Hello friends!
In this episode I'm going to tell you some stories from Finland's prehistory.
Enjoy!
Creation myths.
Based on archaeological evidence,
The first inhabitants arrived in Finland after the last ice age,
Approximately 10 000 years ago.
There may have been inhabitants before this time,
However,
The last ice age,
Which lasted around 100 000 years,
Likely destroyed any archaeological evidence of their existence in the soil.
It is believed that these early inhabitants have come from various Mesolithic cultures,
Including the Kunda culture,
Originating from Estonia and Karelia,
As well as the Butovo and Veretie cultures from Siberia.
Finnish is a Finno-Ugric language,
Part of the Uralic language family,
Which originated in the Ural mountains of Siberia.
The early inhabitants were hunter-gatherers,
And while very little is known about their spiritual beliefs,
It can be assumed that they practiced forms of animism and shamanism.
When these people arrived,
The water levels were very high,
And the process of land rising from the sea was slow.
They would have seen only lakes in front of them,
Perhaps some seabirds,
And a few islands scattered about,
But not much else.
It is possible that the worship of water as a feminine deity originates already from that time period.
The Estonians,
Finns and Sami have all been referred to as people of the water bird.
This term originates from a Uralic creation myth,
In which the world was born from an egg laid by the water bird.
Another Uralic myth is a diver myth,
Where the world is built by two water birds.
Our world was born from an egg.
In the beginning of the world there was nothing but the sea.
One day it was calm,
And the next day it was stormy,
With high waves.
Beyond the sea there was nothing else.
One day a water bird was flying over it,
Searching for a place to make a nest.
Suddenly a knee rose out of the sea.
The water bird landed on the knee and laid six eggs,
Along with the seventh egg,
Made from iron.
The bird hatched its eggs for several days.
The knee belonged to Väinämöinen,
A great wizard and a shaman from Finnish folklore.
Väinämöinen began to feel uncomfortable when the bird was hatching its eggs.
He needed to move his knee,
Causing the eggs to fall into the sea.
Although the eggs broke,
It was not the end.
It was the beginning.
From the lower halves of the egg shells the earth was born,
And from the upper halves the sky emerged.
The egg white became the moon,
The yolk transformed into the sun,
And the remaining little cracks turned into the stars.
As for the iron egg,
It became the matter of the other world,
Which we cannot see.
Myth of the Diver In the beginning there were two birds,
Two brothers.
One was big and mighty and had the ability to create things from nothing.
The younger brother was smaller and less powerful.
One day the older brother asked his younger sibling to dive into the bottom of the sea and bring him some dirt.
Why should I do that?
Asked the younger brother.
I will use it to create dry land,
Replied the older one.
Reluctantly the younger brother obeyed.
He dove to the bottom of the sea,
Brought back some dirt,
But felt mad and bitter because the older brother had given him orders and didn't help him.
Fueled by anger he decided to keep some of the dirt for himself.
So he dived again,
Hiding some dirt in his mouth,
And only bringing what was left to his brother.
As the brother got up,
He began to feel burning sensation in his mouth.
The grains of dirt grew larger and larger,
Forcing him to spit them out.
From this,
Islands,
Bays and mountains were formed in the world.
When the older brother saw what had happened,
He punished the younger brother.
From now on you will rule the underworld,
And you cannot come to my world.
This is where humans dwell,
In the realm between the two water birds,
Known as the middle,
Keskinen,
Which lies between the upper world,
Ylinen,
And the underworld,
Alinen.
It is at the crossroads of life and death,
Between the world of the living and the invisible,
Holiness.
There are three goddesses,
Three mothers.
The first is the mother of the earth.
The earth is alive and provides life,
Embodying Vakki,
The force of life.
Take care of the earth,
And the earth will take care of you.
The earth goddess does not have hands,
Feet or face.
She is the soil,
The ground and the dirt.
She represents seeds and hay,
As well as flowers,
Mushrooms,
Berries and herbs.
She is also the tall trees.
The second goddess,
The second mother,
Lives in the forest.
She too does not have a shape,
She is the forest itself.
When I enter the woods,
I ask her permission,
If I need to cut branches for firewood when I sleep under the spruce.
She knows I am there,
And when I wake up,
I thank her for watching over me.
Everything that happens in the woods occurs because she decides it.
She is the moss,
The trees and the secret life of the forest.
She is the mother of the woods.
The third mother is the goddess water.
She is present wherever there is water,
In the pond,
The lake,
The river,
The sea and the stream.
The mother of water is also in mist,
Rain and snow.
She does not take a distinct shape either.
These three mothers,
Mother earth,
Mother forest and mother water,
Are at the center of my existence.
I live in harmony with them.
This beautiful quote comes from the Republic of Mari in Russia.
The Mari people are Volga-Finnic.
The Mari believe that water,
Earth and forest are living beings,
Albeit shapeless.
They refer to these as emu,
Or creator spirits,
With whom one should strive to live in harmony.
All Finno-Ugric tribes originally practiced animism.
Nature was shared by all and everyone followed the same rules.
The spiritual beliefs about time were encyclical,
Rather than linear.
The bones of hunted animals were buried to allow them to be reborn.
An emu is considered a creator spirit,
Associated with a particular species or anything in nature.
For example,
In Finnish folklore,
Vellamo or Veden emä is the emu of water,
Representing the mother of water.
Hongatar,
The goddess of pine trees,
Is the emu of bears,
While Loviatar is the emu of wolves.
At times an emu is depicted as a hybrid between an animal and a human,
While at other times it resembles a particularly large individual of that species.
The emu is regarded as the ancestor and primal parent of all other members of its species.
For instance,
The emu of fish is believed to be the largest fish in the pond,
And that fish is considered the oldest among them.
Everyday life,
Arki,
Coexisted with the invisible,
Houli,
Pyhä.
The concepts of house and home were part of the everyday,
While also embodying a sacred essence,
Contributing to the houli.
In Finnish culture,
There is an expression that equates going to the forest with going to the church.
Going to church,
And similarly going to the sauna,
Is likened to a spiritual experience.
Natural places,
Such as forests and bodies of water,
Represent liminal spaces,
Transitional zones between the everyday and the sacred.
It is believed that everything in nature may hold a certain holiness,
With ritual sites originally being those locations where individuals could connect with spirits or encounter the divine.
The transformation from human to animal can occur within one's mind.
This technique used by shamans allows them to assume the form of a fish or a water bird to journey into the underworld.
This transformation is a natural act for humans,
As we are a part of nature,
Existing in this liminal space between the everyday and the houli.
All living beings,
Including animals and spirits,
Inhabit a liminal state in the keskinen,
Or the middle,
Where the boundaries between the ordinary and the sacred blur.
It was believed that some animals and plants possessed more otherworldly powers than others,
Making it easier for them to travel between liminal spaces.
Animism was an integral part of everyday life.
When a person was about to cut down a tree,
They would tap the trunk with their axe to inform the tree spirit about their intentions.
This action allowed the spirit to leave and find another home.
If the spirit of the tree came into the home within the logs,
It could become aggressive and troublesome.
Hunter-gatherers depended heavily on nature,
Which is why they asked for permission before fishing or hunting.
They recognized that the creatures on the other side had wheels of their own.
Later,
With the advent of farming,
People began to ask for favorable conditions from the rain and the sun to ensure a good harvest.
