Estonian mythology


Estonian mythology is a complex of myths belonging to the Estonian folk heritage and literary mythology. Information about the pre-Christian and medieval Estonian mythology is scattered in historical chronicles, travellers' accounts and in ecclesiastical registers. Systematic recordings of Estonian folklore started in the 19th century. Pre-Christian Estonian deities included a sky-god known as Jumal or Taevataat in Estonian, corresponding to Jumala in Finnish, and Jumo in Mari.

Estonian mythology in old chronicles

According to the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia in 1222 the Estonians disinterred the enemy's dead and burned them. It is thought that cremation was believed to speed up the dead person's journey to the afterlife and by cremation the dead would not become earthbound spirits which were thought to be dangerous to the living.
Henry of Livonia also describes in his chronicle an Estonian legend originating from Virumaa in North Estonia - about a mountain and a forest where a god named Tharapita, worshipped by Oeselians, had been born.
The solstice festival of Midsummer celebrating the sun through solar symbols of bonfires, the tradition alive until the present day and numerous Estonian nature spirits: the sacred oak and linden have been described by Balthasar Russow in 1578.

Mythical motifs in folklore

Some traces of the oldest authentic myths may have survived in runic songs. There is a song about the birth of the world – a bird lays three eggs and starts to lay out the nestlings – one becomes Sun, one becomes Moon and one becomes the Earth. Other Finno-Ugric peoples have also myths according to which the world has emerged from an egg.
The world of the Estonians’ ancestors is believed to have turned around a pillar or a tree, to which the skies were nailed with the North Star. The Milky Way was a branch of the World tree or the way by which birds moved. These myths were based on animistic beliefs.
Changes occurred in proto-Estonian mythology as a result of the contacts with Baltic and Germanic tribes, as well as the transition from hunting and gathering to farming. Personifications of celestial bodies, sky and weather deities and fertility gods gained importance in the world of the farmers. There may have been a sky and thunder god called Uku or Ukko, also called Vanaisa or Taevataat. Proto Estonian pre-Christian deities may also have included a sky-god by name Jumal, known also by other Finnic peoples as Jumala in Finnish and Jumo in Mari.
Estonian legends about giants may be a reflection of Germanic influences. There are numerous legends interpreting various natural objects and features as traces of Kalevipoeg's deeds. The giant has merged with Christian Devil, giving birth to a new character – Vanapagan and his farm hand Kaval-Ants.
Other mythical motifs from Estonian runic songs:
It has been suggested by ethnologist and former president Lennart Meri, that a Kaali meteorite which passed dramatically over populated regions and landed on the island of Saaremaa around 3,000-4,000 years ago was a cataclysmic event that may have influenced the mythology of Estonia and neighboring countries, especially those from whose vantage point a "sun" seemed to set in the east. In the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, cantos 47, 48 and 49 can be interpreted as descriptions of the impact, the resulting tsunami and devastating forest fires. It has also been suggested that the Virumaa-born Oeselian god Tharapita is a reflection of the meteorite that entered the atmosphere somewhere near the suggested "birthplace" of the god and landed in Oesel.

Literary mythology

and Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald compiled the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg out of numerous prosaic folk legends and runic verse imitations that they themselves had written. Faehlmann also wrote eight fictional myths combining motives of Estonian folklore, Finnish mythology and classical Greek mythology. Matthias Johann Eisen was another folklorist and writer who studied folk legends and reworked them into literary form. Many of their contemporary scholars accepted this mythopoeia as authentic Estonian mythology.
The Estonian literary mythology describes the following pantheon: The supreme god, the god of all living things, is Taara. He is celebrated in sacred oak forests around Tartu. The god of thunder is Uku. Uku's daughters are Linda and Jutta, the queen of the birds. Uku has two sons: Kõu and Pikker. Pikker possesses a powerful musical instrument, which makes demons tremble and flee. He has a naughty daughter, Ilmatütar.
During the era of Estonian national awakening the elements in the literary mythology were quickly and readily incorporated into contemporary popular culture through media and school textbooks. It can be difficult to tell how much of Estonian mythology as we know it today was actually constructed in the 19th and early 20th century. One should also note that some constructed elements are loans from Finnish mythology and may date back to the common Baltic-Finnic heritage.

Estonian mythological and literary mythological beings, deities and legendary heroes

Christian saints interpreted as gods: