Karhu - Myths of the Nordic peoples - Pasi Klemettinen

King of the forest, lord of the horn, mythical bear.

In many ways, the bear had a central position in the hunting cultures of the northern nations. A huge number of beliefs, rituals and myths, which date back to the Stone Age, were wrapped around the forest. They reflect the bear's place in the human mental landscape in a beautiful way.

Several indigenous peoples believed that they were descendants or at least relatives of the bear since the beginning of time. Others of them looked to the night sky in the northern starry sky and saw there the original home of the bear, from where the mythical animal was lowered down to earth. The bear was respected, appeased, shunned, feared and later persecuted as a dangerous lifeblood.

Traditionalist Pasi Klemettinen is looking for traces left by the bear in the mythologies of several different cultures. The mythical journey takes the reader from the bear hunts of the Finnish raven nation all the way to the traditions of the indigenous peoples of North America and the sacrificial ceremonies of the Far East.