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Finnish mythology
Articles about Finnish mythology within Europe.
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Kalma
Kalma is a death-related figure or supernatural presence in Finnish mythology and folklore. The name is associated with death, graves, corpses and the smell of decay. In modern summaries of Finnish mythology, Kalma is of…
Lemminkäinen
Lemminkäinen is one of the best-known heroes of Finnish mythology, especially through the Kalevala, the nineteenth-century epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral poetry. He is portrayed as handsome…
Kipu Tytto
Kipu-Tyttö, also written Kiputyttö or translated as “Pain Girl,” is a little-known figure associated with Finnish folk belief and healing incantations. The name appears to personify pain as a female being, but Kipu-Tyttö…
Kivutar
Kivutar is a female figure associated with pain, illness and suffering in Finnish mythic and incantation traditions. She belongs especially to the supernatural world described in Finnish healing charms, where diseases an…
Kotihaltija
Kotihaltija is a Finnish household spirit associated with the protection, prosperity and proper running of a home. The name is usually understood as “the guardian of the home” or “the household spirit”: koti means “home”…
Kuu
Kuu is the Finnish word for the Moon and, in discussions of Finnish mythology, may refer either to the celestial body itself or to a personified lunar power. It is sometimes presented in modern summaries as a Finnish moo…
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…