Synty ('origin, birth, aetiology', pl. synnyt) is an important concept in Finnish mythology. Syntysanat ('origin-words') or syntyloitsut ('origin-charms') provide an explanatory, mythical account of the origin of a phenomenon (such as an illness), material (such as iron), or species (such as a bear), and were an important part of traditional Finno-Karelian culture, particularly in healing rituals. Although much in the Finnish traditional charms is paralleled elsewhere, 'the role of aetiological and cosmogonic myths' in Finnic tradition 'appears exceptional in Eurasia'.Frog, 'Shamans, Christians, and Things in Between: From Finnic-Germanic Contacts to the Conversion of Karelia', in Conversions: Looking for Ideological Change in the Early Middle Ages, ed. by Leszek Słupecki and Rudolf Simek, Studia Mediaevalia Septentrionalia, 23 (Vienna: Fassbaender, 2013), pp. 53–97 (p. 62), https://www.academia.edu/4049431. The major study remains that by Kaarle Krohn, published in 1917.Kaarle Krohn, Suomalaiset syntyloitsut: Vertaileva tutkimus [Finnish Origin-Incantations: A Comparative Study], Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia, 157 (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1917); Magische Ursprungsrunen der Finnen, trans. by Arno Bussenius (Kerava: Keravan Kirjapainossa, 1924).
Meanings of synty
The term synty is used in this article and in a range of scholarship as a genre-label, but it had a wide variety of meanings.Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Nykysuomen sanakirja, 6 vols (Helsinki: Söderström, 1953--61), s.vv.; Erkki Itkonen et al., Suomen sanojen alkuperä: Etymologinen sanakirja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1992-), s.vv. Synty transparently derives from syntyä (‘come into existence, be born’) and means ‘birth’, ‘origin’, ‘aetiology’, and so forth. Its meanings can be literal and mundane (e.g. 'birth'), but it was also used in traditional poetry with a range of more numinous meanings, varying according to region, genre, and time. Thus in Kalevalaic poetry, synty can also denote the mystical power of a tietäjä (in which context it has been argued to refer to the origin of a tietäjä’s own powers and is more or less a synonym for the more frequent term luonto, perhaps being translated as 'fundamental essence'); it can be a synonym for 'god' or 'creator' (in the singular only, often in the collocation suuri synty, ‘great synty’); or it can denote other divine power whose source was more abstract.Eila Stepanova, 'Mythic Elements of Karelian Laments: The Case of Syndyzet and Spuassuzet', in Mythic Discourses: Studies in Uralic Traditions, ed. by Frog, Anna-Leena –, and Eila Stepanova, Studia Fennica Folkloristica, 20 (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjasuuden Seura, 2012), pp. 257-87.
In Karelian lament poetry, the plural synnyt and more especially its diminutive dialect form syntyiset (usually given in the Karelian form syndyzet) were important terms, found used of divine powers, the abode of the dead, the dead themselves, and even icons. It has been suggested that these usages are a loan-translation from Russian rod ('family') and roditeli ('parents'), which are used in similar ways and have an etymological connection with birth.Anna-Leena Siikala, Mythic Images and Shamanism: A Perspective on Kalevala Poetry, FF Communication, 280 (Helsinki: Suomen Tiedakatemia, 2002).
The term synty is used with varying degrees of specificity to denote poems within a wider body of Finnic incantations, a poem within which might also be referred to as a 'formulas', luku ('passage'), sanat ('words'), or virsi ('verse').
Use of synty-poems
Knowing synnyt was a characteristic branch of knowledge for traditional healers, known as tietäjät. It was believed that knowing the origin of things made it possible to exercise control over them. Healing spells might, for example, include words like Kyllä tunnen syntymäsi ('indeed I know your origin').
It was long thought that synnyt were primarily recited as prefaces to charms much like a historiola, to make the charm itself more effective, perhaps as part of a process of diagnosis.Matti Haavio, Suomalainen mytologia (Porvoo: WSOY, 1967); cf. Lotte Tarkka, 'Interpretation at a distance (Review): Thomas A. DuBois, Finnish Folk Poetry and the Kalevala. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995. 328 pp.', Folklore Fellows Network, 15 (April 1998), 22-28, http://www.folklorefellows.fi/?page_id=776. More recent work, however, has suggested that, though often combined with other incantations, the synty element is in these cases usually central rather than preliminary, and not so much a diagnosis as a cure; their primary context of use seems instead to have been healing physical (as opposed to metaphysical) injuries and wounds where there was no illness agent (such as a witch) to conjure. Synnyt might also be used in, for example, hunting rituals.Matti Sarmela, 'Karhu ihmisen ympäristössä', Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja, 71 (1991), 209–50, http://www.kolumbus.fi/matti.sarmela/karhu.pdf.
There is some debate over in what contexts synnyt were recited and in what contexts they were sung (and whether it is meaningful to distinguish between these modes). It appears that synnyt were recited in Western Finland by the eighteenth century but might still have been sung in the seventeenth. There is some evidence for synnyt or similar genres being performed by pairs of singers in the manner of epic poems, but not much. The poems themselves, however, give singing a prominent role. The tradition of performing synnyt has been compared with the North Germanic tradition of galdr, where a clear distinction between singing and speaking may not be appropriate.
Early evidence
The synnyt mostly survive in nineteenth-century folklore collections. However, the earliest are attested in documents of the 1650s: the minutes of the parliament of Vaasa for 26 August 1657 record aetiological poems for iron and fire.Matti Haavio, Suomalainen mytologia (Porvoo: WSOY, 1967), pp. 367, 369; Suomen kansan vanhat runot vol. XI nos 1570 and 1797.Raphael Hertzberg, Vidskepelsen i Finland på 1600 talet: Bidrag till Finlands kulturhistoria (Helsingfors: Hufvudstadsbl. Nya Tryckeri, 1889). On 30 June 1658, court records for Vaasa record an aetiological poem for a magical shot (pistos)Suomen kansan vanhat runot vol. XI no 992. and on 5 July the same year in Isokyrö for cancer, iron, and fire.Suomen kansan vanhat runot vol. XI nos 826, 1586, 1587, 1801.Kihlakunnanoikeuksien renovoidut tuomiokirjat > Pohjanmaan tuomiokunnan renovoidut tuomiokirjat > Varsinaisten asioiden pöytäkirjat > Varsinaisten asioiden pöytäkirjat 1657-1658 (KO a:10) f. 609r l. 22-v l. 6 (Raudan synty), 609v, ll. 7ff. (Pistoksen synty), 609v ll. 17-21 (Tulen synty).
The earliest scholarly discussion of synnyt is in the fourth fascicule (published in 1778) of Henrik Gabriel Porthan's De poësi Fennica.Matti Haavio, Suomalainen mytologia (Porvoo: WSOY, 1967), pp. 342-43.Henricus Gabriel Porthan, Dissertationis de poësi Fennica, issued in 5 parts (Åbo: Frenckell, 1766-78), pp. 87-88; fascicule 1; fascicule 2; fascicule 4; fascicule 5.
Synty next makes a significant appearance as a genre term in Christianus Erici Lencqvist's dissertation De superstitione veterum Fennorum theoretica et practica, published in 1782.Matti Haavio, Suomalainen mytologia (Porvoo: WSOY, 1967), pp. 342-43. Discussing the mythical figure Kaleva, Lencqvist mentioned Kaleva's sword, and noted that one mention of that appears ‘in his versibus ... quibus ortus serpentis mythice exponitur (Kärmen syndy)’ ('in these verses ... in which the origin of the serpent is mythically expounded (Kärmen synty)'), quoting the following lines with his Latin translation:Christianus Erici Lencqvist, Specimen academicum de superstitione veterum fennorum theoretica et practica, 2 vols (Åbo: Frenckell, 1782), I 27 n. u. Mist’ on kieli keitolaisen? Miekasta Kalewan pojan, h. e.Unde lingua coquinarii? (Serpentis, qui venenum in ore gignat et quasi coquat?) E gladio Calevæ filii (h. e. formidolosissimo?).Whence is Keitolainen’sKeitolainen is the name of a demon, but is misunderstood by Lencquist as having something to do with the verb keittää 'to cook'. tongue? From the sword of Kaleva’s boy, i. e.Whence the tongue of cooking-boy? (Of the serpent, who produces venom in its mouth and, as it were, cooks it?) From the sword of Kaleva's son (i. e. ‘from the most terrifying sword’?)
Soon after, Cristfried Ganander included an entry for synnyt in his Mythologia fennica, defining them thus: ‘Synnyt, Archæologier öfver elden, ormen, sten, alla trän; läses öfver skador och sår af vidskeplige' (‘Synnyt: ancient histories of fire, the snake, stone, all trees; spoken over injuries and wounds by the superstitious').Christfrid Ganander, Mythologia fennica, eller förklaring öfver de nomina propria deastrorum, idolorum, locorum, virorum, &c. eller afgudar och afgudinnor, forntidens märkelige personar, offer och offer-ställen, gamla sedvänjor, jätter, trol, skogs- sjö och bergs-rån m. m. Som förekomma i de äldre finska troll-runor, synnyt, sanat, sadut, arwotuxet &c. samt än brukas och nämnas i dagligt tal; til deras tjenst, som vela is grund förstå det finska språket, och hafva smak för finska historien och poëin, af gamla runor samlad och uttydd (Åbo: Frenckell, 1789), p. 88.
Example
The most widely attested subject for synnyt, according to the Suomen kansan vanhat runot, is the origin of iron. One example of such a synty, as edited by Lönnrot and translated by Abercromby, is:Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja, ed. by Elias Lönnrot (Helsinki: Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1880), pp. 317-18 (no. 32b), http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48751; John Abercromby, The Pre- and Proto-historic Finns, Both Eastern and Western: With the Magic Songs of the West Finns, Grimm Library, 9-10, 2 vols (London: Nutt, 1898), pp. 351-52 vol. 1, vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 2. Kyllä tieän rauan synnyn, Arvoan alun teräksen: Toisin ennen tuulet tuuli, Toisin ennen säät sävisi, Maata kuokki koivun latvat, Peltoja petäjän kerkät. Tuuli silloin kuusi vuotta, Seurui seitsemän keseä, Tuuli taittoi tammen latvat, Rutaisi ruhevat raiat, Maasta mättähän mäkäisi, Tuopa myöstihe merelle, Siitä saari siunautui Meren selvälle selälle, Saarelle salo sorea, Salohon sileä nurmi, Siihen kasvoi kaksi neittä, Koko kolme morsianta. Niinpä neiet astunevi Niitylle nimettömälle, Istuivat itähän rinnoin, Etelähän päin elivät, Lypsit maalle maitoansa, Niitylle nitusiansa. Läksi maiot vieremähän, Vieri soita, vieri maita, Vieri auhtoja ahoja, Vieri suolle mättähäsen, Metisehen mättähäsen, Kultaisehen turpehesen. Siitä syntyi rauta raukka, Siitä syntyi ja sikesi, Suon sisällä, maan navalla, Maalla keskikorkealla, Kasvoi rautaiset orahat, Miehen peukalon pituiset. Vaka vanha Väinämöinen, Tietäjä ijän ikuinen, Oli teitensä käviä, Matkojensa mitteliä, Löysi rautaiset orahat, Teräksiset touvon taimet, Katselevi, kääntelevi, Sanan virkkoi, noin nimesi: ‘Mitkä nää on toukojansa, Ja kutka orahiansa? Jotain noistaki tulisi, Luona taitavan takojan.’ Kokosi ne knottihinsa, Kantavi sepon kätehen; Tuop’ on seppo Ilmarinen Etsivi pajan sijoa, Löysi maata pikkuruisen, Notkoa ani vähäisen, Johon painoi palkehensa, Johon ahjonsa asetti, Vaan ei kasva rauta raukka, Sukeu suku teräksen, Pajassa ovettomassa, Ahjolla tulettomalla; Puita puuttui pauan seppä, Tulta rautojen takoja. Saapi puita, tuopi tulta, Vaan ei vielä rauta synny, Kun ei liene lietsojata, Palkehella painajata. Otti orjan lietsomahan, Palkkalaisen painamahan, Katsoi ahjonsa alusta, Lietsimensä liepehiä, Jopa syntyi rauan synty, Sikesi suku teräksen.Full well I know the iron's genesis, I remember the origin of steel. Of old the winds blew otherwise, of old storms whistled otherwise, the head of a birch tore up the ground, the young shoots of a fir the fields. Then it blew six years, seven summers it inflicted harm, the wind broke off the heads of oaks,