Tapio
Description: Hunting god. God of water and woods. Husband of Mielikki, father of Nyyrikki and Tuulikki. Wore a fir hat and moss cloak. Rules over abundance of game.
Believed to inhabit forests and invoked before a hunt. In casting a circle, Tapio would be placed at the North.
Tapio (worker in Tvaps, i.e., hunting) In Finnish mythology, forest god. His wife, Meilikki, his son Nyyrikki, and his daughter, the wind spirit Tuulikki, were all spirits of the forest. Tapio’s realm was called Tapiola, which is used in the Finnish epic poem The Kalevala for the forest in general and is almost synonymous with Metsola (woodland). Sometimes Tapio aided the wanderer in the forest, but if he was in a mischievous mood, he would tickle or smother the person to death. His mysterious spirit and nature, inspired Sibelius’s last major symphonic composition, Tapiola, which was first performed in New York under the conductor Walter Damrosch.
Another name for Tapiola is Kuippana ( king of the forest ) who was a minor tutelary genius.
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow– Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante
