A Finnish Myth - Lesson 4 Part 1

Ancient Finns believed that the world was formed from an egg that was broken.
A bird was flying above the sea, seeking a place to make a nest and lay her eggs. She searched everywhere, but found nothing but water. Then she noticed the first dry place. In some stories it was an island, in other stories it was a boat and in other stories it was a body part of a floating being, like the wizard Väinämöinen. The place was too unstable for a nest: a big wave came and broke the eggs, spreading their parts all over. However the eggs were not wasted: the upper part of egg covers formed the sky, yolk became the sun, and lower parts of egg formed the mother earth. The first human was Väinämöinen, he was born from the maiden of air Ilmatar that was made pregnant by the sea. Väinämöinen ordered forests to be planted, and started human culture.
(Wikipedia)

This myth is an example of one that explains the creation of the world. The broken egg fulfills man’s desire to explain something in the universe (the creation of the Earth). The god Vainamoinen and the goddess Ilmatar were superhuman in nature. Ilmatar, as the myth states, was made pregnant by the sea bearing Vainamoinen, who ordered forests to be planted and started human culture. This also relates to the magical characteristic of a myth. There does not seem to be much emotion in this myth besides the wish to find a place to lay eggs and nurse young. I think the existence of emotion is somewhat different from country to country and is due to custom. I am of Finnish decent and I feel that, in large part, these people are not prone to outward and public displays of affection to the extent that other cultures are. That is not to say that they love any less, hate any less, etc…. simply that they are oftentimes outwardly more stoic than other cultures. I believe that shows in many of their myths. (I hope that doesn’t offend anyone; it is not meant to – it’s simply something that I have experienced and known to be true in large part)