Samuel / Al ☭

✝️ Christian 🫎Hirvikultti (Cult of the Moose) This is a blog for me to share my practice and experiences with Finnish folk religion

[hirvikultti]

Tervetuloa!

Quick info:

Samuel / Al

he/him

Central Ostrobothnia, Finland

History major

2002

languages: FIN, ENG

Main blog: @raptorwithink

Posts of note:

What is Hirvikultti?

(Non-exhaustive) glossary on Finnish folk religion

Holiday Calendar

Religious bg: Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church. Not a devout family.

Finnish folk religion is a syncretist practice of Christianity and "pre-christian" beliefs like animism.

I identify as Christian because the Abrahamic God is the god I worship, I believe that Jesus was the son of God, and believe in the Trinity of said god. I don't outright deny the existence of other gods, I just know that the Lord was the one who specifically called me.

Witchcraft is not a part of my personal practice. (NOTE I have no problem with witchcraft or witches :3 )

About my practice

Devoted to

Lord / God / the Abrahamic god / The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit

Worshipping to a lesser extent

The Moose - venerated as an ancestor spirit

Väki (this includes ancestors)

Other important animals:

Hooded crow (Corvus corone cornix) - I find this bird personally important and I identify with it to an extent. I call it my "soul bird" (even tho traditionally soul birds are small songbirds)

Cow - The main livelihood in my home area. Important to my ancestors, and thus important to me

Please interact if you...

Worship animal ancestors !

are Christopagan

are Finnic pagan or practice suomenusko/väenusko

have any questions! :3

In the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit!

May the Mother, The Moose show you the path and inspire your courage!

[hirvikultti]

Sauna Ceremony

🔥◇ The First Sauna: Greeting And Thanking the Haltija ◇🔥

Saunanhaltija is the "heart" of every household, sometimes kodinhaltija and saunanhaltija being the same being, as sauna is part of the physical structure of the home. I live in an apartment, with an access to a sauna shared by all apartments in the complex, but in my about three years of living here I had not used it. Last week I finally took it upon myself and messaged the housing association about how to access the sauna, and arranged the deal (paid my monthly sauna-fee). I've been trying to better my standing with the spirit of the house - Haltija or Tonttu, whichever word one prefers - first by starting my habit of morning coffee offerings again, and greeting the sauna seemed like a sensible next step.

First I'd like to introduce two books which were integral in tackling the topic of sauna as a religious/spiritual practice and/or space:

1. "Perinnelöylyt: vuosi saunassa" by Laura Foon. This book has a sauna ceremony/ritual conducted by the writer for every month of the calendar year. All rituals contain old Finnish poems/songs. I lend this book from the library, and while I didn't end going with any of Foon's premade rituals as-is, it proved great inspiration for building my own ritual framework. (Reminder to use your local library!!)

2. "Saunan sylissä: kaikuja perinnesaunasta" by Sanna Pelliccioni. Small collection of sauna-poems and -songs. I bought this book in music festival this summer, I'm not sure where one could find it.

To my knowledge neither of these books has been translated to another language.

I had a bottle of blessed water "left over" from Lent and Easter. The water was brought to Church and prayed over. When blessing with this water or otherwise using it I recite First Letter of John 5:6-8. While warming the sauna, I poured all the water that was left into the pail. This was then poured onto the kiuas (sauna stove), with the steam, löyly, from it working as a cleanse and an offering to the saunanhaltija at the same time. I made sure to greet the "Löyly" with the greeting words:

"Terve Löyly, terve lämmin,

Löyly kulta lämmin kulta.

Vesi kiukahan kiville,

terve tervehyttäjälle."

After this offering/cleanse I washed myself. Then it was time for the ceremony proper. When filling the pail I recited the part from the First Letter of John, which I've always been using as a way to appoint ceremonial water, to bless it. I sat on the sauna bench, in the dark, and sang the greeting over and over again while pouring the water to the stones. The sauna is an electric one, so it doesn't get as hot as what I was used to in my family home (wood stove sauna), and the only way to get the sauna ro feel hotter was with the steam. I sat, singing, through the first 'löyly', after which it was time for a cooling.

When my body had settled and I had drank a little water, I filled the pail the same manner as before. The first 'löyly' was to wake the sauna. It was an offering to the Löyly itself, characterized by the greeting song that served as the ceremonial core. The second 'löyly' was to be longer, if possible. I threw water to the stones, greeting löyly every time: "vesi kiukahan kiville, terve tervehyttäjälle". I took the book of songs with me, and sang through some, tho none of them "stuck" with me. I also recited the Aaronic blessing, and thanked the Moose by singing parts of the Hirvenvirsi. When a particularly hot wave came and stung, I recited a part sauna-poem from my home town that's meant to tell the löyly not to hurt fresh wounds:

"(Löyly kulta lämmin kulta,

haava on jalassani)

Ei oo löylyn löytämistä,

ei lämpimän lävistystä:

viennes hirres löylyn löyt'mys

viennes lämpimäl' lävistys"

I was in the sauna as long as I could, as long as it felt good and proper. With the pail empty again, and my body hot, I stepped out.

I washed myself, properly with soap, while reciting the Aaronic blessing. (I do the washing while blessing during the sauna bathing of important holidays, like Christmas or Easter, or other times ot feels proper to cleanse myself not just physically, but spiritually.)

The last, third session in the sauna was to be short, as not to break sweat after I had just showered. I sang the thanks to Löyly, both the one in the book and a modified one of my own making.

I rinsed myself, and filled the empty pail again. I put it in the sauna, so the spirit may have it's own turn in the sauna. I left the sauna for the Haltija for half an hour - a short time, jut I live in the apartment so I had to clean the sauna in a timely manner in case someone else wanted to use it - after which I cleaned the sauna area.

So, in short, this framework for a sauna ceremony breaks it into roughly three parts

1. Löyly for the Haltija

2. "Proper" sauna bathing

3. Giving thanks

With my first blessing of the sauna at the beginning, since this was my first time using the sauna, and showering after "your turn" and before the giving of thanks.

I hope someone who's reading this is also inspired to give a try to the powerful, soulful part of the sauna!

[hirvikultti]

I did my first ever sauna ritual last evening/night, and now I feel amazing! Thank the Lord, thank you saunanhaltija and Löyly, thank Hirvi, the mother, the king of the forest!

I think I'll make a post about it later, a guide perhaps.

[hirvikultti]

Finnish-Christian Year

Here's a non-calendar year of celebrations and other important dates. There are a myriad of other saint/"name" dates besides these recorded around the country, but these are just the ones I observe in my practice

Ensimmäinen adventti / 1st Advent

Starts the Liturgical year. "Hoosianna" is sung in church during this day. Lighting the first advent candle reminds us of hope, and brings the first sliver of light to the dark winter.

Antin Päivä / Antti

30. 11. This is the day winter begins.

Toinen adventti / 2nd Advent

The second Advent is the day that's meant to remind the church-goer of Jesus' second coming.

Kolmas adventti / 3rd Advent

Third Advent is deticated to John the Baptist

Neljäs adventti / 4th Advent

The fourth Advent is deticated to the Virgin Mary

Tuomaan Päivä / Tuomas

21. 12. "Hyvä Tuomas Joulun tuopi, Paha Nuutti pois sen viepi" (Thomas the Good brings Christmas with him, and evil Nuutti takes it away) This day starts Christmastime, and one is allowed to begin eating Christmas foods.

Jouluaatto / Christmas Eve

24. 12. In Finland, majority of Christmas celebrations are held on Christmas Eve. Declaration of "Christmas-time Peace", sauna, the feast, and gift-giving take place.

Joulupäivä / Christmas Day

25. 12.

Tapanin Päivä / Tapani / The Feast of St. Stephen

26. 12. Day of horses, horsemen, and stablehands. People would harness a new foal for the first time, and race it to church. Horse was allowed inside the house and given a bowl of beer on the dinner table. Many traditions have been left to the past, now that horses aren't a stable in every household (heh), but different races are still held on Tapaninpäivä as a nod to the old tradition.

Nuutin Päivä / Nuutti

13. 1. "Hyvä Tuomas Joulun tuopi, Paha Nuutti pois sen viepi" (Thomas the Good brings Christmas with him, and evil Nuutti takes it away) Ends Christmastime. The spruce is taken out. People, mostly young men, would dress up as "Nuuttipukki" and go arpund houses demanding rest of the Christmas beer. If not given the beer, they would either sing degrading songs or threaten to break the hearth/oven of the house. This tradition is a "copy" of earlier "Kekripukki" tradition, and shows how linked Kekri- and Christmas-traditions are in Finland.

Kynttilänpäivä

2. 2. 40 days after Christmas. Literally "candle's day". The day that commemorates the day baby Jesus was brought to the temple to be blessed by Simeon. In Catholic Church all the candles of the Church would be blessed this day.

Talvi-Matti

24. 2. Commemoration of the Apostle Matthias. The bear turns in its nest.

Laskiainen

Laskiaissunnuntai, Shrove Sunday, and Laskiaistiistai, Shrove Tuesday. Preparing for lent by eating fatty foods. While people nowadays don't fast, the tradition to eat remains. Finnish peasoup and semlar (Laskiaispulla, a bun filled with jam and whipped cream) are stables. People, mostly children, will sled down hills and wish for a good harvest - the longer the sled goes, the better the harvest will be. "Pitkiä pellavia!" is yelled while you shove yourself down. This is a shortened version of the whole song/spell: "Pitkiä pellavia, hienoja hamppuja, lanttuja kuin lautasia, räätiköitä kuin nurkanpäitä!"

Palmusunnuntai / Palm Sunday

The day to commemorate Jesus' arrival to Jerusalem. In most parts of Finland children would go around houses with decorated pussywillow branches, asking for candy in exhange for a branch and "virpominen", a blessing of the house of sorts. In my home area "virpominen" is done on Easter Saturday.

The Easter Week:

Kiirastorstai / Maundy Thursday

The day of the Last Supper

Pitkäperjantai / Long Friday

The day of the Crucifixion

Lankalauantai / Easter Saturday

During this day children would go around with decorated pussywillow branches, asking for candy in exhange for "virpominen". In general, thw whole ordeal is called "virpominen", similar to trick-or-treating in US. It is thought that during the kight between Saturday and Sunday, as "Jesus lays dead in Hid grave", evil spirits are at their strongest, and the barrier between our world and the world of the spirits is thin. Easter Bonfires are lit to drive away evil spirits, most notably "trulls".

Pääsiäissunnuntai / Easter Sunday

The day to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.

Toinen pääsiäispäivä / 2nd Easter Day

The day to commemorate Jesus appearing to His decibles and to the women who followed Him.

Hela / Helatorstai / Ascencion Day

40 days after Easter. The Day to commemorate Jesus' Ascension to Heaven.

Helluntai / Pentecost

50 days after Easter. The Day to commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. It's the day to make the first vasta of the spring.

Juhannus / Midsummer

The Saturday between 20. and 26. 6. Midsummer's celebration, celebration of the "nightless night". Sauna is a must. There's a tradition of doin love spells or love-related fortune telling. Midsummer bonfires are a tradition in coastal parts of Finland.

Mätäkuu

23. 7. - 23. 8. "Rotten month". According to tradition, one should not slaughter animals during this time, for their meat would rot fast. On the other hand, clearing area for fields or getting rid of weeds during "mätäkuu" would be fruitful, since the growth of any plant matter would be slow.

Pärttyli

24. 8. First true autumn day. Somewhat celebratory day for agricultural households, for from this day onwards it was acceptable to start eating the year's harvest. After Pärttyli one should not make any more vasta's. It was thought that vasta made after Pärttyli would spread skin diseases.

Syys-Matti

21. 9. Commemoration of Mattheus the Evangelist. The day the bear goes to sleep in its winter nest.

Mikkelinpäivä

Day of Angels. In agrarian times, the day was also a popular day for ending the harvest and the gracing season of cattle. Feasting on mutton was also a tradition, and the bones -if not meat as well - of the sheep were given to the Pitämyspuu

Kekri

Time was different debending on area. I clebrate Kekri in the weekend of the last week of October (so either at the end of October or start of November). Sometimes it's concurrent with Pyhäinpäivä / All Saints Day, which in Christianized Finland took some of Kekri traditions, like commemoratong ancestors, while other moved to Joulu and other Christmastime holidays. (See Nuuttipukki for example). Kekri was the end of a year and start for a new one for agricultural Finns, and for me it ends the non-calendar year.

Jakoaika

Started from Kekri or from "Simo" (28.10), and ended in "Martti" (10. 11), it is theorized that this "in-between time" was meant to balance the time difference between solar- and lunar calendars. "Jakoaika" was unnatural time, when the barrier between worlds was thin, and different spirits would raon around. For me it is natural to see the time between the end of the year, Kekri, and start of a Liturgical year, 1st advent, as "Jakoaika" - even tho my "jakoaika" thus is way longer than it was to anyone in the older generations.

[gods-of-the-great-lakes]

Personhood might be recognizable because of intentional acts that indicate consciousness, but such consciousness is necessarily embodied. Bodies matter just as much as consciousness does. Persons are not minds in or with bodies, but embodied in diverse and particular ways. This is one meaning of animist discourse about ancestors and of the various roles gender and gendered bodies play in particular cultures. Minds do not merely communicate through the bodies in which they are housed, they are fully integrated in/as the whole person who is mindful and active as a living, sensual, and participative being. A large and varied literature is now available that engages not only with embodiment but also with the 'knowing body.' ...The debate also resonates deeply with the practiced knowledge of animists and insistently points to the conclusion that conscious bodies are integral aspects or modes of persons' relationality. Or, to put it another way, knowing bodies are defining characteristics of persons.

Animism, Graham Harvey / Chapter 14: Consciousness, pg. 192-3

[hirvikultti]

I wrote down a year calendar in my 'devotion' book, but forgot Vappu. It's a secular holiday so I'm not sure if I should even add it. Anyways I'm not gonna re-do the whole thing, so no May Day! There are also no Moose-holidays bc no established days seemed to fit in Moose's migratory- and other behavioral patterns

[hirvikultti]

Almost finished with "Suomalainen kansanusko" by Risto Pulkkinen. It has been a good read!

[hirvikultti]

I can't WAIT for autumn and the Kekri-season and for the winter holidays after that... there're not enough summer holidays, majority of important holidays take place in the September-April-half of the year

[hirvikultti]

Putting on my Soviet pins with the same reverance I do my Cross and putting on my Moose pin and charms with the same reverance the world is so beautiful

[hirvikultti]

Cosmology: Three-parted World

Fig. 1

The idea of the three-part world is shared by Uralic cultures, including the mythology and religions of the Finns. The world is separated into three parts, in horizontal as well as vertical axis, simultaneosly. "Keskinen", "the middle world", our known world; "Alinen", "the underworld"; and "Ylinen", "the above world". These aspects of the world place themselves not only on the vertical axis, but horizontally: while the "underworld" exists literally under our feet, it is also situated in many mythologies in the far north, while the "ylinen" exists, in accordance with the established dichotomy, in the south.

As the world is separated in three, simultaneously there is the view of the world being made of two natures. "Tuonpuoleinen", literally "the other side", and "tämänpuoleinen", "this side". "Tämänpuoleinen" is what is our known world, while everything sacred and unknowable exists more or less "on the other side". "Keskinen" thus is of "tämänpuoleinen", while "Alinen" and "Ylinen" and all their inhabitants are of "tuonpuoleinen" in their nature.

People in general seemed to be more familiar with the Alinen. There were stories of shamans traveling there, the "geography" of the place was mapped out with it's river and gates, and it was where souls went after their death. People would leave offering to the inhabitants of the Alinen, to different "underground" spirits and to their ancestors under conifer trees (more about conifers here). Ylinen was in turn something so otherworldly it wasn't really approached. In these traditions the creator God was not something one approached much - it was a distant being, a deus otiosus - and the above world was its domain.

In my personal view: The role of the creator god in this Cosmology is fitting for the Abrahamic God/Jahve/Sebaot/The Lord etc. Unlike many gods in polytheistic religions, this God is completely otherworldly and in its nature distant from humans, an unknowable, omnipotent being. I think he fits as the "ruler" of Ylinen, which syncretic Christian belief might substitute with the word Heaven. The other realm of tuonpuoleinen, Alinen, would be the domain of spirits, other creations which are supernatural in their nature. I would see Alinen as existing, in a way, alongside and "under" our observalbe reality. This is where the souls of our ancestors and other "väki" would recide, "maanväki" (force/people of thre earth) most importantly. Keskinen then is simply everything that is NOT supernatural in nature. Our selves during our lifetime, and all the other inhabitants of this Earth.

Source: Pulkkinen, Risto: "Suomalainen kansanusko: samaaneista saunatonttuihin." Gaudeamus Helsinki University press, 2014

[hirvikultti]

Cosmology: Conifer trees

In Uralic tradition "the underworld" was associated with conifers, and offerings and ceremonies ment for the "underworldly" spirits would be done at conifer trees specifically. I will note now, that in Finnish tradition "pitämyspuu", a tree which protects the house and to whom the family must give offerings, can be any sort of tree. In some areas "pitämyspuu" is most desired to be a rowan, even, in direct opposition to the idea of a ritual tree being strictly conifer. But there are Finnish traditions that are associated with death or post-death existence and confined to conifer trees, more specifically pines. "Karsikko" was a pine tree situated somewhere between the home and the graveyard (in Christianized Finland), and when a familymember would die a branch would be pruned off the tree, and (sometimes) the name of the deceased carved on the pine. If the dead spirit was to travel off the church grounds, it would come upon the "karsikko", see its name, and be reminded to turn back to its "right place" - the world of the dead. The other important pine tree is "Karhunkallohonka", a large pine tree reserved for Karhunpeiijaiset, a special ritual held for the bear after hunting one down. By hanging the skull of the bear on the pine tree, and burying the other bones at the root of the tree, the soul of the bear could travel back to the sky.

[hirvikultti]

Vladimir Napolskih's "Map" of proto-Uralic cosmology, by Manner, Maria in "Suomalainen kansanusko: samaaneista saunatonttuihin", Pulkkinen, Risto, 2014.

1.Life-goddess, who often represents the sun

2.The House of the goddess (no comparable in Finnish mythology)

3.The Great Birch of the Heavens, the world-tree.

4.The spring, which begins the world-river

5.Life-lake/sea, where human life originates and where waterfowl spend winter

6. Waterfowl migrate via the milkyway from the "overworld" to the "middle"

7.The milkyway

8.The world-river

9.Conifer trees, mediating between "underworld" and the "middle", a place of sacrifice

10.Mouth of the World-river on the "Icy sea of the North", a place of evil

11.Bird of the underworld, in Finnic peoples mythology it's "Tuonelan joutsen"="Swan of Tuonela"

12.The Island of the Underworld

13.Dog of the Underworld

14.Subterranean river of the Underworld

15.Roots of the Great Birch of the Heavens

16.The leader of the underworld, in many mythologies "helper" of the creator god, sentenced to the Underworld for his betrayal.

[hirvikultti]

I got into a habit of giving a small cup of coffee, poured from the pot first before filling my own cup, and giving it to the väki or the house spirit (haltija/tonttu) when I had a small fox plushie with me. I gave him food every now and then, especially on holidays on his own small plate, and his own morning coffee every day. This coffee or food I'd then pour it outside, giving it to the spirits proper. My fox friend was something of a proxy for the spirit of the house, a friend, a physical being that reminded me of the väki.

I lost him this spring, and after that I had not given any offerings to the väki. Last night I decided I should start doing it again, even if I don't have a plushie friend to help make the ritual more physical and concrete. Maybe the house spirit is pissed off with me, having not given them their cup of coffee for a long time now, but here's to healing that relationship again. With one cup at a time.

[hirvikultti]

Roman Publius Cornelius Tacitus speaks of, at the end of his publication Germania (98 AD), "Fenni"-people - a word we can assume to mean Saami people of Scandinavia - and ends this publication with a short mention of partly-animal half-humans that he calls hellusios et oxionas: "The rest is fantastical. The hellusians and oxionas are said to have otherwise human features, not to count the animal body and limbs. This has not been more thoroughly investigated, so I'll leave it open to further discussion." According to Tacitus's geographical account, the people called "Fenni" might refer to the people of Suomenniemi. This would mean the people referred to could be Finns, specifically the moose- and bear-clans: the former worshipping the moose as their ancestor, and the latter the bear. An explanation has been proposed that the word "hellusian", might come from the same indoeuropean word meaning moose that the swedish word "elg" also comes from - here used as a name by outsiders, Tacitus's indoeuropean informants. "Oxionas" would instead come from the name the group themselves used, coming from "oksi", a word for bear. The mysterious beings Tacitus refers to could be the shamans (in Finnish 'noita') of the moose- and bear-clans, dressed up with the identifiers of their animal 'helper' in rituals.

-Pulkkinen Risto, Lindfors Stina: Suomalaisen kansanuskon sanakirja. Gaudeamus, Helsinki University Press. 2016

[hirvikultti]

I tend to see hooded crows as signs of something good. They are my brothers and they are guiding me towards the right path. One of them was marching about the apartment which viewing I arranged for this week (I'm huntung for a vetter, larger apartment). I hope it's a good sign and I get the apartment!

[hirvikultti]

Wondering a name change. I just got an idea of changing it to "Hirvenheimolainen". "Hirvikultti" is the name of the 'religion', and hirvenheimolainen would be the way to call someone who belongs to the 'heimo' (eng. "tribe") of Hirvi (the Moose)!

[hirvikultti]

✶|"Shedding The Winter Coat" As a Ritual |✶

In Finland we have a concept called "talviturkki". When you have your first swim of the summer in a natural body of water, and fully submerge yourself, you "shed/throw away your winter coat". "Heittää talviturkkinsa"="one throwing away their winter fur/coat". The saying is mostly humorous, but this year I decided to have my first swim of the summer as a devoded ritual to The Moose, The Mother.

Preparation, before the ritual

I recited The Apostles Creed modified ("Uskontunnustus"), as I do before any and every ritual. (My modifications include the belief in väki in the last passage, and remove the part of bodily re-animation)

The swim

I sat on the lakeshore rocks and recited the "Hirvenvirsi", "Hymn of The Moose", a personal poem of veneration. I repeated parts as I felt fit. As I stood up and moved to the pier I recited the Aaronic blessing as well, for the Lord to bless both me and Hirvi, and bless the ritual as a whole. Getting into the water I quietly recited the epithets of Hirvi, and gave praise, as I finally dipped under water.

After the swim we went to the sauna - of course. When washing myself after the sauna I recited the Aaronic blessing, as I do when we have sauna during festivities.

This was my first ever ritual dedicated to Hirvi, The Moose. I feel rejuvinated, energized, and very at peace. I think the "throwing of the winter coat for The Moose" is something I'll be doing next year as well!

Aamen, Aamen, Aamen