MusingsOfHulda

Valkyrie by Valentina Mustajarvi

Karelian figures depicted in petroglyphs in the western coast of Onego Lake and in the lower reaches of Vyg River. Prototypes of some epic songs from the Kalevala undoubtedly have roots with the narrative compositions embodied on the coastal rocks.

Spring Song by Finnish artist Valentina Mustajarvi

Today, February 6th is National Sámi Day. This is the date that the first Sámi congress was held in 1917 in Trondheim, Norway.

A Noaidi is the shaman of the Sámi people. In addition to their role as shamans, they are the traditional healers and protectors of their tribe. Like in many shamanic cultures, drums were an important part of rituals for the Noaidi. The symbols and scenes depicted on the drums are specific to the ritual’s purpose and the spiritual journey of the tribe. Ritualistic chanting is called joiking. According to Sámi tradition, the Naoidi can access the “free soul” through trance. This “free soul” can traverse the spiritual netherworld, unlike the “body soul” which is bound to the physical world. Many Noaidi resisted Christianization; which ultimately led to many of their practices dying out in the 17th and 18th centuries. In recent decades there has been a revivalism of shamanic tradition within Sámi communities.

Petroglyph from Gotland🇸🇪

My top matches for medieval and early modern period on My True Ancestry. If you are an archaeogenetics nerd like I am, I highly recommend giving it a try!

The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love. -John Muir

The composer Feodor Pratsu plays the jouhikko in Koirinoja, Karelia, 1916. Photo by A. O. Väisänen. The jouhikko is a traditional Finnish and Karelian music instrument.

On Animism

Razor decorated with a ship and the sun horse pulling the sun, 1150-750 BC Jutland, Denmark.

Sif aesthetic.. 🌾🌻☀️

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay From Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the fair cailín That I met in the County Down. Star of the County Down, Irish folk song. 🇮🇪

Michov states that the Lithuanians deemed woods and groves to be holy and regarded them as the habitations of the gods." In a subsequent passage he relates that the Samagitti considered even the birds and beasts which entered the sacred woods to be holy. They believed that if anyone injured these woods or anything in them, the devils would make his hands or feet to grow crooked. H.M. Chadwick

Artio - Bear goddess of Spring Revered among the Helvetii tribe, a people of Celtic descent living in the Swiss plateau, Artio is a relatively obscure deity that is associated with the renewal that Springtime brings. She might also be seen as a protector of bears, wildlife and fertility. This is equally fascinating, knowing that bear females often give birth during hibernation and nurse their cubs in the den until spring arrives, emerging with new life!

Sigfrid Keinänen 🇫🇮 (1841 – 1914) — Aino by the sea (1876)

Lissom Lassies at the Lakeside by Finnish artist Pekka Halonen

Stave Church In Snow by Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen