Finnish Myth And Shamanism Essay, Research Paper

Actually surprisingly little is known about the old Finnish gods. What knowledge is still left comes from Kalevala (Finnish epic – collection of poems about Christian legends and whitches etc.) and some children’s stories, and as such. The Finnish gods are not nearly as well known as the Greek, or Norse deities. Anyhow, here are few that I came across last week (from one of the story book): Ukko, or Ukko Ylijumala, he is the supreme god of Finns – Ahti, (occasionally seen written as Ahto as well), the lord of the waters and Tapio, the lord of the woods. Besides Tuoni (the ruler of Tuonela – the underworld), these three are probably the most powerful gods the Finns had. Still there were tens (if not hundreds) of smaller deities and spirits – and some of the names actually survive to this day. According to the ancient beliefs of the Finnish people, the world was divided into the world of the living and the world of the dead. The living and dead members of the family formed a unity where the deceased took part in the life of their offspring in a number of ways. It was possible for the living to ask their deceased family-members for advice by using the medium of a shaman. The shaman used to be the tribe’s doctor, fortuneteller and guarantee for livelihood. The shaman’s main “tool” was his drum. It had mystical pictures on it, and the shaman put an object (usually a ring) on it and started to vibrate the drum with a stick made of reindeer’s bone. He could find answers to questions or see the future by looking how the ring moved along these pictures.

This could be the evolution of Shamanism – the contemporary “pagan” religion I suppose. One more example for the mythology’s influence on our current society