Hiisi
Hiisi is a demonic forest spirit or troll from Finnish mythology who is supported by a number of lower spirits. The figure is also known in Estonia and Karelia up to the White Sea.
Hiisi, son of the giant Kaleva, lives in the forest at hidden places of worship and is the tamer and conqueror of wild animals. He is a manifestation of Lempo , the god of malice. Together with the demon Paha he made sure (in the 8th chant of Kalevala ) that Väinämöinen injured himself with his ax when he was building a boat for the Nordland daughter. In the 13th and 14th chants of the Kalevala , Lemminkäinen chases Hiisi's elk (or deer). This is possibly a variant of the astral mythical theme of the eternal sky hunt and the ancient Eurasian deer cult.
The ancient Finnish world of gods and spirits never had such personified and plastic features as the Greek gods. But since the Christianization Hiisi has long been regarded as the prince of the destructive spirits and as a destructive counter-figure to Jumala Luoja (god Luoja ), the creator god.
Finnish folk mythology differentiated forest, water and mountain hiisis. Many place names begin with Hiiden , the genitive form of the word Hiisi: Hiidenjärvi, Hiidenvesi, Hiidenlehto, Hiidenkari, Hiidenkylä. The expression hiidenkirnu (glacier pot , "butter churn of hiisi ") describes a narrow and deep chasm in a rock. In it the hiisis made butter and made soup from frogs or lizards.
literature
- Kalevala. The Finnish epic by Elias Lönnroth. , Afterword and commentary by Hans Fromm, Reclam 1985, ISBN 3-15-010332-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Fromm , Commentary on Kalevala, p. 441 f.
- ^ PF Stuhr: About the meaning of the Finnish names of gods Jumala and Ukko. In: Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Geschichte, Volume 6. Berlin 1846, pp. 269–284, here: p. 280.
- ^ Background of the Hiisi story in folk tradition. ( Memento from July 2, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )