| Ukko | |
|---|---|
God of thunder and weather | |
.jpg) Painting byRobert Ekman in 1867 calledLemminkäinen tulisella järvellä whereLemminkäinen asks help fromUkko ylijumala with crossing the lake in fire on his route to thewedding atPohjola. | |
| Abode | Sky |
| Weapon | Hammer, sword or axe |
| Symbol | Rowan tree, great mullein |
| Festivals | Vakkajuhlat |
| Consort | AssumedMaaemä[1] |
| Equivalents | |
| Norse | Thor |
| Baltic | Perkūnas |
| Sámi | Horagalles[2] |
Ukko (Finnish:[ˈukːo]),[3] is a thunder and weather god inFinnish mythology, whose vital role is fertilizing fields with his thunder and rain.[4]
Unto Salo [fi] believes thatIlmari, the Finnic sky god, is the origin ofUkko, but that asUkko Ilmari experienced very significant, although far from total, influence from theIndo-European sky god especially in the form ofThor.[5][6]Eemil Nestor Setälä also stated that Ukko can't be a very old name for a god and that the thunder god cult among Finns was ofGermanic origin.[7] According toMartti Haavio, the name Ukko was sometimes used as acommon noun or generalised epithet for multiple deities instead of denoting a specific god.[8] In 1789,Christfried Ganander wrote that the forest godTapio was sometimes honoured with the nameUkko.[9]
Ukko is parallel toUku inEstonian mythology,[10] but it is highly debated if such god was ever worshipped inEstonia. According to theEtymological Dictionary of the Finnish Language, the word was loaned into Estonian from Finnish and the first to use it in the sense of a high god wasFriedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald in the 1830s.Kaarle Krohn believed Kreutzwald had confused the FinnishUkon vakka andIngrianUkko vak, a sacrifice to Ukko, with the EstonianTõnni vak, a sacrifice to the household spirit. There has also been a mention of sacrificial stones in Estonia called Ukko's stones. According toOskar Loorits, Kreutzwald had copied "high god Uku" from Finnish Christfried Ganander, but the Ukko cult had manyScandinavian features which had also spread to the coasts ofVirumaa, Estonia.[7]
Ukkonen, the Finnish word forthunder, is thediminutive form of the nameUkko.[a][b] Ukko is Finnish for 'male grandparent', 'grandfather', and 'old man'.[11][12]
According toMatthias Castrén, Ukko as the name of a god can't be very old, or at least not the oldest, because it does not exist in a wider Finno-Ugric area apart from Finland, Estonia and, in a slightly modified form, Lapland. The mainly western wordÄijä (Finnish:[ˈæi̯jæ]), which has the same meaning as the wordukko, could also be connected to a thunder god: InUusimaa,äijä jyrittää (lit. 'old man is rumbling') has meant thunder. Salo andUno Harva have also pointed out the Estonian termsäiä hoog 'thunder rain' andäikene 'thunder'. Thunder is also connected to a "grandfather" inSelkup, languages with a distant relation to Finnish, where thunder can be callediĺč́a totta (lit. 'grandfather is cursing'). Sometimesiĺč́a (lit. 'grandfather') is replaced withNom (lit. 'god, sky'):numi̬t č́ari̬ (lit. 'voice of Num/sound of the sky').[7] Similar meaning is found from some of the names of theSámi thunder god:Aija, Aije, or Aijeke.[13]
Inrunic songs, Ukko is also given theepithetylijumala (lit. 'High God'), which earlier writers have understood meaning Ukko's role as the supreme god and ruler of other gods.Julius Krohn emphasised that Ukko was not the leader of other gods, stating that this hierarchy had been created byElias Lönnrot. According to Haavio, this epithet refers to Ukko's location: on high in the sky. Haavio also brought up the nameRemu which appears in runic songs, suggesting it to be a loan fromSlavic languages (compare toRussian andOld Slavonicgrom 'thunder').[4] The nameTuuri appeared in Western Finland for a thunder god, loaned from Thor.[14] Same might appear in a runic song fromWhite Karelia.[1]
Other names forUkko includePitkänen (pitkä, 'long'),Isäinen (isä, 'father'),Isoinen (iso, archaic form of the above, modern meaning 'great', 'big' or 'large'). These could be euphemisms, asJacob Fellman wrote the Sámi didn't dare to utter the name of their thunder god when it was thundering, and the same could've been true for Finns.Forest Finns used the euphemismsylkäinen andylikäinen, meaning something or someone who is above. A similar meaning for the name of a thunder god exists among the Sámi asPajonncode: sme promoted to code: se,[1] which might also be loaned asPajainen inSavo.[4]
A runic song fromSouth Ostrobothnia mentionsPitkämöönen striking fire.[1] In the same context, another runic song from South Ostrobothnia mentions Väinämöinen in this part,[15] and a runic song fromKainuu mentions Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen (Ilman rinta).[16]
In 1782,Christian Erici Lencqvist saidUkko seemed to have been the chief god of Finland, which was later repeated by Lönnrot and Castrén. Julius Krohn opposed this view.Kaarle Krohn called Ukko a thunder god who had received features of a Christian protector of everything. Ukko's thunder and refreshing rain were vital for the growth of crops, but he was also asked to help in various kinds of situations, such as labour, weddings, healing the sick, setting cattle on the fields and slaughtering them, hunting, fishing, when in court, etcetera.[4] At this point, Ukko had become a ruler of the sky with features of theChristian God.[17] While making theKalevala, Lönnrot wanted to emphasise the supposed "good" proto-monotheistic nature of Finnish paganism and began to systemically refer to Ukko as the supreme god.[18]
Ukko likely developed from Baltic influence which reached Finland with theCorded Ware culture. Later, he was influenced by the Scandinavian thunder god, Thor.[18] Ukko shares many similarities with Thor as a club or sword wielding ruler of storms and lightning. According toAnna-Leena Siikala, Ukko's importance grew due to the rise ofslash-and-burn agriculture, which resulted in theVakkajuhlat ritual beer festival which was held until the 19th century. This beer festival also had its Baltic equivalents.[17]
According to Salo, Ukko and Ilmarinen are from their roots the same Indo-European human formed thunder god. Examples of a personified thunder or thunder god can be found among both Finno-Ugrics and Indo-Europeans.[7] The one who strikes fire in the origin of fire runic song, and is therefore the lord of the thunderstorm, is typically called Ilmarinen orIlman ukko 'old man of the sky' by forging with eagle (kokko) feathers. While Harva thought Ilmarinen is the primary figure of this position, it alone is not sufficient to categorize Ilmarinen as a true thunder god.[19] On the other hand, Frog wrote that that the sky god and thunder god likely used to be the same: Ilmari.[20] Siikala thoughtIlman ukko was thunder itself, and Ilmarinen would've taken over its role in the song in inland Finland to emphasise the differences between fire, water (Väinämöinen) and air (Ilmarinen). In Latvian mythology, the sky smith (Debess kalējs) or a parallel figure of the thunder god or sky god forges so that coals fall into the sea or the riverDaugava.[7] Though Ukko gained the role of a controller of rain and weather for the purposes of agriculture, Ilmarinen kept a role as a wind god.[18]
Prior to a human-form thunder deity, it seems that Finns believed thunder to be caused by the thunder eagle. Echoes of this can still be seen with Ilmarinen forging with eagle feathers.[18] In a runic song fromKuusamo, a spark of fire is born when an eagle's claws hit a rock.[21] This eagle or bird fromPohjola is also able to spit fire, further confirming the thunderbird imagery. Forest Finns believed the eagle to be Ukko's helper, who drove away Ukko and Väinämöinen's enemy,Loho. Loho travelled in a raven-form, bringing wolves with her to devour cattle. To please Ukko, and to keep Loho away, Forest Finns kept awoodgrouse's wing on an altar shelf (lykkylauta).[22]
Although portrayed active inmyth, when appealed toUkko makes all his appearances inlegend solely bynatural phenomena.[5]
Oldest mentions of Ukko were byMikael Agricola in 1551, who described theUkon vakka festival. It is unclear what he meant by the linesQuin Rauni Ukon Naini härsky / jalosti Ukoi pohjasti pärsky / Se sis annoi Ilman ja Wdhen Tulon. Early interpreters understood this as a description of thunder god Ukko fighting with his wife, thunder goddessRauni, which would've then resulted in thunder. Christfried Ganander connected this "Ukko's wife Rauni" toMaaemä (lit. 'earth mother'; also called Akkalit. 'old woman').[1] Haavio disagreed with this, stating that the text written by Agricola which has been used to justify this interpretation is a misunderstanding. He argued that Agricola's text mentioned two completely different gods, a fertility godRauni-ukko and his unnamed wife ("wife of Rauni-ukko"), whose copulation would result in fertile fields. According to Haavio, the name Rauni would be a loan and have the same origin as the nameFreyr, and the copulation of Rauni-ukko and his wife would be inspired by the Scandinavian story of intercourse between Freyr andFreyja.[23] Salo agreed with Haavio on that Rauni was the epithet of Ukko himself, not his wife, but that it still meant the thunder god Ukko instead of a separate fertility god. He suggested the name Rauni could be a corruption of Latin and Greek made by Agricola to connect Ukko toZeus Keraunios (Greekkeráunios 'belonging to thethunderbolt, struck by a thunderbolt, hurling thunderbolts, bearer of lightning'; Latincerauniae 'thunderbolts'), instead of a name used in folk tradition. In this case, Agricola's fertility-increasing description would refer to a sexual act between heavenly and terrestrial deities, like a spark while striking a thunderstone (ukonkivi 'Ukko's rock') which were vulva-shaped.[5]
Rainbow has been calledukonkaari 'Ukko's arch'.[1] Therowan tree was sacred to Finns, and in Norse mythology, they were sacred to Thor as it was said that the rowan is Thor's saviour: He was able to get out of theVimur River by grabbing onto a rowan. Swedes thought of the rainbow as a rowan tree, and this belief spread to Estonia as well.[23] Because the nameRauni sounds likeOld Norsereynir 'rowan', a connection made by Setälä, later writers have called rowan a tree sacred to Ukko. According to Kaarle Krohn, as Scandinavians thought the rowan was sacred to Thor, this belief could've spread to Finland.[24] In runic songs, the rowan tree appears as a sacred tree in wedding songs, the rowan's branches full of berries symbolizing a pregnant woman. Rowan berries were also used for different kinds of healing and protection spells. Evil spirits and demons were thought to be afraid of the rowan.[1]
The "old man in the sky" was also believed to cause thunderstorms by driving hischariot through the skies. Other possible causes of thunder include the rolling of stones or grinding, and there is even a set of verses describing Ukko "threshing in a cabin of fire".[1]
Ukko possessed a weapon, often calledUkon naula 'Ukko's nail' orUkon vaaja, meaning athunderstone (Neolithic stone tools such as battle axes). In spirit with the idea that thunder was originally the thunder eagle for Finns, thunderstones are also calledUkonkynsi 'Ukko's claw', claws made of stone. He also possessed a fiery arrow,Ukon nuoli 'Ukko's arrow', and a fiery bow. Runic songs mention him having a golden axe, a golden club, a hammer (Ukonvasara) and a sword. To be noted is that the word for hammer,vasara, originally meant a stone age battle axe. Uno Harva compared Ukko's vaaja tovajrapani held by the Hindu godIndra. Ukko's hammer made of metal is comparable to Thor's weaponMjölnir, and pendants similar to those of Mjölnir have been unearthed in Finland. Ukko fights against evil beings, be it demons or trolls.[1] Similar beliefs have been recorded from Estonia, as during thunder, God is thought to strike evil spirits orVanapagan.[25]
Theladybird was also considered sacred toUkko and calledukonlehmä 'Ukko's cow'.[14] The Finnish name of thegreat mullein (Verbascum thapsus) isukontulikukka (lit. 'Ukko's fire flower'), possibly named after Ukko.[26]
Before the advent ofChristianity, theMidsummer festival in Finland, today known asJuhannus afterJohn the Baptist (Finnish:Johannes Kastaja), was held in honor ofUkko and calledUkon juhla (Festival of Ukko). This tradition carried to the 19th century.[27]
Also dedicated toUkko were theVakkajuhlat (Vakka festival) also known asUkon vakat (Ukko'svakkas) or simplyvakat (Vakkas).Vakkas were commonly held in May coinciding with the springsowing. DuringVakkas it was customary to consume or otherwise offer a container or some other vessel (Finnish:vakka) of analcoholic beverage or food as sacrifice. It appears that often the festival was held in the community'ssacred grove orhiisi where ananimal sacrifice was sometimes also performed as part of the same festival. Thisceremony was believed to guarantee good weather for the coming year and thus a goodharvest.[4]
It appears that thevakka tradition was rather lively. The last uncontested reports ofVakkas being held originate in the 19th century, although sporadic reports also surface in the 20th century.[4] The festival is also mentioned by the Finnish reformerMikael Agricola in his account of what from his point of view was Finnishidolatry.[28]
A number oftoponyms in Finland and surrounding regions contain some form of the name Ukko.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(July 2012) |
The Weather Channel list of winter storms for 2012 listUkko as one of the alphabetic names they used.[29]
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