#aarnivalkea

[benjamikaela]

This is an older piece, but I just realised I never posted it here! It's inspired by Finnish legends and superstitions around midsummer. Virvatuli or aarnivalkea are mysterious floating blue flames said to be a sign of buried treasure–or a spirit leading you astray...

Hyvää Juhannusta!

[mythologiafennica]

Juhannus – the magic and the myths of Finnish Midsummer

You know the picture, dark silhouettes of people dancing frantically around a flaming red bonfire. Bare feet, love potions, sauna, odd rituals, a night that never comes, a sun that doesn’t set. You know the picture.

Even to this day Juhannus (’Midsummer’) has a special meaning to Finns. It’s completely normal to go ask your boss if you can leave the office a little early today since it’s Juhannus and you’re supposed to go to your cottage. (That is, if your boss hasn’t already left for the exact same reason.)

We burn our bonfires, we gather seven flowers, hop over seven fences and sleep with the tiny bouquet under our pillows in order to get a glimpse of our future lover in our dreams. But where do these old habits come from? What is Juhannus at it’s core? Well gather around the candle children, for I will do my best to unravel it.

The origin

As in many other European cultures, Juhannus is a celebration of fertility and light. During the pre-Christian times, this celebration was held in the name of the god Ukko. When Christianity started to gain hold the celebration got to carry the name of John the Baptist (fin. Johannes) since his birthday was supposedly celebrated around the same time. The old name, Ukon juhla (celebration of Ukko) held on in southern Karelia until the late 1800′s. In some dialects Juhannus is called mittumaari, mettumaari & messumaari.

The events

Certainly the most well known tradition associated with Juhannus is the bonfires. This originated from Karelia and was absorbed into the celebrations held across the country during the 1900′s. So this is in fact a fairly new part of the festivities. The bonfires are mostly associated with the cleansing of bad spirits and bringing about good fortune, good crops and healthy cattle.

Bathing in the sauna was done early in the day, so as to be clean and ready to take on the nightless night when the time came. The sauna and the house would be adorned with green leaved trees, most commonly birch and/or aspen. Young birch trees would be cut down and placed on either side of the main door and to frame windows. A thorough cleaning of the house was also considered an important tradition, as usual during the turning of seasons. The clean floors would then be covered with the leaves of rowan, aspen and bird cherry.

In parts of Ostrobothnia people set up a spruce tree on the yard (sort of like a Christmas tree, but trimming away all branches except for the very top, leaving a hat of sorts.) This tree then stood on the yard until kekri, harvest time. Whereas birches would be taken down quite soon after Juhannus was celebrated.

The magic

As is with so many other seasonal turning points, Juhannus was also seen as a time when the borders of the spirit world and our world thinned, and therefore it was a brilliant time for magical purposes. Love related magic was not only very popular but also easy for everyone to do. Juhannus was the time when one could catch a glimpse of their future, be it good harvest or a new lover.

The dew that covered the fields on Juhannus was seen as the very power of the crops and thus it held immense power. One would collect it from their own fields, store it and give it to the cattle when autumn came in order to strengthen the cattle with the force of summer before winter. The dew was also used to cure various common illnesses, either by drinking it or sprinkling it on the skin.

As concluded in my text about healing, people believed that the amount of good fortune was fixed, and therefore one could perform dark magic on the night of Juhannus and snatch away another’s good fortune by collecting the dew from their field and sprinkling it on their own. This way their crops would flourish as the other’s would shrivel and die.

The dew also provided help in powerful love spells. After a maiden who desired to be wed returned from watching a bonfire (or right after bathing in the sauna) she would roll naked in the fields belonging to a house where a desired partner lived. The powerful dew would then stick to the maiden’s skin, and furthermore, when the men of the house would later in the year eat the bread of the crops, the lust and desire would then get a hold of them as well. And they would then live happily ever after.

Here’s a little list of easy midsummer magic for seeing your future partner:

place a four leaved clover under your pillow for the night

place a wreath tied with nine strands of hay under your pillow for the night

look into a well, naked, at midnight

listen to the cuckoo singing in the night, each sound is one year until you will meet your lover

walk around a triangle shaped field thrice, naked, and on the third time you will meet your lover

the smoke from the bonfire blows towards the one to be wed soon

if logs stood up after the bonfire burned low, there would be as many spinsters as there were logs standing up

walking backwards towards a pile of logs after sauna would determine the kind of lover you would get, if your butt hit a log that was split in half your lover would be taken or married already, but if it was still whole your lover was single and would be your entirely

The myth

Aarni, the guardian deity of treasure, cleaned his treasure during the night of Juhannus. He would burn away the mildew and rust on his coins and jewels, creating a magical flame with a blue hue. This rare flame was called aarnivalkea (cf. wisp) and by following this blue light one might stumble upon a fortune.

One could increase their chances of spotting such a blue flame by looking for it through a ring shaped object; better still if the ring was formed naturally, such as a twig that had formed into the shape of a ring as it grew. A skull worked also, but it had to be fetched from the cemetery on a midsummer’s night. The best place to look for an aarnivalkea would be from high up a tree or at the crossroads where three roads met.

The journey to the treasure of Aarni was a perilous one during which one would meet all sorts of horrors from the world beyond, one of them being a mythical ox. If one was brave enough to hold the ox by it’s horns they might wake in the morning to see that they were holding a pot of treasure instead.

Pteridium aquilinum, bracken (fin. sananjalka, saniainen), was believed to bloom only on the night of Juhannus. It was believed that it used to be a beautifully blooming plant until someone had wiped her ass with the leaf of a bracken, and the poor plant was so ashamed of this that it only dared to bloom in the midst of midsummer’s night.

If one was lucky enough to see this mythical blooming they might also be able to snatch the seed of the bracken, which was believed to grant one magical powers, such as the ability to turn invisible. Another magical trick was to cut the bracken close to it’s root at a slant and then look at the black dots appearing on the surface. These would form the initials of, you guessed it, one’s future lover.

Getting drunk and being noisy during Juhannus was believed to bring about a good harvest and good fortune as well as banish bad spirits. So in honour of these ancient traditions, that is exactly what I plan to do this Juhannus, drink responsibly and make some noise to keep away the forces of evil.

Questions?

[falyros]

Worked a bit more on my abyssal tiefling bard design! Her name is Aarnivalkea.

[thecreakingdoor]

It’s Midsummer on Wednesday which reminded me of this little story from Finland. In Finnish folklore it was believed that if you found the “seed” of a fern in bloom on Midsummer night, you will become possessed and turn invisible. From there you’ll be guided to eternally blazing Will o’ the Wisps called aarnivalkea who mark the spot of hidden treasure. These spots are protected by a spell that prevents anyone but the fern-seed holder from ever knowing their locations. . . . Available: link in bio. #midsummer #midsummerfolk #folktales #midsommar #aarnivalkea #willothewisp #fern #thefernfolk #folkstories #fernnecklace #bioresin #ecofriendlynecklace #leafpendant (at Harrowby, Lincolnshire) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBsRWaUBifc/?igshid=1qs8cyvz3vfpx

[atouchofcolorzine]

Fairy Fact Friday #5

Before our usual Fairy Fact Friday, here’s a quick update on our Kickstarter! As of this morning we’ve passed the $1k mark, which means we’re 75% of the way to our funding goal. Thank you so much for all of your support - let’s keep the momentum going! If you haven’t yet pledged, follow the link below to check out the campaign:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/743397933/a-touch-of-color-relaunch

Each Friday, we’ll post about a fairy story from around the world. Want to chime in? You can submit your own folklore or fairy experiences using this form:

https://forms.gle/yu9GxrChguqF7e689 

Today we’re exploring the many stories of the will o’ the wisps, which are ghostly lights often seen in nature at night. Cultures across the globe tell stories of these small glowing orbs that light the way, some helpful and others harmful. In Finnish legend, Aarnivalkea are where the wisps lead and mark places of buried faerie treasure. A similar story is told in Mexico of luces del tesoro or treasure lights. However, in Welsh myths, the lights are believed to be fairy-fire held by puca, which are mischievous fairies who delight in leading travelers astray.

What do you think: would you follow a will-o’-the-wisp? Let us know in the comments!

[marcolikestowatch]

Finnish tradition holds that one who finds the seed of a fern in bloom on Midsummer night will, by possession of it, be guided and be able to travel invisibly to the locations where eternally blazing Will o’ the wisps called aarnivalkea mark the spot of hidden treasure. These spots are protected by a spell that prevents anyone but the fern-seed holder from ever knowing their locations. (at Veluwezoom National Park)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHs45cBlui2/?igshid=15a25lo33sjnp Photography by Spring Matters.

[niuniente]

Rose Pompadour - What is your favourite name from your culture’s language? Fandango pink - What is the best lie you’ve ever pulled off?

For girls, I really like Satu. It means Fairy tale.For boys, I Myrsky; Storm.My friend named her cat Aarni, and I have really started to like it. Aarni is a Finnish folklore creature, which hoards gold and treasures, and guards them well. Would you catch Aarni, you could also get his treasure. You can spot Aarni’s treasure if you see Aarni’s flames - Aarnivalkea - in the forest. 

I don’t know would legal registry approve if I was ever going to have kids and tried to apply names Kaamos (Arctic Darkness) for a boy and Tuoni (old Finnish word for Death) to a girl :’DD Kaamos is quite edgy goth name in Finnish (would it get approved), Tuoni on the other hand sounds like Tuomi, which is already a name here for a woman. It means Bird cherry. 

———–

Best lie? I think it was successfully guiding my friend to her 30th surprise birthday party without her having any clue what was about to happen by telling we need to get stuff from this place X and I need her help with it :D 

[tartts]

first of all, i’d like to say thank you to everyone who applied to novelistnw! it was overwhelming and inspiring to see so many people passionate about writing and wanting to help others. and i am not exaggerating by saying many. it was very difficult to pick even a somewhat reasonable (maybe not, but my indecisive ass does what it wants) number of applicants, but here we are. without further ado, here are the members:

@11thprince @aarnivalkea @aesteriaa @allisonwyeth @almosthopefuldeer @andrxnmeda @apollonienne @armargrave @assassinkyra @beautyqueenforbes  @chrysalisshell @dawnisgone @desole-sinistre @faeriefully @frodoes @gabrielledelacour @hcmemade-dynamite @henrymarsette @hisyoungheart @ibuzoo @inaestra @julietteferarrs @kanokas @kcznej @kpwritings @legohlas @lihgtsabers @may-day-eve @merflk @mermaeids @nestha @penumbralluminance @perspective @primordialnyx @reitoeiru @rhysahd @saint-scyllas @shireduchess @thewannabeewriter @thewinedarksea

now, after i post this, i will get around to sending everyone a link to join the Discord server, and then we can all begin! thanks again for all the support, and don’t feel discouraged if you applied and were not selected. perhaps in the future i will open up members again!

[unearthlydust]

Hi! I really like your blog! I'm looking for some Cherik darkfics. Something heavy, sad, gloomy... If you've ever seen any, could you please recommend something? Size and raiting doesn’t matter as well as who tops and bottoms, I like it both ways. Thanks :)

Hi! Aww, thank you! :)

Several fics on AO3 were tagged as either dark!Charles or dark!Erik, so I will simply leave links here that regroup them all.

dark!Charles (67 fics)

dark!Erik (16 fics)

Now I’ve read a few fics that were heavy and sad, but it was a while ago and I can’t remember all of them unfortunately. I’m sorry. Still, I will list a few!

While the World Burns by colonel_bastard (Warning: character death)

They’re together.  Nothing else matters, not even the end of the world.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang by anchors_ashore

Charles cannot bend fate to his will, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try anyway.

Vacuum of God by slire (Warning: character death, graphic depictions of violence)

They fell into it. Like a fever, or a daydream.

Blood and Steel and Miles Between by dreamlittleyo

On a beach in Cuba, Charles manages to talk Erik down from the edge. But even after the missiles have been diverted, compromise is impossible. There are two different futures to build, and Erik and Charles will always be separated by their principles. But when Charles is kidnapped and the X-Men can’t find him, Erik will get him back no matter the consequences.

Meanwhile, trapped alone in his mind for the first time in his life, Charles comes face to face with the truth about what and who he wants. When convictions stand in direct opposition to the heart, which will prevail?

The Tower and the Hurricane by dreamlittleyo

Five years after Shaw’s death, Erik’s predictions prove painfully accurate. Violence rages on both sides of the human/mutant conflict. In a world ravaged by war, it doesn’t really matter who’s more at fault. Charles struggles to teach his students a better way, but what choices will he make when peace really isn’t an option?

Nine Eleven Ten by Subtilior (Warning: graphic depictions of violence, rape/non-con, WIP)

Years later, Charles would remember that day. Sometimes he would wonder if he could have changed anything; other times he would despair over what he had since become. But he would always hold the image in his mind: Raven, laughing, and his thoughts flying alongside her on strong wings, silver-gold through the winter air. Once upon a time.

Dead Man’s Paradise by Yahtzee (Warning: graphic depictions of violence, rape/non-con)

Nazi hunter Erik Lehnsherr is apprehended and sentenced to prison for the sheer trail of brutality and blood he left in his wake. But before he can be sent to prison, he’s purchased by a Deadman Wonderland, the world’s only privately owned prison come amusement park, where the prisoners are the entertainment.

In Lethe’s lake, where long oblivion lies by fairywearsbootz

Charles just can’t let Erik go. Fortunately, he has the power to keep him indefinitely.

Apricity by cm (mumblemutter) (Warning: rape/non-con)

Charles keeps having nightmares.

Aarnivalkea by euphorbic

“I clearly recall you saying you’d rather die than tell me where you hid it,” Erik rasped as his blood mixed with water and saliva dripped from his chin. “Call it an unfortunate moment for me to rediscover my faith in you.”

And the Gunslinger Followed by musical_emjay (Warning: graphic depictions of violence)

Erik Lehnsherr hunts the things that go bump in the night.

He’s done so since he was a child, since the first time his mother put a knife in his hand and told him how to use it, told him why he should.

But ten years alone on the road has caught up to him, left him wrung out and longing for a place to rest, recharge, get his head back on straight. Though nowhere has ever truly felt like home, he heads straight for New York City, a place that’s always had more to offer him by way of warmth and comfort than any other. What he finds when he gets there, however, is several miles south of anything approaching restful. Old acquaintances, old memories, and a mysterious stranger who has him forgetting all his rules — Erik soon realizes there are decisions he needs to make, before circumstances intervene and make them for him. Otherwise, he might not like the result.

Burn Your Kingdom Downby spicedpiano

Erik’s people were brutally massacred when the Crusaders took Jerusalem.  The sole survivor, Erik fled to northern Europe, only then to be captured as a thrall by Viking raiders.  Since that day he has fought his way up to leading a group of Vikings on an invasion of the Christian mainland, killing every Crusader he can find.  But when he captures a thrall of his own, a young witch who gives his name only as Charles, he discovers that there is a darker magic than his at work - and the fate of the known world may rest in his hands.

Veiled Truths by ikeracity (Warning: rape/non-con)

Erik has dreams of a dark room, of being pushed down into the floor and violated in a way that makes him scream until his throat is raw. But Shaw never, ever touched him like that, so Erik wonders if he somehow repressed memories of Shaw’s torture. Either way, he hides the dreams from Charles, intent on suffering through it alone, as he always has.

And then one day, the nightmares come when he’s still awake, and he realizes that these aren’t his nightmares, they’re Charles’s. It’s Charles projecting in his sleep, and then Erik realizes that they aren’t nightmares at all, they’re memories from Charles’s hidden past.

Sounds of Silence by Magnetism_bind (Warning: rape/non-con)

Hear my words that I might teach you,Take my arms that I might reach you. - Simon and Garfunkel

And I Must Scream by marourin, Teacandles (Warning: graphic depictions of violence, character death)

Erik knew that coming back to this town was a pointless venture, but Charles’s cryptic letter and the faint hope that his death was nothing more than a trick are enough to keep him moving forward.

Stricher by Cylin

Prompt fill from the kink-meme: You know, I’ve only seen stories with Charles as the rent boy or the prostitute, never Erik.Do something, I would like to read heartbreaking stories with Erik as a prostitute.

Urban Legend by toestastegood

They say that if you stand in front of a mirror and say his name three times Magneto will appear. Charles has never believed in urban legends and he’s never been capable of turning down a dare.

Music, When Soft Voices Die by Teacandles (Warning: character death)

It’s 1917. Erik knows he should kill the wounded British soldier he found behind the lines, but for some reason he can’t. The war can’t last forever.

The Eldest of the Gods by lapetitesinge  

It’s 1928, and sixteen-year-old Charles Xavier is intrigued by the new boy joining him at Eton College. He’s thrilled to realize that they may be alike in more ways than one, but there’s more standing between them than he can possibly guess.

Et in Arcadia ego by apiphile  

Everything’s just fine and beautiful between the world’s most lovely mutants. No, really. It is.

[stainthorpedoom]

Aavelintuna lepatti Hiljaisten vetten päällä väreili

[mythologiafennica]

Could mythical creatures...be real?

The question I ask myself quite often is: but if so many different nations and peoples had the same kind of mythological creatures in their folklore, were those creatures once real?

And the answer I always give to myself is: perhaps.

The more scientifically backed up answer would be: no.

But in here, we don’t take no for an answer. We are skeptical of that what we can’t see and of that which we can maybe prove. We want to travel all the possible paths and leave no stone unturned. So lets step on this one for a while and see where it will take us.

So what if the creatures we find so similar in so many mythologies around the world were indeed once real? What if there were giants and giantesses walking among humans, what if wisps, aarnivalkeas and water spirits were all more than lore?

Wouldn’t we have seen them?

No, I don’t think we would have. I think that when the world was young and we humans were significantly closer to nature than today, the spirits and beings of nature might have very well lived right there entwined in the human world. But as years passed and humans kept going further and further from nature, those beings followed sue and retreated from us as well.

When it comes to Finnish mythology, there’s of course the issue of Christianity taking over and pushing aside the old paganism. This happened to many other cultures because of Christianity as well, mind you. In such cases I’d like to bring up the hiisi, who became the counterforce for the new religion. According to folklore, the hiisi would smash the construction sites of churches, hide tools, throw boulder and rocks at the workers, they did basically everything to keep Christianity away, but eventually had to flee so deep into the forests that people would never find them again.

And Christianity didn’t kill all that was before it and ban it as evil, no, quite the contrary. Christianity actually served as a ground for more mythical creatures to be born. In Swedish mythology we can meet the Church Guardian, and in Finnish mythology we have the menninkäiset, who would live under the floor of churches.

But I believe that in a way the “beings of the other nature”, who were once present in our life were already long gone, only living in tales told from mouth to mouth. I believe that the day when people built the first settlement with a roof, ceilings and floor, they were cut from nature and the connection to its beings had begun to fade. Think of it as a phone line, you need two phones to have the line open, but if the other end stops talking, it wouldn’t take long until the other would eventually hang up the call and close the line.

But giants would have been huge! Surely there would be remains found?

Not necessarily. Have you watched the Disney animation Moana? (If you have, great, you will get the next reference, if not, google is a thing that exists.) There is a huge giantess in the movie, Te Fiti, who does her creating job and then lays down to form an island. There is also a story quite similar found in the Norse mythology, also a creation myth, where different parts of the giantess Ymir end up forming the earth. You would never know!

I also bet giants would have enough power in their legs that hey could jump right out of gravity’s reach and drift through the cosmos to create a giant settlement on a planet more fitting for their size. (Think about kalevantyttäret and the jotuns having a party in an alien planet, cool idea huh?)

Okay but wisps and ghosts and fairies are totally fake, right?

Why would they have to be? Why be that boring? In the Finnish mythology fairies are often said to resemble nothing but sparks or drops of rain. You could totally miss them, and they are creatures with consciousness who would probably run away from all scientists as fast as they could. Also, they’ve been hiding for so so so long already, they’re pretty much experts.

Wisps then again, there is no proof of them not being real is there? There are only so many records of wisps in different mythologies that have lead people to...things or places (we’re not going to go into whether a creature is bad or good here. Judgement free post. Justice for all creatures.) So, how exactly would you prove that wisps are not real?

Ghosts, oh ghosts, my favourite subject. If there is a mention of the afterlife in a mythology (there almost certainly is) there is bound to be some spirits trapped between the good ol’ afterlife and the reality of life. I feel bad for them honestly, they just want to be free from earthly problems, but here they are, still. And in each and every myth about the dead spirits still roaming on earth, they are called the “unseen.” So generally, we would not see those spirits manifest themselves. Unless of course in the cases of liekkiö or a raja-äijä and others like them, who do indeed manifest themselves if need be.

Merpeople. There’s no way merpeople could be real, is there?

My darlings, humans have only discovered about 5% of the ocean floor. There is a 95% scientific chance here that mermaids and other mythical creatures of waters exist. Although if we take into consideration the possible depth where they would be living, they might have evolved into something quite different looking than what we remember from the fairytales we were told about merpeople as kids. But do not lose hope, they still might be!

But again, why do we not see them?

On top of my answer from before, I’d say, who’s to say that we don’t? There are people who claim to see ghosts, heck, you don’t even have to go far to find one because even I can admit that I’ve seen ghosts!

I believe that what we lack is the ability to see beyond our own perception. If we are willing to admit that there might be something right there, just beyond our reach, and if we can adjust to try and see, we just might. A journey into some mythological stories might be a good way to start.

And if you’re still siding more with the scientific answer I already gave for my original question there, consider this: what if mythic creatures live on a wavelength humans haven’t yet discovered or have missed? Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Question of the week

would you rather believe...

a) in a possible alien race somewhere in the cosmos b) in mythic creatures still living on earth with us c) in a planet colonised by giants of the earth?

answer: here or tweet me !

[falyros]

My three tieflings minus their fiendish essence. Because for some reason I like imagining stuff like this.

[aarnivalkea]

This is my main character in the Aarnivalkea. Enjoy the colors :)

[mikkoztail7]

Kuolemanlaakso - Aarnivalkea

Guitar cover by me :)

[neopointbe]

[A ECOUTER]

Squeaky Lobster /// Aarnivalkea

[falyros]

A concept drawing of an abyssal tiefling bard who plays a wyrm’s jaw kantele. I took inspiration from the variant physical traits in Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. She has dark blue leathery skin, six fingers, and a forked tongue. She also casts no shadow or reflection and smells of sulfur. And she has six pupils.

The design is not final. I don’t think I’m completely happy with her hair, clothes or body type, or the design of the kantele. So there’s still some work to do before I can add her to my character lineup.