Can’t tell you how much I appreciate this - I find very little info about my culture on this platform

I'm working on a English translation of the Mythologia Fennica into English. It's a daunting task, but I'm going to do it. It's hard. Definitely loved this. I consider myself Heathen (Norse/Finnish paganism). Definitely find Finnish paganism closer to my heart and mind.

I really enjoy seeing other cultures views on "Ancestral Worship". I recently watched a video on the Udmurt people of Russia. They have embodied a lot of Ancestral Worship into their culture. So glad to see that! We have lost way too much of that ancient knowledge.

Interesting video. The mythology of the Finnic nations has common roots. The names of gods and mythological creatures vary in Estonia just like in different parts of Finland but their roles are similar. I've found that etymology of words and names can tell us a lot about the past. For example, 'äike' (thunder in Estonian) comes from the Proto-Finnic word 'äjjä' which means old man. In Finnish 'äijä' (old man, geezer) is a synonym with 'ukko' (ukkonen means thunder).

You were made to do this you explain all of this in such a positive and exciting manner !! Thank you for all your efforts

Thank you for this. I'm Finnish-American and study about Finnish Paganism and even speak some Finnish. I love that band as well. Was stoked you got to interview them.

As someone who has a strong tie to Finland as well as Norway I’ve been really diving into my Finn roots this was great! Thank you!

their myths are so metal and dark, the country is so full of misterious woods and lakes, I'm not into religion or spirituality, but if I was, Finland would be my choice to go, it makes me feel like it is a bit more wild, and raw than most places.

Mahtava!!! I'm really glad to see some more on Finnish beliefs and Lore, one of my favorites traditional/ physical artists is Tero Porthan, does amazing art pieces on the Mythological figures in the Suomi Pantheon. Also, Iku-Turso is an excellent Finnish Black Metal band haha, soooo many great Finnish music artists out there (like Kalmankataja), going to show Noiduin some love.

Awesome!🙌 Being Finnish and Swedish and practicing ancestral ways, it is neat to see Finland being mentioned😊

As a finn living in Sweden I thank you brother!

It's seems like all the Northern tribes spiritually is nature based. Getting out in nature is healthy for all races of men. Their is peace...

This was so interesting thank you very much! I have a special connection to Finnland, since I briefly studied Finnish language and culture back in university. We where taught about the kalevala briefly but not nearly enough. So far my best friend and I visited Finnland 3 times, and we are both eager to return. We just feel so connected to the land, and I had one of my most spiritual moments early this year when we visited rovaniemi. We spend our last night a few km's north of rovaniemi, in an igloo/snow hotel, and had the great luck to see our first northern lights. I just remember standing in the middle of this frozen lake at minus 19 degrees Celsius, watching the stars and the northern lights. We cuddled up in blankets, drank some snow-cooled Mintu liquor and just watched the sky. Rarely in my life I felt so free and connected to the earth. There under this endless sky I felt so small and Insignificant, jet so at peace with that. The concept that I really loved in this video was the "keeping happy" of things and people in your life. It's very true from a spiritual and psychological perspective. It basically tells us to take a step back, and be mindful and attentive and apreciative with different aspects of our life. Keeping something "happy" means that we give it enough time and thought, not glancing over it or suppress it, as well as taking it seriously. Understanding the wants and needs of aspects/people/things around us, helps us to reflect our own wants and needs as well. A fire wants to be fed and sheltered, wants air to breath. And so do we. We need nourishment, a place to feel save and develop. So externalizing these emotions and projecting them on the world around us, I believe can really connect us to it a little bit more. Thanks again for the great video! I will check out you guys on Spotify :)

I'm brazilian, just started with the shamanic path, and for many years now i've heard the call of Odin and ignored it because i was a christian, but i kept hearing the drums, i kept seeing that eye, that single eye of the allfather, and now i'm starting also this journey into norse paganism. I feel very lost in this path, because i havent found any other pagan around me. Your videos are being of great help in learning what following and honoring the old gods mean, so a huge thank you!

I had a Finnish friend named James Hughes. We were best friends for a short time but we moved away from each other. I had a crush on him. I think about him a lot. His family was from Helsinki. I loved listening to his mom talk, I loved her accent. At that time I didn’t know my ancestors were Scandinavian.

I really enjoy this part very interesting.. how the Finish kept these writings ✍️ alive for so long

Fascinating! Never heard of these gods before, good informative video.

I love the ethnographic turn your channel is taking, Jacob.

So beautifull, bears are my favorite animals since i was little, and the music of that band so amazing and peaceful really gonna check them out more !

I'm glad they're keeping their spirituality alive. I'm gonna have to check out the Kalevala. Sounds fascinating! Thanks for posting this!

Really enjoyed learning about the Finnish Gods. Their music is great too! Thanks!!! ❤

The bear connection is very interesting. A year ago when I was visiting Finland I met a bear in a meditation. I am not in a habit of meeting wild animals in my meditation or dreams. Maybe that is an example of the strong spirit of bear (or Ursa Major/Minor) in Finland💫

When I was a kid I was taught on old Finnish pagan beliefs. My grandma had seen how much I despised Christianity even as a toddler and decided to make me the last of our tribe by her own admission. Death was taught to me so, that when you pass Louhetar comes and gives you a shot of tar black liquor that reliefs all your pain and you continue your life in the afterlife as you did when you were alive. I spent half of the day in forests and lake and/or riversides and each time I entered any forest, I asked the permission from the forest (mostly Metsänpeitto) to enter and I always left everything but my knife outside of the forest itself out of respect. Same permission was asked from Ahti when fishing and once done, I always thanked him. By the age of 9 I was able to survive in the Northern-Savonian forests easily for 2 weeks with a knife and bowl. I left scouts when I realized that they don't even know what living off the land meant and it was linked way too much with church for my comfort. Midsummer has always been the holiest day in a year for me. I always sit at the bonfire just simply meditating over the max half an hour of darkness that we have during that time of the year. After that I reset my clock in my head for a "new year" and feel rejuvenated. This land is magical.

Brother, the gods have chosen you to carry on this beautiful work you are doing. They walk with you and we follow you on this beautiful path you are making in Norse mythology.

Having Estonian heritage myself and knowing that there are similarities with Finnish and Estonian mythology (Uku and Ahti for example), this was fantastic. Would love to see you cross the Baltic Sea for an Estonian Mythology vid!

These two remind me of Bragi and iðunn. He looks to her so happily when she talks. Awesome

These videos are always opening my eyes to things I have never heard of before. Thank you, I appreciate all the work you put into them.

Excellent introduction to Finnish mythology! Thank you so much for interviewing Jemina and Henri . . . great video! Tack! 😊

You are a modern Tacitus. Thank you and keep it up!

Thank you. As a Finn I really appreciate this video.

The Finnish Afterlife sounds a lot like the Celtic Afterlife: You leave This World, go to the Otherworld, then Return to This World after a while, in a new form.

I did my Mphil re the Sami in Finland in the Artic region. Read the Kalavala in the first week while at the university in Rovaniemi. Love the first bit re life come to universe-world. As in creation of life in universe. Finnish Mythology-legend Creation Story.

You're doing amazing work Jacob, I admire the dedicaton and effort you put into these videos!

This is amazing. 🥰 I don't know anyone else who covers all the spiritualities of Europe like you do, and not from a dry academic sense, but from a "living" sense. I'm Swedish, but both my parents are 1/6th Finnish and my father's whole male line descends from Finland, we discovered through genealogy and genetic testing, so I want to learn more about this. It's sad that they didn't get anything on the mythos in school, as we (I started school in 1997) got about equal amounts on Norse and Biblical myth, at least as far as I remember. The only thing I knew about Finnish myth, throughout my life, was from a Donald Duck comic by Don Rosa, about the Kalevala. It has Väinämöinen, Iku-Turso, and Louhi (and I had to look up the name of that last one), but it was probably over twenty years since I last read it.

Thank you for sharing beliefs of Finland. My country is almost a neighbor to Finns and I had no clue of the names for their deities. How diverse Europe region is. Also I highly suggest you to one day look into Latvian and Balts beliefs. We also have very unique way of looking to the world around us! Thanks gain ^^

Wow I just found your channel, love this.. so interesting the with the songs 🥺🥺thank you!!

thank you! so much info was lost during the crusades, i really appreciate you taking the time to stitch this together

I saw some videos where the actual vinkings from scandinavia have feared Finns because they have magic to control weather etc ..

Great video! Full of information on this little-known spiritual path.

There are many similarities between Finnish and Norse mythologies and there is some minor debate on how much did they influence one another. Iku - Turso for example is something that can be found in Norse mythology as Thurs, these giant beings that have existed forever and in the name Iku - Turso the word Iku means Ikuinen translated in english as Eternal. Also the way ancient Finns looked at spiritual things and how there are different parts to our "souls" which is quite similar with Norse mythology. It's not just a soul but rather many different parts that affect our characteristics, our vitality and something that may guide us and so on. The gods resemble each other quite a bit between Eddas and Kalevala. Even Louhi and Loki have lots of similarities and maybe it is because of different sexes but maybe there is more to Lokis story than giving birth to Sleipnir we know of. Lots of stories about Finnish shamans influencing Norse shamanism and no wonder why since we live so close to another. There are also other words in our language besides Ukkonen, Ukkosmyrsky ( Thunder, Thunderstorm ) that have a long root in our beliefs for example Metsästys is Hunting in finnish but an older word for metsästys / hunting that is still used quite often is Pyynti and that means A request for something or to ask something which ties up to our ancestors asking the spirits and deities of the forests or lakes etc for permission to hunt and to catch something and in return something that was caught was always given back to nature. When speaking about our current times the Finnish forests and wilderness is full of old places that are slowly being claimed back by nature that for some reason haven't gotten any or as much of intrest from archelogists as they should have but luckily we have quite an active community of people with their metal detectors helping at least discover and unearth small fragments of our past so it is not all forgotten. Also the amount of viking swords that have been found here is big, the second largest amount anywhere. We've definately been raided by Norse vikings and in return have raided them but perhaps not in such a big scale. Anyway I love both mythologies and feel a strong connection to both. Thanks for the great video of a topic that very rarely gets any attention outside Finland. And Tolkien.

Wonderful video! I always enjoy learning about what you upload. ❤

Very very interesting and learnable!

Very lovely video ❤

Thank you for doing this. It was very interesting and eye opening

Thanks for making this video and covering this topic.

This is an incredible video, Jacob! Deeply appreciating how you are digging deeper to bring these beautiful and less known stories and practices to our awareness. And now I have a couple more books to add to my list to look for!

Thank you very much Jacob and Noiduin ❤️, I really enjoyed learning all your wisdom about Finnish spirituality 🔥💙 as I have always felt a huge connection to Finland and its culture since I was a little girl, having even learned a few words in Finnish and my dream as a girl was to travel to Rovaniemi and a wooden house in the woods, perhaps some of my ancestors walked this wonderful land and I think I would love the cold climate. You do an amazing work ❤️, and your clear explanations as well as those of the Noiduin were of enormous value to me. As I have little time and really wanted to learn, I watched this video five times and I am amazed at the teachings I always wanted to have. Thank you very much also for all the wisdow that your videos have given me about pagan cultures that I love, you have done an excellent work❤️🔥💜! Suomi on hyvaa 😉!!

Thank you 🔥🔥🔥🙏

Fascinating, i appreciate ancient religious beliefs connected to nature, i am not religious but what i see in many,its more about finding inner peace.Great video 👍

Great respect to u and yours for remembering the ways of ur ancestors the connection to nature and the natural world wich in this day and age seems to be so easily forgotten ...praise be to u skaldic warriors for keeping the fires of the old ways burning bright. For future generations... lest they be forgotten ... skål

This is Great! I have always been curious about the Finnish mythology and beliefs. Being a Bear, I can relate to the prayers to the bear. Skal!

Love this channel, sooooo informative ❤

Thank you so much for this. I've been drawn to Norse paganism for years but just now getting into my Finnish roots and their specific pagan beliefs. I have Norwegian and Finnish ancestry and there's so much to learn! Thanks so much for making this video.

Kiitos. I grew up with this and it is fantastic to see it displayed.

Very informative video man!

This is very interesting, thankyou for introducing me to Finnish mythology, I didn't know of the Kalevala so nice one bruv. I especially like discovering the similarities between the various Indo European pantheons.

super cool! i have a friend who has finnish ancestry...i shared this with her

Brilliant video . Thank you so much to you all 💚

I just revisited my ancestral roots (in the Pagan sense). I bit of a plug to Noiduin, awesome band. Also Goi is worth listening to. They are two of the better bands using period piece instruments and they capture that early iron age nicely. Your video was very timely Jacob. Will be spreading this around amongst my family. Nice video.

Loving the way you interview the local act to give an extensive explanation about the intricate spiritual and creatures thing! Much love from Ma|aysia. We have some sameness spiritualism in believing in animism and there are certain unspoken rules that we have to follow when entering the jungle

This is interesting! Estonians have Kalevipoeg.

haven't even finished the video and had to share a mini story. Ever since I've heard and saw a talharpa I had to make one. that was one of the first things I made after joining a Viking living History group. It came out not so great. So I bought a book from a Finnish guy and built another one. It came out kind of better. Now I'm obsessed with making didgeridoos and talharpas or johikko (horrible at spelling, so phonetic for me).

The significance of the bear was more than a mere animal it was considered sort of a demi-god of the forest and almost on par with humans which is why bear hunts were a deeply sacred event and the bear was revered and worshipped even when eating its meat which was thought to give you its powers

I have that last book. I borrowed it from library. Should have read it more, I'll have to return it soon.

Bravo!

Very interesting and alluring mythology. Unfortunately it's even harder to find legit information about it so please make some more co-op videos.

Good work indeed.

I agree with each there own path ❤ personal cultivation over organized religion

I think this is very interesting and now I am all up into Finnish mythology

I am finnish and I have been following you a while and in your discord server

Had to take a look if that song book could be found found somewhere, and lucked out in a miraculous way. Hardcover version was for sale: 87% off for a grand total of 2,85 €. Shipping included. 😲

You might know the finnish band Korpiklaani they also have an album called Manala might be fun to listen to

I think im the oldest living Jemina in Finland😂 it wasnt nowhere and nobody when i was young. My mom is traditionel finnish pagan witch. I really like that ancient knowledge we hold that arent yet written everywhere. Should i start my own vlog our ancestors, their spiritual wars and all that what lead to destruction of paganism? Like if you want to hear.❤

I practice Norse paganism and have an Estonian boyfriend, I want to study his ethnic groups religious practices more and this was this video. Thank you!

Great video i just wish there was an unedited version

This was beautiful. What incredibly beautiful souls? Thank you. California. 💜🤟🏻🐬😎🇺🇸

Huh, I had no idea about this ! I have lived in eastern-Finland all my life. Thank your for your information !

@Jacob Toddson This was a interesting video. Will you try to cover the Sami poeple's mythologies and what not too? Although that might be a more difficult task since there are Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish Sami so both the native speaking and tradition may be different.

It is not all lost.. some Secrets came with the folks that migrated to the United States. My Family is From Socklot North of Vasa. I still talk to my family. I am a lost wise one..

You're quite an interesting fellow Jacob!!

Great grandparents were from Finland.

You could also do some slavic mythology as well, in particular western/southern slavic

Loistava video!

Great content!💫Congrats to anyone for reading The Kalevala. I am a Finn and could not understand it since it is written old language. That said, I could not understand an English translation either. I thought the translation would be easier to understand, but no.

Ill watch this later when i have rested

Actually Vainamoinen, sounds a lot like Papa Legba in hoodoo mythology.

Amazing video, thank you for all the insights! 🙏💚

Actually, the ancient Finnish belief system is very much tied to the belief of afterlife and, in a way, reincarnation. There's three things to acknowledge first: 1. The belief that everyone and everything has it's own guardian, "haltija" (literally, the possessor, owner, gnome), coming from their own "väki" (lit. the people, the strength, the folk). 2. At certain times and instances, the dead can leave the afterlife (called Tuonela or Manala or Vainajala or tuonpuoleinen) to visit the living world. 3. The belief in tripartite soul. 1. Both the living things, such as the people, the animals, and the non-living things, such as the natural forces, buildings and places, have their own possessor, haltija. A haltija would come to you to protect and guide you and bring you good luck, it was their job. The haltijas of the living beings would come from their "väki", from their folk, being the souls of their pased away ancestors. The haltijas of non-living things, such as places and areas, would occupy what they protected based on what they did while living. For example, the haltija of the house could be the one who built the building or who first lived there. The haltija of a lake or body of waters, could be one who did a lot of fishing there or died there. And so on. A lot of the traditions originate from the will to maintain the balance in space and time; between the folks who share the living world simultaneously, and between the former, current and future relatives. Thus, places, people, animals, natural places, everything is to be respected, in order to maintain the balance and peace between the väki of all of them. 2. The belief, that the passed away ancestors, the väki of the family, could pass the border between the living and the dead world, one way or another, in certain times of the year, month, or day, or in certain instances of one's life, contributed to the worshipoing of the dead. Such days would be the harvest celebration, the shortest and the longest day of the year (joulu and juhannus), the period before giving the name to a baby, and the turn of the year, month, week and day. Some of the traditions are still alive, even if people don't remember the origins of them anymore. Such as lighting up candles at the passed away family members' graves at certain days, feeding the birds in the winter time (it was believed that in some instances the ancestors would visit the living world in a form of bird), and never eating the last piece served (which was to be offered to the haltija, the passed away ancestor protecting the house), not letting anyone to know the name of the baby befor the name-giving, taking only what you really need in the forest or in the lakes while showing respect to the nature you're interacting with by being mindful, and throwing the final löyly at sauna right before you're leaving (serving sauna to the haltija in turn). 3. The belief in tripartite soul related to the stamina, health and misfortune. One part of the soul would be the haltijasielu, which would protect the individual, contributes to the intuition and subconscious, and for example, to the ability to foresee things, which is called etiäinen. The second part of the soul is the henkisielu (henki means life, breath or esprit), which contributes to the health and life of the body. The third part is the itsesielu (itse means myself), which is the conscious of the individual, your thoughts and self-consciousness. Losing the haltijasielu would make one face misfortune and hardships in life (even though it was believed the haltija could safely part the body it possessed for short periods of time, such as in the case of etiäinen or dreaming). Losing the henki would make you lifeless, physically dead. And losing the itse would mean you would be mentally lost, unattached and unmotivated to do anything. So, tying this all together, the ancient Finns believed that the living and the dead kept in contact on different instances and times. By worshipping, you would basically please a haltija, which could be your ancestor, as well as holder of great powers and wealth, such as the power of thunder (rain), the richess of the forest or the waters, you could achieve wealth, good fortune and maintain peace and harmony. By not respecting the väkis of different places and elements, you would spread misfortune and you would have to go trough some struggle to make amends, let alone have wealth and fortune again. I think the distinction with "gods" and "elfs" was not that prevalent in the past. A haltija might grow to be so might that they had god-like powers, like the powers of the natural elements. But they were still not so different or hierarchially "more important" than the haltijas of the individual, the house, the sauna or the local lake, for example. Sometimes the two would also merge; people would worship the haltija of the local forest, as well as the general idea of a forest. Sometimes the local forest would be more "tame" to the person, having a local haltija protecting it, while Tapio, the general protector of the forests, would be seen as more wild, unpredictable and awe-inspiring. Modern people tend to see the ancient belief system trough the currently more well-known belief-systems, such as Christianity, which name powerful God(s) and have hierarchies of deities. However, in the past, the Finnish belief system was likely less unified, was less motivated by building strong mythical characters that sound easily marketable to the international audience. It was more about the belief system of living and dead, everyday life and living in harmony with your environment, seeing everything as a kind of trade between the väkis. If you were respectful, the väki would protect you. If you were not, the väki would revenge you. If you offered a great deal to the väki and showed hospitality, it would in turn do the same for you. If you were a good singer, you could attract the väki and attain it's power. You could persuade väki to change their mind. As väki was seen as your ancestors, some of which just possessing more power than others, väki wouldn't be one unified god-like bunch, but their tasks would vary, as well as their nature. Some had just mundane daily tasks, while others would hold the powers of the natural world. Yet, having good luck with the daily tasks would be as crucial as - lets say, having good weather. So, no haltija could be put above another, and it would be subjective and tied to the instance, which haltija was most crucial to worship at any given moment.

I seem to be drawn to this as well.. loving nature everything in it.. I've been camping since the age of 10.. if I could I would love to visit Finland and go into to the forest.. unfortunately I am in the United States.. I do not have the millions of dollars to do this.. saw these videos are going to have to do😂

Do you know where we can buy the book magic songs of the Finns ?

I'd like to see information about their tattoos and the making of their drums.

Don't check the closed captions on 19:33. 😅

But... I only just started! Oh... oh, I see. Nevermind.

Thanks so much for creating these informative videos! Question: Is the Finnish pantheon particularly male-dominant? I noticed that there was only one goddess mentioned, mainly to note that she was the wife of a notable god. Just curious!

Its strange this... religion. Im from Estonia and i believe we also had a god called Uku (Ukko in finnish i presume) who was a thunder god! Alot of similarities with the norse Asatru allthough, ours was more of a nature-ancestor worhsip kind. Every tree and rock and what not had a spirit and stuff like that. It all probably originated in the same place, who knows how many thousands of years ago. Theres even similar things with native american religions in North-America. It probably goes back to the last ice age when people could just walk to the american continent! What little iv'e learned from various historical accounts is that, people inhabiting northern edge of eurasia and north america even looked similar. You got Inuites in northern Canada, Sami from northern Finland looked quite similar to them hundreds of years ago and many more countless tribes stretching all the way to Asia! Strange thing is that Sami is also Finno-Ugric like us but, for some reason they looked quite different. Perhaps the reason behind this is that we are on the borderland where germanic tribes from the west and slavic tribes from the east meet so we got little bit of everything. At the same time, Sami's were all the way to the north and rather isolated!?

I wonder how they view Findas folk in the Oera Linda. Does this contradict their mythology or does it refer to their upper class of sorts?

Are there traditional spiritual songs for the sauna in Finland like Native American sweat lodge?

Is that creepy whispering supposed to be there in the first second its not on any of your other videos. Love your vids by the way. ❤

Great video! Though, there’s nothing wrong with nationalism, it’s how we preserve the distinction between peoples and places.

Always wondered whether Finnish religion was more influenced by Norse or Uralic spirituality. How does it compare to Hungary's historic religion?