Topic: Eastern -- Western reversal from past Finnish gods?  (Read 2192 times)


JP_Finn

« on: May 18, 2020, 06:58:51 AM »
Apologies as the linked wiki article is only available in Finnish, but reading through the "false gods list" in Dauidin Psaltarin aka Finnish translated and adapted book of psalms back in 1551.
It lists 12 western (hämäläinen/tavastian) and 12 eastern (karjalainen/karelian) gods.

Western gods, briefly:
Tapio, forests and game
Ahti, waters and fish
Väinämöinen, sage-wizard demi-god with power of singing spells
Rahko, thief waning moon (with bucket of tar and tall ladder painting moon darker every night)
Liekkiö, grasses, roots and trees. Also bastardized to be phantom of murdered children by catholic church.
Ilmarinen, original god of air&weather. Smith of ... everything?
Tursas, Turisas, bastardized to be also the iku-Turso. First being god of war and battles, second a malign sea-monster. The latter is also a primordial beast generating diseases.
Kratti, god of possessions and hidden wealth. Name derived from Swedish 'skratta' 'LAUGH' a phantom laying above hidden treasures and wealth, laughing and laughing?
Tonttu, aka elf. Various spirits, one for house, one for sauna, one for dry barn (riihi, for dry grains), one for yard, one for yule etc)
Piru, or after christian religion demonized Finn beliefs = devil, god of celebrations and fun.
Kave/Kapeet, spirits of air, often projected as avians. "old man Kave" was carried in his mother's womb for 30 years, and when born came out with his blades and mounted on a saddled horse! Rumored to be Väinämöisen father and possibly also the original iku-turso (not Turisas)
Sons of Kaleva, were giants that shaped the land, shifted boulders, cleared meadows and so on.

Eastern gods were:
Rongoteus, who gave harvest of rye
Pellonpekko, gave barley and brews
Virankannos, gave oats
Akräs, gave peas, beans and turnips
Köntys, created meadows and gave hay
Ukko, was the supreme god, lord of weather
Rauni, Ukko's wife, family and ... fornication
Kekri/Käkriäinen, the god of pleasure/hedonism, with his 2 pronged penis...
Hiisi gave victory in battle (Hiisi was later bastardized to be malign water dweller. Similar to Turisas)
Vedenemä, gave fishes to the nets.
Nyyrikki gave squirrels from the woods.
Hittavainen gave hares.


Western gods seem to have affiliated more towards property, spells /lunar cycle and weather. Eastern gods more towards agriculture and carnal pleasures.


TL;DR; in-game western gods lean towards farming, historically to weather. Eastern gods in-game lean towards hunting, historically to farming and f#cking.

Here's wikipedia article, in Finnish, about the recorded gods, Ancestral finnish gods
This was written in 1551, several hundred (6?) years after the time window for Fantastic UnReal World game world closes.

(If there's any interest into pre-christian gods here, I can translate, if given some time. I'm agnostic myself, if that makes any difference. If someone likes any one/multiple sky-pilot(s), that's their choice, I'm not one to deny it)

Personally I found it interesting that Elks decided to put Eastern cultures towards hunting, not farming.
I guess the thinking were: the Karelians being southern(south-eastern) Finns and Savo-folks to Kuusamo, further inland in the east and more to the north, as the basis for the hunter type the Kiesse & Kaumo are in-game.

And sadly Mr Agricola*, didn't record Northern beliefs in his... crusader... translation works.

*he's the original Finnish language literacy figure, first to write down, any Finnish language, so can't really dis him too hard.