Finnic religion

Overview

Finnic religion (or Baltic-Finnic religion) is the pre-Christian religion of the Finns, Karelians, Estonians and smaller related peoples around the Baltic Sea and Lake Ladoga, who speak Finnic languages within the wider Uralic family. It is a close linguistic relative of, but a separate tradition from, the religion of the neighboring Sámi. No native pre-Christian scriptures survive; what is known comes mainly from runo-song, oral poetry sung in the trochaic "Kalevala metre," recorded chiefly from nineteenth-century singers, many in Karelia. The physician Elias Lönnrot shaped much of this material into the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, published in 1835 and enlarged in 1849, centred on the sky god Ukko and the sage Väinämöinen. Sweden's twelfth-century crusades began converting Finland to Christianity, a process completed by Lutheranism's victory in the sixteenth century.^{[1, 4–7]}

History

Finno-Ugric roots to 12th century CE

The Finnic or Baltic-Finnic peoples - chiefly the Finns, Karelians and Estonians - speak closely related Uralic languages and historically settled around the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. They are close linguistic relatives of the neighboring Sámi, who kept a more nomadic hunting life further north, but the two peoples' religions are not the same. Before Christianity, Baltic-Finnic communities honored a sky-and-thunder god, Ukko, and told of Väinämöinen, an ancient singer and "eternal sage," in sung oral poetry known as runo-song.^{[1–4, 8–9]}

Christianization 12th-16th century CE

Christianity reached Finland through Swedish-led crusades beginning in the twelfth century, traditionally dated from 1155. Lutheran preachers gained the backing of the Swedish crown in the sixteenth century, and the Augsburg Confession was formally adopted in Finland in 1593, after which Catholic worship was outlawed.^[6]

Collecting the oral tradition 1820s-1849

In the 1830s and 1840s, scholars such as Matthias Castrén and the district doctor Elias Lönnrot traveled the Finnish and Russian Karelian countryside recording runo-songs from local singers. Lönnrot wove the pieces he collected, together with connecting verses of his own, into a single continuous epic, the Kalevala, published in 32 cantos in 1835 and enlarged to 50 cantos in 1849; he also issued a companion volume of shorter lyric songs, the Kanteletar, in 1840-41. Because Lönnrot imposed his own order and plot on fragments gathered piecemeal, and because the finished epic ends with a Christian infant displacing the pagan Väinämöinen, scholars read the Kalevala as much as a nineteenth-century literary and nationalist achievement as a transparent record of older belief.^{[5, 10–13]}

Beliefs

Maailmansynty

the world's origin

By one Baltic-Finnic creation account, preserved in the Kalevala's opening canto, the virgin goddess of the air, Ilmatar, floats for ages on the primordial sea; a bird nests on her raised knee and lays an egg, which breaks and falls, its pieces becoming the earth, the sky, the moon and the stars.^[14]

Scripture

Kalevala

1835; enlarged 1849

The Kalevala is Finland's national epic, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from runo-songs and incantations gathered chiefly in Karelia. Lönnrot wove the pieces into a continuous plot around Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and Lemminkäinen, publishing 32 cantos in 1835 and an enlarged 50-canto edition in 1849; its name is a poetic word for Finland, "land of heroes."^{[5, 10, 15]}

How we know

An oral record, written down late

The Baltic-Finnic peoples left no native pre-Christian texts. Nearly everything known about their old religion survives as runo-song, written down mostly from nineteenth-century singers, a large share in Karelia, straddling what are now Finland and Russia - a late, selective record, shaped by its collectors.^[7]

A compiler's epic, not a scripture

The Kalevala is often mistaken for a surviving ancient text, but it is Lönnrot's own compilation: he joined separate songs with connective verses of his own into one plot, a method scholars have criticized, and the finished epic's ending - Väinämöinen yielding to a Christian infant - reflects his era's Romantic nationalism as much as the older songs he drew on.^[12–13]

Common misconceptions

Glossary

Runo

A traditional Finnish or Karelian oral song or verse, sung in the trochaic Kalevala metre with alliteration and parallelism; collected runo-songs are the main source for pre-Christian Baltic-Finnic belief.^[4]

Ukko

The Finnish god of thunder and the sky, also called Jumala ("Heaven God"); believed to control rain and the land's fertility, and invoked at planting time and in drought.^[2]

Väinämöinen

The central hero of Baltic-Finnic oral poetry and the Kalevala, portrayed as an ancient singer and "eternal sage" whose magic songs shape the world and defeat his rivals.^[3]

Kalevala

Finland's national epic, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from collected oral poetry and published in 1835 (enlarged 1849); its name, meaning roughly "land of heroes," is a poetic name for Finland.^{[5, 15]}

Sampo

In the Kalevala, a magic mill said to grind out salt, grain and gold, fought over by the people of Kalevala and the northern land of Pohjola.^[16]

Kanteletar

A companion collection of shorter Finnish and Karelian lyric folk songs published by Elias Lönnrot in 1840-41, named for the kantele, the plucked instrument also played by Väinämöinen.^[11]