Boabollas tiijusta - mind your own business - lit. ask your grandma
Dielot on šuapkas i šuapka konua vas - it's under control - lit. Things are in hat and hat is on the head
Ei merda rengil miärätä - don't judge book by it's cover - lit. the sea isn't measured with a bucket
Hibjuhiiri selgiä myö kävelöy - to get goosebumps - lit. skinmouse walks along the back
Hos ollou sijas sigua, on i aijas raguo - even best laid plans, there's no perfect plan - even though there are a lot of pigs in bed, there is also many holes on the fence
Hukan perzies - behind the god's back, in arse end of nowhere - lit. in a wolf's arse
Jallat kahes venehes seizou - for someone to be a cheater, someone who's cheated on their partner - lit. to stand one foot in each boat
(Karu) lerkkuu kui pieru helmas - hanging about like bad smell - lit. (devil) hangs around like fart in the hem
Kenen pahna sen i počit - not my circus not my monkeys, not my problem - lit. the pigs belong to the person with the pigsty
Kuni n'oakka heittäy laglatuksen (sit jougoni laulau) - when pigs fly - lit. when jackdaw ceases croaking (then the swan will sing)
Kuu kehällä taivas tähellä - all's well that ends well - lit. moon is round and sky is starry
Pahah sanah i paivu katkieu, a hyväh sanah i leppy lämbyy - you catch more flies with honey than vinegar - lit. bad words make even willow break, good words make even alder bend
Pierul lendelöy - to be butthurt, to overreact - lit. (they are) flying on a fart
Pimiel peäl. Täyves lentas - to be drunk as a skunk, arse over tits - lit. in dark head. In full braid
Se on seäksi i keviäl liha - every little bit helps - lit. Even mosquito is meat on spring
Siellä hyvä missä meidä ei - grass is always greener - lit. good is where we are not
Vačča on kobras - jumped out of (my) skin - lit. stomach is in hand
Haikoini - spirit of yawns. Can cause sleepiness during days and insomnia during nights.
Haldiekala - spirit in shape of large fish, usually pike
Haldija, haldie - spirit that rules over specific area, place, building or element
Havunkaristajaini - spirit that travels through forests three times per winter, rustling old needles off the trees
Jumi - spirit this said to shoot arrows into cows and horses, causing sudden sicknesses
Karu - devil, bear shaped spirit
Kaveh* - animal, usually sheep shaped spirits who watch net fishers from shores during netfishing
Leävälindu - a small spirit that is said to live in cowsheds and caused harm to the animals
Leävällini, leävänemändä - protector spirit of cowsheds, cows and sheep
Mara, para - hungry spirit that eats luck from the house, milk from cows and moon from the sky. It is size of milk pot, round and can be made to bring what it has stolen from your enemies to you
Mečänjuoksija - a devil, or spirit that is seen flashing by quickly from the corner of the eye, usually in forest
Moantoppa - snake shaped spirit of soil and ground that typically lives under the cowshed and can cause wounds on the animals, especially if visitor or new owner doesn't greet the spirit
Nori - small spirit that causes infections on cow udders by walking under the cows legs.
Ottajat - spirits who come to collect the spirit of the dying. They typically appear as small birds of humanoid beings in white clothes
Painajani - spirit of sleep paralysis and nightmares
Panu - poetic personification of fire, small firespirit
Riihiboabo - spirit of the grainhouse, typically in shape of old, wrinkled woman
Sigivö - spirit of stillborn, can sometimes cause people to hear baby crying through night even if there are no babies around
Sijatoi - spirit of person who died before their time, for example as result of violence or accident. They must wander the world until their natural lifespan would have come to an end
Suurisynty**, synty - spirit that looks like black small pile of hay or wrinkled cloth, and travels around, flirting along the fields for 12 nights after Christmas. It foretells things about coming year.
Tulianheli - personification of fire, an angel that protects people from harm caused by fire
Tuulianheli - personification of wind, an angel that protects people from harm caused by wind
Unoi - personification of sleep, sandman
Vedehini*** - spirit of drowned person. Can be malicious or benign, causing or preventing others to drown
Vierissänakka - water spirit that is said to travel around between Christmas and Epiphany, foretelling future and making sure people aren't harming animals
Yönitkettäjä - spirit with long sharp nails that grabs and squeezed children and babies, making them cry during nights and not wanting to sleep
Ägräs, pyhä-ägräs - spirit or saint that is tied to the growth of turnips, potatoes, swedes and suchlike root vegetables
*can also be poetically used to refer to any kind of living being, or about a sheep that escapes it's pen often by jumping
**can also refer to Jesus as the Saviour
***can be used of water spirits depending on dialect
Kehno, roskehno - lit. small devil - fucker, fuck
Kehno, laudazen rikoin - fuck, I broke a plate
Koinoa - to fuck
Kulkkuš koinan - suck on dick, fuck you
Känčistyö - to die, to kick bucket
Muna - dick and balls, nuts
Mäne munah - fuck off
Munago heis - who the fuck cares
Muna kädeh - (you) wanker (also bad worker, lazy person)
Sinus ei roih munan murua/munoa - You useless fucker
Muna suuh - eat dick
Nahkanun'n'u - lit. leather willy - wanker, impotent, incontinent
Mäne nun'n'ul - go fuck yourself, go to hell
Peäčköiliipoi, peäčköinhändä - common yellow swallowtail (Papilio machaon)
Pohjanakka, pohjaisliipoi - red admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
Pruunisilmä - large wall brown (Pararge maera)
Ruskieliipoi - small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
Siniliipoi - Lycaenidae, especially silver-studded blue (Plebeius argus) or northern blue (P. idas)
Sirenihaukka - privet hawk moth (Sphinx ligustri)
Valgieliipoi - large white (Pieris brassicae)
Voiliipoi - common brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni)
In karelian culture, butterflies are strongly associated with the dearly departed. When butterfly comes inside a house people often say; "Liipokkaine tuli pert̀ih, ga liennougo muamo vai tuatto tulluh minuo t́ijjustamah" - "butterfly came inside, wonder if (passed away) mother or father came to see how I am doing.".
"Liipoihuizie ei pie tappoa pertis, pokoiniekkaizet ollah: d́ied́o da boabo kudai on suuri liipoi, a pienet ko on, sanommo: bladenčaizet tuldih, lapsuod." - "Butterflies must not be killed inside, they are the dearly departed: grandpa and grandma when it is big butterfly, but if it is small one we say: little ones came, children."
Juzru - straw mobile which is made for Easter and hung in front of the icon corner
Kallispeätinččä, srašnoi peätinččä, äijänpeänpeätinččä - Good Friday
Kevätargi - eight week long period after Easter without fasting days
Kresnoi hodu - crucession during Pascal Vigil on Good Friday, and at midnight between Easter Sunday and Easter Monday
Krisen'n'a - the first Sunday after Easter
Kristossie - to perform easter greeting; to kiss, shake hands and gift each other dyed egg.*
Kuličča - kulich, a sweet bread** made from wheat flour, east, raisins or other dried fruits, typically eaten with paskha
Kyrzä - pancake baked from oat or barley flour and soured milk on Easter Morning. It is dipped in butter or cream while eating
Pasha, pašša - paskha, Easter dessert made by mixing cream, quark, soured cream, sugar, fruit and nuts, butter and occasionally egg, pressed in special mold and typically eaten with kulich bread
Preploven'n'a - Wednesday of fourth week after easter, the middle of the Eastertide
Roatinčča - tuesday ten days after Easter, this is one of the muissinpäivät, remembrence day of the dead
Roatinčankeški - the ten days from Easter until tuesday after Saint Thomas Sunday/Antipascha
Siiroa - Easter food similar to paskha, in which quark, soured cream, butter and salt are mixed, pressed in special mold and often eaten with milk.
Šokoluadujäiččä - chocolate egg
Srašnoi nedäli - Holy Week
Stroičča, stroičanpäivä - Pentecost, Whitsunday
Stroičansuovatta - saturday before Pentecost, it is one of the muissinpäivät, days during which dead relatives are visited in graveyards
Studeni - fish or meat jelly (aspic)
Suurinel'l'äspäivä - Maundy Thursday
Suuripyhä - the lent ahead of easter
Svätöi/ svätöi nedäli - Holy Week
Virba, virbavičat, virvoinvičat - decorated and blessed willow branches that people give each other and their animals on Palm Sunday. They are typically stored on icon corner.
Virboi, virvat - Palm Sunday
Virvottoa*** - to bless person, animal or house with willow branches
Äijänpeänharakka - magpie seen on Easter Morning****
Äijänpeänhuomenes - Easter Morning
Äijänpeänjäiččä - Easter egg, painted or dyed chicken egg
Äijänpeänkukki - Easter rooster which, similar to Easter bunny, lays eggs on Easter Morning
Äijänpeänleibä - easter bread
Äijänpeänpodarka - Easter gift
Äijänpeänsuovatta - Holy Saturday
Äijänpeänyö - Night between Holy Saturday and Resurrection Sunday
*Typicallly this also includes saying either "Kristos voskres" with reply of "vo istennoi voskres" or "Hristos nouzi kuolluzis!" with reply of "Tovessah nouzi", both roughly meaning "Christ is Risen" - "Truly He is Risen."
**It is tradition to place fresh rye- or kulich bread in front of icon corner during easter
***among Finns this tradition has mixed with west-Finland and Swedish trulli (easter witch) tradition during which children dress up as witches, cats, old men, old women and similar characters. This dressing up is not part of the original Karelian tradition.
****first animal seen on Easter Morning foretells what person will feel like during the coming year. Magpie is good omen, making person who sees it lively, alert and swift
Koivugo roih libo kuuzi? (Is it birch or a spruce?) is a zine about sexuality and gender through the lenses of Karelian culture, made by collective of activists and artists under the name Kylykoda ("bathing house", "entrance to sauna").
This is their first zine, currently published as online English version, and they have plans for release of physical copies at least in Karelian language in near future.
You can find their Instagram account here, where you can read more about the collective, their name, the zine, and stories they have posted from the interviews they have collected about Karelian LGBT+ identities and roles.
You can buy the zine via this link, it costs 10€, and they also gratefully accept tips and small donations of you don't want zine but would like to support them anyway. The link is also on their profile.
