The Kalevala | Page 6

and represented as a beneficent mother bestowing peace and plenty on all her worthy
worshipers. In evidence of this we find the names, Maa-emae (mother-earth), and
Maan-emo (mother of the earth), given to the Finnish Demeter. She is always represented
as a goddess of great powers, and, after suitable invocation, is ever willing and able to
help her helpless sufferers. She is according to some mythologists espoused to Ukko,
who bestows upon her children the blessings of sunshine and rain, as Ge is wedded to
Ouranos, Jordh to Odhin, and Papa to Rangi.
Of the minor deities of the earth, who severally govern the plants, such as trees, rye, flax,
and barley, Wirokannas only is mentioned in The Kalevala. Once, for example, this

"green robed Priest of the Forest" abandoned for a time his presidency over the cereals in
order to baptize the infant-son of the Virgin Mariatta. Once again Wirokannas left his
native sphere of action, this time making a most miserable and ludicrous failure, when he
emerged from the wilderness and attempted to slay the Finnish Taurus, as described in
the runes that follow. The agricultural deities, however, receive but little attention from
the Finns, who, with their cold and cruel winters, and their short but delightful summers,
naturally neglect the cultivation of the fields, for cattle-raising, fishing, and hunting.
The forest deities proper, however, are held in high veneration. Of these the chief is
Tapio, "The Forest-Friend," "The Gracious God of the Woodlands." He is represented as
a very tall and slender divinity, wearing a long, brown board, a coat of tree-moss, and a
high-crowned hat of fir-leaves. His consort is Mielikki, "The Honey-rich Mother of the
Woodland," "The Hostess of the Glen and Forest." When the hunters were successful she
was represented as beautiful and benignant, her hands glittering with gold and silver
ornaments, wearing ear-rings and garlands of gold, with hair-bands silver-tinseled, on her
forehead strings of pearls, and with blue stockings on her feet, and red strings in her
shoes. But if the game-bag came back empty, she was described as a hateful, hideous
thing, robed in untidy rags, and shod with straw. She carries the keys to the treasury of
Metsola, her husband's abode, and her bountiful chest of honey, the food of all the
forest-deities, is earnestly sought for by all the weary hunters of Suomi. These deities are
invariably described as gracious and tender-hearted, probably because they are all
females with the exception of Tapio and his son, Nyrikki, a tall and stately youth who is
engaged in building bridges over marshes and forest-streams, through which the herds
must pass on their way to the woodland-pastures. Nyrikki also busies himself in blazing
the rocks and the trees to guide the heroes to their favorite hunting-grounds. Sima-suu
(honey-mouth), one of the tiny daughters of Tapio, by playing on her Sima-pilli
(honey-flute), also acts as guide to the deserving hunters.
Hiisi, the Finnish devil, bearing also the epithets, Juntas, Piru, and Lempo, is the chief of
the forest-demons, and is inconceivably wicked. He was brought into the world
consentaneously with Suoyatar, from whose spittle, as sung in The Kalevala, he formed
the serpent. This demon is described as cruel, horrible, hideous, and bloodthirsty, and all
the most painful diseases and misfortunes that ever afflict mortals are supposed to
emanate from him. This demon, too, is thought by the Finlanders to have a hand in all the
evil done in the world.
Turning from the outer world to man, we find deities whose energies are used only in the
domain of human existence. "These deities," says Castren, "have no dealings with the
higher, spiritual nature of man. All that they do concerns man solely as an object in
nature. Wisdom and law, virtue and justice, find in Finnish mythology no protector
among the gods, who trouble themselves only about the temporal wants of humanity."
The Love-goddess was Sukkamieli (stocking-lover). "Stockings," says Castren gravely,
"are soft and tender things, and the goddess of love was so called because she interests
herself in the softest and tenderest feelings of the heart." This conception, however, is as
farfetched as it is modern. The Love-deity of the ancient Finns was Lempo, the
evil-demon. It is more reasonable therefore to suppose that the Finns chose the son of
Evil to look after the feelings of the human heart, because they regarded love as an

insufferable passion, or frenzy, that bordered on insanity, and incited in some mysterious
manner by an evil enchanter.
Uni is the god of sleep, and is described as a kind-hearted and welcome deity. Untamo is
the god of dreams, and is always spoken of as the personification of indolence. Munu
tenderly looks after the welfare of the human eye. This deity, to say the least is an