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Finnish mythology
Articles about Finnish mythology within Europe.
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Kyllikki
Kyllikki is a human heroine of the Finnish and Karelian oral-poetry tradition, best known as the wife of Lemminkäinen in the Kalevala. She is not a goddess, spirit or supernatural creature. Her story belongs to the cycle…
Louhi
Louhi is one of the most important supernatural figures in the Kalevala, the nineteenth-century Finnish epic compiled from older oral poetry. She is chiefly portrayed as the powerful mistress of Pohjola, a mysterious nor…
Loviatar
Loviatar is a feared female figure in Finnish mythic poetry, best known as the blind daughter of Tuoni, the ruler of the realm of the dead. In the Kalevala, Finland’s national epic, she is associated with death, corrupti…
Maanhaltija
Maanhaltija is a term associated with Finnish folk religion and mythology for a spirit or guardian connected with the earth, land, or a particular place. It is best understood not as the name of one universally defined g…
Tuonela
Tuonela is the realm of the dead in Finnish mythology and in the related Finnish-Karelian poetic tradition. It is often described as a dark and distant land beyond a dangerous river, inhabited by the dead and ruled or pe…
Marjatta
Marjatta is a maiden in Finnish mythological poetry whose story forms the final major episode of the Kalevala, Finland’s national epic. She is presented as a modest and devout young woman who becomes pregnant after eatin…
Mielikki
Mielikki is a female forest spirit or forest mistress in Finnish and related Karelian tradition. She is especially associated with the care of woodland animals, the success of hunters and the hidden paths of the forest. …
Metsänhaltija
Metsänhaltija is a Finnish forest guardian or forest spirit. The name is usually understood as “the keeper” or “guardian of the forest,” although it does not always refer to one clearly defined individual. In Finnish fol…
Nyyrikki
Nyyrikki is a figure associated with the forests and hunting in Finnish mythology. In the Finnish epic poem Kalevala, he is presented as a son of Tapio, the powerful master or spirit of the forest. Nyyrikki’s most distin…
Otava
Otava is the Finnish name for the constellation commonly known in English as the Great Bear or, more specifically, the seven prominent stars of the Big Dipper. In Finnish mythology and folklore, Otava belongs to the nort…
Ovda
Ovda is a little-documented wilderness figure commonly labelled as part of Finnish mythology. In modern descriptions, Ovda is usually presented as a hairy, human-shaped forest being associated with remote woodland, disor…