I can't describe how much I respect a foreigner like you coming here and figuring more of our culture than 95% of Finns actually living here. Congrats, you are a legend. Keep up the good work, my northern brother.
Sad at the same time, but still true and gives you hope though. Wish more people would have an interest in their roots, their culture and roots and culture in general, no matter whose roots and culture they are... Humanity and its different manifestations have created so much, things so incredibly interesting that words escape me, but unfortunately most people like to forget all this in favour of consumerism and an easy modern life without any depth or meaning. This channel is one of those that keep our ancient wisdom and quest for knowledge alive 👍
@@eljasworldofwonder3189 just found this video and i’ve been trying to find english translations of writings and records about Finnish folklore and history for a personal project, but it’s a struggle. if you have any suggestions please let me know, i’ll greatly appreciate it
Nah, the *real* reason why Finns weren't accepted on boats is because they'd end up having such a good time drinking that no one would be in condition to operate the boat. This tradition has survived to modern day as "Ruotsinristeily".
Being half-unconscious never stops a real sailor from doing his job. One time, my dad carried the chief engineer from his bunk, placed him on a chair and placed welding equipment in his hands. He fixed it perfectly with a ruler-straight weld. Being half-unconscious never stops a sailor from doing his job. Its just the part about walking without falling down.
I sense this as an joke. Finnic drinking culture is based on modern ages when they were ripped off their roots (history is written by victors: Swedes in this sense). They teach on primary school that finnic people were stoneage savages and swedes brought high culture to Finland... Obviously that is not true
I was told the Finn’s had such strong magic that the Vikings feared them. Finland was a really strange land to them because of the forest and the beast that roamed the forest. I was told later Vikings started using Finn’s at least one on their ships because they were good luck.
Finns had witches or shamans, usually male. Unlike Sami they more likely used ”kantele” rather than drum in their shamanistic rituals. I could go on and on about this. When settlements became more prominent, spells were used by everyone to protect their cattle and crops. And of course steal happiness from the neighbours. This went on until christianity swept through. About viking times: There is a story that Vikings went to get the good weather from Tikkurila, as it was big trading port that you reached through Tikkurila river, which back in the day was actually size of a river not muddy buddle like nowadays.
@@TheCrazyFinn Mutkun eihän suomessa oo viikinkejä koskaan ollukkaan🥱😂😂 joko niitä on ollu ihan suomalaisiakin viikinkejä tai ne on saanu täälä turpaansa ja karkuun mennessä si nopeeta haudannu kaverinsa rannikolle samalla kun menee veneelleen takasin. Emmätiä 😂
When my grandma was a child (1920s) there was still a witch (noita - shaman, kind of) in her village. She was a Christian, but she believed to the end this person had powers not from this world. She used to tell of this person (I don't know If he or she) but I only remember snippets. She was shaken even 60+ years later.
There are stories of a sage that used to live in my hometown in 1900s. For example one story tells that one of the local men had been felling trees and putting them on horse carriage near the sages house but when he tried to leave the horse wouldn't move. The man went to the sage and told him that the horse wouldn't move. The sage then said something along the lines of "Sorry, I forgot the brake on" and went to a stick that was laid on the ground, turned it and told the man to get on his way. He went to his horse and surprisingly it started moving. There were more stories like this in a book about the area but I can't remember the others from the top of my head. I'm not 100% sure if I told the story above exactly right either but the main point of the story is there
If your interested in looking into Finnish-Viking relations you should look into the affect that the Finns and Sami had on the Swedish Vikings, it gives a very good explanation to why Swedish are so different in traditions that the other Norse cultures while still retaining a baseline of the Norse Pagan Concept.
@@carisballing no link for anything very detailed off the top of my head but it’s frequently brought up. I first heard about it when it was brought up in a History Matters video on the Viking age. I’m sure it shouldn’t take much of a google search to track it down though.
Interesting to read: Mikko Moilanen, Viikikinkimiekat Suomessa. There was so many skilfull blakcsmiths in this region of northern europe during those days.
There are some good books about the Finnish mythology. Made by serious university scientists. At least they can be found in the Finnish language :D However, it's very unfortunate how much is lost because of the modern religions.
@@joniuusitalo5609 Uuno Harva: Suomalaisten muinaisusko, Matti Haavio: Suomalainen mytologia, Samuli Paulaharju: lukuisat kansaperinnettä käsittelevät teokset ympäri Suomea. Siinä joitakin klassikoita.
When I was a young boy an old man living next door taught me how to summon wind: When in a boat on a lake you need to whistle three times. The whistles need to be drawn out, start low and get louder in the end. Do this and the wind will pick up, guaranteed 😉
Another thing that was taught to me, and this is an important one: If you catch a fish you need to gut it and give the remaining guttins (perkeet) back to the lake. Either place them on a stone near the shore or throw them off a pier. If you fail to do this the lake might deny you further catchs, break your fishtraps or even sink your boat. So this is serious stuff.
@@matkahenkilo8554 Another fishing related "ritual" is to say "ahti suo antimia" and then you spit on the water, that is supposed to bring luck while fishing.
I'm new to your channel; this is the first video of yours I'm seeing. Ten minutes in and I'm hooked. This is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for to help me on my way to a little voyage of self discovery, since finding out I have some Finnish blood (and Irish too). Wonderful work, thanks so much.
Nice video once again! Would love to see a video of sacred trees or woods as in "pyhät puut". I remember Luonto Lehti or maybe Suomen Luonto did an amazing article on the matter. Keep it coming, and greeting from Lapland!
My grandmother thaught me that the rowan tree is sacred and if you plant it beside your house it will protect you and your family. And I planted a rowan on my yard when I moved to my house. As an adult I also read many books written by Kaari Utrio. She writes about finnish history in her novels and non-fiction books and they are absolutely fantastic. Especially one book tells about a finnish girl who manipulates air and fog its called Vaskilintu (The Bronze Bird) and can be found in english too. Absolutely brilliant book.
@@mantailuaa Have you some idea where any of Utrio's books could be found in English? I haven't been able to find although I've tried. Only German translations :(
@@aaronstavern I moved here from the States. As a wanna-be anthropologist deep diving into Sámi and Finnish folklore has made me feel like I came home.
Snake cult, maybe not a cult, but it was common to keep non poisonous snakes as kind of pets, luck bringers and holy animals. They did also eat rodents, so... Grass snake, Natrix natrix, is the species of snake. Also in Finnish mythology snakes and snake like creatures (like basilisks/dragons) aren't evil like in Christian mythology.
The three knots story I have found in folklore from northern Norway, which is much more recent (well, the story/practice may be really old, but it was collected fairly recently in the 19th century or so). When the Norse speak of Finns, they basically always mean (the ancestors of today's) Sami. The ancestors of today's Finns they called Kvens or Karelians or Chudes, but of course they knew those people were all related in language with each other and also (somewhat) with the Sami. They did respect Finnish/Sami magic, and considered it more powerful than their own - but the Sami at least reflected that sentiment, and thought the Norwegians had more powerful magic than them. There was, and is, no sharp boundary between Norse superstition/magic practices and Sami ones. It's funny to read accounts of foreigners visiting northern Norway, and say things like "We met a Sami guy, and a Norwegian witch doctor" - the Norwegian witch doctor was Johan Kaaven, a famous figure.
My mom was Finnish and although she was one of the sweetest people to ever walk this earth: Sisu is an absolute power. Also, on a Holliday we spent there, a Finnish young-man came up to me and told me he could see exactly where I was hurting. This was on a night out. He pointed to my neck and between my shoulder-blades which are indeed areas that have been giving me grief. He asked if I would allow him to help me and I said “ok?” 😳 I don’t know what exactly he did but it was a combination of on the spot chiropractics and energy healing right there on the street. Next days all my pain was gone, I felt physically AND mentally charged and as if all my burdens were removed and I could BREATH emotionally again. I’m certain it’s not just Fins, but to me, Some Fins do truly have something magical within.
It happens that the media in Sweden asks someone from the Sami family Sarri from Nikkaluokta about how the weather will be in the summer. It is known that they can predict weather.
In Finland during summers the morning shows sometimes show some old pagan dude predicting the following summer's weather. Will it be cold or hot? Ask the fish. You can tell it by looking at the fins of a perch.
@@aaronstavern My father had pain in his leg before rain, my mother and I have headache and and a feeling of restlessness before thunder. It helps by "grounding" the electricity. Walking bare feet on grass, or taking a shower, or even touching a faucet or unpainted water pipe, like radiator. I have been told some of my ancestors were famous witches and healers, or the most famous or something, but i know nothing more. I should ask someone older.
Yeah, the headache is real. Sometimes you want to yell at the sky to "start already, perkele", When you have suffered the headache all day, and the clouds are there, but the thunder and rain just doesn't start.
13th century De proprietatibus rerum (Bartholomeus Anglicus) chapter 174 Of Winlandia (also in Medieval Lore: An Epitome of the Science, Geography, Animal and Plant Folk-lore and Myth of the ... pg 82) has a short chapter on finns selling wind to sailors.
@@SilverGamingFI I think you could sail from Itämeri to Savonia through Saimaa, basically from modern day Viipuri, through Finnish Karelian lands to Savonia
i really like your videos and its nice to have you here education, well probably informate irish people about our country and we try to make you as welcome as we can and hope you consider this as your home away from home.
Toni, kiitos paljon, I love this countries history and folkore and its been a pleasure to dig into it and learn about it! I feel very very at home here and glad to call it my home away from home ✊🏻🇫🇮🇮🇪
@@aaronstavern just finland. dont go crazy! its just us finns. we swedis and nors just joking we love and proteck them. 1 to 0 ! there probably not goin to be sweden tomorrow morning!
I don't know about magic, but the Finns I've always thought to be incredible craftsmen. The traditional clothing is something to behold, but after watching a video of a Finnish man making a traditional puukko knife by the old methods i dont think there's a more beautiful object on earth. The combination of simplicity and intricacy, functionality and beauty is truly inspiring.
Thx for digging the history objectively, dude. I'd love to buy you some Kilkenny and listen to stories also from Ireland, because, even though I lived there for 15 months, I never actually got to know to any local people.
Too bad that witchcraft was criminalised in Finland 1734 :) The court cases of 18th century are hilarious to read. - BTW, there is at least one quite interesting study called *Fibula, Fabula, Fact - The Viking Age in Finland* by Ahola, Frog, Tolley. Obviously there was also a lot of co-operation between so-called Vikings and some tribes in Finland.
A subscriber to my channel was so kind and actually sent me a copy of this exact book! 💯 going through it slowly and carefully at the moment, fantastic book though
Great book but when I read that finns have no more claim to the viking age then any other non norse country it made wonder if ahola,frog,ahold,, Tolley had read thier own book.
Well, Finns - or more accurately I guess Balto-Fennics (itämerensuomalaiset) - were still close to hunter-gatherers whereas the Scandinavians were much more settled agriculturalists (though it was not so clear cut on the ground). But our shamanistic folkways probably did seem quite a bit like really strange witchcraft to them. This I think is reflected in the sagas though it is not clear which Finno-Ugric tribes were described, Finns, Karelians, Estonians or the Sami etc.
Actually, the Finns Proper, Tavastians, Karelians and Estonians were just as agricultural as Scandinavians at this point. the main difference was probably in the numbers and thus i the level of centralation of power (i.e. state building). I do not think Vikings were afraid of Finns, there must have been raiding both ways but mostly trade was pretty peaceful. There is plenty of evidence of that. There were definitely times when Finns were taxed by the Swedes probably as a result of some raid but also evidence that this taxation was unilaterally ended. Also there were probably alliances between Finns and Sveas.
Viking time was a part of the iron age. Agriculture was the norm back then. To talk about hunter-gatherers is to talk about a much, much earlier epoch.
It's a very common misconception to assume that people who lived in the area now known as Finland would have been hunter-gatherers, while people to the west of the Baltic Sea would have had agriculture. You really have to think about that a bit and ask yourself why you have that conviction. It's a short way from Sweden to Finland, and there has always been contact over the seas, so why would these two areas have developed in such a different pace? They didn't. Agriculture came to Finland around 7000 years ago, so way before the Viking age. Buckwheat is the oldest known crop that has been grown in Finland, and it came from the east. Fishing and hunting was still the main source of food back then of course, but during the iron age (around 500 AD - 1200 AD) there was already significant crop cultivation in what was later to become Finland. It is also incorrect to assume that there was no shaman-like spirituality in the old Norse religion. There was, and it seems that certain mythical stories have influenced early beliefs in Finland too. As I said, there has been contact and exchange for a long time. People were not as isolated as you might think.
Finds and research indicate that Finns in the Viking Age had similar martial arts and weapons as the Vikings, but what distinguished them was the language. This may be one reason why Finns did not take part in Viking expeditions.
@@Alex-yz6uq Yes, some Finns were part of the fighting force known as the "Vikings. They were raiders and etchnically nordic, mostly Swedish and Norwegian at the time. Some Finns took part of the raids as mercenaries.
@@Alex-yz6uq Vikings are not an ethnic group, they were a nordic fighting force. For instance at the time the swedish or norwegian farmers were not vikings either.
@@MultipolarBear485 They were though. Scandinavian peasants Who took to plundering. That's what vikings were. Finnish people themselves did not fight along The vikings. Maybe some on The swedish vikings expedition to The east, definetly not west
I heard about speculation of the nordic co-operation starting with a raping, looting and killing journey to Middle Europe. There were ships from Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Apparently there were also wind raisers from Finland. Which really is the most important job if you think about it. I mean, how else you're going to get to Middle Europe? You could row, of course. But who wants to row when you can sail? I think the vikings would have just stayed at home if there weren't Finns onboard to make the wind.
Vikings did settle along the coastline for the purpose of securing trade routes to the east. I cant remember the exact source but remember that the two oldest cityes in finland was founded by vikings. Turku and Porvoo
Check out Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, specifically chapter six, for some stories told by 19th century sailors about Finns controlling the weather.
Väki has lots of translations. People is the most obvious one, then there are words that derive from it: väkivalta (violence), väkevä (strong in practically every connotation) to name a couple. Also, reading the Mythologia Fennica from the 1700’s by Ganander, it suggests that Finland was known as Jotunheim (as in a place on Yggdrasil) and Finns as Jotun - giants. Probably to do with the sorcery.
It is true, that in time off sailing ships, Finnish sailors were not always welcome to ships. If they were treated bad, they could use witchcraft to control winds, Richard Henry Dana wrote about thing in he`s book. He was educated man who because of health issues took job as low class sailor. He`s college was once worried if one in crew was Finnish. Because they can control the winds, They were relief, that he was not Finnish. By the way, Dana is maybe the only person who wrote about the life of sailors IN PERSON.
You are doing a very good job! You could make videos about the german troops and their presence here in Oulu durring the war, the toppila harbour was important to suply the German troops in northern Finland.
That väki is nice word... it means nowadays also a punch of people, you could say "täällä on paljon väkeä" meaning "here there's lots of people". But also it used as prefix when it means something like 'forced power', for example 'väkivalta' means violence ('valta' = power). In Finnish we have this phrase 'väellä ja voimalla' meaning 'with väki and power', meaning that something is done very intensively by big amount of people. Original meaning is most likely the 'elements', though it's quite possible it has meant folk from the beginning, just not human folk but the 'small folk'. There are veden väki ('folk of water'), metsän väki ('folk of forest'), väki for different waters (lakes, rivers, rapids) and so on... there was practically some entity included with everything in the nature, and later some of them moved to houses, saunas and other places along with the people. It tells something about Finnic culture, that this väki folk was not to piss off, or you were in deep s**t. And metsän väki (forest folk) gets angry for example if you get scared in the forest or if you fell there. If the forest folk gets really angry to you it might capture you and keep you 'beneath the forest', under the spell. This mesmerized trap is called 'metsänpeitto', which translates to 'forest blanket'.
When it comes to spellcasting, Väinämöinen, a central figure in Kalevala was basically an elementalist wizard or a shaman. So Finnish mythos certainly contains beliefs of control of elements by magic.
Ukko is the Finnish god of thunderstorms, lightening, rain and weather and harvest. Ukko's version of Mjolner was either a hammer or an ax. Ukko was also protector of people and places.
I think that it must have been Saami people of lapland. Since even people who lived in southern parts of Finland had beliefs of Saami ¨witches¨ One good example of this is one child's cartoon that is played in cristhmas called Noita Rumpu (witch drum)
You should check out Pain Confessor - Lake of Regret (Katumajärvi) where people washed away their Christianity when Swedish people forced us to turn christianity at about 1100-1200 time period.
@@aaronstavern Told ya - yea some of them would have washed it away. Nice video. It is always curious to see what short of similarities one will see in them when they look at our history a bit from outside. Made me think about the origin of Finnish language and the movement of people during the era of Eastern hunter-gatherers moving. As the times go kinda near with leaving those areas about the same time (obvious these time spans are like over 20K years so it's not perfectly accurate) but say some people went over to Americas crossing a land bridge, some started to move west through Siberia, Ural.... And then we have these short of similarities in far away cultures. Like concept of chi or equivalent and you pair this up with those. But it is at least true that all set 'elements' are told to have had their own väki - as well as all those things from trees, rocks and so on to even people... only. Now you can also find connections to concept of an 'elf' from the idea of 'spirit' (or itse) and then getting to the concept of a soul. Or the idea I read somewhere that the löyly - casting the water on the heated rocks of the sauna would have had the meaning or how to say been a kind of way of respecting how Jumala (pre-Christian) would have combined the spirit or itse or soul into the body of a human. Thus giving this life force to the people. But alas the source for that particular explanation is something I would question a bit, because they were not considered as big of an expert on our history. Not that they may not be right, but apparently the book in question called 'Finnish Magic' had also some little bit too fantastical assumptions. But as you are interested in stories. You should be able to find it - and yea it is a book in English. How ever I'll return a bit back to why I took the elves here. You see there are two periods that likely are linked in a way the shamanistic era and then medieval, when there still were these creatures supposedly well in the mythology. Say the spirit or the being much like a gnome living in the stove, stables or other such locations - called tonttu in Finn. And the funny fact that to me some of the Europes older stories about elves are so darn similar with this shamanistic concept of all things having it's 'spirit' or force or life force. So basically that is to me the origin, generally speaking to the whole idea of an elf for example. Those beings that would have been believed to be the force within a tree or some other equivalent thing. Additionally how darn fascinating it is to note that if that story you told about someone eating the Deer brain is perhaps true that it existed - then on some level it implies that people who believed or told this story would have had to somehow realize that the mind is in the head. Meaning that it is not the heart that 'holds the soul', or which ever way you wish to say it. The point being that what did the medieval people think brain was for - to make the slime that would run down your nose? Well I read that too somewhere, joke or not. But my point is that somehow, somewhere some knowledge has been stumbled on and then again forgotten, perhaps in the mist of legends anyhow, till modern medicine. After all it may not be so obvious if heart is which reacts to being scared and so on notably that one would know what parts inside us are for what purpose without actual research and knowledge. And yet - then if you ate the brain specifically of a deer... it's 'ghost' start to bother you.
Finnish word VÄKI can be translated as power, force, helpers from underworld. Väkivalta means violent force. Man ore woman who had Väki was frightening person because his friendship with underworld creatures (väki) he can call for help.
Once i read about all kinds of conflicts came to mind that this would be a fantastic idea for a movie: For example the Hämäläiset went on a raid against Karelians or Novgorodians and lost the battle and only few survived. Imagine that adventure back to Häme homelands from hundreds of kilometers away after beaten in a battle in the scary forests ;)
I remember hearing a story of vikings thinking finns were actually trolls😂😂 that's a hilarious thing since i can just imagine a viking crew landing on the shores of finland and seeing a group of finnish hunters in animal skins or something with messy hair and immediately thinking them to be trolls.
Have you heard of "Lappalaiset" in Savonia. They lived like Sami people but if I remember correctly they were not quite Sami people. I wish I knew more about this.
@@aaronstavern Lappalainen is a word that may or may not have originally mean the Sami people. At least nowadays you should NOT call Sami people Lappalainen. My understanding is that the word has described more the way of living than ethnicity. Lappalainen has been a person living in a remote place and more from hunting&gathering than farming. It makes sense that they would have been the last one's to have the old religions and the "witchcraft".
@@VK-vm4xe Lappalainen = Finnish surname. Lappilainen = Finnish person living in Lapland. Lappi is Finnish for Lapland and lainen is basicly "from somewhere" from Lapland.
@@VK-vm4xe yeah, lappi comes from either Swedish word lapp patch or lape which means remote place. Sami people were called Lappalainen or to be more precise Sami people were called as lappalaisiksi as Lappalainen is one person and the latter is plural. Lappilainen was non Sami people. Nowadays never call someone Lappalainen unless that's their surname Sami or not. Eventhough in Finnish it rolls from your tongue much more nicely than lappilainen.
Interesting stuff. A couple of comments. A lot of the references in sagas etc. to "Finns" come from quite obviously more Norwegian/Western-Norse sources (rather than, say, Mälaren-level coastal Swedish/Eastern-Norse), and many explicitly describe sailing routes up the Norwegian coast all the way as far as the Kola peninsula - e.g., those that are in any way related to "Bjarmaland" and its definitely Finnic, but very likely NOT *Finnish* inhabitants (the Finnic-language cognates resemble something like "perm-", a word that might have meant "trader" or similar, and some more eastern Finnic tribes have been called "Permic" at various times). From recent research (check out esp. Ante Aikio's essay on Sámi's ethnolinguist prehistory), we know that by the Viking Age, particularly the whole Northern Fennoscandia was already widely populated by Sámi-speaking people. The spread of Proto-Sámi and its descendant languages was relatively recent, and they likely integrated people from existing Laplandic people as well. This fairly quick spread of the Sámi linguistic-cultural complex may have been instigated by the Sámi's role in the increasing procurement and sale of fur by attachment to large trade networks through the Scandinavians and perhaps at some stage also the more eastern river routes extending from Bjarmaland southwards all the way to Baghdad etc. So, in short: If we're talking about the Viking age, and the further away we are from the South-Western and Southern parts and coasts of modern Finland, any "Finns" described by Vikings would very much more likely have been Sámi or "Sámi-adjacent" rather than the so-called Baltic Finns (itämerensuomalaiset, our linguistic ancestors, and those of the Estonians, too) who started crossing over the Bay of Finland from modern Northern Estonia and occupying said parts of Finland starting in earnest yet slowly maybe as late as around 0 AD, representing only just the last of the more significant waves of inhabitants here - of the ones still around, I think there's pretty wide agreement that there was pre-existing coastal inhabitation by Germanic-related people at that point, and of course the relatively scarce Sámi-related occupation deeper inland and north. The language connection between the SW/Southern Finnish side and the North-Estonian side started breaking maybe only around 500 AD or so. Already prior to that, at least Valter Lang (see his Homo Fennicus, 2021) hypothesizes that the Baltic Finns probably spent up to around a 1000 years around the Northern Baltic coast (which they had reached moving up north following the river Väinä/Dvina), interacting heavily with both early Balts and later Scandinavians/Germanics too, converging with them culturally a lot as well. Btw, the recent Levänluhta genetic findings point to interesting times on Finland's west coast around the early Viking period or so, involving (if I recall correctly) individuals with intriguing genes of broadly North-Western European/Scandinavian heritage to something quite Baltic-Scandinavian looking (ie. pretty much resembling the current Finnish mix at least outside of the small but very distinct ~5% of the exotic Siberian ancestry we have) as well as an individual most resembling modern Sámi though kind of "less Finnish" and with an odd amount of similarity to much more ancient genetic findings near the Kola peninsula (Bolshoy Oleni Ostrov), which share a lot with modern Sámi but are quite distinct from them as well (and linguistically too early for Sámic or Uralic even) - maybe supporting two distinct hypotheses of, first, modern Finns carrying some admixture from the more southern Sámi (or even of more ancient people, e.g. "Paleo-Lakelandic") via eg. integration or maybe wholesale adoption of the more territorially efficient Finnish lifestyle by many Sámi, and second, the Proto-Sámi admixing with distinct "Paleo-Laplandic" or similar existing peoples, which shows up in the modern, more northern-influenced Sámi genome as well.
It was no coincidence that the native, and very rare now, martial art, Klima, was related to weather, as the highest practitioners, the vitki, of this art, could strategically change the weather and, when Mongols were considering moving NW of already conquered Moscovy, they intensified the winter to stop the horsemen.
My feeling is that a practical warrior of the era would believe magic was real and be wary of magic users, without necessarily deeply fearing them. Swords and spears still work.
Like your videos since you moved here to Finland. It has been pleasure too see your experience. But wtf is that last part? Buy me a coffee? You are in Finland! You probably drink coffee allready every day? Or is it just a way to say "Support monetarily"? If it is just say it like a true Fin..."If you want to support this content monetarily here is the link". Cheers and thanks for the nice videos :)
It is to my knowledge that the Sámi were referred to as “Finnr” in Old Norse and the people of Finland at the time were called “Kvenr.” Therefore, the majority of magic-related things mentioned about the Finns by the Norse people were most likely related to the Sámi.
The Finnish folk band "Loituma" I think was their name, has some unique singing and they often have these harmless songs. But once, I heard one of their songs where they used such voice of "magical forest fury" with their voice. That voice, sounded like something an all-around strong forest shaman warrior would sing when people would come to our homeland with axes and swords, telling them things like "believe in Jesus, talk like us, give us your lands, submit! or die!." Even though I am one of the most fierce finns out there in spirit at least, even I got real chills from hearing that song. They cursed the invaders like the lowest pits of devils of hells, showing them the finnish magical warrior spirit in full force. And that's not something even I think I might not handle 100%. A foreigner hearing that song even in youtube, let alone live, would probably be a very traumatic war experience, leaveing heavy PTSD if you think us as enemies that should be submitted. But for us it can be the kind of war cry that makes our people take several bullets in vital places and still run at the enemy with no second thought, just single-minded focus of "I face this, I do this one." There is power in removing all vain things.
It can be in todays northern parts of Norway or Sweden(Fun to look at certain gene maps today and see that only the center of sweden has the same high % as Finland and Estonia. You can draw conclusion from it but we can never know for sure because as always the history is usually written from a perspective of the writer, rarely a neutral stance to the matter). Could also be in the parts that Russia occupies today, like might feel strange for someone affected by the gulf stream to go into areas affected by the deserts. Already for me living on the SW coast of Finland it feels strange how different the winter is in the eastern parts. Then take someone from southern Sweden sailing to the areas of today's St. Petersburg and it can seem strange. Could have been vikings going along the todays Norway's coast used to the open waters and suddenly hitting the waters not kept open by the gulf stream during winter. Like they did visit many areas within today's Russia back then belonging to finnic related tribes so. Then assuming its the Saami could be true but thats mostly because they are still sticking hard to their culture while we have sort of lost touch with our roots so it creates a picture that they are more "shamanic"(they are getting westernized too but still less than us). We have been civilisized by the church so the ones wanting to stick to the old ways got the "chopchop" rehabilitation(The true love of god the one that sacrificed his son but couldn't accept competition). I assume its an area where the weather changes from gulf stream affected area to the desert affected area. That would in my eyes make em use their imagination to explain it or then we really are spellcasters but we forgot how to cast em when no one remembers the way to hogwarts anymore. Edit: Now thinking about it a raiding party would probably hit before winter when the storages are full and we do have more chaotic storms in the eastern parts. They have like every year tree felling storms causing damage, while we only have em now and then plus the trees falling are because of our way of handling the forests(who would have guessed a tree that has grown with other trees around it wouldn't have deep enough roots to stand alone).
@@Redlurk3 The book begins in the city of Turku and follows Mikael along an adventure throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. The book depicts many actual historical events with a rich style, although Mikael's involvement in the events is fictitious. The historical events and milieu featured in the book include: Denmark's conquest of Sweden, the Stockholm Bloodbath and eventually the downfall of king Christian II of Denmark. Student life at the Sorbonne in Paris at this time. Protestant reformation and related political unrest in Germany (the Poor Barons' Rebellion and the peasants' war), Luther and Müntzer themselves appearing as side characters. Spanish monarch sending conquistadors to New World, Mikael almost made to join Pizarro's expedition. A witch-hunt conducted by the Inquisition in a small German town, claiming the life of an innocent girl. Wars in 16th-century Europe and expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Plundering of Rome (Sack of Rome) during reign of Pope Clement VII The story is continued in The Wanderer, where the protagonist explores the Ottoman Empire.
@@Chiwula This sounds excellent! I Had The Wanderer recommended to me after discussing a book called Journeyer by Gary Jennings. It's a telling of Marco polos journeys told by Marco Polo himself as he travels through the far east and back to Venice. Very good historical fiction . Be Warned tho Jennings goes into graphic detail involving some really bizzare sexual situations.
That was then. Modern Finns seem to be a mixture of all the above, I was born in Helsinki, on my father's side I am largely a Swede, mother's mother was Irish, the rest Finns maybe some Russians thrown in that I don't know of, but they, like Irish were partly Viking anyway. Here I live in Los Angeles and nobody is afraid to take me on their boat as I can teach them how to sail.
Here's something that kind of throws a wrench in this (and correct me if I'm wrong); I'm pretty sure that at one point in time (hundreds of years ago now) the Sámi were called Finns by outsiders
dark and cold seems to match finland, especially if you acces finland by the sea. it is at the very rim of the arctic sircle. Also "Väki" mean just people. for example "Veiolan mäen väki tappo naapurisa" the "veioolan mäen väki"tappo naapurisa. ~means~ "the people of veilloan's hillside" killed their neighbours.
I dunno about vikings being afraid of Finns... From what I've heard the Finns had an alaming system across the coast. When somebody (a guard I suppose) spotted an unknown ship, they lit up a bonfire at the beach. Then the next bonfire was lit both sides and that triggered another set of fires etc. Vikings were unable to sneak attack the beach villages which was their main tactic elsewhere. Hence they landed peacifully to do the trading, etc.
at the start where u said that vikibgs believed that Finnish people could manipulate the weather they weren't the only as even during the 2nd world war Russian soldiers believed that the nature was fighting in Finland's side
@@aaronstavern well I'm not 100% sure but I've read this in multiple different sources some even stating names of Russian soldiers who admitted this and something that makes me believe this even more is that this fact raised my history grade from 9 to 10
Lots of Vikings came to Finland. Many are still here, buried where they fell. Most of the high quality Viking swords have been found in Finland and lots of other weaponry too. There used to be lots of Viking era runestones too. But during Swedish rule one of the kings ordered them all taken away to Sweden where they now decorate old castle gardens etc. This stolen history should really be returned back to Finland.
Never heard of the runestones, if I'm correct we didn't really use the runic system and this sounds a bit like a conspiracy theory. But you're right about the swords, only Norway has had more viking sword finds if I'm correct!
My weird old religion teacher summoned a storm to an F1 powerboat race in 2008 cuz she was concerned about the fish in the lake. And that's a true story
The only thing I found when searching about the era of the vikings in Finland, was that Finland had these big guys as protectors against the vikings. They would stop vikings from entering Finland and getting anywhere near their families and homes.
The quite simply reason it was unlucky to have an Finn crew member on board was that their work ethic showed up the slackers in a bad light & the Finns would replace them
Want to help me out making videos? click here: ua-cam.com/channels/FsUSUN1wbrFcw5KRWNtw1A.htmljoin
I can't describe how much I respect a foreigner like you coming here and figuring more of our culture than 95% of Finns actually living here. Congrats, you are a legend. Keep up the good work, my northern brother.
Wow! Such kind words! Cheers dude! 🤟🏻🤟🏻
@@aaronstavern You are very welcome :) Hope you're having a nice morning.
Sad at the same time, but still true and gives you hope though. Wish more people would have an interest in their roots, their culture and roots and culture in general, no matter whose roots and culture they are... Humanity and its different manifestations have created so much, things so incredibly interesting that words escape me, but unfortunately most people like to forget all this in favour of consumerism and an easy modern life without any depth or meaning.
This channel is one of those that keep our ancient wisdom and quest for knowledge alive 👍
@@eljasworldofwonder3189 just found this video and i’ve been trying to find english translations of writings and records about Finnish folklore and history for a personal project, but it’s a struggle. if you have any suggestions please let me know, i’ll greatly appreciate it
Nah, the *real* reason why Finns weren't accepted on boats is because they'd end up having such a good time drinking that no one would be in condition to operate the boat.
This tradition has survived to modern day as "Ruotsinristeily".
Being half-unconscious never stops a real sailor from doing his job. One time, my dad carried the chief engineer from his bunk, placed him on a chair and placed welding equipment in his hands. He fixed it perfectly with a ruler-straight weld.
Being half-unconscious never stops a sailor from doing his job. Its just the part about walking without falling down.
On the same principle, e.g. Russians could not be taken on board :p Or Irish.
Hehe.
They are also known for extracurricular activities AKA "porauslautta" - drilling platform - as in you know... "biohydraulics"
I sense this as an joke. Finnic drinking culture is based on modern ages when they were ripped off their roots (history is written by victors: Swedes in this sense). They teach on primary school that finnic people were stoneage savages and swedes brought high culture to Finland... Obviously that is not true
I was told the Finn’s had such strong magic that the Vikings feared them. Finland was a really strange land to them because of the forest and the beast that roamed the forest. I was told later Vikings started using Finn’s at least one on their ships because they were good luck.
HahaHA!! That sounds about right to me!
i just screamed YAAARRRRRR and RAAA! from the forest, and they got scared and go back to norway, they were wise guys back then.
The forest and the beast in scandinavia and in Finland are the same.
Finns had witches or shamans, usually male. Unlike Sami they more likely used ”kantele” rather than drum in their shamanistic rituals. I could go on and on about this. When settlements became more prominent, spells were used by everyone to protect their cattle and crops. And of course steal happiness from the neighbours. This went on until christianity swept through. About viking times: There is a story that Vikings went to get the good weather from Tikkurila, as it was big trading port that you reached through Tikkurila river, which back in the day was actually size of a river not muddy buddle like nowadays.
Most viking-era swords have been found in Finland. They were in graves.
Jep. Mites se sit selitetään 😂
ne kaikki on löydetty rannikolta nii siitä voi miettiä miks ne on siellä
Viikingit hautasivat kuolleitaan Suomen rannikolle? Jos suomalaiset olisivat nuo viikingit kuopanneet, kai miekat olisi pidetty itsellä? 🤔
@@TheCrazyFinn Mutkun eihän suomessa oo viikinkejä koskaan ollukkaan🥱😂😂 joko niitä on ollu ihan suomalaisiakin viikinkejä tai ne on saanu täälä turpaansa ja karkuun mennessä si nopeeta haudannu kaverinsa rannikolle samalla kun menee veneelleen takasin. Emmätiä 😂
@@braindisorder5043 Hyvin mahdollista. Onhan täällä saattanut jonkinlaista asutustakin olla, ehkä tilapäistä, kauppa- ja rosvousreittien varrella.
As a Finn, I absolutely agree that Finnish women can conjure up mighty storms! 😅🥰
OMG, lol!!
😂😂
When my grandma was a child (1920s) there was still a witch (noita - shaman, kind of) in her village. She was a Christian, but she believed to the end this person had powers not from this world. She used to tell of this person (I don't know If he or she) but I only remember snippets. She was shaken even 60+ years later.
There are stories of a sage that used to live in my hometown in 1900s.
For example one story tells that one of the local men had been felling trees and putting them on horse carriage near the sages house but when he tried to leave the horse wouldn't move.
The man went to the sage and told him that the horse wouldn't move.
The sage then said something along the lines of "Sorry, I forgot the brake on" and went to a stick that was laid on the ground, turned it and told the man to get on his way.
He went to his horse and surprisingly it started moving.
There were more stories like this in a book about the area but I can't remember the others from the top of my head. I'm not 100% sure if I told the story above exactly right either but the main point of the story is there
@@TheJere213 that's hilarious
In Richard Henry Dana's 1840 book titled "Two Years Before the Mast" he writes, "Fins are wizards, and especially have power over winds and storms."
If your interested in looking into Finnish-Viking relations you should look into the affect that the Finns and Sami had on the Swedish Vikings, it gives a very good explanation to why Swedish are so different in traditions that the other Norse cultures while still retaining a baseline of the Norse Pagan Concept.
I would like to know more
@@carisballing no link for anything very detailed off the top of my head but it’s frequently brought up. I first heard about it when it was brought up in a History Matters video on the Viking age. I’m sure it shouldn’t take much of a google search to track it down though.
Interesting to read: Mikko Moilanen, Viikikinkimiekat Suomessa. There was so many skilfull blakcsmiths in this region of northern europe during those days.
👏👏👏👏
@Marcus you talk like a swede😂
There are some good books about the Finnish mythology. Made by serious university scientists. At least they can be found in the Finnish language :D However, it's very unfortunate how much is lost because of the modern religions.
Could you recommend some of those books?
@@joniuusitalo5609 Uuno Harva: Suomalaisten muinaisusko, Matti Haavio: Suomalainen mytologia, Samuli Paulaharju: lukuisat kansaperinnettä käsittelevät teokset ympäri Suomea. Siinä joitakin klassikoita.
Finnish in Ireland here. Interesting and entertaining stories! Keep it coming! Slán!
Being 1/4 Finn I can make wind, but usually I just break it.
And the peasoup is a magic potion that helps greatly.
@@SamiSerola especially if you administrate second catalyst; rye bread.
🤣🤣🤣
When I was a young boy an old man living next door taught me how to summon wind: When in a boat on a lake you need to whistle three times. The whistles need to be drawn out, start low and get louder in the end.
Do this and the wind will pick up, guaranteed 😉
🤣
Another thing that was taught to me, and this is an important one: If you catch a fish you need to gut it and give the remaining guttins (perkeet) back to the lake. Either place them on a stone near the shore or throw them off a pier.
If you fail to do this the lake might deny you further catchs, break your fishtraps or even sink your boat. So this is serious stuff.
@@matkahenkilo8554 Another fishing related "ritual" is to say "ahti suo antimia" and then you spit on the water, that is supposed to bring luck while fishing.
I had forgotten that, but you are correct. There is also a variation where you spit directly on the bait 😀
it works.
Thanks for tagging me with a link to your videos. Very informative and I am looking forward to watching more.
I'm new to your channel; this is the first video of yours I'm seeing. Ten minutes in and I'm hooked. This is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for to help me on my way to a little voyage of self discovery, since finding out I have some Finnish blood (and Irish too). Wonderful work, thanks so much.
Thank you very much!
British, French etc. sailors thought until 19th century, that Finns could have called storm and tame it.
Whistlers
Little known secret,we do control the weather
@@thomasfloyd3146 controlling weather? i wonder why winter war was fought on the coldest winter ? 🤣🤣
@@freezedeve3119 aside from it giving us a tactile advantage we enjoy making so a angel s
They just got ass kicked here. Had to say something why they lose to forrest people. =)
I always enjoy learning more about my family and our homeland.
So happy to find this channel!
Nice video once again! Would love to see a video of sacred trees or woods as in "pyhät puut". I remember Luonto Lehti or maybe Suomen Luonto did an amazing article on the matter. Keep it coming, and greeting from Lapland!
My grandmother thaught me that the rowan tree is sacred and if you plant it beside your house it will protect you and your family. And I planted a rowan on my yard when I moved to my house. As an adult I also read many books written by Kaari Utrio. She writes about finnish history in her novels and non-fiction books and they are absolutely fantastic. Especially one book tells about a finnish girl who manipulates air and fog its called Vaskilintu (The Bronze Bird) and can be found in english too. Absolutely brilliant book.
Ohh thats an interesting topic for sure!
@@mantailuaa Have you some idea where any of Utrio's books could be found in English? I haven't been able to find although I've tried. Only German translations :(
@@77TJS Sorry, no. I read them in finnish.
@@mantailuaa Ok, thanks anyway :)
Recently moved to Finland, stumbled onto your content via TikTok then randomly found you on UA-cam. Fine, I'll subscribe. Love what you do.
I appreciate that! Where are you from?
@@aaronstavern I moved here from the States. As a wanna-be anthropologist deep diving into Sámi and Finnish folklore has made me feel like I came home.
Snake cult, maybe not a cult, but it was common to keep non poisonous snakes as kind of pets, luck bringers and holy animals. They did also eat rodents, so... Grass snake, Natrix natrix, is the species of snake. Also in Finnish mythology snakes and snake like creatures (like basilisks/dragons) aren't evil like in Christian mythology.
The three knots story I have found in folklore from northern Norway, which is much more recent (well, the story/practice may be really old, but it was collected fairly recently in the 19th century or so).
When the Norse speak of Finns, they basically always mean (the ancestors of today's) Sami. The ancestors of today's Finns they called Kvens or Karelians or Chudes, but of course they knew those people were all related in language with each other and also (somewhat) with the Sami.
They did respect Finnish/Sami magic, and considered it more powerful than their own - but the Sami at least reflected that sentiment, and thought the Norwegians had more powerful magic than them. There was, and is, no sharp boundary between Norse superstition/magic practices and Sami ones. It's funny to read accounts of foreigners visiting northern Norway, and say things like "We met a Sami guy, and a Norwegian witch doctor" - the Norwegian witch doctor was Johan Kaaven, a famous figure.
My mom was Finnish and although she was one of the sweetest people to ever walk this earth: Sisu is an absolute power. Also, on a Holliday we spent there, a Finnish young-man came up to me and told me he could see exactly where I was hurting. This was on a night out. He pointed to my neck and between my shoulder-blades which are indeed areas that have been giving me grief. He asked if I would allow him to help me and I said “ok?” 😳
I don’t know what exactly he did but it was a combination of on the spot chiropractics and energy healing right there on the street. Next days all my pain was gone, I felt physically AND mentally charged and as if all my burdens were removed and I could BREATH emotionally again.
I’m certain it’s not just Fins, but to me, Some Fins do truly have something magical within.
It happens that the media in Sweden asks someone from the Sami family Sarri from Nikkaluokta about how the weather will be in the summer.
It is known that they can predict weather.
We have the same thing in america,America, call him punksatani phil the groundhog
In Finland during summers the morning shows sometimes show some old pagan dude predicting the following summer's weather. Will it be cold or hot? Ask the fish. You can tell it by looking at the fins of a perch.
We still control the weather as many of us (including myself) always have a headache before thunder :)
Also true of getting bad knees maybe?
@@aaronstavern My father had pain in his leg before rain, my mother and I have headache and and a feeling of restlessness before thunder.
It helps by "grounding" the electricity. Walking bare feet on grass, or taking a shower, or even touching a faucet or unpainted water pipe, like radiator.
I have been told some of my ancestors were famous witches and healers, or the most famous or something, but i know nothing more. I should ask someone older.
Yeah, the headache is real. Sometimes you want to yell at the sky to "start already, perkele", When you have suffered the headache all day, and the clouds are there, but the thunder and rain just doesn't start.
My wife also! 😁. We have many storms around here.
You can also smell storm, and there is few ways to predict weather. My grandfather could predict what next winter woukd be like by observing nature.
Thanks!
Thank you kindly! 🙏🏻🙏🏻
13th century De proprietatibus rerum (Bartholomeus Anglicus) chapter 174 Of Winlandia (also in Medieval Lore: An Epitome of the Science, Geography, Animal and Plant Folk-lore and Myth of the ... pg 82) has a short chapter on finns selling wind to sailors.
Cheers for this I'll check that out!
My guess is the people who sold the knots were actually savonians :D Great video again of intresting topic.
Aren't we savonians nowhere near a coast? Or is there a river from a savonian lake to the sea I'm not aware of?
@@SilverGamingFI I think you could sail from Itämeri to Savonia through Saimaa, basically from modern day Viipuri, through Finnish Karelian lands to Savonia
@@SilverGamingFI But I don't think there's any reason for Scandinavians to navigate through Saimaa to Savonia though 😂
Good stories & content. I'm of the 1st generation to be born in the U.S. from my Finnish father. Subscribed...
Thank you very much Mark!
i really like your videos and its nice to have you here education, well probably informate irish people about our country and we try to make you as welcome as we can and hope you consider this as your home away from home.
Toni, kiitos paljon, I love this countries history and folkore and its been a pleasure to dig into it and learn about it! I feel very very at home here and glad to call it my home away from home ✊🏻🇫🇮🇮🇪
@@aaronstavern just finland. dont go crazy! its just us finns. we swedis and nors just joking we love and proteck them. 1 to 0 ! there probably not goin to be sweden tomorrow morning!
I don't know about magic, but the Finns I've always thought to be incredible craftsmen. The traditional clothing is something to behold, but after watching a video of a Finnish man making a traditional puukko knife by the old methods i dont think there's a more beautiful object on earth. The combination of simplicity and intricacy, functionality and beauty is truly inspiring.
This is really interesting ,when little/young , I could "conjure" both rain and wind ,haven't tried now as a grown up😊
Thx for digging the history objectively, dude. I'd love to buy you some Kilkenny and listen to stories also from Ireland, because, even though I lived there for 15 months, I never actually got to know to any local people.
Thank you for making these videos! I wish I could subscribe another time, it's really interesting hearing an "outsider" perspective.
I'm looking forward to seeing Newgrange someday. Thanks for the content!
Too bad that witchcraft was criminalised in Finland 1734 :) The court cases of 18th century are hilarious to read. - BTW, there is at least one quite interesting study called *Fibula, Fabula, Fact - The Viking Age in Finland* by Ahola, Frog, Tolley. Obviously there was also a lot of co-operation between so-called Vikings and some tribes in Finland.
A subscriber to my channel was so kind and actually sent me a copy of this exact book! 💯 going through it slowly and carefully at the moment, fantastic book though
@@aaronstavern Wow! That shows you are doing a good job :)
Great book but when I read that finns have no more claim to the viking age then any other non norse country it made wonder if ahola,frog,ahold,, Tolley had read thier own book.
Christianity ruins everything.
@@gracethroughfaith3377 pedo
Well, Finns - or more accurately I guess Balto-Fennics (itämerensuomalaiset) - were still close to hunter-gatherers whereas the Scandinavians were much more settled agriculturalists (though it was not so clear cut on the ground). But our shamanistic folkways probably did seem quite a bit like really strange witchcraft to them. This I think is reflected in the sagas though it is not clear which Finno-Ugric tribes were described, Finns, Karelians, Estonians or the Sami etc.
Actually, the Finns Proper, Tavastians, Karelians and Estonians were just as agricultural as Scandinavians at this point. the main difference was probably in the numbers and thus i the level of centralation of power (i.e. state building). I do not think Vikings were afraid of Finns, there must have been raiding both ways but mostly trade was pretty peaceful. There is plenty of evidence of that. There were definitely times when Finns were taxed by the Swedes probably as a result of some raid but also evidence that this taxation was unilaterally ended. Also there were probably alliances between Finns and Sveas.
Viking time was a part of the iron age. Agriculture was the norm back then. To talk about hunter-gatherers is to talk about a much, much earlier epoch.
@@Kuriver Propably yes, but you are bound to have shamanistic influence if your neighbors are into that shit.
Finns were semi agricultural, meaning they practiced both.
It's a very common misconception to assume that people who lived in the area now known as Finland would have been hunter-gatherers, while people to the west of the Baltic Sea would have had agriculture. You really have to think about that a bit and ask yourself why you have that conviction. It's a short way from Sweden to Finland, and there has always been contact over the seas, so why would these two areas have developed in such a different pace? They didn't. Agriculture came to Finland around 7000 years ago, so way before the Viking age. Buckwheat is the oldest known crop that has been grown in Finland, and it came from the east. Fishing and hunting was still the main source of food back then of course, but during the iron age (around 500 AD - 1200 AD) there was already significant crop cultivation in what was later to become Finland.
It is also incorrect to assume that there was no shaman-like spirituality in the old Norse religion. There was, and it seems that certain mythical stories have influenced early beliefs in Finland too. As I said, there has been contact and exchange for a long time. People were not as isolated as you might think.
Finds and research indicate that Finns in the Viking Age had similar martial arts and weapons as the Vikings, but what distinguished them was the language. This may be one reason why Finns did not take part in Viking expeditions.
@⌘ Hyperborean Bard ⌘ No?
@@Alex-yz6uq Yes, some Finns were part of the fighting force known as the "Vikings. They were raiders and etchnically nordic, mostly Swedish and Norwegian at the time. Some Finns took part of the raids as mercenaries.
@@MultipolarBear485 They themselves were not vikings....
@@Alex-yz6uq Vikings are not an ethnic group, they were a nordic fighting force. For instance at the time the swedish or norwegian farmers were not vikings either.
@@MultipolarBear485 They were though. Scandinavian peasants Who took to plundering. That's what vikings were. Finnish people themselves did not fight along The vikings. Maybe some on The swedish vikings expedition to The east, definetly not west
I heard about speculation of the nordic co-operation starting with a raping, looting and killing journey to Middle Europe. There were ships from Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Apparently there were also wind raisers from Finland. Which really is the most important job if you think about it. I mean, how else you're going to get to Middle Europe? You could row, of course. But who wants to row when you can sail? I think the vikings would have just stayed at home if there weren't Finns onboard to make the wind.
Vikings did settle along the coastline for the purpose of securing trade routes to the east. I cant remember the exact source but remember that the two oldest cityes in finland was founded by vikings. Turku and Porvoo
Check out Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, specifically chapter six, for some stories told by 19th century sailors about Finns controlling the weather.
That they could "manipulate the weather" sounds like an excuse for not being able to handle the weather there, to me.
Great channel ! ⚡️⚡️⚡️ Great vid !
Thank you! 🤟🏻
Väki has lots of translations. People is the most obvious one, then there are words that derive from it: väkivalta (violence), väkevä (strong in practically every connotation) to name a couple.
Also, reading the Mythologia Fennica from the 1700’s by Ganander, it suggests that Finland was known as Jotunheim (as in a place on Yggdrasil) and Finns as Jotun - giants. Probably to do with the sorcery.
Actually one of my ancestors Hermanni was almost 7ft tall, he was a legend
It is true, that in time off sailing ships, Finnish sailors were not always welcome to ships. If they were treated bad, they could use witchcraft to control winds, Richard Henry Dana wrote about thing in he`s book. He was educated man who because of health issues took job as low class sailor. He`s college was once worried if one in crew was Finnish. Because they can control the winds, They were relief, that he was not Finnish. By the way, Dana is maybe the only person who wrote about the life of sailors IN PERSON.
In my bloodline we had witch/folk healer she was my grandmother’s mother
You are doing a very good job! You could make videos about the german troops and their presence here in Oulu durring the war, the toppila harbour was important to suply the German troops in northern Finland.
Good video ! Thanks
That väki is nice word... it means nowadays also a punch of people, you could say "täällä on paljon väkeä" meaning "here there's lots of people". But also it used as prefix when it means something like 'forced power', for example 'väkivalta' means violence ('valta' = power). In Finnish we have this phrase 'väellä ja voimalla' meaning 'with väki and power', meaning that something is done very intensively by big amount of people.
Original meaning is most likely the 'elements', though it's quite possible it has meant folk from the beginning, just not human folk but the 'small folk'. There are veden väki ('folk of water'), metsän väki ('folk of forest'), väki for different waters (lakes, rivers, rapids) and so on... there was practically some entity included with everything in the nature, and later some of them moved to houses, saunas and other places along with the people.
It tells something about Finnic culture, that this väki folk was not to piss off, or you were in deep s**t. And metsän väki (forest folk) gets angry for example if you get scared in the forest or if you fell there. If the forest folk gets really angry to you it might capture you and keep you 'beneath the forest', under the spell. This mesmerized trap is called 'metsänpeitto', which translates to 'forest blanket'.
Like full blood Karelian, when someone moved in a new house, you always hired an shaman or "noita akka" where they did often House blessings.
When it comes to spellcasting, Väinämöinen, a central figure in Kalevala was basically an elementalist wizard or a shaman. So Finnish mythos certainly contains beliefs of control of elements by magic.
Hi, thank you for video. Have you heard of Bock saga thats a interesting one for you! ❤😊
Good shit my Man!
Ok, I might be misremembering by a lot but, wasn't there a storm raised by Louhi that sunk the boat carrying the Sampo?
Ohhhh yes!
Ukko is the Finnish god of thunderstorms, lightening, rain and weather and harvest. Ukko's version of Mjolner was either a hammer or an ax. Ukko was also protector of people and places.
Väki could also be described as "mana".
Is that why we talk about the weather so much?
If you can change the weather against your enemy it is a very dark thing to do if you ask me💫⚔️
I think that it must have been Saami people of lapland. Since even people who lived in southern parts of Finland had beliefs of Saami ¨witches¨ One good example of this is one child's cartoon that is played in cristhmas called Noita Rumpu (witch drum)
Careful there discounting the Sagas. Quite a few are factual infirmation. Learned this in a class at the University of Reykjavik.
You should check out Pain Confessor - Lake of Regret (Katumajärvi) where people washed away their Christianity when Swedish people forced us to turn christianity at about 1100-1200 time period.
Will do! Thanks for that!
@@aaronstavern Told ya - yea some of them would have washed it away. Nice video. It is always curious to see what short of similarities one will see in them when they look at our history a bit from outside. Made me think about the origin of Finnish language and the movement of people during the era of Eastern hunter-gatherers moving. As the times go kinda near with leaving those areas about the same time (obvious these time spans are like over 20K years so it's not perfectly accurate) but say some people went over to Americas crossing a land bridge, some started to move west through Siberia, Ural.... And then we have these short of similarities in far away cultures. Like concept of chi or equivalent and you pair this up with those. But it is at least true that all set 'elements' are told to have had their own väki - as well as all those things from trees, rocks and so on to even people... only. Now you can also find connections to concept of an 'elf' from the idea of 'spirit' (or itse) and then getting to the concept of a soul. Or the idea I read somewhere that the löyly - casting the water on the heated rocks of the sauna would have had the meaning or how to say been a kind of way of respecting how Jumala (pre-Christian) would have combined the spirit or itse or soul into the body of a human. Thus giving this life force to the people. But alas the source for that particular explanation is something I would question a bit, because they were not considered as big of an expert on our history. Not that they may not be right, but apparently the book in question called 'Finnish Magic' had also some little bit too fantastical assumptions. But as you are interested in stories. You should be able to find it - and yea it is a book in English. How ever I'll return a bit back to why I took the elves here. You see there are two periods that likely are linked in a way the shamanistic era and then medieval, when there still were these creatures supposedly well in the mythology. Say the spirit or the being much like a gnome living in the stove, stables or other such locations - called tonttu in Finn. And the funny fact that to me some of the Europes older stories about elves are so darn similar with this shamanistic concept of all things having it's 'spirit' or force or life force. So basically that is to me the origin, generally speaking to the whole idea of an elf for example. Those beings that would have been believed to be the force within a tree or some other equivalent thing. Additionally how darn fascinating it is to note that if that story you told about someone eating the Deer brain is perhaps true that it existed - then on some level it implies that people who believed or told this story would have had to somehow realize that the mind is in the head. Meaning that it is not the heart that 'holds the soul', or which ever way you wish to say it. The point being that what did the medieval people think brain was for - to make the slime that would run down your nose? Well I read that too somewhere, joke or not. But my point is that somehow, somewhere some knowledge has been stumbled on and then again forgotten, perhaps in the mist of legends anyhow, till modern medicine. After all it may not be so obvious if heart is which reacts to being scared and so on notably that one would know what parts inside us are for what purpose without actual research and knowledge. And yet - then if you ate the brain specifically of a deer... it's 'ghost' start to bother you.
Finnish word VÄKI can be translated as power, force, helpers from underworld. Väkivalta means violent force. Man ore woman who had Väki was frightening person because his friendship with underworld creatures (väki) he can call for help.
Once i read about all kinds of conflicts came to mind that this would be a fantastic idea for a movie: For example the Hämäläiset went on a raid against Karelians or Novgorodians and lost the battle and only few survived. Imagine that adventure back to Häme homelands from hundreds of kilometers away after beaten in a battle in the scary forests ;)
You're definitely onto something there!
Theres already a book bit like that, I believe. Or several. Just, old, out of print books. Based on semi-historical people.
I remember hearing a story of vikings thinking finns were actually trolls😂😂 that's a hilarious thing since i can just imagine a viking crew landing on the shores of finland and seeing a group of finnish hunters in animal skins or something with messy hair and immediately thinking them to be trolls.
Shrooms😄
And inevitably unhealthy because of puukkos. ;)
Trolling foreigners since A.D. Sensational
Have you heard of "Lappalaiset" in Savonia. They lived like Sami people but if I remember correctly they were not quite Sami people. I wish I knew more about this.
Interesting! I'll try do some digging
@@aaronstavern Lappalainen is a word that may or may not have originally mean the Sami people. At least nowadays you should NOT call Sami people Lappalainen. My understanding is that the word has described more the way of living than ethnicity. Lappalainen has been a person living in a remote place and more from hunting&gathering than farming. It makes sense that they would have been the last one's to have the old religions and the "witchcraft".
@@VK-vm4xe Lappalainen = Finnish surname.
Lappilainen = Finnish person living in Lapland.
Lappi is Finnish for Lapland and lainen is basicly "from somewhere" from Lapland.
@@Hustlate You described how it is nowadays. I explained roughly how it was long time ago.
@@VK-vm4xe yeah, lappi comes from either Swedish word lapp patch or lape which means remote place. Sami people were called Lappalainen or to be more precise Sami people were called as lappalaisiksi as Lappalainen is one person and the latter is plural. Lappilainen was non Sami people. Nowadays never call someone Lappalainen unless that's their surname Sami or not. Eventhough in Finnish it rolls from your tongue much more nicely than lappilainen.
Interesting stuff. A couple of comments.
A lot of the references in sagas etc. to "Finns" come from quite obviously more Norwegian/Western-Norse sources (rather than, say, Mälaren-level coastal Swedish/Eastern-Norse), and many explicitly describe sailing routes up the Norwegian coast all the way as far as the Kola peninsula - e.g., those that are in any way related to "Bjarmaland" and its definitely Finnic, but very likely NOT *Finnish* inhabitants (the Finnic-language cognates resemble something like "perm-", a word that might have meant "trader" or similar, and some more eastern Finnic tribes have been called "Permic" at various times).
From recent research (check out esp. Ante Aikio's essay on Sámi's ethnolinguist prehistory), we know that by the Viking Age, particularly the whole Northern Fennoscandia was already widely populated by Sámi-speaking people. The spread of Proto-Sámi and its descendant languages was relatively recent, and they likely integrated people from existing Laplandic people as well. This fairly quick spread of the Sámi linguistic-cultural complex may have been instigated by the Sámi's role in the increasing procurement and sale of fur by attachment to large trade networks through the Scandinavians and perhaps at some stage also the more eastern river routes extending from Bjarmaland southwards all the way to Baghdad etc.
So, in short: If we're talking about the Viking age, and the further away we are from the South-Western and Southern parts and coasts of modern Finland, any "Finns" described by Vikings would very much more likely have been Sámi or "Sámi-adjacent" rather than the so-called Baltic Finns (itämerensuomalaiset, our linguistic ancestors, and those of the Estonians, too) who started crossing over the Bay of Finland from modern Northern Estonia and occupying said parts of Finland starting in earnest yet slowly maybe as late as around 0 AD, representing only just the last of the more significant waves of inhabitants here - of the ones still around, I think there's pretty wide agreement that there was pre-existing coastal inhabitation by Germanic-related people at that point, and of course the relatively scarce Sámi-related occupation deeper inland and north.
The language connection between the SW/Southern Finnish side and the North-Estonian side started breaking maybe only around 500 AD or so. Already prior to that, at least Valter Lang (see his Homo Fennicus, 2021) hypothesizes that the Baltic Finns probably spent up to around a 1000 years around the Northern Baltic coast (which they had reached moving up north following the river Väinä/Dvina), interacting heavily with both early Balts and later Scandinavians/Germanics too, converging with them culturally a lot as well.
Btw, the recent Levänluhta genetic findings point to interesting times on Finland's west coast around the early Viking period or so, involving (if I recall correctly) individuals with intriguing genes of broadly North-Western European/Scandinavian heritage to something quite Baltic-Scandinavian looking (ie. pretty much resembling the current Finnish mix at least outside of the small but very distinct ~5% of the exotic Siberian ancestry we have) as well as an individual most resembling modern Sámi though kind of "less Finnish" and with an odd amount of similarity to much more ancient genetic findings near the Kola peninsula (Bolshoy Oleni Ostrov), which share a lot with modern Sámi but are quite distinct from them as well (and linguistically too early for Sámic or Uralic even) - maybe supporting two distinct hypotheses of, first, modern Finns carrying some admixture from the more southern Sámi (or even of more ancient people, e.g. "Paleo-Lakelandic") via eg. integration or maybe wholesale adoption of the more territorially efficient Finnish lifestyle by many Sámi, and second, the Proto-Sámi admixing with distinct "Paleo-Laplandic" or similar existing peoples, which shows up in the modern, more northern-influenced Sámi genome as well.
It was no coincidence that the native, and very rare now, martial art, Klima, was related to weather, as the highest practitioners, the vitki, of this art, could strategically change the weather and, when Mongols were considering moving NW of already conquered Moscovy, they intensified the winter to stop the horsemen.
As a fin i like this channel
I ddon't get why wouldn't you want a sailor who can manipulate the weather
My feeling is that a practical warrior of the era would believe magic was real and be wary of magic users, without necessarily deeply fearing them. Swords and spears still work.
Like your videos since you moved here to Finland. It has been pleasure too see your experience. But wtf is that last part? Buy me a coffee? You are in Finland! You probably drink coffee allready every day? Or is it just a way to say "Support monetarily"? If it is just say it like a true Fin..."If you want to support this content monetarily here is the link".
Cheers and thanks for the nice videos :)
What you say, if i say that "riimukirjoitus" is a evented by finnish?
You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention 🧐
@@aaronstavern it's maybe just a pseudo science but... and also what they say about Pharaoh's
Janne, are you referring to "Tuohikirje"?
Could you please give the book back? I will pay for it.
Lovely song playing in the background. What song is it?
Yes, there is saying ”väen voimalla” (with the power of väki”), but i have used to think väki as people🤔
Väki also mean power. For example "väkirauta" means power iron, which in some cases means skillfully smithed quality sword.
@@ktopfield145 And "väkivalta" meaning violence. Valta as an individual word translates to power, authority, rule, reign.
@@Polydeukes68 and väkevä, which used to say things like strong licorice (väkevä lakritsi)
It is to my knowledge that the Sámi were referred to as “Finnr” in Old Norse and the people of Finland at the time were called “Kvenr.” Therefore, the majority of magic-related things mentioned about the Finns by the Norse people were most likely related to the Sámi.
I wonder if he has read Emil Petaja.He rewrites the kalavalla into sci fi fantasy.
The Finnish folk band "Loituma" I think was their name, has some unique singing and they often have these harmless songs. But once, I heard one of their songs where they used such voice of "magical forest fury" with their voice. That voice, sounded like something an all-around strong forest shaman warrior would sing when people would come to our homeland with axes and swords, telling them things like "believe in Jesus, talk like us, give us your lands, submit! or die!."
Even though I am one of the most fierce finns out there in spirit at least, even I got real chills from hearing that song. They cursed the invaders like the lowest pits of devils of hells, showing them the finnish magical warrior spirit in full force. And that's not something even I think I might not handle 100%. A foreigner hearing that song even in youtube, let alone live, would probably be a very traumatic war experience, leaveing heavy PTSD if you think us as enemies that should be submitted. But for us it can be the kind of war cry that makes our people take several bullets in vital places and still run at the enemy with no second thought, just single-minded focus of "I face this, I do this one." There is power in removing all vain things.
It can be in todays northern parts of Norway or Sweden(Fun to look at certain gene maps today and see that only the center of sweden has the same high % as Finland and Estonia. You can draw conclusion from it but we can never know for sure because as always the history is usually written from a perspective of the writer, rarely a neutral stance to the matter).
Could also be in the parts that Russia occupies today, like might feel strange for someone affected by the gulf stream to go into areas affected by the deserts. Already for me living on the SW coast of Finland it feels strange how different the winter is in the eastern parts. Then take someone from southern Sweden sailing to the areas of today's St. Petersburg and it can seem strange. Could have been vikings going along the todays Norway's coast used to the open waters and suddenly hitting the waters not kept open by the gulf stream during winter. Like they did visit many areas within today's Russia back then belonging to finnic related tribes so.
Then assuming its the Saami could be true but thats mostly because they are still sticking hard to their culture while we have sort of lost touch with our roots so it creates a picture that they are more "shamanic"(they are getting westernized too but still less than us). We have been civilisized by the church so the ones wanting to stick to the old ways got the "chopchop" rehabilitation(The true love of god the one that sacrificed his son but couldn't accept competition).
I assume its an area where the weather changes from gulf stream affected area to the desert affected area. That would in my eyes make em use their imagination to explain it or then we really are spellcasters but we forgot how to cast em when no one remembers the way to hogwarts anymore.
Edit: Now thinking about it a raiding party would probably hit before winter when the storages are full and we do have more chaotic storms in the eastern parts. They have like every year tree felling storms causing damage, while we only have em now and then plus the trees falling are because of our way of handling the forests(who would have guessed a tree that has grown with other trees around it wouldn't have deep enough roots to stand alone).
Yeah were all Wizards and Witches here, esp the folks up in Lapland!!! :D
It's funny how finns actually likes to talk about weather.
Somehow this video made me think of great Finnish writer Mika Waltari and specially his book The Etruscan. Those who have read it might understand..
The Estruscan?
I have a book by Waltari called The wanderer
@@Redlurk3 Have you read The Adventurer? It came before The Wanderer…Wanderer is a sequel to Adventurer..
@@Chiwula No I didn't .
Does it involve the sack of Rome?
@@Redlurk3 The book begins in the city of Turku and follows Mikael along an adventure throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. The book depicts many actual historical events with a rich style, although Mikael's involvement in the events is fictitious. The historical events and milieu featured in the book include:
Denmark's conquest of Sweden, the Stockholm Bloodbath and eventually the downfall of king Christian II of Denmark.
Student life at the Sorbonne in Paris at this time.
Protestant reformation and related political unrest in Germany (the Poor Barons' Rebellion and the peasants' war), Luther and Müntzer themselves appearing as side characters.
Spanish monarch sending conquistadors to New World, Mikael almost made to join Pizarro's expedition.
A witch-hunt conducted by the Inquisition in a small German town, claiming the life of an innocent girl.
Wars in 16th-century Europe and expansion of the Ottoman Empire.
Plundering of Rome (Sack of Rome) during reign of Pope Clement VII
The story is continued in The Wanderer, where the protagonist explores the Ottoman Empire.
@@Chiwula This sounds excellent!
I Had The Wanderer recommended to me after discussing a book called Journeyer by Gary Jennings.
It's a telling of Marco polos journeys told by Marco Polo himself as he travels through the far east and back to Venice. Very good historical fiction . Be Warned tho Jennings goes into graphic detail involving some really bizzare sexual situations.
That was then. Modern Finns seem to be a mixture of all the above, I was born in Helsinki, on my father's side I am largely a Swede, mother's mother was Irish, the rest Finns maybe some Russians thrown in that I don't know of, but they, like Irish were partly Viking anyway. Here I live in Los Angeles and nobody is afraid to take me on their boat as I can teach them how to sail.
Here's something that kind of throws a wrench in this (and correct me if I'm wrong); I'm pretty sure that at one point in time (hundreds of years ago now) the Sámi were called Finns by outsiders
Intresting video 👍🏻
Vaki means the People. So, yeah, that's how it works. Together.
Oh ye of little faith. Enjoy the blizzard in Oulu that I just summoned up.
väki means people, and also forest spirit animals.
Every time I need rain during a drought I just wash my car and in a few hours it will rain.
dark and cold seems to match finland, especially if you acces finland by the sea. it is at the very rim of the arctic sircle.
Also "Väki" mean just people. for example "Veiolan mäen väki tappo naapurisa" the "veioolan mäen väki"tappo naapurisa. ~means~ "the people of veilloan's hillside" killed their neighbours.
I dunno about vikings being afraid of Finns...
From what I've heard the Finns had an alaming system across the coast. When somebody (a guard I suppose) spotted an unknown ship, they lit up a bonfire at the beach. Then the next bonfire was lit both sides and that triggered another set of fires etc.
Vikings were unable to sneak attack the beach villages which was their main tactic elsewhere. Hence they landed peacifully to do the trading, etc.
at the start where u said that vikibgs believed that Finnish people could manipulate the weather they weren't the only as even during the 2nd world war Russian soldiers believed that the nature was fighting in Finland's side
Damn really!? That's cool
@@aaronstavern well I'm not 100% sure but I've read this in multiple different sources some even stating names of Russian soldiers who admitted this and something that makes me believe this even more is that this fact raised my history grade from 9 to 10
Lots of Vikings came to Finland. Many are still here, buried where they fell. Most of the high quality Viking swords have been found in Finland and lots of other weaponry too. There used to be lots of Viking era runestones too. But during Swedish rule one of the kings ordered them all taken away to Sweden where they now decorate old castle gardens etc. This stolen history should really be returned back to Finland.
What runestones are you refering to, lol
Never heard of the runestones, if I'm correct we didn't really use the runic system and this sounds a bit like a conspiracy theory. But you're right about the swords, only Norway has had more viking sword finds if I'm correct!
I also heard this story of Finland's rune stones being destroyed / taken away during the Swedish rule
Yes there is few runestones in Finland... They are gravestones of fallen Vikings. Also there is found Viking swords. Just google it. 👌😊
My weird old religion teacher summoned a storm to an F1 powerboat race in 2008 cuz she was concerned about the fish in the lake. And that's a true story
Well I have a few Viking Ancestors, but when I did my DNA it came back as Finnish, so at least some of the Vikings were Finnish.
The only thing I found when searching about the era of the vikings in Finland, was that Finland had these big guys as protectors against the vikings. They would stop vikings from entering Finland and getting anywhere near their families and homes.
The quite simply reason it was unlucky to have an Finn crew member on board was that their work ethic showed up the slackers in a bad light & the Finns would replace them
I don't know but do You know that acient norhern kings are from area what is nowadays called Finland: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_kings_of_Finland