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Fairy Tale Stories      Children's Fairy Tales      Fairies       Faery Woodlands Magazine      Blog     About Finnish-Baltic and Siberian Fairies List of Finnish Fairy Creatures Ajatar Female spirit of the forest which can appear as a dragon or a giant snake. She is the mother of disease and serpents whom she suckles and any looking upon her becoming ill. Akka A female spirit often mentioned in song prayers in peoples request for help. Among other things she helps women to successfully carry their child and give birth. Akras Spirit deity of various plants such as turnips, cabbage, flax and peas. Haltija A fairy spirit or guardian of a place such as a glen of trees, water, the grave yard, villages, and homesteads. There are also Haltija’s which guard humans, following them around to keep them safe. Haltia The spirit of the builder of a house who remains to guard the home he built. They could however be transferred from one home to a  new one through the fire. The Haltia oversaw peoples activities in the building, making certain they remained moral – punishing over drinking, etc. They can also be the spirits of mountains and other places as attested to by the treasure hunters song in which  states “a  treasure-seeker exclaims: 'Kinsmen of Hiisi, now arise! awake, thou mountain haltia!” or that of an individual person “A hunter sadly complains that with other men luck does the work, their haltia fetches them coin, but his luck, his haltia, lies confused under a stone with gloves on his hands,” Kuu The moon goddess Kyopelinvuori Female spirits which haunt the mountains often thought to be the ghosts of virgins who died young. Lummekoira Only mentioned once in the songs that I have found From waters of witches hast thou come, from the lilies on a landlocked lake, from Nixies’ lummekoira haunts, from a water-Hiisi's hole, from the sea's black mud, a thousand fathoms deep, Menninkainen A forest fairy which appears as a tiny man. They love to riddle, struggle for dominance, etc. Mielikki Goddess of the forest and one of the primary creators of the sacred bears she is at various times the wife or daughter in law of Tapio. She is asked at various times to help with haunts or to protect cattle grazing in the forest or those who are seeking to gather mushrooms and berries. She heals animals through healing, or by treating baby chicks which have fallen from their nests and occasionally she’ll train a human in her healing arts. Nakki Similar to the Nacken of Scandinavia this spirit resides in murky pools of water and rivers, especially in dark places such as under bridges or docks. They pull people into the water to drown. The Nakki has many appearances in mythology, as an ugly fishermen which can change into a beautiful three brested women. A fish, a horse, or some other animal. Or as a handsome man which is ugly on their back. Otso Was the spirit of the bear which was considered to be the forest king and was often refered to as being related (brother, uncle, cousin, etc) in order to avoid saying his name directly. Kuutar Every lake and stream, forest and swamp, even the flowers and trees are living beings with intelligent souls or so went the philosophy of the ancient Finns. These spirits often known as haltia (a term meaning governor or steward) acts rules over some aspect of nature such as the back woods, or the mountains. Prayers to the haltia were extreamly common as people saught their help in protecting the cattle, finding the treasures which were buried underground, successfully hunting for game and more. In addition to being the spirit of the forest every persona has their own haltia “a wizard in working himself into an ecstasy invokes his haltia to rise from its hole, from under a fallen tree, or stone, or moss, or wherever it may be, and mentions its brilliant eyes and spotted cheek, as if he had a snake in his mind's eye. The technical term for being in an ecstasy (olla haltiossansa l. haltioisansa) means literally 'to be in one's haltia or among one's haltia,' in other words, 'to be in the spirit or among the spirits.' From the above examples we see that the heavens, the earth, the forest, the mountain, and individual men, have each their spirit, ruler, or guardian. Such an idea goes back to the earliest times.” Tapio Tapio was called the golden king of the forest, he had a mossy beard and a feathered hat of twigs from the fir trees. The wild animals were said to all belong to him as his flocks. Tapio was increadably important to people not just because they needed his aid an approval when they went hunting in the woods but because they needed to pasture their cattle and sheep in the forests and so their livelihoods depended on Tapio and the other forest spirits graces. Tapio was often very helpful, however offerings of salt were often necessary to get him to give up his animals to trapps. He and his family were said to live in secret forts made of wood and bone in the forests. Tapio’s wife Tapio’s had an obvious dualism even having different names for her differing personalities. As a kind matran of hunters she was Mielikki, but when she didn’t care she was known as Kuurikki (the deaf), and was terrble in apperence wearing rags as she romed through the forest.  She is also known as Hongas or Hongatar 'Fir's daughter' and in this roll she has a hollow back (much like the forest spirits of Scandinvan mythology). She was known as Nyrkitar when she directed the forest cattle or the ermine, stoats and other furry creatures people might hunt. When out of spirits and dejected she may have acquired the name of Nyrkitär. As directress of the droves (juoni) of forest cattle, the mistress of the forest receives the appellation of Juonetar. As ermines, stoats, and other furry animals Nyypetti (Tapio’s son) Aids in herding cattle to summer pastures Nyyrikki (Tapio’s son) Wears a blue cloak a tall red hat and has a white beard Pinneys Protects animals from the hunters, directing game animals away from danger. Tellervo Wears a gold and silver dress Lumikki In charge of snow white animals such as ermine Ristikko IN charge of animals with a white cross on their brest. Often small and furry such as ermine and weasel. Vitsäri Drives game from her fathers hills and is somewhat comparable to the wind. Annikki The gift giver Tapitar and Tyytikki (mentioned daughters of Tapio) Pihlajatar (Rowan) the tinny lass (help herd cattle) Katajatar (Juniper), the lovely (help herd cattle) Tuometar (Birdcherry) the short (help herd cattle) Daghter in laws of of the forest Mikitar (another word for fox) Vavutar (twigs daughter) asked by the hunters to climb into trees and listen to the songs to see if they are sutable Huijuta and Siilikki (name means hedgehog) matron of the wasps. Kunnotar The patroness of foxes who was asked to bring them to the hunters traps. Hiisi Meaning something similar to hill and or mountain which is similar in many ways to a holy place. The hiisi are the Tutelary spirits are the spirits of awe inspiring natural features which most often involve rough terrain such as hills, giant boulders, deep crevasses, etc. As with many forest divinities the hissi is asked to chae animals to the hunters. The hiisi’s horse was said to be the sound that the trees of the forest made as the wind rushed through them. Christianity reduced Hissi to being much like small ugly twisted trolls which traveled in noisy processions, stole from humans, caused illness and did all the other bad things which happened which required an opposing dualistic force. Of course this is not to say the Hiisi didn’t do some these things originally,, its hard to say how dualistic he was as many creatures in Uralic mythology seem to be both creative and distructive. In one song to the Hiisi at least they are invoked to keep away evil. “O Hiisi, come from Hiitola, thou humpback! from the home of gods to cast out that which needs must be cast out and cause the monster's death..” LEMPO. Evil giant forest spirits ssiad to be as tall as trees which do their best to lead travelers astray appearing as flashing lights much like the will o’ the wisp. He causes illness to befall people, and sicks toothaches on people the way one might a dog. He is said to cause of a lot of ill deeds when a knife slips and cuts someone using it