jumalat

Jumalat is the Finnish term for gods, referring to the deities of pre-Christian Finnic and Baltic-Finnic mythologies. In Finnish language and folklore, jumala is the singular form, while jumalat denotes the plural. The related word jumalatar is used for goddess. The concept encompasses a wide range of divine beings representing natural forces, fate, and aspects of life such as thunder, forests, waters, and wisdom.

Historically, jumalat belonged to a polytheistic belief system among Finnic peoples. Worship and reverence were often tied to natural phenomena and places, with rituals and offerings intended to secure protection, fertility, harvest, and weather favorable to communities. With Christianization in the medieval and early modern periods, many traditional practices declined or were transformed, yet fragments persisted in folklore and place names, and some beliefs persist in modern revival movements.

In Finnish literature and folklore, myths about jumalat are central. The national epic Kalevala presents a pantheon of divine and semi-divine figures such as Ukko, the sky and thunder god; Tapio, the forest god; Ahti, the sea and hunting deity; and Ilmatar, the goddess of air. Other prominent beings, like Ilmarinen the master smith and Louhi the mistress of Pohjola, appear as influential figures within mythic narratives. These characters symbolize natural forces, moral dilemmas, and human aspirations, shaping cultural memory rather than functioning as a single doctrinal system.

Today, discussions of jumalat appear in academic study of Finnish mythology, folklore, and, in some cases, in neopagan and revival movements such as Suomenusko, which seek to reconstruct or reinterpret pre-Christian Finnish religious practices.