Ukko

, the Finnish word for thunder, is the diminutive form of the name . Ukko is Finnish for 'male grandparent', 'grandfather', and 'old man'. According to Matthias Castrén, Ukko as the name of a god can't be very old, or at least not the oldest, because it does not exist in a wider Finno-Ugric area apart from Finland, Estonia and, in a slightly modified form, Lapland. The mainly western word '''''' (), which has the same meaning as the word , could also be connected to a thunder god: In Uusimaa, () has meant thunder. Salo and Uno Harva have also pointed out the Estonian terms 'thunder rain' and 'thunder'. Thunder is also connected to a "grandfather" in Selkup, languages with a distant relation to Finnish, where thunder can be called (). Sometimes () is replaced with (): (). In runic songs, Ukko is also given the epithet (), which earlier writers have understood meaning Ukko's role as the supreme god and ruler of other gods. Julius Krohn emphasised that Ukko was not the leader of other gods, stating that this hierarchy had been created by Elias Lönnrot. According to Haavio, this epithet refers to Ukko's location: on high in the sky. Haavio also brought up the name '''' which appears in runic songs, suggesting it to be a loan from Slavic languages (compare to Russian and Old Slavonic grom'' 'thunder'). Same might appear in a runic song from White Karelia. and a runic song from Kainuu mentions Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen (). ==Origins==

In 1782, Christian Erici Lencqvist said seemed to have been the chief god of Finland, which was later repeated by Lönnrot and Castrén. Julius Krohn opposed this view. Kaarle Krohn called Ukko a thunder god who had received features of a Christian protector of everything. Ukko's thunder and refreshing rain were vital for the growth of crops, but he was also asked to help in various kinds of situations, such as labour, weddings, healing the sick, setting cattle on the fields and slaughtering them, hunting, fishing, when in court, etcetera. Ukko shares many similarities with Thor as a club or sword wielding ruler of storms and lightning. According to Anna-Leena Siikala, Ukko's importance grew due to the rise of slash-and-burn agriculture, which resulted in the Vakkajuhlat ritual beer festival which was held until the 19th century. This beer festival also had its Baltic equivalents. According to Salo, Ukko and Ilmarinen are from their roots the same Indo-European human formed thunder god. Examples of a personified thunder or thunder god can be found among both Finno-Ugrics and Indo-Europeans. On the other hand, Frog wrote that that the sky god and thunder god likely used to be the same: Ilmari. Siikala thought was thunder itself, and Ilmarinen would've taken over its role in the song in inland Finland to emphasise the differences between fire, water (Väinämöinen) and air (Ilmarinen). In Latvian mythology, the sky smith () or a parallel figure of the thunder god or sky god forges so that coals fall into the sea or the river Daugava. This eagle or bird from Pohjola is also able to spit fire, further confirming the thunderbird imagery. Forest Finns believed the eagle to be Ukko's helper, who drove away Ukko and Väinämöinen's enemy, Loho. Loho travelled in a raven-form, bringing wolves with her to devour cattle. To please Ukko, and to keep Loho away, Forest Finns kept a woodgrouse's wing on an altar shelf (). Although portrayed active in myth, when appealed to makes all his appearances in legend solely by natural phenomena. ==Finnish folklore==

boat-shaped battle axe from , Sweden. . type, type, cross. Oldest mentions of Ukko were by Mikael Agricola in 1551, who described the festival. It is unclear what he meant by the lines . Early interpreters understood this as a description of thunder god Ukko fighting with his wife, thunder goddess Rauni, which would've then resulted in thunder. Christfried Ganander connected this "Ukko's wife Rauni" to Maaemä (; also called Akka ). Salo agreed with Haavio on that Rauni was the epithet of Ukko himself, not his wife, but that it still meant the thunder god Ukko instead of a separate fertility god. He suggested the name Rauni could be a corruption of Latin and Greek made by Agricola to connect Ukko to (Greek 'belonging to the thunderbolt, struck by a thunderbolt, hurling thunderbolts, bearer of lightning'; Latin 'thunderbolts'), instead of a name used in folk tradition. In this case, Agricola's fertility-increasing description would refer to a sexual act between heavenly and terrestrial deities, like a spark while striking a thunderstone ( 'Ukko's rock') which were vulva-shaped. In runic songs, the rowan tree appears as a sacred tree in wedding songs, the rowan's branches full of berries symbolizing a pregnant woman. Rowan berries were also used for different kinds of healing and protection spells. Evil spirits and demons were thought to be afraid of the rowan. The ladybird was also considered sacred to and called 'Ukko's cow'. ==Festivals dedicated to Ukko==

Before the advent of Christianity, the Midsummer festival in Finland, today known as after John the Baptist (), was held in honor of and called (Festival of Ukko). This tradition carried to the 19th century. Also dedicated to were the ( festival) also known as (Ukko's ) or simply (s). s were commonly held in May coinciding with the spring sowing. During s it was customary to consume or otherwise offer a container or some other vessel () of an alcoholic beverage or food as sacrifice. It appears that often the festival was held in the community's sacred grove or where an animal sacrifice was sometimes also performed as part of the same festival. This ceremony was believed to guarantee good weather for the coming year and thus a good harvest. ==Eponymy==

in Lapland. was a holy site to the local Sámi and archeological finds, apparently offerings, have been found there. A number of toponyms in Finland and surrounding regions contain some form of the name Ukko. Finland • , , Northern Karelia • (), Lake Inari, Finnish Lapland • , , Southern Savonia • , , Central Finland ==Modern influence==

The Weather Channel list of winter storms for 2012 list as one of the alphabetic names they used. ==Footnotes==