Welcome to my website the Golden Wheel, dedicated to one of my passions: traditional Finnish faith and mythology.
For decades, I've noticed a problem: it is very difficult to get accurate information about Finnish mythology in English. All those websites like Godchecker, (at one point even Wikipedia) etc have plenty of misinformation. The Kalevala is not a good source either, as it is a 19th century work of literature inspired by folk poetry, but certainly not an accurate depiction of them. But since I am a practicioner, I will also be writing about my own interpretations on certain things like a good preacher.
The Golden Wheel is the Sun. According to a description of Finnish cosmology from oral tradition, there is an island in the center of the world where nature goddesses live. There also stands the world pillar, or the world tree. There is an apple on every branch, a Golden Wheel on the apples, and a cuckoo on the Golden Wheel. Molten gold is dripping down from the cuckoo's beak.
While it might not look like it on first glance, the life and wealth brought by the Sun and fertility is one of the most central parts of this faith.
I use the Sun Wheel symbol on this site but I must note that it's not specifically only connected to the Sun for Finns. It could be drawn next to doors on winter solstice, but it's also appeared as a general symbol on native Finnish altars called ristikanta.
Images on the right are all by Martta Wendelin. Mostly they are just general depictions of women in traditional clothing, but the one in the lower left corner is truly meant to illustrate the Maiden of Pohjola (northern underworld).
I don't have much in the way of graphics and decorations for this topic, so we're going to be limited in this front. However, since everyone on "indie web" loves retro graphics, here, let's have some.
<-- this is traditional Kainuu weaving "peilikäs"
website guardian :: Virankannos
Before we can start with anything else, I need to explain what I exactly mean by Finland. In a nationalistic view, there is the country of Finland that is inhabited by one people, Finns. This is not accurate to reality, of course. "Finn" is an umbrella term that includes multiple groups, such as: Southwestern Finns (so called Finns proper), Tavastians, West Karelians, Savonians, Ostrobothnians, Kainuians and Rear Bothnians in Finland; Forest Finns in Sweden and Norway; Tornedalians in Sweden; Kvens in Norway; and Ingrian Finns in Russia. East Karelians, who speak the Karelian language, typically do not want to be put under the "Finn" umbrella. Some would argue that West Karelians are not under it either but majority of them identify as Finns so I'll regard them as such.
Out of the groups in Finland, West Karelians, Savonians and Kainuians are considered Eastern, and the rest are Western. When it comes to runosongs (traditional Baltic Finnic oral poetry), majority of it is best preserved in Eastern areas. In addition to West Karelia, Savo and Kainuu, North Ostrobothnia and the eastern dialect area Central Finland are rich on this front. This is why the runosongs presented are heavily biased towards the eastern side, ergo the side they were better preserved in. I can do this because I'm Eastern.
The aim here is to speak of FINNISH MYTHS ONLY. Myths from other Baltic Finnic groups, such as East Karelians, are not the topic of this website. Still, runosongs from other groups such as Estonians will get referenced when they share features with Finnish runosongs that give new, helpful perspectives.
Below, there are maps that show division of Finland based on: 1) historical regions, 2) dialects EXCEPT the northernmost half of purple Karelia should also be yellow in the second map. The northernmost parts of Ostrobothnia are called Rear Bothnia.
Translation for the names: Lappi=Lapland, Saamenmaa=Sápmi, Pohjanmaa=Ostrobothnia, Häme=Tavastia, Suomi=Finland (proper), Karjala=Karelia
