| rdfs:comment | - Finnic mythologies are any of the various mythologies of the Finnic peoples , such as the Volga Finns, Baltic Finns, Permians, and Sami. The mythologies of the Finno-Lappic speakers have some common aspects; the Sami people are deeply shamanistic and these traits are present also in Finnish-Karelian mythology. Baltic Finnic mythologies are also related to shamanism in Siberia on one hand, and to Indo-European Baltic and Germanic mythologies on the other. Especially the mythologies of the Baltic Finns were directly influenced by their Indo-European neighbors, the Scandinavians, the Slavs and the Baltic peoples. The Baltic Finns share some common religious and historical traditions were transmitted orally: the art of ancient rune singing, estimated to be 2500–3000 years old.
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| abstract | - Finnic mythologies are any of the various mythologies of the Finnic peoples , such as the Volga Finns, Baltic Finns, Permians, and Sami. The mythologies of the Finno-Lappic speakers have some common aspects; the Sami people are deeply shamanistic and these traits are present also in Finnish-Karelian mythology. Baltic Finnic mythologies are also related to shamanism in Siberia on one hand, and to Indo-European Baltic and Germanic mythologies on the other. Especially the mythologies of the Baltic Finns were directly influenced by their Indo-European neighbors, the Scandinavians, the Slavs and the Baltic peoples. The Baltic Finns share some common religious and historical traditions were transmitted orally: the art of ancient rune singing, estimated to be 2500–3000 years old. Shamanism has been an important influence on the mythologies of most (but not all) of the Finnic peoples, especially those that lived by hunting. One aspect in common to many of the Finnic peoples is the myth that the world is created from an egg. Another central aspect of these mythologies has been astronomy, that includes several Milky Way myths and ideas about the existence of the World tree or pillar while the star formations were thought to represent animal spirits. Similar myths are also found from many neighbouring non-Finnic peoples; for example the Scandinavians believed in the world tree. The myth of world egg is almost universal. The Sami people, who were primarily hunters, were animistic; they worshipped spirits called the haldi who watched over nature and existed in many places. In the Sami animal cult Bear was considered to be the animal lord. This is considered as a kind of totemism. The forest god Laib olmai ruled over all forest animals. Some Sami had a thunder god called Tiermes, or Horagalles and a sky-ruling god Radien or Vearalden. The Sami symbol of the world tree or pillar was marked by a stytto. Volga-Finnic, Baltic-Finnic and Permic peoples became agricultural long before historic times and developed farming-based mythologies. The Udmurt Permians had a sky god, a farmer and weather deity Inmar, the Erzya and Moksha Mordvins worshiped the earth mother responsible for harvest, Mastor-Ava. Amongst the Finno-Permic speakers there was a notable similarity between the sky gods; including Ukko of Finnish mythology, "Jumal" or "Taevataat" (Sky Grandfather) in Estonian mythology and "Jumo" in Mari mythology. The Mari language word "Jumo" and Baltic-Finnic words "Jumal" and "Jumala" are also etymologically related. Another possible similarity between the sky gods is that Finnish Ilmarinen, a mythical smith-hero, possibly originally a sky god, distantly related to Udmurtian Inmar. There is also a notable relation between the sky gods of the speakers of Finno-Permic, Scandinavian, Slavic and Baltic languages.
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