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Finnic mythologies are the various mythologies of the Finnic peoples , such as the Volga Finns, Baltic Finns, Permians, and Sami. The mythologies of the Finnic and Samic peoples have some common aspects; the Sami people are deeply shamanistic, and these traits are present also in Finnish-Karelian mythology. Baltic Finnic mythologies are additionally related to shamanism in Siberia on one hand, and to Indo-European Baltic and Germanic mythologies on the other. The mythologies of the Baltic Finns, especially, were directly influenced by their Indo-European neighbors, the Scandinavians, the Slavs, and the Baltic peoples.〔Leeming, pp. 135〕 The Baltic Finns share some common religious and historical traditions that were transmitted orally via 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 was created from an egg. Another central aspect of these mythologies has been astronomy, which 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.〔Leeming, pp. 136〕 Similar myths are also found among 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 a kind of totemism. The forest god ''Laib olmai'' ruled over all forest animals.〔Pre- and Proto-historic Finns by Abercromby, pp. 161〕 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''.〔 The Volga-Finnic, Baltic-Finnic, and Permic peoples became agricultural in the Middle Ages 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 their 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.〔(A History of Pagan Europe, P. 181 ) ISBN 0-415-09136-5〕 Another possible similarity between the sky gods is that Finnish Ilmarinen, a mythical smith-hero, might originally be 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. ==Finnish== The most comprehensive collection of Baltic-Finnic myths and legends are preserved in the oral epic poetry of Karelia and Ingermanland, parts of which were compiled in the first half of the 19th century by Elias Lönnrot into the national epic of Finland, ''Kalevala'', on the basis of material collected by himself or other scholars.〔Leeming, pp. 137〕 Originally, the Finnish-Karelian epic poetry did not constitute an epic whole but was divided into several unconnected poems or "mini-eposes". The Kalevala begins with a creation myth where a duck lays eggs by landing on the raised knee of the virgin Mother of the Waters. The earth is formed and Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen are born. Other central figures of the epic include Lemminkäinen, compiled by Lönnrot from several heroes of the oral poetry, and the female antagonist Louhi. Lönnrot has built the story around the forging and the conquest of the Sampo, variantly interpreted as a world pillar or tree, a magic mill, a compass or astrolabe, or a chest containing a treasure. J. R. R. Tolkien has highlighted the importance of Kalevala as a source for his legendarium including ''The Lord of the Rings''. Although the gradual influence of surrounding cultures raised the significance of the sky-god Jumala in a monolatristic manner, the father god "Ukko" (Old Man) was originally just a nature spirit like all the others. The most sacred animal, whose real name was never uttered out loud, was the bear. The bear was seen as the embodiment of the forefathers, and for this reason it was called by many euphemisms: "mesikämmen" ("mead-paw"), "otso" ("wide brow"), "kontio" ("dweller of the land"). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Finnic mythologies」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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