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Finno-Ugrian mythology


Uralic mythologies is an umbrella term for the mythologies and indigenous religions of the Finnic, Ugric, and Samoyedic peoples, who speak related Uralic languages. The mythologies retain traces of archaic Uralic religious systems merged with foreign influences, both ancient and modern, and are similar to the beliefs of neighboring non-Uralic peoples of north-central Eurasia.

Of ancient Hungarian mythology (Ugric), not much is known other than it was based on shamanism, there was a belief in the afterlife and a high god, and a tradition of being descended from a female deer. One Hungarian origin myth tells how Queen Emesu (Emese) had a dream in which she was fertilized by a goshawk (Turul, which originates most likely from Turkic mythology), much as in Buddhist lore Queen Māyā (Maya (mother of the Buddha)) was fertilized in a dream by a white elephant. Queen Emesu's offspring was Almus (Álmos), the founder of a line of Hungarian chiefs (Árpád dynasty) who would lead the Hungarians to their present land. There was also belief in a world/life tree (Világfa/Életfa) which has three levels, each a different world. A shaman was believed to be able to climb through each of these levels freely by a ladder.

The traditional Samoyed religion was based on shamanism and totemism. Tales were sung (syodobobs) or spoken (uahanoku).

Ancient Finnic mythologies had an emphasis on astronomy, with asterisms seen as animal spirits. Creation myths involved a world egg and a world pillar.

The Finnic, Ugric, and Samoyedic people are “from Norway to the region of the Ob River in Siberia and southward into the Carpathian Basin in central Europe and Ukraine." The “Uralic family of languages” are those spoken by the Finno-Ugric and Samoyed people.

The Finnic-Ugric included the sky and the cosmos in their myths. The star constellations were named after animal spirits and have numerous myths written about them. The Finnic-Ugric people also have myths about the Milky Way Galaxy. In Uralic the terms “sky” and “god of the sky” have similar meanings. Their gods of the sky are sometimes referenced as weather gods or gods of hunting. There are also goddesses that deal with the world. Goddesses like Mansi and Kaltashch-ekva in myths have powers to shape the cosmos and give life.


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