Worldview of ancient Finns
In many cultures the world was seen as flat, and had many layers to it. Finnish culture was not an exception. The Finns believed there was our world, the afterlife or underworld and then the over-world or sky where some gods and spirits lived.
The sky was believed to be a dome that was held up by a giant, long pole in the north that was made by a blacksmith called Ilmarinen. The north star was seen as a nail that attached the sky to the pole.
On the other end of the pole was a giant vortex which was one of the ways to the afterlife.
To get to the afterlife, the dead had to cross a giant river. Some stories say the river was on fire and burning hot, other stories say that it was filled with sharp blades, and sometimes it could be both.
To cross the river, you had to take a raft that was guarded by tuonen tytti.
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| The sky-dome held up by a giant pole, you see the nail on top. On the other end is a vortex and a primal mountain. The crack between earth and the sky-dome is enlargened to demonstrate. |
These were not the only worlds though. There was a place called lintukoto which was believed to be in the crack between the sky-dome and earth. Lintukoto was a place where birds flew and lived over the winter. The Milky way galaxy that was visible in the sky, was believed to be a road that took the birds to Lintukoto, and this is still present in the Finnish name for the galaxy, Linnunrata, translated to ''birds path''.
There was a condition that you could get if you were lost in a forest, called metsänpeitto.
When you had this condition, a familiar forest would turn into a scary, dark and unfamiliar place. This was believed to be the doing of a bad spirit called maahinen, who tricked you and took you to a dark world. Some believe this dark world was a part of Tuonela, the afterlife. There were many tricks to get out.
The mythological Pohjola is in the extreme north of the world, right at the pole that holds up the sky. It is extremely cold and dark there. It was believed that many diseases came from there, and some spells try to send them back. Cold was also believed to have originated in Pohjola. Many researchers have tried to connect this world with a real life place, such as Sweden, but today it is widely believed to be mythological. It is also sometimes connected to Tuonela, and Pohjola may be a part of the after life. Pohjola is ruled by an evil witch called Louhi, also known as Lovetar, Loviatar, Louhetar and Lovehetar. She gave birth to nine sons, who were the physical embodiments of nine diseases. She is also the progenitor and creator of wolves.