Finnic paganism
Polytheistic religion in Finland, Estonia, and Karelia prior to Christianisation / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Finnic paganism was the indigenous pagan religion in Finland, Karelia, Ingria and Estonia prior to Christianisation, the religion was native to the Baltic Finnic peoples. It was a polytheistic religion, worshipping a number of different deities. The principal god was the god of thunder and the sky, Ukko; other important gods included Jumo (Jumala), Ahti, and Tapio. Jumala was a sky god; today, the word "Jumala" refers to all gods in general. Ahti was a god of the sea, waters and fish. Tapio was the god of forests and hunting.
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Finnic paganism shows many similarities with the religious practices of related cultures, such as Mordvin, Mari, Sami and other Finno-Ugric pagan beliefs. It shares some features with its neighbouring Baltic, Norse and Germanic paganisms.
The organic tradition was sidelined due to Christianisation starting from ca. 12th century and finally broken by the early 20th century, when Folk Magic and oral traditions went extinct. Finnic paganism provided the inspiration for a contemporary pagan movement Suomenusko (Finnish: Finnish faith), which is an attempt to reconstruct the old religion of the Finns. It is nevertheless based on secondary sources.