The Kalevala | Page 4

hailstones of iron. Usually, however,
Ukko prefers to encourage a spirit of independence among his worshipers. Often we find
him, in the runes, refusing to heed the call of his people for help, as when Ilmatar, the
daughter of the air, vainly invoked him to her aid, that Wainamoinen, already seven
hundred years unborn, might be delivered. So also Wainamoinen beseeches Ukko in vain
to check the crimson streamlet flowing from his knee wounded by an axe in the hands of
Hisi. Ukko, however, with all his power, is by no means superior to the Sun, Moon, and
other bodies dwelling in the heavens; they are uninfluenced by him, and are considered
deities in their own right. Thus, Paeivae means both sun and sun-god; Kun means moon
and moon-god; and Taehti and Ottava designate the Polar-star and the Great Bear
respectively, as well as the deities of these bodies.
The Sun and the Moon have each a consort, and sons, and daughters. Two sons only of
Paeivae appear in The Kalevala, one comes to aid Wainamoinen in his efforts to destroy
the mystic Fire-fish, by throwing from the heavens to the girdle of the hero, a "magic
knife, silver-edged, and golden-handled;" the other son, Panu, the Fire-child, brings back
to Kalevala the fire that bad been stolen by Louhi, the wicked hostess of Pohyola. From
this myth Castren argues that the ancient Finns regarded fire as a direct emanation from
the Sun. The daughters of the Sun, Moon, Great Bear, Polar-star, and of the other
heavenly dignitaries, are represented as ever-young and beautiful maidens, sometimes
seated on the bending branches of the forest-trees, sometimes on the crimson rims of the
clouds, sometimes on the rainbow, sometimes on the dome of heaven. These daughters
are believed to be skilled to perfection in the arts of spinning and weaving,

accomplishments probably attributed to them from the fanciful likeness of the rays of
light to the warp of the weaver's web.
The Sun's career of usefulness and beneficence in bringing light and life to Northland is
seldom varied. Occasionally he steps from his accustomed path to give important
information to his suffering worshipers. For example, when the Star and the Moon refuse
the information, the Sun tells the Virgin Mariatta, where her golden infant lies bidden.
"Yonder is thy golden infant,
There thy holy babe lies sleeping,
Hidden to his belt in
water,
Hidden in the reeds and rushes."
Again when the devoted mother of the reckless hero, Lemminkainen, (chopped to pieces

by the Sons Of Nana, as in the myth of Osiris) was raking together the fragments of his
body from the river of Tuoui, and fearing that the sprites of the Death-stream might
resent her intrusion, the Sun, in answer to her entreaties, throws his Powerful rays upon
the dreaded Shades, and sinks them into a deep sleep, while the mother gathers up the
fragments of her son's body in safety. This rune of the Kalevala is particularly interesting
as showing the belief that the dead can be restored to life through the blissful light of
heaven.
Among the other deities of the air are the Luonnotars, mystic maidens, three of whom
were created by the rubbing of Ukko's hands upon his left knee. They forthwith walk the
crimson borders of the clouds, and one sprinkles white milk, one sprinkles red milk, and
the third sprinkles black milk over the hills and mountains; thus they become the
"mothers of iron," as related in the ninth rune of The Kalevala. In the highest regions of
the heavens, Untar, or Undutar, has her abode, and presides over mists and fogs. These
she passes through a silver sieve before sending them to the earth. There are also
goddesses of the winds, one especially noteworthy, Suvetar (suve, south, summer), the
goddess of the south-wind. She is represented as a kind-hearted deity, healing her sick
and afflicted followers with honey, which she lets drop from the clouds, and she also
keeps watch over the herds grazing in the fields and forests.
Second only to air, water is
the element held most in reverence by the Finns and their kindred tribes. "It could hardly
be otherwise," says Castren, "for as soon as the soul of the savage began to suspect that
the godlike is spiritual, super-sensual, then, even though he continues to pay reverence to
matter, he in general values it the more highly the less compact it is. He sees on the one
hand how easy it is to lose his life on the surging waves, and on the other, he sees that
from these same waters he is nurtured, and his life prolonged." Thus it is that the map of
Finland is to this day full of names like Pyhojarvi (sacred lake) and Pyhajoki (sacred
river). Some of the Finlanders still