Lemminkäinen

Lemminkäinen, hero of Finnish traditional songs. In these songs, Lemminkäinen travels to an otherworldly place where he overcomes many obstacles, such as a ditch full of burning rocks and a fence made of snakes. When he reaches his goal, he must also succeed at a series of tests and best his host in a wizard’s contest. The narrative up until this point is reminiscent of shamanistic tales of travels to the otherworld, but it takes a different turn when Lemminkäinen is killed. In some versions, he is killed with a hollow reed, in others with a snake, but in all tales he is killed with the only weapon against which he is defenseless. After Lemminkäinen’s death, his mother goes to great lengths to retrieve his body, and she finally succeeds, but her attempts to revive it are successful in only a few versions of the story. This last part may show some Christian influence and also influence from the Nordic story of the death of Balder.