Tuonela

thumb|200px|By the river of Tuonela (Tuonelan joella) by [[Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1903]]

thumb|200px|[[Lemminkäinen's Mother|Lemminkäisen äiti by Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The mother of young Lemminkäinen has gone to the river of Tuoni to find the corpse of her dead son. One of the myths told in Kalevala.]]

Tuonela (; ) is the realm of the dead or the Underworld in Finnish mythology. Tuonela, Tuoni (), Manala (, 'Underworld'), Vainajala () and Mana () are used synonymously. Similar realms appear in most Finnic cultural traditions, including among Karelian, Ingrian, and Estonian beliefs.

In runic songs, Pohjola is often synonymous with Tuonela, though Pohjola has also gained additional meanings in epic poetry over the ages. In this tradition, the ruler of the underworld is the icy Loviatar. Northern peoples, including Finns, had certain dualistic views of the cosmos: on the lower side is death, dark, north and cold, as opposed to the upper side: life, bright, south and warm. Once in Tuonela, the living were not allowed to leave. They would be welcomed by Tuonetar, who would offer them a memory-erasing beer to erase their former lives. Shamans could visit Tuonela by falling into a trance and tricking the guards.

Tuonela in other beliefs and myths

Tuonela is best known for its appearance in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, which is a collection of Finnish and Karelian mythology.

In the 19th song of Kalevala, Väinämöinen, a shamanistic hero, travels to Tuonela to seek the knowledge of the dead. On the journey, he meets the ferryman, a woman, Tuonen tytti / Tuonen tyttö (), or Tuonen piika (), who takes him over the river of Tuoni. In paganism, this ferryman might be the same figure as Kivutar. On the isle of Tuoni, however, he is not given the spells that he was looking for and he barely manages to escape the place by turning into a snake. After his return, he curses anyone trying to enter the place alive.thumb|upright|[[Väinämöinen in Tuonela (1890) by Pekka Halonen]]Also in the Kalevala, the adventurer-shaman Lemminkäinen goes to Pohjola to woo the daughter of Louhi, a powerful old sorceress. Louhi gives Lemminkäinen three tasks he must complete to woo her daughter. While trying to complete the third task, killing the swan of Tuonela, Lemminkäinen is cut into pieces by a water snake and thrown into a whirlpool in the river of Tuonela. Lemminkäinen's mother is alerted of his death by a magical charm. She goes to the river, and rakes out the pieces of her son's body. With the help of a bee, Lemminkäinen's mother pieces together his body, and brings him back to life.

Tuonela is used as the translation for the Greek word ᾍδης (Hades) in Finnish translations of the Bible. In Finnish Christianity, Tuonela is often interpreted as the place of the dead before the Last Judgement.

Tuonela in other beliefs and myths

References

See also