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Ukko, thou who art in heaven, Help me slay Wainola's people With thine iron-hail of justice, With thine arrows tipped with lightning, Or from sickness let them perish, Let them die the death deserving;Let the men die in the forest, And the women in the hurdles!
~ Louhi invoking Ukko to punish the people of Wainola.

Ukko, also known as Perkele, Äijä, or Äijö, was the Finnish god of the sky, weather, harvest, fire, the oak tree and thunder, and the leader of the pantheon, whose worship also existed in the area of modern day Estonia under the name of Uku.

Description[]

Ukko's domain and court was in the heavens, where he ruled with his wife Rauni, and held the epithets Ylijumala (Supreme God, Most High) and Pauanne (Thunder). He also reigned over lesser spirits of his domain, similarly to the sea-god Ahti, the forest-god Tapio and the underworld-god Tuoni.

As the god of the sky, he controlled the weather and all it's phenomena, such as rain, storm and lighting. The god was known to use thunderbolts as weapons, which known as either the Ukonvaaja (bolt of Ukko) or the Ukon nuoli (arrow of Ukko). Other weapons he used was the Ukonvasara (a hammer or axe which could generate lighting) and a flaming sword.

Overview[]

Ukko was worshipped as god of weather and fertility, and received sacrifices in the form sheep-meat and alcohol, which were placed in a birch-bark chest, which in turn was placed at a holy site and an animal-sacrifice would also be performed. The god would eat his share of the sacrifice at night, while the people eat what remains the next day and consume alcohol themselves as well. These rituals were known as vakkajuhlat, and were regarded as a celebration.

Another festival in honor of the god was celebrated on the longest day of the year (midsummer), which rituals included burning bonfires in order to ward of evil spirits and peforming spells in order to guarantee a good harvest and good marriage. Warriors also prayed to him, hoping he would drop an umpiputki for them, wich was a magic charm which could protect the them during battle.

With the arrival of Christianity in Finland during the Middle Ages reduced the worship of Ukko, who alongside most other polytheistic deities, was demonised. His alternative name Perkele was later used for Satan. Mikael Agricola, an important protestant theologian and the bishop of Turku, demonised the deity, notably the vakkajuhlat and mocked him in his catalogue of false gods: And when spring-sowing was sowed, then the toast of Ukko was drunk. Ukko's vakka was brought there, and so did maids and wives get drunk. Then many shameful things were done, as well as heard and seen there'.

Despite being replaced by the Christian God, some of Ukko's traditions, like the vakkajuhlat, carried into the 20th. The midsummer festivities of the god were reinvented in order to celebrate John the Baptist, a prophet and major follower of Jesus Christ, though many of its habits, like the bonfires, are still performed to this very day.

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