Finnish Folklore: Day Of The Bear

Day of the Bear is celebrated on the 13th of July, which is the warmest day of the year. It is the polar opposite to the Finnish midwinter day which is the 16th of January and the coldest day of the year. The day of the bear is the birthday of the bear. Bear had its origins in the star sky. The son of Hongatar and he was landed on the earth in a golden basket.

Bear was a shamanistic god, and before the creation of the Finnish pantheon of gods, the early inhabitants worshipped the bear as a totem animal. There was something very human in the bear and people believed that the bear was a mythical ancestor.