#samish folklore

[niuniente]

“The oldest mythological stories of world’s birth in Scandinavia often contain a folklore, where a nation/tribe has an animal ancestors – most often a bear or a moose. Kola Samish people believe they are descendants of a Deerman, who was half-deer, half-man. A human woman, who slept with the Deerman, gave birth to Kola Samish people from this union. The folklore tells that Deerman’s mother was a powerful witch, who could take a form of a deer. Kola Samish people have also folklores of raven and seal, who both marry a human woman. Where the Deerman taught the humanity how to hunt and thus represented forest, Raven was the symbol of air and Seal the symbol of water.  

Kolta Samish people believe that they are descendants of bear; on a one cold winter night, a young Samish girl had found a shelter from a bear’s nest, slept with the bear and gave later birth to Kolta Samish folk.

Samish have multiple folklores, where a human transforms into a bear, either by their own will or as a result of being cursed by a witch. Witches could summon a bear to attack someone, and such bears were called Lifted. 

“…The bear of Kurtakko and Kallojärvi (Skull Lake) was Lifted, it was one of those bewitched bears Otherwise it wouldn’t have hurt anyone. When the bear had been slayed they found a belt with a knife underneath its skin. It had been a cursed human…” - Story told to Samuli Paulaharju, in 1920

Wolf was an animal living in packs, so a witch could use their summoning skills to summon a punch of dead people back to Earth in forms of wolves. This kind of story was told in Utsjoki in the beginning of 1900. There was a wolf pack tormenting the area, so a priest was called to help people. He couldn’t help, so a sage called Kovven was called next. He was able to send the restless spirits back. Kovven had, after sending the spirits back, muttered angrily that “Seems that anyone can nowadays summon dead spirits to wander in form of wolves, but then they have no idea how to tame and send them back.”

[thebearwitchproject]

Month of Spreads Day 15

I can’t believe I have kept up with this for half of a month! Even while camping over the last 9 days! I am currently waiting to board my flight back East but I did my pull and spread earlier today.

While I was hiking around I came upon this beautiful carving by a Samish artist honoring a myth of her people.

This is called the Maiden of Deception Pass and I will do a whole post telling her story once I get back home.

Her story inspired me during my pull today and I used th qualities that she exemplifies in the story as the question for my spread.

What can I do to throw caution to the wind and be a curious and fearless soul?

Where I am now? The Tower; In a period of change. Renewal. You are on the verge of a breakthrough!

Where will I be with this at the end of the week? Six of Pentacles. Your hard work will be rewarded with the fruit of your labor. Share and enjoy what you have cultivated with yourself an others.

How can I make this happen? Mother of Pentacles. You have all the tools to achieve what you desire. Keep up the practices you have developed to make this happen. If you find yourself faltering do not be afraid to ask for help.

[niuniente]

What is your favorite Finnish's myth/folk lore story ?

It’s a bit sad the original Finnish mythologies and folklores aren’t written down anywhere except for the national epoch Kalevala. I have only small, general hint-like information of this deity or that spiritual creature in Finnish mythology. Add there the fact no one here believes in old spiritual creatures, we have no “don’t go there, there are spirits!”-places or “don’t do this, it upsets spirits”-thing here and here we go. Nothing is left from old traditions. Lehto ry does work for keeping the traditional Finnish religion alive. There are some pagans who follow traditional Finnish religion.

Here are some of my faves

Liekkiö (from liekki, flame) and Ihtiriekko were spirits of deceased children, often killed at birth. While Liekkiö was harmless, appearing often as a shape of flame, and mostly bothered traveling people with crying and whimpering, Ihtiriekko tried to point out their killer and get peace for their soul. Whether people believed in Liekkiö or Ihtiriekko, it depended of the area. 

Hiidenhirvi (Hiisi Moose) was a big moose, which bothered people and caused havoc. It was from Hiitola, which in some cases means the land of dead. In one story forest spirits Hiisis created Hiidenhirvi from natural materials. Hiisi was another annoying spirit, evil one, and you wanted to avoid it. If Hiisi caught you in the forest, it took you to its home Hiitola, where you served as Hiisi family’s slave till you died. Vesihiisi (Water Hiisi) was a special type of Hiisi living in lakes and bonds.Vetehinen (roughly translated as Waterly) was evil male water spirit, kind of like a merman. Like all evil spirits, it was the best to avoid Vetehinen. It was possible, however, to bribe Vetehinen to help you. A story goes how Vetehinen tried to turn over fisherman’s small boat (because Vetehinen is a little shit) but the fisherman cut Vetehinen’s arm off with his sword and it fell in the boat. Defeated, Vetehinen asked to get his arm back but the fisherman said he’d return the arm only if Vetehinen helped him to get some fish. Muttering and utterly pissed off, Vetehinen had no other option than help the man. The man got a boat full of fish hunted down with the help of Vetehinen, and Vetehinen himself got his arm back.

Vetehinen’s female counterpart is Näkki. While Vetehinen lived in lakes and bonds, Näkki lived in all type of waters (for what I know). Kids were warned not to go near water because Näkki can take them and drown them. This phrase is still used here; even I got told as a kid not to go alone near water because Näkki can catch me. Nowadays it serves more as a thing to scare kids so that they don’t accidentally drown themselves than a real belief of Näkki. It’s same as the phrase we use for kids who are naughty, that “If you don’t behave, Mörökölli comes and kidnaps you”. Mörökölli is considered a furry, goblin like creature.

By the way, we call seashells as Näkinkenkä, Näkki’s shoes.

Ancient Greece had Cerberus guarding the pathway to land of death; we’ve got a giant snake with multiple heads. There runs a river between the living and death near the entrance of the land of death (Manala or Tuoni), called Tuonen virta (River of Death). In Tuonen virta swims gracefully a white Tuonen joutsen, a Swan of Death.

Ajattara was a beautiful female spirit who made men get lost in the forest and then killed them. We have got a band here in Finland named Ajattara and they write and sing their songs in ancient Finnish spell casting form. FInland was definitely the land of spell casting and the spells were always sung. 

We also have got a badass female deity, Louhi. Louhi ruled the land of Pohjola (Northland, as north was considered the direction of evil) and acts as the antagonist in our national epoch Kalevala. Louhi was an old witch with a great army and she basically ruled all the lands and the men there. She had multiple beautiful daughters and also a husband, who got killed later in her front yard. Louhi is capable of changing her appearance and summon forth men for a fight. She’s very powerful at spell casting. 

Sami people up North in Lapland are better in this folklore stuff and they still have holy places which can’t be disturbed. From Sami folklore I love the belief that dead people can be summoned back to Earth in forms of bears and wolves. The latest incident, where a shaman was asked to deliver these “Lifted” (Nostettu) spirits, who caused damages in a form of wandering wolves, was held in Lapland in 1921. The shaman had been angry about it, saying that “Nowadays anyone can lift spirits, but then they have no idea how to send them back”.

EDIT: Oh and I forgot! Kola Samish people believe they are descendants of a Deerman, who was half-deer, half-man (deertaur basically). A human woman, who slept with the Deerman, gave birth to Kola Samish people from this union. The folklore tells that Deerman’s mother was a powerful witch, who could take a form of a deer. Kola Samish people have also folklores of raven and seal, who both marry a human woman. Where the Deerman taught the humanity how to hunt and thus represented forest, Raven was the symbol of air and Seal the symbol of water.