Lemminkäinen () or Lemminki () is a prominent figure in Finnish mythology. He also appears in Karelian and Estonian folk poetry. He is one of the heroes of the Kalevala, where his character is a composite of several separate heroes of oral poetry. He is usually depicted as young and good-looking, with wavy red hair.
The original, mythological Lemminkäinen is a shamanistic figure. In the Kalevala, he has been blended together with epic war-heroes Kaukomieli/Kaukamoinen and Ahti Saarelainen.
Name Variations of Lemminkäinen's name include Lemmingäinen, Lemmitty, Ihalempi, Kaukalempi, Lemmykkäinen and Lemmin poika, as well as Estonian Lembito, Lemming, Lemmingäne, Lemmingine, Lemming poega, Lemmergüne and Lemmik. It is connected to the themes of fire and erotic love, much like the name of Lempo. Anna-Leena Siikala described Lemminkäinen's name as "fit for a god in fertility rites".
An Ingrian runic song calls Lemminkäinen "Tarnalainen", which Kaarle Krohn connected to the "Tarsillainen" who is given a Norse funeral (burned in a boat), as well as the following names from wedding songs: Tervulainen, Teinulainen, Tenhulainen, Terholainen, Terheläinen, and Teikamoinen.
In runic songs Song of Lemminkäinen In the runic song Song of Lemminkäinen (), Lemminkäinen goes to a mythical location such as Pohjola, Päivölä or Väinölä (among others) either to join a banquet he wasn't invited to, or to meet with relatives. His mother, or three luonnottaret, tell Lemminkäinen not to go, for there are many dangers on his path. He goes anyway, survives the dangers, drinks a pint of beer with snakes in it and kills the one who offered him the beer.
Details depend on the region and version of the song. In a version from Sotkamo, luonnottaret tell Lemminkäinen not to go to Pohjola (reason for the journey is not given) but he goes anyway, challenging the Lord and/or Lady of Pohjola to a sword fight after being given snake beer, emerging victorious. In a version from Hyrynsalmi, he goes to Vuotola/Väinälä to meet his sister and her husband despite the dangers. Lord of Vuotola tells him not to come in if he does not possess shamanistic magic and then offers him the snake beer, which he drinks. In a version from Ristijärvi, Lemminkäinen goes to Vuotola to meet his brother and arrives at Koppola, where the Lady of Lietola offers him snake beer. He drinks it after fishing the snakes out of the pint. In Nilsiä, Lemminkäinen challenges the son of Pohjola to a sword fight, receiving a maiden from the Court of Pohjola as his prize. In Kainuu, Lemminkäinen's shamanistic skills are mentioned under the name Kaukomieli, a hybrid-hero who often gets mixed with Lemminkäinen in runic songs. The snake beer and sword fight scenario is also sometimes mentioned as Väinämöinen's feat, for example when Louhi agrees to become a wife for Väinämöinen if he drinks the snake beer.
Multiple versions also exist from Karelia, similarly describing Lemminkäinen heading for a divine banquet he was not invited to and his mother warning him of the dangers on the way. In some versions, he is welcomed as a son-in-law and given regular beer. In versions originating from Loimola, Lemminkäinen's shamanistic magic is emphasized over his sword, as he is the best runic singer at the banquet and wins over Ahti in a shamans' battle.
Death of Lemminkäinen
Near the Finnish-Russian border in White Karelia, Ilomantsi, Kesälahti and Kerimäki, the runic song Death of Lemminkäinen () is known. In it, Lemminkäinen goes on a dangerous journey similar to that in the Song of Lemminkäinen, but with the goal of finding a bride. The destination of his journey could be Pohjola, Tuonela, Hiitola or Sápmi. His mother warns him not to go, as there are many shamans at his destination. He asks the mistress of the house for a maiden, but she tells him to clear various tasks before she would agree. These include hunting the Elk of Hiisi, which Lemminkäinen is able to do after praying for help from Ukko. He is then told to shoot a swan, which he goes to do, but while he is at it, the mistress kills him and dismembers his body.
Lemminkäinen's mother knows her son has died when she sees a hairbrush bleeding. She transforms into a bird and travels over nine seas looking for her son. Eventually, she finds him dismembered in water and picks up his body parts with a rake, putting him back together and resurrecting him. Some versions emphasize that the river where Lemminkäinen was dismembered was the river of Tuonela. There are also versions where the resurrection fails, Lemminkäinen's body stating his final words, typical for a shaman stuck on the other side: "My place is known, a bad place in the hard arms of death. My mother, I will no longer become a man, one already rotten cannot become a man".
There are also versions where Lemminkäinen is killed by Väinämöinen for his evil deeds, or by a "wet-hat cowboy" who Lemminkäinen has failed to enchant.
Matti Kuusi thought the Death of Lemminkäinen was a later remake of the Song of Lemminkäinen born in the Savonian expansion area, but Siikala pointed out that the themes of resurrection are very old motifs.
Song of Vipunen In Karelia, Lemminkäinen is often called a son of Kaleva, but in Kainuu, South Karelia and White Karelia, he is called the son of Antero Vipunen. The runic song Song of Vipunen () describes Väinämöinen's journey to the underworld to seek knowledge from the dead shaman Vipunen; but, according to Kuusi, Lemminkäinen is the original protagonist of this story, shaman son visiting his dead shaman father in the underworld. In Kainuu, fire is also called the son of Vipunen but created by Päivätär. In some versions of the Song of Vipunen, the dead shaman himself is called with the name Lemminkäinen.
Disease of Osmi In the Estonian runic song Disease of Osmi (), Lemming's father Osmi is sick for seven summers, eight springs and ten winters. His bed rots, he is buried, and herbs grow on his grave. There is an attempt of awaken him from his grave.
Song of Kaukamoinen Lemminkäinen's story got strongly mixed with the story of a Viking Age hero named Kaukamoinen or Kaukomieli. In White Karelia, Kaukamoinen also possesses shaman's abilities like Lemminkäinen. Earliest mentions of Kaukamoinen are from Ostrobothnia in the 1700s, as a runic song written down by Christfried Ganander that mentioned Ahti, Kauko and Veitikka getting drunk at a banquet in Saariala. A clearest version of the Song of Kaukamoinen () separate from Lemminkäinen can be found from Ingria. As with Lemminkäinen, the location of the banquet depends on the song, but Kaukamoinen attends a banquet with Veitikka (sometimes including Ahti or a "son of Kalervikko"). He was not invited to join this banquet because of his frivolous way of life, but from seeing others going there while he was plowing a field of snakes and deciding to join in. The men get drunk and someone pours beer on Kaukamoinen's cape, angering him. This ends in a fight where Kaukamoinen ends up killing the man who spilled the beer, the host of the banquet.
In an alternative take, Kaukamoinen goes to the banquet and asks to buy beer: this is offensive towards the hosts of the banquet. Osmotar explains that all the beer has already been drunk, but as Kaukamoinen keeps insisting, a beer full of snakes is brought to him. Kaukamoinen drinks the beer and curses its server into the underworld. He is offended at not being given the finest seat at the banquet and continues to insult the hosts. His aunt's son Veitikka rises to defend the honour of the house, and the two end up in a sword fight where Kaukamoinen kills Veitikka. He escapes, not following his mother's advice to hide in the forest as his father had done but hiding on an island () by the coast of Finland instead. In some White Karelian versions, Ahti chases after Kaukamoinen while transformed into a kokko eagle.
The island is full of women that Kaukamoinen abuses in many ways while spending the next six years on the island. He has to escape the island as well when an old woman chases him off and curses his boat to hit the rocks. Kaukamoinen's mother knows something is up when a dog starts barking and her handkerchief turns bloody, and she forges an iron rake to save her son from the water. He complains about having had to lie in water for a week, but she simply responds with: "Without your mother, you'd have lain there for one more".
Ahti Saarelainen In White and Olonets Karelia, there is a song dubbed the Rune of Ahti and Kyllikki (). The protagonist of the story is a man named Ahti Saarelainen (, 'Islander'). He, too, is sometimes mixed with Lemminkäinen. Sometimes Ahti, Kauko and Veitikka are three separate characters, but sometimes their names are treated like alternatives for the same person. Ahti lives on an island called ('Island'), and is sometimes even called its king.
Ahti Saarelainen is described as a fierce seagoing warrior. He makes a double vow with his wife Kyllikki, binding him to stay at home and not to engage in raiding, and binding her to stay faithful. However, Kyllikki breaks her oath and Ahti goes on a voyage with his old war companion, the newly-wed Teuri. The early arrival of winter stops the campaign, but the rest of the song is lost. In the Ingrian song Ahti's sea voyage (), Ahti was raised in Finland and Kauko in Karelia, but they arrive at the same place and become like brothers. They go to Koporye to ask a man named Anterus to join their sea voyage, but Anterus's mother warns him he shouldn't. The rest of the song is lost.
Further more, North Savo and North Karelian songs mention a wealthy man named Ahti who promises to give treasure to the one who is able to wake up Sampsa Pellervoinen to make his fields fertile.
Other songs A runic song from Kainuu dialect area in the historical Ostrobothnia province mentions that Lemminkäinen accompanied Väinämöinen when the latter had made his new boat, and rowed the boat for him. Another song from North Ostrobothnia calls sauna steam "Lemminkäinen's honeybread".
Interpretations Lemminkäinen was known to researchers in the 18th century. Christian Erici Lencqvist described Lemminkäinen as a young man and wondered if he was a member of spirits called menninkäiset. In 1786, Christfried Ganander described Lemmingäinen as the same as Lemmätär, a satyr in Lempo's family. In 1789, the description had changed: Mythologia Fennica calls him a strong rower who accompanied Väinämöinen and rowed his new boat. In 1853, Matthias Castrén stated that Lemminkäinen was a god made human, comparable to Norse Tyr while making similar connections between Väinämöinen and Odin, and Ilmarinen and Thor. He also pointed out the similarities between Lemminkäinen and Baldr's stories of death and resurrection.
Julius Krohn saw Lemminkäinen as Jesus, as a song describes Lemminkäinen giving "eyes to the unseeing". In 1906, Kaarle Krohn suggested that Lemminkäinen is connected to three, originally separate poems: 1) Son of the Sun goes to a banquet uninvited, gets killed and is attempted to be resurrected; 2) Lemminkäinen goes to visit relatives, is given snake beer and kills the one who offered it; and 3) Kaukamoinen goes to drink beer uninvited, ends up in a duel with another guest and attempts to escape. Siikala thought that 1) and 2) should be one and the same story and not separated. Kaarle Krohn also thought that both Lemminkäinen and Baldr are actually just Jesus, their stories being Christian legends at their core.