Ilmatar

Ilmatar (Finnish) In the Finnish epic the Kalevala, Ilmatar was the primal maiden floating upon the primal ocean. Her origin is a mystery.

Ilmatar called on the East Wind and was impregnated by him. But Ilmatar did not give birth, choosing instead to keep the child within her as it grew into the wizard Vainamoinen.

Later, a bird flew by, desperately hunting for a place to lay her eggs, but she found nothing but endless water. Ilmatar pitied the poor bird and bent her knee to give the bird a place to perch. The grateful bird came swooping down, laid half a dozen eggs, plus one made of iron, on Ilmatar’s knee, sat upon her clutch, and fell asleep.

The heat of incubation grew hotter and hotter. At last, Ilmatar could not bear the burning on her knee any longer and stretched out her leg. As she did this, seven eggs fell into the sea and broke open.

The seven broken eggs solidified into heaven and Earth. A golden yolk became the Sun, the white of the eggs became the Moon, and the broken bits of shell became the stars. The black yolk of the iron egg became the first thundercloud.

Now Ilmatar set about shaping the land and all that was to exist upon it. Soon Vainamoinen, a grown wizard by this time, entered the world, and Ilmatar vanished from the story.

SEE ALSO:

• Ilmarinen
• Joukahainen
• Kalevala

Sources

• Lönnrot, Elias. The Kalevala: An Epic Poem After Oral Tradition. Trans. Keith Bosley. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Pentikäinen, Juha Y. Kalevala Mythology. Trans. and ed. Ritva Poom. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.