Finnish Mythology??

RedDawn · Post by **RedDawn** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 5:45 pm

One question I have that puzzles me is Norse mythology and Finnish Mythology. is the Finnish mythology different from the Norse (Denmark,Sweden,Norway..)? Or is it about the same with the worshiping of Odin,Thor,and Forseti. Or is just a completely different concept? Cause I have a paper on Mythology that is due in a week in a half and I want to base it on Finnish Mythology. So if anyone can help me show me links or books to check out, that would be greatly apprenticed!

P.S
I am studying the Kaevala, but I feel like there is more then that...

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Jukka Aho · Post by **Jukka Aho** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 6:08 pm

As for background research, did you ever try this search?

tuulen · Post by **tuulen** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:51 pm

RedDawn wrote:Or is just a completely different concept?

Your question requires a VERY lengthy explanation, spanning thousands of years. But, GENERALLY SPEAKING, it is fair to say that the ancient Germanic Scandinavian cultures and the Uralic Sámi/Finnic cultures are not the same.

AldenG · Post by **AldenG** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:49 pm

tuulen wrote:
RedDawn wrote:Or is just a completely different concept?
Your question requires a VERY lengthy explanation, spanning thousands of years.

So it takes longer to explain than just temperament, eh?

I'm somewhat interested in Finnish mythology but realistically I'm not sure I can follow a thread that long.

Mangrove · Post by **Mangrove** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:34 am

One major difference between Norse and Finnish mythologies is that the former is based on a series of manuscripts written during the Medieval times. The Finnish mythology, on the other hand, is based on oral knowledge and written down only during the early 19th century. If you would make a search on the SKVR database, you would notice that there are several versions of the same story, one of which the protagonist might be Väinämöinen, on the other it is Lemminkäinen and so on.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:05 am

Totally different. There are some "common" gods, but at which time and which direction the influences came, thats another question. The Baltic connection is there, for example the thunder god Perkunas and Finnish Perkele are related. They still have a somewhat original pagan religion surviving in Estonia, but the christian church made a pretty good job eradicating the Finnish religion. Of course, back in the day people were adaptive, and old Finnish gods went hand-in-hand with catholic saints, like in the fishing spell "Anna Antti ahvenia, Ahti isoja kaloja" so yes, some remnants do still survive. The Finnish pantheon wasn't quite so organized as the Nordic pantheon. Finns believed more in väki, or "the powers" which were ancestral spirits and in other "little people" or spirits and fairies. These beliefs didn't totally conflict with the christian teachings, though they were rendered as evil spirits rather than benevolent.

tuulen · Post by **tuulen** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 2:32 am

Ancient Finland was a land of magic, everywhere.

In the Earth, in the sky, in the lakes, in the mountains, in the forests, in the air and everywhere!

Edit: Legends and stories about magic can be found around the world, from many, many different cultures, and what makes them interesting is that no two of those (usually ancient) cultures are the same.

Vellamo · Post by **Vellamo** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:35 pm

Kalevala isn't a part of the Finnish mythology, not really. It's a collection edited and imagined by Elias Lönnrot. The old folk magic and poetry include the mother goddess Iro (instead of Ilmatar, who is made up by Lönnrot) and the three creator god sons of hers: Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and Joukahainen. At least in some of the stories.

As someone said, there isn't any single collection of the old Finnish lore. It's just some poems and spells that have been saved in written form.

I'm collecting a little library about the Finnish folk traditions, magic and mythology and I can tell you it's not easy to find good books on the subject.

I don't know how much has been translated into English either.

tuulen · Post by **tuulen** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 11:40 pm

Vellamo wrote:Kalevala isn't a part of the Finnish mythology, not really. It's a collection edited and imagined by Elias Lönnrot.

Your interpretation is misguided.

The Kalevala tales were edited by Elias Lönnrot, and Finnish historians have determined that relatively small parts of the tales were "imagined" by him, but only in brief passages and only for the purpose of storyline continuity.

Otherwise, the Kalevala tales are very much part of Finnish mythology.

foca · Post by **foca** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 9:52 pm

As far as I know Lönnrot doctored bits and pieces he had gathered to make it a continuous story. So i think one should treat Kalevala as poetically retouched and rewritten material based on the fragmented original. And of course there is a related Estonian Kaleva poeg story which was also put together from a number of sources. But unfortunately , as everywhere else, Christian bookish people (monks and alike)had little interest in the native myths and as a rule tried to suppress or blend them with the Christian tradition. Baltic, Slavic and Finnic people's had interchanging beliefs, gods (Perunkas in Baltic countries and Perun in some west Slavic lands) and traditions (Russians and Belorussians still celebrate the midsummer day - Ivana Kupali day).There is certain limited influence of late Scandinavian beliefs with west slavic tribes(gods names and their position in the pantheon).At the same time it seems that there is no or little influence of the Scandinavian tradition in Finnish or Estonian folklore which seems strange to me...

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