Sampsa or Sämpsä Pellervoinen is a

haltija In Finnish mythology, a haltija is a supernatural inhabitant of a specific place and a protector of living beings, living in an invisible environment but can show themself to humans. A haltija could be the supernatural original inhabitant and guard ...

of vegetation in

Finnish mythology Finnish mythology commonly refers of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a Finnish Neopaganism, modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many shared features with Estonian mythology, Estonian and othe ...

. He sows all vegetation on earth, all the forests, swamps, meadows, and rock lands too. He appears as a god of fertility who has to be ritually awakened every summer in some regions.

Name

In the

Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (; ; ) is the approximately stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva. Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the we ...

, ''sämpsykkä'' means a plant. In

Ingria Ingria (; ; ; ) is a historical region including, and adjacent to, what is now the city of Saint Petersburg in northwestern Russia. The region lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian ...

, ''sämpsykkä'' or ''sämpsä-heinä'' means the ''

Scirpus sylvaticus ''Scirpus sylvaticus'', the wood clubrush, is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family. ''Scirpus sylvaticus'' can reach 1 m, and has triangular stems. ''S. sylvaticus'' widespread in Eurasia, is very common in the European part of Ru ...

''. It could be a loan from Germanic: German ''Simse'' means a bulrush. Pellervo could be a reference to either ''pellava'' ("flax") or ''pelto'' ("field").

Martti Haavio Martti Henrikki Haavio (22 January 1899 – 4 February 1973) was a Finnish poet, folklorist and mythologist, writing poetry under the pen name P. Mustapää. He was born on 22 January 1899 in Temmes, and died on 4 February 1973 in Helsinki. He ...

thought Pellervo comes from ''pellet'' ("ground; humus").

In runic songs

He was first mentioned by

Christfried Ganander Christfried Ganander (21 November 1741 in Haapajärvi – 17 February 1790 in Rantsila) was a Finnish compiler of folk culture, a priest and lexicographer. Ganander's greatest achievement was the compilation of the first fully extensive Finnish-l ...

in 1789 as Sämsä or Sämpsä, a faun, a son of Pellervoinen and the planter of trees. His helper was the strong draft ox named Vennon härkä Uljamoinen. Ganander also wrote down a rare

runic song Runic song, also referred to as ''Rune'' song, ''Runo'' song, or ''Kalevala'' song, is a form of oral poetry and national epic historically practiced among the Baltic Finnic peoples. It includes the Finnish epic poems ''Kalevala'' and '' Kantele ...

where Sämsä poika Sentervoinen prepares his boat in order to go sailing. In Eastern Finland, Sampsa is primarily known in the

describing the

origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

of trees. Despite this, it seems likely that his original role was as a protector of field crops. The most comprehensive story of the awakening of Sampsa describes how the wealthy land owner Ahti tries to get someone to awaken Sampsa. A wolf tries to do so, hoping to get a hefty reward, but fails. Summer boy, who doesn't think of a reward, goes to awaken Sampsa and is successful. Sampsa then proceeds to sow all vegetation. In some versions, it is winter boy who first fails to awaken Sampsa. The place where Sampsa is sleeping is described as an island without trees. This story includes the line: ''Ennen Ahti maita puuttu, / Ennenkun Sämpsä siemeniä'' ("Ahti would sooner run out of land than Sämpsä out of seeds"). In some versions of these poems he inseminates either his sister or his mother to be able to provide fertility for fields and orchards. The incest version is likely born out of foreign influence, as a fertility god mates with an earth mother in multiple religions. Runic songs also refer to ''

maaemä Maaemä ( Finnish) or Maaema (Estonian) is a goddess or earth itself in Finnish and Estonian mythologies. She is sometimes called the wife of Ukko but this is not certain. In runic songs In runic songs, the earth itself is sometimes called maae ...

'' ("earth mother"), ''Maatar'' or ''Mannutar'', the mother in earth as opposed to the father in sky (Ukko). The parts referring to the shame of incest are likely taken from

Kullervo Kullervo () is an ill-fated character in the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot. Growing up in the aftermath of the massacre of his entire tribe, he comes to realise that the same people who had brought him up, ...

's story and only later attached to Sampsa. The

Forest Finns Forest Finns (, Bokmål, Norwegian bokmål: ''skogfinner'', Nynorsk, Norwegian nynorsk: ''skogfinnar'', ) were Finns, Finnish migrants from Savonia (historical province), Savonia and Northern Tavastia (historical province), Tavastia in Finland w ...

knew of Ämssä who lived in a tussock, which

Uno Harva Uno Nils Oskar Harva (known as Uno Holmberg until 1927; 30 August 1882, Ypäjä – 13 August 1949, Turku) was a Finnish religious scholar, who founded the discipline in Finland together with Rafael Karsten. A major figure in North Eurasian ethnol ...

has connected to Sampsa, for the Ingrians knew the concept of Sämpsä's tussock. It could've been the first tuft with green grass, the first place where the vegetation haltija shows signs of waking up. In Ingria, the song of Sampsa has been traditionally sung during festivities for

Ukko (), or ( Finnish for 'male grandparent', 'grandfather', 'old man'), parallel to Uku in Estonian mythology, is the god of the sky, weather, harvest, and thunder across Finnic paganism. , the Finnish word for thunder, is the diminutive ...

on June 29 in connection with '' vakkue''.

In the ''Kalevala''

In some

s, the sowing is done with the help of small pieces of

sampo In Finnish mythology, the ''Sampo'' () is a magical device or object described in many different ways, constructed by the blacksmith and inventor Ilmarinen and which brings riches and good fortune to its holder, akin to the horn of plenty (corn ...

. In the

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' () is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling a story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and retaliatory ...

Elias Lönnrot Elias Lönnrot (; 9 April 1802 – 19 March 1884) was a Finnish polymath, physician, philosopher, poet, musician, linguist, journalist, philologist and collector of traditional Finnish language, Finnish Oral literature, oral poetry. He is best k ...

changed the order of things so that the sowing happens before the forging of sampo, in the second poem of the

during the land's creation. Sampsa is commonly described as a slender youth carrying either a bag or a basket around his neck.

Comparisons

Kaarle Krohn Kaarle Krohn (10 May 1863 – 19 July 1933) was a Finnish folklorist, professor and developer of the geographic-historic method of folklore research. He was born into the influential Krohn family of Helsinki. Krohn is best known outside of Finla ...

compared Sampsa to Scandinavian fertility deities

Freyr Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested Æsir, god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, prosperity, fair weather, and good harvest. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was ...

and Njord. According to Heikki Kirkinen Sampsa's name could be derived from

Saint Sampson the Hospitable Sampson the Hospitable (, ; died 530 AD) was a citizen of Constantinople who devoted his time to serving the poor of the city. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Churches as well in the Catholic Church. Life Sampson (or Samson) was ...

, a saint of the Eastern Churches. Raymond Chambers has called attention to the possible connection between Sampsa and Scyld Scefing from the

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

References

Finnish gods Fertility gods Agricultural gods {{Finland-myth-stub