Kaves and Kuumet are spirits related to the phases of the moon.
Kuumet is an evil spirit that caused the waning of the moon and lunar eclipses by covering the Moon into an iron riihi (grain drying and threshing cabin).
Kaves are spirits that cause the waxing of the moon and end lunar eclipses. Kaves are metaphorically said to look like birds. Luonnotar and Ilmatar are connected to kaves in Kalevalan poetry. However, sometimes kaves are also seen as evil creatures; according to Mikael Agricola, kaves were evil animals that ate the moon (thus causing the waning of the moon as well).
A spell states:
- "Kuumet ennen kuun kehitti / Kavet kuun kehältä päästi (...) Riihen rautaisen sisästä / Ja miks et sinä sitten paha pakene / Pakene pakana henki / Kule kurja kunne käsken / Lähe herja häätämällä.
- "First, Kuumet girded the moon / Kaves freed it (...) From inside an iron riihi / And why don't you espace then, evil one / Escape, pagan spirit / Go, miserable one, whither I order / Leave, demon, when driven off."
The word "kave" originally meant any creatures (Modern Finnish: olento). The term is also often connected to "kaveta", a verb referring to the moon's waxing. "Kuu" means "moon", but the name "Kuumet" is most likely connected to words such as "kumma" (strange) and "kummitus" (ghost).
Sources[]
- Pulkkinen, Risto & Lindfors, Stina: Suomalaisen kansanuskon sanakirja. Gaudeamus (2016). Page: 106, 155.