Astronomy

This page is about astronomy in Finnish folklore, mainly stars and planets.

Stars

 * Polaris: Pohjantähti (North star), Taivaannaula (Nail of the sky), Taivaannapa (Pole of the sky) and Maailmantappi (Pivot of the world). It was believed that the dome of the sky turns with Polaris as its pole, where the pillar of the sky is connected to. Pohjantähti is the name typically used nowadays.

Constellations
In modern Finnish, many constellations are known by their Greek or other such names. However, this wasn't always the case, as the Finnish tradition knows some older names for constellations that were used in the old times.
 * The Big Dipper: Otava. This name is still in use today. "Otava" comes from a word meaning a fishing net spread accross a river, meant for catching salmon.
 * Orion: There are many old names for it: Aaronin sauva (Staff of Aaron), Aatamin sauva (Staff of Adam), Härkäpari (Pair of bulls), Jaakobin sauva (Staff of Jakob), Kalevan miekka (Sword of Kaleva = When Kaleva strikes with his sword, it causes Kalevantulet (Kaleva's fires) aka heat lightning), Keppiset (The stick ones), Kolmonen (Three), Kolmoset (The threes), Kolmioiset (The triangle ones), Korento (Stick), Mooseksen sauva (Staff of Moses), Orjan kyynärä (A slave's ell), Pietarin sauva (Staff of Peter), Sauvaset (The staff ones), Sudenkorento (Dragonfly), Taivaan korento (Dragonfly of the sky), Väinämöisen viikate (Scythe of Väinämöinen), Väinön viikate (Scythe of Väinö), Viikate (Scythe), Väinön vyö (Belt of Väinö), and Ämmänrukki (A woman's spinning wheel = This is reference to the tiny women of Lintukoto). Nowadays known as Orion.

Others

 * The Milky Way: Linnunrata (Path of birds), it was the path along which birds travel to the south, to Lintukoto, a southern land inhabited by dwarves. The dwarf women put their spinning wheels on the sky during night time = Taivaanrukki (Spinning wheel of the sky) and Ämmänrukki (A woman's spinning wheel) constellations. The Milky Way is also known as Talvenrata (Track of winter) and Talvenselkä (Back of winter). Known as Linnunrata today.