And also how I couldn't go near the well because a vicious creature living in dark waters called the Näkki could catch me.
This post is dedicated to my heritage. As most of you would know if you follow any of our channels I come from a freezing and dark, small Nordic country called Finland, located right between Sweden and Russia. Also ranked the happiest country in the world many years in a row now! I'm proud to be a true Finn with lots of Sisu! (if you don't know what Sisu is you can Google it)
Finland is quite a young country, and many people don't realise that we have had people living on the shores of the seas and mouths of the rivers for hundreds and thousands of years. Vikings once habited Finland as well as the indigenous people still do called the Saami people - fun fact: they are the only ones allowed to be reindeer farmers in Finland.
If you see Finland from an airplane you see lots of dark green forests and many lakes down south, bare hills and reindeers in the north. We treasure our forests and nature of all kind and unlike many other European countries who have cut down majority of their forests hundreds of years ago we try to preserve ours with regenerative logging. I think the respect and love we have towards our nature stems from our very old beliefs and mythology. Finns used to believe in many different gods and goddesses, spirits, elfs, trolls and creatures of the nature of all kinds.
Aino -triptych (1891) from Akseli Gallen-Kallela
(Which is based on our national epoch, Kalevala)
When I was a kid I spent some time with my grandmother who was definitely not a Christian even though we are talking about the 90's here. The 90's! Not even once did she bless anyone for sneezing or say a prayer, but instead she would shake her fist to the thunder clouds whilst yelling at the gods and her own passed mother who she said was just trying to find pots and pans from the cupboard when there was thunder shaking the grounds and my eardrums. They had a well at the yard, but I have no image of this well in my memories - that's because I never went anywhere nearby it. I was too terrified because of a slimy, tall and twisted creature called the Näkki who feasted on little children if he could get his hands on them. Näkkis lived in all black waters and could even get you in lakes and rivers if you weren't careful. My grandmother would also talk about the forests and the spirits living in the forests - like the will-o'-the-wisp, in Finnish Virvatulet, which were these floating little flames who would lead you lost in the deep forests if you followed them. The god of the forests Tapio would provide game whilst hunting and the god and goddess of the waters Ahti and Vellamo would provide fish and calm waters for fishermen. During the Easter we didn't try to find chocolate eggs that the bunny left around - instead we decorated branches and dressed up as witches going from house to house begging for sweets as an exchange for a branch. This tradition apparently stems from the old belief that if you don't provide for the crazy old witch of the village she might cut your cows.
And let's not even start about Christmas! There wasn't a fat old man dressed in red robes with a long beard delivering presents still a few decades ago. This commercialised image of a Santa Claus wasn't a thing in my home country until most of the households had a TV and Coca Cola started their annual Christmas truck campaign. We used to have a Nuuttipukki, which is a bit more terrifying version of a Santa Claus.
One of the images I found just to give you an idea what I'm talking about.
We're not religious with Josh. The only things we believe in is our beautiful planet and the goodness in this world. After all it is a bit challenging to believe in a man with a beard in a foreign country hundreads of years ago telling me to do this and that when I grew up thinking it was my ancestors who caused the thunder and that there was a creature living in the well.
Yes, I do know now there is not. But still, I had to name my boat after a goddess - after all, better to be safe than sorry I guess?
Do you remember funny beliefs and/or traditions from your childhood?
-Heli