SECTION V

STORIES OF THE GODS, AND SPIRITS OF THE ELEMENTS

VANEMUINE appears in the Kalevala, under his Finnish name of Väinämöinen, as a culture-hero, though in the first recension of the poem, as well as in most of the creation-myths of the Finns, the creation is ascribed to him, and not to his mother, Ilmatar. He is, however, always a great musician, and in Esthonian tales usually appears rather in the character of a god than of a patriarch.

We read much of Väinämöinen’s playing and singing in the Kalevala, especially in Runo 46, where he charms all nature by his playing and singing, like Orpheus. In Runo 50 he is described as leaving Finland on account of his authority departing at the coming of Christ; though it is said by an old writer that the favourite deities p. 81 of the Finns in his time were Väinämöinen and the Virgin Mary.