Hi, and welcome to this weeks Dev Diary!
Soon, it will be the first anniversary of when I started writing the Dev Diaries - oh how the time flies. But before next weeks announcements, let's talk a little about the winter solstice in Finland, in time before Christianity took over the whole Europe.
The Winter Traditions Of Old
In the Baltic-Finnic cultures, yule lasted from 21th of December until 13th of January. It was a time for silence, rest and spells, in order to ensure good fortunes for the next year. Only the bare necessary amount of work was done, but nothing more, which was part of the winter ritual, in order to not to displease the spirits responsible for winter.
Auroras
In the ancient times, before Christmas replaced many of the old traditions and/or changed their appearance, date and time, Winter was the time of death in the north, in the sense that Auroras were deemed to come from the place, where all the violently died people would end up after their demise. Skolts had at least three interpretations of them;
- Auroras were the blood of the deceased, that they sprayed to the skies in winter times.
- Auroras were created by foxes, who puffed snow to the skies with their tails.
- Auroras were created by a "Tulikettu" or "Tulirepo" or "Tulikko", which means "Firefox", whose tail sends sparks flying to the skies, when it brushes against the low tree branches or the branches of bushes.
One of the ways that the ancient Finns called them was "Pohjanpalo", meaning "Fires of the North" or "Northern Fires", and it is also theorized that when the Auroras form an archway, they might have been what was called the "Pohjan portit", "the Gates of Pohjola", which might be the gateway to the mythical Pohjola, where it was said that Sampo resided and thus to have had insurmountable amounts of wealth and the 3 mythically beautiful daughters of Louhi, the mistress of the Pohjola. Also, Pohjola is said to have been one of the places, where you can find some of the most powerful Luotes, which are the most powerful spells that were believed to exist in Kalevalan mythology.
Soul Birds And Sustenance
It was believed that during the birth of a child, an entity called the "Sielulintu", "Soul bird", would bring a soul to the newborn and take it away, once the life has left them. There is an ancient tradition in Finnish and Karelian traditions to feed birds by hanging barley- or oat sheafs to trees, bushes or at the end of a stick during the winter, as to appease their ancestor's and spirits, thus bringing good fortune for the household, as well as to ensure that the birds that are fed, won't feed on your crops during the summer.
It was also believed that birds carved out of wood would keep peoples souls safe and prevent them from leaving the body of the person before it's time, when they held the bird carvings on a table beside their bed. After they pass on, the wooden bird was placed on their grave. Even as recently as the later part of the 1990, in Karelia some people still placed wooden birds on top of the orthodox crosses of the deceased relatives. It has also been a rather common habit in modern day Finland to have birds made out of metal as part of the decor of the gravestone.
It was also considered to bring good luck for the next year, if you were generous to your fellow people during these harsh months, and let them eat and drink as much as they want at your table.
Silence, Peace and Rest
Silence has a central significance in other ancient Finnish beliefs also, as in not to yell at forest or near water, in order to not make their spirits angry, as most of the food came from them and acting loudly could bring bad fortune to the one who dared to disturb the spirits with a racket. For this reason, you couldn't even throw pebbles to lakes or rivers, as that too, would bring bad luck. Never mess with the spirits in a reckless, nonchalant manner.
Resting your self, while not disturbing the spirits, was believed to bring good fortunes and ensure you got the strength to face the next years work with plenty of stamina and fervor. This combination of peace and silence, combined with spells/incantations for the success of the next year might also be one small part of the ancient essence of Sisu in the Finnish culture, as cultivating your mental strength through harsh times ensures you have plenty of Sisu for the coming year. By following the example of the Sun that is considered to have been resting during winters, aligning one self to this natural order and mimicking nature, brought forth inner strength.
In Conclusion
Restful and Peaceful holidays to you all, gather all the strength you possibly can, for next year might bring even more challenges as the last one.
This is it for today and I thank you for tuning in. See you on the next one!
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