| Names: | Akka manteren alainen  Kammo  Maajatar  Maamatar Maammotar Maan emo, Maan emonen Maan emä Maan matteri, Maa-matteri Maanhutar Maannotar Maanutar Maatar, Moatar Mammo Mammotar Mander Manutar |
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Earth Mother, Mistress of Earth, comes with many deeply unclear variations of her name. If you've ever heard of a goddess name "Akka" in Finnish mythology, this is her! Except she's never actually called just Akka "wife"; she is called Akka manteren alainen "wife beneath the ground" though.
Where did this "Akka" name come from? There is one incantation where the runosinger asks for power from Ukko in the sky, and from Maan emonen in the ground. Purely based on this simple instance where they are prayed to at the same time, Christfrid Ganander declared that this Akka, Maan emonen, is the wife of Ukko! Alas, we actually have no proof of that, though Ukko does have a horny wife. Maatar here is not so innocent herself: according to some runosongs, the vegetation haltija Sämpsä Pellervoinen "lied with his mother" in order to increase fertility, and it's been argued that this "mother" in question of Maatar. I'm not so sure if she's called Sämpsä's mother though because she literally is, or just because ~the earth mother is the mother of us all~. In either case, it sounds like similar business that Ukko was up to with his wife: fertility increasing intercourse.
If the above is true, it would make the "wife beneath the ground" Maatar, and the "son at the bottom of the field" Sämpsä.
The primary appearance of Maatar is as the mother of snakes: when she was brushing her hair, a bristle of the brush was cut off an fell into water. There, the wind and water moved it around and the Sun stretched it, it becoming a snake. As you may notice, this is sounds very similar to Syöjätär, who is said to have created the snake by spitting into water. Indeed, it seems that Maatar and Syöjätär got conflated with each other. Not only in this context, but also in the origin of stones (which were added to Syöjätär's list of unpleasant creations), where stones are called Maatar's son, Syöjätär's beloved/piece of Syöjätär's heart, a piece of Maatar's liver, and something which tastes like the "earth of Maatar". And as Syöjätär is a female demon, variations of the names of Maatar got also connected with demons.
Maatar's "demonic" connections don't end there. Louhi is the ruler of the Underworld, Pohjola, a northern and cold place. However, later, new versions of the Underworld were imagined, including one that's underground (Manala). With this logic, the Lady of ground would also be the Lady of the Underworld, making Louhi and Maatar one and the same. In one runosong, Maatar has icy water just like Louhi. While I see where this theory comes from, I do not personally subscribe to it. Though it's very likely that the two were conflated in some instances, I fail to connect Louhi to a fertility bringer like Maan emonen.
The view on snakes in different traditions is mixed. To Finns traditionally, snakes have been sacred animals kept as pets, though of course they could cause trouble by biting. In Christianity, the view on snakes is straight negative, and it is connected to the Devil himself. A later born runosong also states that the snake was born out of the "spit of Judas", obviously a negative character. These could be some of the aspects that explain why there are snake origin stories from both more positive and negative figures.
Despite what I listed above, it would be foolish to think that the Earth Mother was actually demonic. After all, she is asked for help:
| Nouse maasta, maan emonen, Väekseni, voimakseni! |
Rise from the ground, Earth Mother, to be my väki, my power! |
| Ukon voima taivahasta, Maasta maan emoisen voima! |
Ukko's power from the sky, Earth Mother's power from the ground! |
She is then, without doubt, a positive figure. In fact, she's probably the same as maan haltija "earth haltija", who is often deeply respected in magic rituals. In many instances, such as when moving to a new place, it is important to, first and foremost, greet the earth haltija to be accepted in the new location. Sacrificed such as milk were also poured on the ground for purposes such as bringing good health for cattle.
The rare runosongs describing the birth of Kaleva state that he released himself in full warrior gear from the womb of "Kunotar". This name does not appear elsewhere in runosongs, but "Kunnotar" does as one of the names of the Earth Mother in a runosong collected from White Karelia but, according to the runosinger, learned from Finland. This would make Kaleva the son of Maatar, and Väinämöinen her grandson, and so forth. However, this is just a theory.
Other instances where the name Kunnotar appears is as a maiden who lives in a goahti or lavvu on the "alley of Kunnola", where she boils gold in a pot and owns dogs.
The idea of an "Earth Mother" similar to Indo-European religions is seen as something which was not originally a part of Finnish religion, but born out of foreign influence. It has been suggested that the origin of Akka manteren alainen would actually be in the veneration of a female ancestor who was buried in the ground. The similar sounding Sámi term mändir-ähke means "great grandmother", and the Sámi also have the mother goddess Máttaráhkká "origin woman" who resides below the goahti. (Sámi máttar "origin, root" has the same etymological origin as Finnish manner in Proto-Finnic *mandër "mainland, continent").
| Maan emonen, variants | Literally "mother of earth". -nen is a diminutive. |
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| Maatar, variants | From maa "earth". |
| Manutar, variants | From mantu "ground, soil". |
| Mander | From manner "mainland, continent". |
| -tar, -tär | Feminine suffix. |
Only in Finnish, sorry. This is the source material.