😊 At the sandbox, making mud/sand cakes. The "good/bad cake" thing.

@elderscrollsswimmer4833

2 жыл бұрын

Add in drumming the mold with the little shovel.

@essisaloheimo3700

Жыл бұрын

hahaa I totally remember doing this as a kid while drumming on the mold :D

@MetalGoddess1980

9 ай бұрын

I did this when I was young 😊

The tradition to feed birds during winter comes from kekri, and how Finnish afterlife worked, and also because in a sense spirits were more important than gods. In Finnish religion there is no heaven or hell, and that is why we do not have our own words for them, helvetti is borrowed from Swedish and taivas means sky as well as heaven. Everybody who died went to Tuonela, and they would visit the world of the living in the form of birds. The living were responsible for clothing and feeding the dead. During kekri people would place offerings to their dead relatives, and because their relatives' spirits had taken the form of birds, it meant bird food and birdhouses. The only way people could reunite with the ones who had passed was if they remembered them. If someone was forgotten, they were doomed to wander Tuonela alone. When their family came to Tuonela, they would not be able to recognise each other. This is also the reason why cemeteries in Finland are so well kept, and why people visit them during major holidays. The christian Swedes wanted to eradicate the Finnish religion so it banned many celebrations and traditions, which caused many other celebrations to evolve into hybrids of themselves and the banned ones. Christmas took many aspects of kekri, and this is why to this day many Christmas decorations have birds on them, and why people feed birds and visit cemeteries during Christmas. Birds were also seen as protectors of souls, so children would often have small bird carvings by their bed.

My mother who was half Finn was fascinated by bears. When she became bed bound I read of Finnish bear stories to her. Bill Collins

In the sandbox, you fill a bucket with sand, flip it over and pat the bucket to get the sand/mud whatever yo detach, then you chant "älä tule paha kakku, tule tule hyvä kakku"

Being an American a few generations since my great-great-grandpa immigrated from Finland, a lot has been lost, but our Finnish family cottage in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan maintains some. Sauna, fishing for pike, cross country skiing. When hunting, I ask Tapio for help and when fishing, I ask Ahti for help and Vellamo for protection using words found in the Kalevala.

@nirrieeva4239

2 жыл бұрын

Beautiful countryside you have there and so much like tte Finnish countryside.

@vaahtobileet

2 жыл бұрын

No-one in Finland does that. Perkele is the only god called upon, and even that is only because the word was turned into a demonic curse by the Swedish Christians :D There was a great-great-uncle (I think) who emigrated to Canada. According to my grandmother, he became a "hoopo-hoopo", meaning "hobo". Found no work and I guess rode the rails or something. Apparently a Finnish girl that he knew back from the home village sent him a cake(?), so he returned to Finland and married her. I'm not sure of the logistics of the story and I've never heard "hoopo-hoopo" elsewhere, but it's truly a heartwarming tale. Well he must've had an address if someone was able to send him a fucking cake across the Atlantic Ocean. I'm beginning to suspect that a lot of the details of this story have been lost over the years and I'm inaccurately reciting it like some dumbass in a broken genetics telephone game. What was I writing about? Ask Ilmarinen for help because it's my name and you don't want the smith-god to be angry with you. He crafted a wife out of gold but was then sad that she was cold. Tale as old as time.

@michiganoutside

2 жыл бұрын

@@vaahtobileet Right, but did they before the Swedish crusades? That’s what’s been lost.

@k.m7883

2 жыл бұрын

@@michiganoutside minority of people still believe in the old gods and practice pagan traditions. for me, the pagan/nature religion feels somewhat most natural out of everything, because nature and its phenomenons are the closest thing to anything god-like we can observe. keep it up and talk about those old beliefs to the people you know, it's the only way to keep stuff like that alive! fun fact; ukkonen means thunder and the word derives from the name of the god of gods, Ukko Ylijumala.

the air gets heavier before rain, it's nothing religious, it is something you can smell if you pay attention

Thing about the wind? Ilmatar Etymologically, Ilmatar is composed of the word "ilma" meaning the air element, and the suffix "-tar" denoting a female spirit. In The Kalevala, Ilmatar, was occasionally called Luonnotar, spirit of Nature. ("Luonto" means nature). Goddess of the air, goddess of Nature, Ilmatar was also the daughter of the Sky. In the night of times, were only primal waters and Sky. Ilmatar descended to rest for 700 years in the calm waters. When she woke up she found a bird that she hosted on her lap. There, the bird felt safe and laid seven eggs: six were made of gold and one was made of iron. As the bird was incubating its eggs, Ilmatar's lap started to warm up until it was burning. Out of reflex, she moved her leg, which dislodged the eggs from their nest of flesh. They fell and shattered in the waters, amniotic cradle of the world. The bottom of the eggshells formed the land while the top formed the sky. The white of the eggs created the Moon and the stars while the yolks became the Sun. Ilmatar continued to float for a few hundred years admiring the spectacle of her creation. Then, an urge to create popped again. Everything she touched came to life. Each of her moves was a silent incantation to life. Her footprints became pools for fish, and simply by pointing out with her finger, she created the contours of the land. Impregnated by the water, she gave birth to the first man, called Väinämöinen.

@IrishinFinland

2 жыл бұрын

100 percent worth doing a video about this!

@loglady33

2 жыл бұрын

Kumpi tuli ensin, muna vai kana 🧐

Hey man just wanted to say I’ve really enjoyed stumbling onto your channel the last few days. I’m a sucker for Finnish history and really enjoying the mythology which I wasn’t familiar with. My mother is from Finland and her family from Karelia originally so I love hearing about the Karelian history/culture especially. I’m a Finnish Italian Irish American. Keep the excellent content coming!

@IrishinFinland

2 жыл бұрын

Welcome Alex! 🙏🏻 Really appreciate that lovely comment 👌🏻 I don't really have an exact schedule, But you can always be sure that it will be either a Finnish or Irish subject I'll talk about 😆✊🏻

Growing up, my father always told me that nature was his religion. Appreciating having much more context & understanding if him through your videos.

6:00 I've always found cemeteries calm, peaceful and nice in that way. I often walk through the local cemetery on my walks

For the whole of my childhood, and most of my young adult life, I was only refer to by a nickname by both parents. My legal name was only used in school by teachers. My parents even introduced my sister and I to the neighbors as.” the smart one and the nice one.”😮

One old tradition that Finns still continue (but no one wants to admit because they consider this superstition to be a shame and unmodern today) is the belief in good and bad luck and the rituals that are associated with them. In Finnish luck is called "tuuri," which is also the name of an old Finnish deity. However, it is not certain whether luck and namesake deity have anything to do with each other. But according to tradition, "tuuri" is responsible for what makes people’s evryday lives random and unpredictable. "Paha tuuri" (bad luck) is what you want to keep away and good "hyvä tuuri" (good luck) is what you want to call. Bad luck is kept away, for example, by spitting on the feet, knocking on a wood, throwing salt over the shoulder*, owning a cat, wearing a necklace, or carrying an object that is believed to bring luck. Good luck, in turn, is called by asking, praying, spelling, or carrying and petting an object that you believe will bring luck. *Example: If salt falls on the table, bad luck will follow. Fortunately, destiny can be turned more favorable (to good luck) by throwing a touch of salt over shoulder. But here you have to be very careful - the right hand should throw salt over the left shoulder or bad luck will intensify.

@IrishinFinland

2 жыл бұрын

Damn I would've loved to have had this one in the video! Definitely worth looking into more and maybe making a video! Appreciate the comment! Thank you!

@joonalehtola7749

2 жыл бұрын

Spitting on the bait when fishing. Seen people do that.

@Silveirias

2 жыл бұрын

Somewhat related to this is the belief that the amount of good fortune (onni) in the world is finite. People don't believe in this anymore, but it still hugely affects Finnish culture. Because the amount of good fortune is finite, it means that your having plenty of good fortune is directly affecting others. Someone else has less so that you can have more. This is why people will not speak of their good fortune and will downplay their achievements. It's also to prevent others from envying you and casting an evil eye on you to steal your good fortune. So when you compliment your Finnish friend by saying "you have a lovely shirt" and they are quick to tell you it was cheap and "tää nyt vaan on tämmönen", this is why. :)

I'm well late to the party once again, but the whistling on a boat one resonates hard ("don't go whistling up the wind like it's some w**re!" was what I was told, in the sense of "do not go courting disaster, you little idiot!"), and the thing about sacrificing on a hunt or a fishing trip, too. When you clean your kill, you leave some of it behind for the creatures of the woods/lake, and when you're there, you give a little bit of whatever it is you're drinking and eating to the land or the water, too, or that's what I was always taught. It's not a big production, but maybe the last finger's-worth of coffee is going to be poured on a tree's roots and not in your mouth, just as a gesture of politeness that we don't even really think about. It's just done, and understood to be The Proper Way. A lot of these things are akin to the old, old Finnish habit of being very cautious and polite when entering woods you do *not* know yourself; you step in tentatively, say some polite greetings aloud to the woods in general, and probably make some admiring remarks aloud as well once you're a little ways into the woods (much like you'd very politely ask the Mistress of the Forest to open the gate into her woods in the olden times).

I've learn that the wind is the voice of the forest. I call her as tuuli and I remember when I was little went around the forest serval hours, tuuli was an mother to me. Also, we had an family three whom we made offering to protect the family. Also we often bless the house, by scarficing an coin to the open wood oven. Because we saw the house as a sprit to whom protecting from the evil spirit.

I often sing in sauna (not too hot), usually short, new, my own songs, or just getting my voice to air with non-vowel. Often I don't remember my songs any more after sauna. Löyly has a deeper meaning in old tradition and it helps creativity.

Finns having an affinity for nature and particularly the wind is a funny thing. I remember that since I was little I was always free of worry about the weather, and letting people know about the rising storms. I've never once found myself dressed poorly for the occasion when heading outdoors, and it just feels like I can smell the winds and know what they bring, and as a result I really, really enjoy windy days and big storms, considering they never arrive unannounced and I've never felt in danger during one. It feels like there's no reason to fear anything when you've formed mutual respect and trust with the nature around you. Greeting and exchanging thoughts with local wildlife is also a thing I do, although it's good to keep in mind, not every time they wish to hang around for a chat. :) Nothing makes me sadder than being confined to a cheap apartment, it makes me feel so disconnected from everything to be caged in a concrete box lifted off the ground.

Knockin' wood, it's kind of for not 'jinx' something.

@Sienisota

2 жыл бұрын

Reminds me of my granny, who used to say "älä maalaa piruja seinille" (Don't paint devils on the walls) meaning, don't talk about horribly unfortunate things that might happen, because you call bad luck with that talk. But if you accidentally said out loud something that might go wrong, then knock on wood was a kinda "God be willing, that won't happen"

@elderscrollsswimmer4833

2 жыл бұрын

@@Sienisota I heard the wood had to be unpainted. If you have none available, you can knock on your head instead.

believe it or not but once I could smell the snow in the air a few minutes before it started snowing. Maybe it wasn't the snow itself, but how nature smells like when it's about to snow for the first time? It was in November some years ago. I can definitely tell how different the air smells like when the season changes to another Excited to see all the upcoming videos/video ideas you mentioned! They all sound like interesting topics

@danielbrown6152

10 ай бұрын

I can smell the approaching rain, I find most people are not aware of their own surroundings.

I think the Juhannus love spells are done by young people who haven't (officially, at least) found a partner yet? I Remember picking seven different flowers and putting them under my pillow, I think I was 11? Love spell might be a wrong term, because you weren't trying to make someone fall in love with you. The point was to try to peek into future through a dream, so you could recognise your partner when you met them in real life? It is more of "spell to help you find the one you will fall in love with" not "spell to make a specific person love you" There was also a spell you needed to do, and you might see the face of your future love in a basin of water. But I don't remember the ritual needed. I think it had something to do with Juhannus sauna... Unfortunately my memory fails me here, and the aged person who taught me that spell has died... Someone really needs to write this kind of stuff down, before it's forgotten.

@kurpitsa2343

2 жыл бұрын

I’ve done them as well 😄

@N_0968

2 жыл бұрын

We had the same thing in Estonia! :)

@Marskilius

2 жыл бұрын

You are supposed to run around your sauna three times (preferably naked and after a good löyly) at midnight and then take a look into a basin, a well or a lake too see your future spouse. Another one is to go to the sauna with your partner and smack each other with vasta. The amount of birch leafs on the lady's thigh tells you how many kids you'll have in the future. And if you hear a cuckoo bird, count how many times it cuckoos in a row. That's how many years it takes untill you'll get married. Rolling around in the meadow (preferably naked) brings love and fertility.

@Sienisota

2 жыл бұрын

@@Marskilius Yes! It was that first one. Thank you, it really bothered me that I didn't remember.

@neulasia

2 жыл бұрын

you can also throw the vihta over your shoulder onto the sauna roof, and the handle will point to the direction your spouse will come from or live.

I call myself a pagan, bc I'm in the camp of people who want to reclaim it. Suomenusko is a good name for the specific branch of paganism though.

when i enjoy a nice sauna with friends we sing a lot. Some of the songs have such lyrics that for everytime you sing "hey" or some other specific word you throw a bit of löyly. They usually get the sauna hot very quickly

I'm not a pagan, but I have many habits that date back to old times. I'm not talking, singing or whistling in the sauna. Not to mention that I had sex in the sauna. I feed birds and other forest animals in the winter. I don’t damage trees unnecessarily (I don’t hit nails on living trees, I don’t collect birchbark from a living tree, etc.) I try to walk through the woods without making noise. I don’t ask the walker who he is and where he’s going. I make a campfire place away from the tent so that others can come to the fire as well. And I'm not camping by the campfire. Thanks for the food, and I don’t necessarily mean just the maker of the meal ...

When leaving sauna, remember to throw in some water for the saunatonttu, too!

you are doing absolutely superb job with these! ❤

Might have missed it, but I didn't see anyone explaining the "keeping a child's name secret" thing. It's to do with the belief that your soul is formed with three parts (or that you have three souls/spirits that live within you): itse, henki, and luonto. One can live without itse and luonto, but not without henki. Henki can mean "spirit" or "life". It's basically your life force and you are born with it. This is why we say menettää henkensä (to lose one's spirit/life) for "kuolla" (to die). Or threaten people with kohta lähtee henki (soon [your] spirit/life will leave). The words hengittää (to breathe) and henkilö (person) also come from henki. Itse (self) is your personality and sense of self and you'll get it soon after you're born. Your itse can wander off from your body and create etiäinen for example (a spirit seen soon before your real arrival) or visit the spirit world. I recall hearing that losing one's itse could be used to explain things like depression. Words related to itse are itsekäs (selfish) and itsenäinen (self-reliant, independent). Luonto (nature) is something that develops after you are born. It is your protector. Since they do not yet have a part of their soul yet, a young child is considered very vulnerable to evil spirits. My understanding is that this is why the child's true name is not revealed because by knowing their name an evil spirit or just a hateful person could easily harm the child at this stage. The child having their first tooth is considered a sign of their luonto having developed and their name can be safely revealed. The words luonne (character, temperament, personality), luonnoton (unnatural, perverted), and luonnollinen (natural) come from luonto. Your ancestors or local spirits (like spirit animals) can affect your itse and luonto. You can also strengthen these aspects of your soul. Someone with strong itse is confident (but too much makes you itsekäs, selfish). Someone who has strong luonto is strong-willed and charismatic for example. A weak luonto leads to vices like alcoholism and gambling or makes you a pushover.

Nice interaction here! And the way you do it feels really natural and respectful, thank you. Got to thinking about the "just in case" aspect that was in my own comment and what that hunter said to you. I do think there is unseen (don't like the term supernatural) side to nature/universe (whatever the scale is you want to use). And it is important to have a connection to it, regardless of the method you use (formal religion, folk believes, etc.). I do like to think about it as an seatbelt for the soul 😀

I personally think that "älä tule paha kakku, tule hyvä kakku." is a prank we pull on our children, to learn how to make sand cakes, it involves a ritual of tapping the mold with the shovel to tap it from sticking to the sides of the mold and make the children think its the rhyme and not the tapping that makes the cake to work out nice when you use this rhyme/ritual.

These are all fascinating to me because I grew up in a Christian culture in America but I also, purely instinctively, did so many of these things! Especially the nature related things. I always thought it was just my own quirky self, and others thought I was a little crazy. Talking to the animals, trees, rocks, wind, elements, and "imaginary" creatures or spirits. It was a bit of a shock to me when I learned that the quirky things I do are part of a culture from across the world! I have no idea where I might have picked up the ideas. I think now it's a big reason I fell in love with a Finnish pagan, and now I'm planning to move there!

@IrishinFinland

2 жыл бұрын

Delighted this helped! You'll love it here!

That midsummer thing is definetly something every girl does at some point. I have done it and all my friends have. It wasn’t always easy, living in Oulu and trying to find 7 flowers in june 😂! And bridal sauna traditions are also quite common. I’ve been part of those as well.

wiping the first tears of the baby to keep him/her safe usually the cloth is given to lap godparent

When i was child we made those sand cakes with little bucket and shovel and when you flip that upsidedown and you tap top of the bucket you said that phrase.. and i did that with my children too.. So that "ritual" still continue ...

@neulasia

2 жыл бұрын

i was the one who made the baking comment, and i was definitely second guessing myself, whether it was just a sandbox thing... but in the end it's not even relevant, what is the point is that i absolutely feel that either the oven or the cake itself is an entity with some kind of consciousness that needs to be sweet talked into favouring me. i think that kind of thinking is still very prevalent in finns, even if it isn't always a conscious thing.

When I hunted as a boy, the tradition was to take a moment after killing an animal to place a bit of pine or leaves in their mouth. A "last bite" offered as thanks.

Just found your channel today and now will be binge watch your entire catalog. My entire life I’ve been draw to lonely places in the woods or rocks or well where ever. There is a cave I like alot that I don’t think many know about and even fewer go in, it’s strange because it’s set up like some of the south American shaman caves where there’s a rock outcropping that you can crawl on top of inside of it and if you don’t have a flashlight pointed directly you would never see the person sitting there. In the area where that cave is there a petroglyphs from before the last Ice Age. It’s a special place, possibly with a cave system as some of the petroglyphs resemble petroglyphs near known honeycomb carved caves in Turkey and so. I love this place very much. animals I always say hello, birds especially. I feel it’s only proper. I thought everyone noticed the clouds and the rain on the air. Old place and old way that’s where GOD is. Not in a prostituted and corrupt Dissemination of spiritual information. Jesus lead me here.

Just as reference to the wind topic I immediately thought of this song: Tuuli (Wind) by Hedningarna (link at the end of the text). The band consisted of Swedish male instrumentalists and Finnish female singers who often interpreted/adapted Kalevala lyrics. This song is a spell to raise wind and storm and also features the Sámi Joik singer Wimme as guest star with great additional vocals. kzread.info/dash/bejne/lXWG0quKpqq8kqQ.html

I know I am a year late but my grandmother taught us to * Respect the sauna tonttu *Give thanks to Ahti for getting fish *leaving gifts in forest to the spirits *Collect flowers for juhannus yö to see future spouses *Listening to käki how many times it makes its call that's either how many years it is til you get married or how many children you get ,last time I got two and... I have two kids now😂 *Feed the forest animals there are so many little things that I feel stem from old ways ❤

thanks for sharing the video friend..good night.🇮🇩🇮🇩🙏🙏❤️❤️

I greet animals, keep my trash out of the nature (as best I can) and sacrifice some of my good food sometimes as offerings and to remind myself that even though we have plentifully everything here it might not be that allways. Ukraine, Russia and all that... keep it up! +1

Even i ask time to time some minor tings from Ilmatar, Vedetär, Maatar and Tuletar, like in cold weather i ask for Tuletar warm me with sunlight or when its hot i ask Ilmatar some wind to cool me down.

In my family, we do a lot of fishing. It's tradition to spit three times for good fortune after eg. laying nets, fish traps, or longlines.

When I go to sauna all my own I pour some beer to sauna water. It's for saunatonttu. It gives nice bread like smell into the sauna

Someone might think this a joke, but it really works. I like to travel alone in the woods. When I was young I asked my grandmother, what to do , if I get lost in the forrest. She said. Sit down for a minute, and then come back home. It really works allmost like a spell. Maybe she was trying to say, "dont panic". but like this it sounds cool.

I've heard of a practice for young girls to eat salt fish, tail first, then dream of their future husband. He will give you something to drink. The type of beverage also is symbolic to what sort of marriage it will be.

As usual (!), this was an interesting video - with two major exceptions: the two idiotic ads which crept up surreptitiously into the clip when l was least expecting it! Other than that, it was of major interest; l have long been interested in the "pagan" traditions of various peoples, because l am fed up with the monotheistic faiths, and the hatred for humanity entrenched in them.

Is moss a Finnish thing? I collect moss from the woods and put it instead of grass on the ground and it's the floor inside the sauna too. And the not going in the sauna too late at night, the Billy idol video eyes without a face, is that what happens in the midnight hour in the sauna?

Ahhh!! I built a sauna !

I do all the magic, all the spells

Im a little ashamed that a foreigner teaches me about my own heritage etc.. :P but better that than nothing!!

@IrishinFinland

2 жыл бұрын

Could be worse, I could be a Russian teaching you about your heritage

Lá maith! Been watching your videos for sometime and find them very entertaining and nice. None of that shouting and yoyoyo-BS that one can see every other videos. On the topic of Finnish paganism, here is a funny thing: Most of those Finns who say they are Christians, are actually not. According to the official teatchings of the church, when one dies, he dies and is woken up only on the Last day when Christ comes to the Earth once again. And this is the same with every christian church. You just die and wait for the Second coming when the dead are risen again. BUT absolute majority of the Finns believe that death means that the soul leaves the body and goes to the Otherside, Heaven or where ever. If they believe in soul at all. And that is the same our ancestors believed: when you die, your soul goes to Tuonela, which in the times before Christianity was the land of Mead/Beer and Honey, a paradise world, the Otherside. Once the Christianity took over Tuonela became the dark cold hell. But they also took our gods. The finnish word for god is Jumala. That was the real name of our Ukko, the sky god. Christian god is Yahweh. There was also another name for Ukko which the church stole and twisted: Perkele. Similar as the baltic thunder god Perkunas. It did not mean devil or hebrew stn, satan, but was just another name for Ukko, just like Lempo etc. So, when we curse we actually pray. Church has just replaced the meaning of our old pagan prays which we still use when we need some extra strenght or determination. Perkele jumalauta! Perkele = Ukko. Juma = Jumala. Auta. Perkele, Jumala auta! So most of the Finns are actually pagans in their belief systems even if they do not know it. Might be similar thing Ireland. Who knows?

my head hurts

Why aren't bird figures considered "good luck" in the house? I grew up with them, and we have mostly bird figures in the house now that I think about it....is that why we have bad luck?

@loglady33

2 жыл бұрын

I feel like we have been fucked with

@starbreeze82

2 жыл бұрын

Some birds were considered to foretell coming death or harsh times. Swan for example was thought to be able to travel between the worlds of the living and the dead and act as a messenger. But not all birds were considered bad! Swallows were considered to bring you good luck. Seeing them is also a certain sign that summer has finally begun after a long winter :)

@amethyst5538

2 жыл бұрын

@@starbreeze82 That makes a bit of sense there, thank you.

@loglady33

2 жыл бұрын

@@starbreeze82 swans could also carry messages from Tuonela or alinen I guess, in a positive manner like if you have someone close to you dying and soon after you find a swans' feather, it could be considered as a message or confirmation from the dead one. I have experience about this, last summer I was at my "home"beach, when my dog suddenly sticked her head underwater for an unknown reason, pulled a huge swans' feather from the lake and then came and dropped it in front of me. Something she never does :D The next day I hear my great-grandfather had died the same day as I got the feather. He was and I am a bit estranged but from that I had the feeling that, it's ok, he's ok and he came to say goodbyes for now like this

@starbreeze82

2 жыл бұрын

@@loglady33 Yes sorry you are right, i didn't realise it sounded like i meant only bad messages. 😁 I also have heard people have experienced bird coming to visit them after a loved one has passed away, as to deliver final goodbye from them before moving on, its very beautiful thought ❤️