• Illustration
  • About
    • The Little Women Podcast >
      • youtube
      • Podcast
    • Blog
    • FAQ
  • Say Hi On Social
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Contact
  • Courses
  Fairychamber - Art and Illustrations by Niina Niskanen
  • Illustration
  • About
    • The Little Women Podcast >
      • youtube
      • Podcast
    • Blog
    • FAQ
  • Say Hi On Social
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Contact
  • Courses

Blog

Mythology Of The Komi

6/11/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

Spirituality of the Komi 

​The Komi are an ethnic group in north-eastern Russia. Most of the people live in the Komi Republic and the surrounding areas. Komi language is a Finno-Ugric language and belongs into most northern sub-group Komi-Izhemtsy (named after the river Izhma). There is about 15 600 speakers of the Komi language. Religion of the Komi is an interesting mixture of ancient shamanic practices and Eastern Orthodox. In this article I have listed some of the most important Komi gods, mythical creatures and shamanic myths.
Picture

Creation Myth 

Most important god of the Komi was En (Eh). En was the god of strength. He was the creator god who appeared in the form of a swan. Another important god was Kul (also known as Omöl). Kul was the evil creater god who ruled water and death. Kul appeared in the form of a grepe.
Like among many Finno-Ugric tribes Komi believed that the world was created by water bird(s). Creation myth of the Komi is very similar to proto-Uralic creation myth where two waterbirds create the world. In the Komi story duck gave birth of En O mol the spirits of good and evil. Two birds, the swan and the grebe dived into the primordial sea and brought pieces of land to the surface creating our world. In the Proto-Uralic myth the evil bird/spirit steals some of the dirt and as a punishment they become the ruler of the underworld. There are many ways to interpretate these myths. In several Finno-Ugric cultures birds were seen as souls of humans. Shaman who´s job was to travel between different worlds and different levels of consciousness often took a form of a bird and birds also worked as spirit guides.
Picture

Spirits of Home 

Like in many cultures Komi also had their own protector spirits. Rynyshsa was the protector spirit of sauna´s and bath-houses. It appeared in the form of an old white-bearded hunchbacked man.
Olys (also known as Olysya) was the hearth spirit. Olys would take care of the fire and lived in the darkest corner of the kitchen. They were similar to Russian Domovoi.
Protector of the house or a building was called Aika. Creature that was similar to Finnish tonttu and Scandinavian Nisse.
Pyvsyansa was the master of the bath house. It appeared as a little man wearing a red hat and it´s eyes burned like red flames. It was equivalent to Russian Bannik.
Picture

Spirits of Nature 

Vasa (Baca) was a water spirit that could be malicious. To please Vasa people threw bread, cakes and tobacco into the water. Vasa was protector of millers.
Peludi-Aika whos name literally means ”father cornflower” was the protector of the corn and the farm land.
Vörsa was the spirit of the forest. Hunters offered furs, bread, salt and tobacco for Vörsa so that he would help them to catch game.
Picture

Dangerous Spirits 

​Ort means ”double”. It appeared as a premonition of death to the person or their family.
Evil witches were known as Yoma-Baba.
Picture
iPhone Cases

River Between The Worlds 

​In all Uralic myths ”the land of the dead” is described to be in north. Usually it is beyond mountains, rivers and forests.
Komi mythology is no exception. Land of the death was located in far-away north and to get there person had to across river of death. This river was called ”Syr Yu” River of pitch and it separated the world of the living from the world of the death.
Picture

Belief for the Afterlife 

​It was believed that when person entered to the river bank in the afterlife a bridge would appear. Depending on their sins the bridge would be either an iron bridge, a shaky beam, thin pole or a cobweb.
After crossing the bridge person had to climb a slippery mountain and then they would officially arrive to the land of dead.
Belief for the afterlife was strong and these stories also served as moral guidelines for the Komi. In their everyday lives people took special care of their fingernails that they would be strong when they would have to climb this mountain. Komi´s were buried with fingernail clips so that they could take care of their fingernails in the after life as well.
Check out mycourse on Finnish mythology and folklore )O( 
0 Comments

    Niina

    Pronounced as Nee-na.
    ​
    Artist, illustrator, writer, watercolorist and a folklorist. Gryffinclaw. Comes from Finland. Likes cats, tea and period dramas. 

    Love fandoms AOGG and Little Women (prefers books over the films). Louisa May Alcott researcher. 
    Picture
    Please keep the comment section civil, respectful and connected to the topic at hand. ​Thank you.  Spammy/passive-agressive comments will be blocked and reported. 
    Picture
    Buy my product
    Picture
    Picture
    Get 2 free weeks on Skillshare. 
    Picture

    Support Fairychamber

    Categories

    All
    90s Inspired Art
    Aboriginal Mythology
    African Myths
    Ambience
    Amy And Laurie
    Amy March
    Animal Art
    Animal Myths
    Animations
    Anne Of Green Gables
    Arabic Mythology
    Art Business Advice
    Artist Chats
    ASMR
    Assyrian Myths
    As Told By Ginger
    Autumn Ambience
    Baltic Myths
    Beauty And The Beast
    Book Reviews
    Brothers Grimm
    Celtic Myths
    Challenges
    Charles-perrault
    Chinese Myths
    Christmas
    Cinderella
    Comic-cons
    Cosplay
    Crafting Tutorials
    Disney
    Disney Crafts Diy
    Divination
    Diy
    Dolls
    Drawing
    Drawing Tutorials
    Earthsea
    Egyptian Myths
    Estonian Folklore
    Estonian Wheel Of The Year
    Fairies & Elves
    Fairy Ambience
    Fairychamber Podcast
    Fairy Crafts DIY
    Fairy Tale Origins
    Fantasy Art
    Fashion Illustrations
    Finnish Culture
    Finnish Mythology
    Finnish Wheel Of The Year
    Flower Art
    Food Illustrations
    Frozen
    Germanic Folktales
    Getting To Know Me
    Ghost Stories
    Goddess Art
    Greek Mythology
    GSR
    Halloween
    Halloween Crafts
    Hansel And Gretel
    Harry Potter
    Health
    Hindu Mythology
    Howl´s Moving Castle
    Illustrations
    Inuit Myths
    Irish Tales
    Japanese-myths
    Jo And Friedrich
    Jo-and-friedrich
    Komi-mythology
    Korean-myths
    Landscape Paintings
    Languages
    Latvian-wheel-of-the-year
    Learn-finnish
    Lithuanian Wheel Of The Year
    Little Women
    Little Women Podcast
    Little Women Shorts
    Louisa May Alcott
    Mari Folklore
    Marketing Your Art
    Meg And John
    Mermaids
    Miniatures
    MishMash Videos
    Moomins
    Movie-reviews
    Mulan
    Music
    Mythical Motifs
    Mythmas
    Native American Myths
    Nautical Art
    New Designs
    Norse Myths And Legends
    Northern Lights
    Once Upon A Time
    Painting
    Painting Tutorials
    Percy Jackson
    Persian Myths
    Pinocchio
    Polynesian Myths
    Pop Culture Stuff
    Portrait Painting
    Red Riding Hood
    Roman Mythology
    Rose In Bloom
    Saami Mythology
    Samoyed Myths
    Scotland
    Scottish Tales
    Shamanism
    Siberia
    Sketchbook
    Slavic Mythology
    Sleeping-beauty
    Snow-white
    Spells-and-superstitions
    Summer-ambience
    Swedish-folkore
    Symbols-and-mythical-motifs
    Tea-time
    The-good-witch
    The-x-files
    Time-lapse-paintings
    Time-lapse-paintings
    Tinker-bell
    Travel
    Trees-and-plants
    Trees-and-plants
    Turkic-myths
    Unicorns
    Valentineacutes-day
    Vedic Myths
    Wales
    Watercolor Textures
    Welsh Myths
    Welsh Wheel Of The Year
    Wheel Of The Year: Autumn
    Wheel Of The Year Spring
    Wheel Of The Year: Spring
    Wheel Of The Year: Summer
    Wheel Of The Year: Winter
    Winter Time Stories
    Zodiac Myths

    RSS Feed