Estonian Mythical Creatures

Last updated on: October 18, 2022 at 1:44 am By Niina Niskanen

Stories from Estonia encourage people to examine their connection to nature and respect the invisible spirits that live around us. Here are some fascinating creatures from Estonian myths and legends. Metsik The Forest Guardian Metsik is the elf of the forest. In the primaeval Estonian tales, Metsik were wood elves that lived everywhere surrounded by trees, from shallow swamp forests to coniferous woodlands. When Metsik appears to people they take a form of a wild animal, a bird or a... Read more

Autumn Festivals Of Ancient Finland

Last updated on: October 18, 2022 at 1:40 am By Niina Niskanen

In ancient Finland, there were all kinds of festivities connected to the autumn time. This is mainly because for thousands of years Finland was an agricultural society and many of the customs and deities were connected to the land. This list includes some of these holy days. Many of these holidays have pagan origins but during the Middle Ages when the Catholic church wanted to get rid of the deities, holidays were renamed after Catholic saints. The church wasn´t very... Read more

Where Are Today’s Pagan Temples and Who Goes There?

Last updated on: November 2, 2022 at 6:48 pm By Niina Niskanen

In the ancient world, people could find pagan shrines and temples in every larger city and village. But where are today’s pagan temples and who are the pagans who go there? In every culture, there are sacred places that are still considered to be sacred by a great number of people. Some of the most famous pagan shrines are Stone Henge in England, which draws more than 800 000 tourists every year. Most of these people are just tourists, but... Read more

Autumn Time Festivals (In Latvia and Finland)

Last updated on: October 18, 2022 at 1:36 am By Niina Niskanen

Abjumidas In Latvia festival, Abjumidas – began the autumn season. Abjumidas was celebrated to honour the god Jumis. He was the pagan god of harvest and fertility and he was celebrated during the autumn equinox between the 22-24th of September. Mikeli October first Mikeli or the day of St.Michael was named after both a Catholic saint and the archangel Michael. It is very likely that originally Mikeli was a nature spirit. In Latvian folk belief, St.Michael was the receiver... Read more

Kekri Finnish Day of the Dead

Last updated on: October 18, 2022 at 1:29 am By Niina Niskanen

Kekri (also known as Köyri) was one of the biggest pagan holidays celebrated in ancient Finland. It was usually celebrated on the first or the second week of November. Kekri was not a communal celebration. It was celebrated within the family and each family decided when to celebrate Kekri. The celebration usually took place after all the harvest work was finished. Festivities lasted three days (Kekri Eve, Kekri Day and All Souls Day). In the modern Finnish calendar, Kekri takes... Read more

Ancient Finnish Gods & Goddesses, Nature Manifested

Last updated on: October 18, 2022 at 1:19 am By Niina Niskanen

Throughout time there have been millions of gods and goddesses that people have worshipped around the world. In Finland, there were several pagan deities who were all manifestations of nature. Beliefs of the first inhabitants of what is now known as Finland were most likely shamanic- animistic beliefs for the totem animals and nature spirits. The pantheon of Finnish deities slowly evolved from these beliefs. Mielikki One of the most beloved deities in the Finnish pantheon was Mielikki. Goddess of... Read more

Divine Grandmothers in Myths and Folklore

Last updated on: October 16, 2022 at 4:21 pm By Niina Niskanen

Archetypes of the mother and the grandmother are some of the most sacred ones in all cultures. Life would not exist without mothers. In myths and legends across the world, we can find powerful grandmother figures. They represent the crone aspect of womanhood and had dual roles being connected to aging, dying nature and to the powers of the underworld. These grandmother goddesses are caring, wise, supporting and powerful matriarchs. Like grandmothers are in real life. Grandmothers of the North... Read more