| Names: | Leävätär  |
|---|---|
| Domain: | Cows |
Leävätär, or in standardized Finnish Läävätär, refers to a mysterious figure related to cows. In order to get some idea out of her, I have to look at runosongs not only in North Ostrobothnia, Kainuu and Savo, but also in White Karelia. Each adds an additional piece to the puzzle.
Common epithets are läävän akka, lämmin akka "wife of the cowshed, warm wife" and läävän tytti, lännen neito "girl of the cowshed, maiden of the west". It's not certain if both lämmin and länsi are intended, or if one of them is a later malformation. A Kainuian runosong calls Etelätär lännen läävän pohjimmainen "bottom-most of the cowshed of the west", while a White Karelian runosong addresses "the west" as a separate being from Etelätär. Etelätär, of course, refers to the south wind. White Karelian runosongs also speak of Ijätär, east wind, in a very similar position (and also mentions northwest Luotehetar alongside).
A White Karelian runosong refers to läävän akka as vihanta "verdant, fresh" which is also how viljan eukko "old woman of crops" is described elsewhere. Another one calls läävän tytti the same as pihan tytti, pellon neito "girl of the yard, maiden of the field". This epithet, in turn, is connected to maan tyttö, Manulan neito "girl of the earth, maiden of the Underworld". While these imply that one being is being referred to, there are other runosongs which ask "are you the girl of the earth or the maiden of the Underworld?" which allows for a reading that implies that this Underworld maiden is the not the same as an earth goddess.
In Savonian runosongs, a maiden of the Underworld, maybe Louhi or her sister or daughter, is called idän tyttö, lännen vaimo, / etelän emäntävaimo "girl of the east, woman of the west, / mistress wife of the south". These cardinal directions should make no sense if you are familiar with Finnish dualism: north and west are connected to death, while south and east are connected to life. It is reasonable for an Underworld maiden to be connected to north and west, and this happens often, but many of these lines make it sound like as if Etelätär and the east wind are the same Underworld maiden! Because of this discrepancy, I cannot say with certainty if there are two wind goddesses, one Etelätär and the other an Underworld maiden, or if they are but one being only appearing as good or bad aspects depending on where the wind is blowing from. In both cases, their role is the same: to protect cattle.
What I cannot say is which one "Leävätär" refers to. Maybe both? Well, if you wish to read about Etelätär, she has a page. I'd like to add some of my theories below about the nature of the Underworld maiden. I lean towards the direction that "Leävätär" primarily refers to her, not Etelätär. Because of everything I listed above, I believe that the woman of the cowshed, west, crops and the Underworld is the one and the same. And as a figure called Yön tyttö, hämärän neito "Girl of the Night, Maiden of the Dusk" is an Underworld maiden who is also asked to protect cattle, I believe that she is the same figure as well. She is also called Eine-eukko, which could mean "old woman of food". In addition to protecting cattle, she is also asked to help with bear hunting. This is why I believe she is the one who is asked to help with bear hunting in a Kainuian runosong: Päivölän miniä "daughter-in-law of Päivölä", or the daughter of Louhi. She is also called Tuonetar "lady death", though this is very often confused with Tuometar "lady bird cherry", a supposed forest goddess. In Kainuian runosongs, there is also the Underworld maiden "Isätär" or "Ismärätär" who makes a cabin out of bird cherry and cradles the bear.
So Louhi's daughter yes, I believe so. We also know that some runosongs refer to Louhi giving birth to various unpleasant things, such as frost and cold wind. Indeed, there is a north wind goddess called Tuuletar "lady wind" who is also called Tuonetar. This is a lot of circumstantial "evidence" so I can't prove it exactly but it is how it makes sense to me. I wrote more in detail about Underworld maidens on this page. I also wrote a more detailed blog post on this topic here. While Etelätär was a wanted goddess for when cattle was put outdoors, maybe it tells something about the north and west wind that an Underworld maiden is so strongly connected to the cowshed, where the cows are sheltered from wind. What I find to be beautiful is that she is also connected to crops, food. But well, she married a son of fertility deities in the Heavens, after all.
If you care, I also believe that the White Karelian Luotehetar (meaning northwest wind), as well as Baltic Sea island (Lavansaari, nowadays called "Moshchny" by the occupiers) Luuvetar (also northwest wind) refer to this same Underworld wind maiden.
| Leävätär | From läävä "cowshed". |
|---|---|
| -tar, -tär | Feminine suffixes. |
Only in Finnish, sorry. This is the source material.