I hope you enjoy today's Mythmas story )O( 

​In Estonia there is interesting myth told about the birth of the northern lights. According to Estonian myths northern lights were created when humpback whales were playing games and their scales are reflected into the night sky.
Another Estonian folk tale tells us that northern lights are born when spectacular horse drawn carriages are carrying heavenly guests into magnificent celestial wedding.

​In the Lapland of Finland northern lights were believed to be created by a magical giant fox called Tulikettu. Foxes were hunted because of their fur and it was believed that great fox hunter was also a great shaman. Tulikettu was like the Phoenix of all foxes and there could only be one fire fox at time. It was believed that the hunter who catch the fire fox would live in great wealth for the rest of their life. Fire fox however was so fast that no one could ever catch it. When it ran in the snowy hills it´s fur and tail brushes would create sparks that would fly into the skies and turn into northern lights. Finnish word for northern lights revontulet literally means fox´s fires.

According to another Saami myth northern lights were spume of water ejected from whales swimming in the arctic sea.
For fishermen in northern Sweden northern lights were a good prophecy. Omen that there was large groups of herrings swimming by.
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In Norse myths aurora borealis thought as reflections of the shining spears, armors and helmets of the valkyries. The warrior women who rode on horseback leading fallen soldiers to Valhalla. Sometimes northern lights were believed to be the Bifrost Bridge. Magical arc that lead straight into Valhalla the home of the gods and goddesses.
For the Inuits in Greenland northern lights were spirits of still born babies and even children that had been killed after birth.

Native American myths about the Aurora Borealis vary great deal same way as the traditions and cultures of different tribes.
Algonquin´s the natives of Ottawa and Ontario in Canada believe that northern lights were created by their creator spirit Nanahbozho. For them it was a sign that he was always watching over them.
For the Menominee´s native American tribe of the Wisconsin area northern lights were torches used by evil giants when they speared fish at night.
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Inuit´s living in Point Arrow, the most northern point of Alaska believed strongly that northern lights were evil and suspicious and they could come down from the skies and kill a man. They carried knives with them to protect themselves from them.

Inuits of Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea thought that northern lights were created by a walrus spirits who were playing with human skulls.

Makah´s, native american tribe from the Washington state told stories about a tribe of dwarfs who boiled whale blubber. Another myth which connects Aurora to cooking comes from Mandan from north Dakota where people believed that in the northern lights there lived great warriors who cooked their enemies heads in massive pots.

It is not very common to see Aurora Borealis in the firmament of Japan or China but when they are seen they are considered to be mystical powerful occasions.

In Japan child conceived under northern lights is believed to receive good looks, intelligence and great fortune.
In China Aurora Borealis are connected to the stories and legends about mighty dragons. Lights in the skies are good and evil dragons testing their powers against one another and breathing fire.
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Australian Aboriginals do not see northern lights but southern lights, Aurora Australis. For the aboriginals Aurora Australis represents their beloved deities and spirit dancing in the celestial sky.

​Northern Lights are rare phenomena in central and southern Europe. Before people knew the science behind the northern lights people lived in an atmosphere where all supernatural things were frightening and northern lights terrified people. In Italy and France northern lights were thought to predict war, plague and mass deaths.
In north of Scotland where northern lights are more common they are called dancing merry men representing souls of the soldiers who died in a battle.

Some Native American tribes believed that northern lights were trickster spirits who would come down if someone whistled and would kidnap the person. To protect themselves person should clap. This made the lights retreat and people would be safe from them.
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In Greenland expecting mothers were told not to whistle otherwise child would be born crossed-eyed.
Saami´s in Lapland also had superstitions about whistling. If they would whistle the lights would come down from the skies, chase them and burn their hair. Because of this still today many saami´s test their powers by whistling to the northern lights.

Check out my other articles and vlogs with stories from north:

​Siberian and Eurasian shamanism
​Sun and the moon in Saami mythology and folklore
​Reindeer in the saami mythology
​How stars got in to the sky 
​Mythmas Northern Lights

Chatting about mermen myths and folklore from all over the world. If you prefer to read you can read my article on the topic here. 

Labyrinths are mysterious structures and they can be found from all over the world. What was the meaning of labyrinths and what are the most famous labyrinth myths and legends? let´s find out )O(

Video was first time posted around Christmas 2016.

Pantheon of Greek mythology holds thousands and thousands of gods and goddesses from mighty ruler gods of elements to minor nature spirits. In Greek mythology most famous merman was the god Poseidon. He was the son of titans Rhea and Chronos. When Poseidon and his two brothers Zeus and Hades gambled on ruling the world Poseidon became the ruler of all seas. Very much like the sea Poseidon was told to have short temper and a god who did not like to be shackled. What it came to his appearance Poseidon was told to have long white beard, he was physically fit and that he had a tail of a dolphin and dolphins were his sacred animals. Poseidon´s symbol was the trident. It was believed that he could create earthquakes and that he also created horses from the waves. Poseidon lived in the bottom of Aegean sea in a mighty palace with his wife Amfitrite. He was not a faithful husband and he had several affairs with both immortal and mortal beings.
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Triton's were sons of Poseidon's union with Amfitrite. They were his royal army. Tritons had green hair and fine green scales and it was believed that their hands were rough like the surface of a sea shell. Triton's had tail like dolphins. There was also female Triton´s and they were called Tritonette´s. Both Triton's and Tritonette´s had little breathing organs just below their ears.

In Scotland there are legends told about the children of the Muir. These water creatures can have blue and gray skin. Muir is Scottish Gaelic and means the sea. Children of the muir are group of mermen and mermaids. They are believed to live in the Minch channel in northern Scotland.
Finfolk is another group of merfolk that according to legends resides in the cold waters of Scotland. Especially in Orkney Island. It was believed that Finfolk lived in underwater world called Finfolkaheem. Finfolk were shape sifters with magical abilities. These sea-creatures were dark and gloomy and they kidnapped human children and took them to their underwater world forcing them to be their slaves. Finfolk were free to venture between human world and their underwater home.
Beneath these legends of abductions, we can now days see the nature of these characters used by the people of the past as an explanations the death and disappearances that happened at sea.

Stories about the Näck mainly come from Scandinavia especially from Sweden. In Swedish folklore Näck was a handsome fellow. A water spirit who lived in a pond, lake or a waterfall playing his violin. Näck was an erotic character and he was told to lure young women who were captivated by his good looks and musical talents. Sometimes it happened that Näck would fell in love with a human woman and they would get married but as many times happens in the stories about the sea folk Näck started to long it´s watery home and couple departed. Another common story about Näck in Sweden tells that Näck could transform itself into a white horse. It would rise to the shore where children were playing and being mesmerized by the miraculous white horse they climbed into it´s back and the horse would eventually drown them. This story has similarities to the legends about the Kelpies in Scotland. Both stories were told as warnings for children not to go to swim too deep.
In Finland and in Norway Näck is slightly different character. In these stories Näkki (Finnish) or Nokken (Norwegian) is more of a troll, water imp or a male spirit completely covered with seaweed. It lives in whirlpools and in the deepest end of the pond and it drowns those who swim too far away from the shore.

​Stories about the Vodyanov are told across the Slavic lands. They are described to be naked old men with greenish hair, skin and beard and sometimes frog-like face, body covered with muck or dark fish scales. Vodyanov has webbed-palms and if you look into it´s eyes you might mistake them as burning coals. According to some sources Vodyanov were spirits of men that had drowned themselves or killed in an accident near water. Whatever the truth is they are dual creatures. They posses great danger for the people who misbehave in their territory and yet they can assist fishermen who they like and believe are worth the effort. Czech, Slovak and Slovenians have folklore character called vodníci who is similar to Vodyanov. Vodnícis are more laid-back characters who were known for playing cards, smoking pipes and just sitting and hanging around the water surface (rocks, river benches and beaches). Vodníci did not drown people but they did collect souls of those who had drowned into lid-covered porcelain cups. Amount of these cups represented the wealth of vodníci. If lid would get open the soul might escape in the form of a bubble. They did not have human servants but they had control over fishes and water. Fishermen asked the vodníc to help them by sacrificing tobacco into the water saying "here is your tobacco now help me to get fish" Vodníci are creatures of clear-water. It is believed that sea-waters are dangerous even deadly for them.

​When we study creation myths from ancient cultures and civilisations the cosmic egg or the mundane egg is one of the most popular motifs. World egg is a representation of the universe, the primordial sea or some primordial being that comes to existence by ”hatching”.

Water birds used to have great spiritual signifigance among many uralic people. In the proto-uralic creation myth world was created by a waterbird who dived into the primordial sea bringing pieces of land in it´s beak to the surface. Finnish creation myth is based on the proto-uralic myth. In Kalevala the Finnish national epic waterbird hatched an egg into the legs of Ilmatar the goddess of air. In original Finnish folk tales waterbird hatched it´s egg into the leggs of Väinämöinen the shaman and the ruler of water. In these myths water bird is described to be a blue duck, an eagle or a loom. Myths about the water birds as the creators of the world are also known as the earth diver myths.

And became the earth below
​And it´s upper half transmuted
And became the sky above.
From the yolk the sun was made.
Light of the day to shine above us;
From the white the moon was formed.
Light of night to gleam above us:
All the colored brighter bits
Rose to be the stars of heaven
And the darkest crumbs changed into
Clouds and cloudlest in the sky.

- Kalevala, The Song of Creation, Elias Lönnrot, 1835

In Norse myths cosmic egg is equivalent to the rune Hagalaz which symbolised the ancient chasm. The void that existed even before god Odin willed himself to be. Eggs were important part of nutrition in the ancient times. Especially in northern parts of the world where winter was long and cold and eggs were nowhere to be found. In magic rites seer, the seidr took the egg and in their imagination fertilised it with the desired outcome. Egg was cracked to release what was built up inside and the desired energy manifested into being.

​For the ancient Chinese the universe was contained in an egg. Outside this egg was nothing but void. From this material inside the egg grew god Pan Gu. He slept inside the egg for 18 000 years growing into a giant. The egg broke into two halves. The upper side became the sky and the lower side became the earth. As the god grew taller the earth and the sky grew larger and became more further away from each others. When the god died his body parts became different parts of the earth. His arms and legs became mountains, his veins turned into rivers. His voice became the thunder and his breath became the wind.

​There are several creation stories found from Egyptian mythology. One of the myths is about the Ogdoad. It was the state of the world before the gods were created. One of the forms of Ogdoad was the cosmic egg where all the deities and spirits were born. In the stage called ”the first occasion” sun god Ra hatched from the egg bringing all life with him.

​According to the Orphic myths hermaphroditic god Phanes was born from the cosmic egg and created all the other gods. World egg was hatched by the titans Chronos (time) and Ananke (Nessecity).

​In the Cook Islands there is a legend that has similarities to the idea of the cosmic egg. Legend tells that deep in the Avaiki (the Underworld). There was a place that resembled a hallow coconut shell. There in the deepest depths was the primordial mother goddess Varima Te-Takere. Her domain was described to be so narrow that her knees touched her chin. She created the first man called Avatea. He was a hybrid, a merman, half-man half-fish. Avatea was the god of light and Varima Te-Takere sent him to the land of men to bring them light. It was told that his eyes were the sun and the moon.

​Some of the first literal mentions of the cosmic egg come from Sanskrit texts. Sanskrit term for the cosmic egg is Brahmanda. Which is derived from two words: ”Brahma” who is the creator god in Hindu mythology and ”anda” meaning egg. In Vedic myths the cosmic egg is seen as the beginning of the universe and it is called Hiranyagarbha. Which literally means ”golden fetus” or ”golden womb”. Egg floated in the emptiness and the broke into two halves which formed Dyaus (sky) and Prithvi (the earth).