InFinnish mythology, theSampo (pronounced[ˈsɑmpo]) orSammas (pronounced[ˈsɑmːɑs]) is a magical device or object described in many different ways, constructed by the blacksmith, inventor and originally the sky godIlmarinen, and which brings riches and good fortune to its holder, akin to thehorn of plenty (cornucopia) of Greek mythology. A central myth in Finnish mythology is the idea that the sampo was once inPohjola but a group of heroes attempt to steal it. Sammas, as something at the center of the world, also exists inEstonian mythology.

The Sampo or Sammas has multiple other names inrunic songs as well, includingSamppu,Samppi andKirjokansi (pronounced[ˈkirjoˌkɑnsi]).

The Sampo has been interpreted in many ways: aworld pillar orworld tree, theSun, acompass orastrolabe, a chest containing a treasure, aByzantinecoin die, a book, a decoratedVendel period shield, a Christianrelic, etc. In theKalevala, compilerLönnrot interpreted it to be aquern ormill of some sort that madeflour,salt, andgold out of thin air. The world pillar/tree hypothesis was argued for by figures such astheosophianPekka Ervast, historian of religionsUno Harva and the linguistEemil Nestor Setälä in the early 20th century.^[1]

In Estonian runic songs, the Sammas, anoak or anash (akin to theYggdrasil) is something which stands at the center of the world.^[2] According to the archaeologist Elena Kuz'mina, the Sampo mill myth originates from theIndo-Europeanskambhá 'support, pillar, column', and was borrowed intoFinno-Ugric.^[3] In theAtharvaveda, theskambhá is a creature that supports the universe, analogous to theWorld Tree – the Sampo has been claimed to be the Finnish equivalent of the world tree.^[3][4] At the top of this tree is thekultakätkyt 'golden cradle', which according toForest Finntietäjä Kaisa Vilhunen is a rainbow which works as a bridge between heaven and earth.^[2]

The world pillar or tree is attached to the center of the sky, turning it around, while also working as a path between the different layers of the world. Vilhunen gave a detailed explanation of the Sammas which supports the theory of its nature as the world pillar. She described it as a golden pillar with a golden head and a copper foot. The golden head isPolaris, which attached the Sammas to the sky. The pillar went down deep underground like the roots of a tree and was attached to a copper mountain there. The dome of the sky spun around Polaris, which Vilhunen described as the Sammas "grinding". According to her, the root has three guardians: Tuokkoi, Pajas and Ruoskakup 'whip guy'. They make sure no one can dig up the gold at the root of the pillar so it won't snap. The identities of these guardians are a mystery, but Pajas could meanUkko: the Forest Finnish Sammas myths originate fromSavonia, where Ukko also has the name Pajainen. Jenuveeva (Genevieve) sat at the top of the pillar, at the center of three branches.^[2]

The mill-like qualities of the Sampo connect it to theGrotti mill fromNorse mythology, which like the Sampo is a source of wealth and everything good.Martti Haavio saw the two as different branches of the same myth of creation. He also connected it to myths from Ancient Indian literature. He thought Sampo's name comes from *tšampa, which would also be the origin ofsammakko 'frog'. Connection to Ancient India holds up, as Sampo is possibly a loan from Indo-Iranian languages, but the frog theory is not supported in contemporary research. Maths Bertell also connected the Sampo to the Grotti mill and the cult ofFreyr.^[2]

For runic singers, the Sampo was a representation of growth and its mythic origin, and initially not an object. Ilmarinen was able to forge the Sampo because he is a god, the one who had also created the sky.Anna-Leena Siikala thought that the concepts of the theft of the Sampo and its mill-like qualities are a sign of influence born out of contacts with theNorwegians. A runic song fromSatakunta mentions a smith creating anoitakone 'witch/shaman machine', the nature of which is a mystery, unless it's a Sampo-like magical object.^[2]

Matti Kuusi described the purpose of the Sampo myth as a ritual song of the birth of agriculture.^[2]

The meaning of the Sampo had become unknown even to theKarelian runic singers of the 19th century. Some of the called it an ironkantele, a boat, the stars and the Moon, or a millstone. To the Forest Finn Maja Hindriksdotter, it was like a magical bird.^[5]Julius Krohn thought the Sampo was the Sun,^[1] whileJens Andreas Friis thought it was aSámi drum.Kaarle Krohn did not agree with Friis: he thought the theft of Sampo had been mixed with two other runic songs, God's sea voyage (Finnish:Luojan laivaretki) and Release of the Sun (Finnish:Päivän päästö), and it to have originally described a raid onGotland.^[6]

Runic songs fromKainuu andWhite Karelia describe Sampo, Sammot, Samppu or Samppi as something which has words in it:Aukasen sanasen arkun, / Virsilippani viritän, / Jott'ei samppu sanoja puutu / Eikä Sämpsä siemeniä, / Umpilampi ahvenia, / Eikä kallio kiviä ("I open my chest of words, / Tune my box of songs, / So Samppu would not lack words / NorSämpsä seeds, / A closed pond perches, / Nor a rock stones").^[7] According to the White Karelian runic singer Jaakko Huovinen, Samma is the thing where all runes and sorcery originate from.^[5]

The Sammas appears in the Estonian and Finnish runic songs in chain poems which describe the island at the center of the world. The runic songs are called theSea Beneath the Yard (Estonian:Meri õue all) and theRune of Four Maidens (Finnish:Neljän neidon runo), and versions of them can be found from a big area fromOstrobothnia,Tavastia, Savonia, Karelia,Ingria, land of theVotians, Estonia andSetomaa.^[2]

These runic songs describe in various ways that there is a sea, and in the sea is a grassy island. In the center of the island is a well and the Sammas or and oak. At the end of the Sammas or on the branches of the oak is a maiden and a sifter (symbolizing the sky much like the termkirjokansi), and the maiden has a son. From aChristian perspective, this virgin mother and her son symbolizeVirgin Mary andJesus at the center of the sky. This tree at the center of the world also often has a golden cradle (a rainbow and a bridge between earth and sky) which was used when thebear and a spark of fire was brought down from the heavens to earth.^[2]

In Finnish versions, there is often a house at the center of the island in addition to an oak. A small man like a smith might descend from the golden cradle. In the house are four maidens, originally threeluonnottaret and, from a Christian perspective, Virgin Mary and her sisters. War often appears as a theme: either the singular maiden on the island gives birth to sons who go to war, or one of the four maidens cries in the house because her brother has gone to war.^[2]

In addition to these runic songs, the runic songGolden Wheel Oak (Finnish:Kultapyörätammi) has been connected to the world tree: the oak has an apple on every branch, every apple has a golden wheel (the Sun) on it, and on the wheel is acuckoo, a stream of gold dripping from its beak.^[2]

The oldest written down version of the myth of theTheft of Sampo (Finnish:Sammon ryöstö) was written down from the Forest Finns in 1817, proving that the myth had once been known in Savonia andCentral Finland. According to this version,Väinämöinen andJoukahainen once went to Northlands to fetch the Sammas. When it was in their boat, Joukahainen told Väinämöinen to start singing spells but he refused, saying that the gates of the Northlands were still too close. Eventually he started singing, and the Sammas itself jumped up to the sky. Joukahainen jumped after it, hitting it with his sword and cutting off two of its toes. One fell into the sea, making it salty; the other one on land, making wild hay grow. If he had been able to cut off the third toe, crops would grow without the need of farming.^[8]

According to many White Karelian versions,Louhi promised to give Väinämöinen a maiden to marry if he forges for her the Sampo. Väinämöinen did not have the skill for this but knows Ilmarinen to be able to forge it as he had also forged the sky. He sent Ilmarinen to Pohjola with wind, where he forged the Sampo. Later, Väinämöinen pointed out all the riches the Sampo was providing for Pohjola and suggested they go steal it back. Other heroes such asTiera or Vesiliito might join them depending on the version. They ploughed loose the roots of the Sampo from the rocky hill of Pohjola and took it to their boat. Ilmarinen suggested Väinämöinen start singing but Väinämöinen refused, thinking the gates of Pohjola were still too close. An ant urinated on a crane's foot and the crane screamed, waking up the people of Pohjola. Louhi transformed into a bird, ordering the forces of Pohjola to chase the heroes. Väinämöinen struck Louhi's bird toes with a sword or a paddle and the Sampo ends up in water, making the seas rich.^[5]

Kaarle Krohn saw the Forest Finn version as a description where the Sampo and Louhi turned into a bird had fused into one, like the Sampo itself was a bird.Väinö Salminen pointed out the Forest Finn belief that storm itself was an evil being, a storm bird from Pohjola, like it was the storm bird which had taken the Sampo from Väinämöinen and Joukahainen's boat.^[9]

Runic songs from Kainuu do not speak of a theft of Sampo: instead, it is the Sun which Väinämöinen frees from a rock by forging, set in the same mythic setting as the theft of Sampo. Because majority of the versions of the theft of Sampo are from Western White Karelia, Siikala considered the myth to originate from the coasts of theBothnian Bay from where it had spread eastwards as most families of Western White Karelia were of Ostrobothnian origin.^[2]

The Sampo is a pivotal element of the plot of the epic poemKalevala, compiled in 1835 (and expanded in 1849) byElias Lönnrot based on Finnish and Karelianoral tradition.

In the expanded second version of the poem, the Sampo is forged byIlmarinen, a legendaryblacksmith, to fulfill a task set by the witch queen ofPohjola,Louhi, in return for her daughter's hand.

"Ilmarinen, worthy brother,

Thou the only skilful blacksmith,

Go and see her wondrous beauty,

See her gold and silver garments,

See her robed in finest raiment,

See her sitting on the rainbow,

Walking on the clouds of purple.

Forge for her the magic Sampo,

Forge the lid in many colors,

Thy reward shall be the virgin,

Thou shalt win this bride of beauty;

Go and bring the lovely maiden

To thy home in Kalevala."^[10]

Ilmarinen works for many days at a mighty forge until he finally succeeds in creating the Sampo:

On one side the flour is grinding,

On another salt is making,

On a third is money forging,

And the lid is many-colored.

Well the Sampo grinds when finished,

To and fro the lid in rocking,

Grinds one measure at the day-break,

Grinds a measure fit for eating,

Grinds a second for the market,

Grinds a third one for the store-house.^[10]

Later,Louhi steals the Sampo, and then Ilmarinen andVäinämöinen enter her stronghold in secret and retrieve it. Louhi pursues them and combats Väinämöinen. In the struggle, Louhi is vanquished but the Sampo is destroyed.

In theAarne–Thompson classification systems of folktales, tale type 565 refers to a magic mill that continuously produces food or salt.^[11] Examples includeWhy the Sea is Salt (Norway, based on the poemGrottasöngr),Sweet porridge (Germanic), andThe Water Mother (Chinese). Such devices have been included into modern tales such asStrega Nona (1975, children's book). Variants on the theme with a cautionary tale and pupil-master relationship includeThe Master and his Pupil (English), and Goethe's 1797 poemThe Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Thecornucopia ofGreek mythology also produces endless goods, and some versions of theGrail myth emphasize how the Grail creates food and goods.

TheJapanese folktaleShiofuki usu speaks of a grindstone that could be used to create anything. Like the Sampo, it too was lost to the sea, endlessly grinding salt.

The Sanskrit epic theMahabharatha tells of theAkshaya Patra, a vessel or bowl capable of creating food that stops at the end of the day when the lady of the house has had her last meal. Similarly, in the Irish myth of theCauldron of the Dagda (coire ansic or "un-dry cauldron") is a magical vessel that satisfies any number of people.

• The 1959 Soviet-Finnish filmSampo is loosely based on the story.
• The Finnish TV seriesRauta-aika (The Iron Age, 1982), based on Kalevala, has an extended sequence where Ilmarinen and his smiths build the Sampo, which is a Byzantine coin die.
• InThe Quest for Kalevala, aDonald Duck story byDisney cartoonistDon Rosa based on theKalevala,Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck andHuey, Dewey, and Louie travel to Finland trying to reveal the location of the remains of the Sampo, a mythical machine that can producegold.^[12]
• In 1933, A. A. Öpik named a genus of fossilbrachiopodSampo.^[13]
• Asteroid2091 Sampo is named after the artifact.
• The Finnish heavy metal bandAmorphis has a song calledSampo on their 2009 albumSkyforger.
• The Finnish symphonic power metal bandAmberian Dawn has a song calledSampo on their 2010 albumEnd of Eden.
• The Semantic Computing Group atAalto University has usedSampo as a generic name for their cultural heritage Web services, most recentlyBiographySampo (2018).^[14]

• Quern-stone
• Cornucopia
• Uchide no kozuchi
• Bag of Holding

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