit that mimics your every action, but the thing is, the spirit mimics you *_before_* you actually do things. So for example if you go and visit a friend, your friend will hear a knock on their door, walk up to open it only to find no one there. A few minutes later you come there and knock the exact same way, only to find that your friend already heard the same knock before you were even there. And this is something that has happened to me several times personally, that people have been waiting for me when I just arrived and told me that the "etiäinen" already knocked for me a few minutes prior, or that they heard my car pull up before I arrived etc. And the thing that makes the "etiäinen" especially interesting as a still happening phenomenon is that it most often happens when you're getting and _unexpected visit_ so it usually happens when you _don't know_ when or if someone is coming.
I'm happy I can share in it with what my family kept a couple hundred miles away. The Sharing and excitement of shared culture is a true and complete passion for me😁
It is very odd that Finns old relition is absolutely different that their neubour. It is like Greek and Romans, but of course own words. And forest God Tapio was so high ranked. Of course in Finland are much forest.
Iku-Turso can loosely be translated as "eternal octopus". So in some context it could be considered the Finnish variant of the norse kraken. ikuinen = eternal tursas = octopus
Tapio, Ahti still popular names of the Finnish men (mostly around 50-70 year old men today) There are also this small demon(?) called Näkki. My grandma used to say to us children to not go to the dangerous basement of our house because ” Näkki lives there” i have heard that this was way these spirits were helpful raising children back in the days. You say something like that to keep children away from dangerous places. I remember that because i kind of believed it and imagined how would that Näkki look like and better not to go to the basement😅
Great video! Never really thought of our Finnish mythos as so bizarre, but I suppose it does depend a lot on what one compares it to. The elemental gods would be interesting topic for the next video(s). Also, +1 subscriber!
You are a champion, thank you for joining the tavern! I'll be honest, when I say crazy or strange, i mean fascinating and wonderful. But those words don't draw eyes as much as "crazy" or "insane" do 😀😅
Here's a tiny pronounciation guide for vowels in finnish for all of you english speakers. As the consonants are pretty much the same this should help you get a pretty accurate end result. If not said otherwise, imagine the words as being said in a fairly accent free American english. You know, the way they speak in the news. Thankfully this is one of the easier parts of the language so let's get to it. A - The A sound in the words "Car" and "Bar" or the U sound in the words "Nut" and "Cut" E - The E sound in the words "Set" and "Let" I - The I sound in the words "Tip" and "Lip" O - The O sound in the words "Pot", "Flock" and "Copper". This is the first slightly problematic one as many american dialects tend to drift half way to the A sound above. The most extreme example probably being the classic New York accent often seen in ganster movies. My advice is to go more British on it. Really make the o shape with your mouth. U - Often written as O in English. The sound shared between the words "Tomb", "Womb", "Groom" and "Doom". This sound can also be heard in the way the Irish say "Dublin" Y - Now we have a tricky one as this sound doesn't fully exist in the English language. Some hints of it can be heard in most pronounciations of the word "New" though. Best is probably to go and make the finnish google translate voice say the letter. Y can be thought of as the counterpart of U. I'll go more in to this in the Ö section. Ä - Now don't get alarmed by the dots there. It's a very simple one. The A sound in the words "Cat", "Rat" and "Hat". Ö - And finally we have another Y case. Doesn't really exist in English so I'd suggest consulting google again. But just to help with the forming of the sound I'll go to the counterparts mentioned in the Y section. So in Finnish we can imagine the letters A, O & U and Ä, Ö & Y as being counterparts to each other. Bit like two sides of the same coin. So once you have learned the A, O, U set try saying them all in row. You might notice the sound seems to travel forward in your mouth with every letter. The same thing happens with the set of Ä, Ö and Y, just slightly more so. These sets of letters are also never mixed the other one in a singular word (unless it's a conjoined word but I won't go deeper in to this), which causes a rather poetic flow within the language. But that is enough of that. Two of them can be difficult if you speak no language outside of English, but outside of that and rolling the R's it is a very simple language to pronounce. Above is pretty much all you need to master, as Finnish doesn't have (almost) any context dependent pronounciations unlike English. So if you see an O or a U in a word this is how it's pronounced 100% of the time. The only exception being the "ng" sound, which is pronounced the same way as in English. Think of the words "King" and "Fang". I really hope this was helpful to someone who wishes to have a better understanding of the pronounciation without taking the daunting task of learning the language itself!
There are of course more nuances that come from intonation, weight etc. but these are more of a way to identify a native speaker from a really good foreigner. My favourite is probably how we pronounce the letter L just that tiny bit more sharply than most languages.
Wow! So glad I clicked on your post... I’m interested... I’ll be looking up Finnish pantheons starting today. I’m hooked! Thanks so much for the share☺️
Loviatar's son's were _Colic, Pleurisy, and Fever, Ulcer, Plague, and dread Consumption, Gout, Sterility, and Cancer_ according to Kalevala, while some earlier runes call them more poetic names like _eater of heart_ and _carrier of tongue_ . And the daughter? The witch, the _worst of them all_ ? She is the source of strife and envy: she is the division between people. So the thing even Loviatar, daughter of Tuonela, thinks is too horrible to keep? It's grief, it's pain, it's _her_ - and unlike her brothers, it's never stated Väinämöinen defeated her.
