Welcome to Taivaannaula

Taivaannaula is a Finnish organization that is dedicated to the revival of Finnish Paganism. Our goal is to make it possible for people to once again practice the old religion of their ancestors and to promote the ancient Finnish spiritual traditions by offering information for all interested parties and individuals. We try to meet these goals by organizing meetings and activities locally and nationwide, and by maintaining this website.

Finnish Paganism

Finnish Paganism is based on the pre-Christian beliefs and customs of Finnic tribes. This old form of Paganism was officially superseded by foreign universalist religion of Christianity in the 12th century. Fortunately, knowledge of our sacred past was handed down for centuries in our folk poems. A lot of pagan tradition also survived in secluded rural ares. Modern Finnish pagans are united by their desire for more natural values, their respect for old Finnish Gods, spirits and their ancestors. Pagans also cherish their own heritage in various forms, be it music, poetry, visual arts or even traditional cuisine.

Finnish Paganism holds no absolute rules, but instead each pagan has to make their own decisions on how to practice Paganism. The way pagans view their Gods is one example of this. For some pagans Gods are personifications of natural forces, others perceive them as higher ideals and some see them as concrete living beings. It should be noted, that pre-Christian religion wasn't just one isolated aspect of living, as is often the case in universal religions such as Christianity. Instead, for the ancient people their tribe, myths, rites and everyday customs were all interconnected into one cohesive sense being a human being. Asking luck for harvest from the Gods was just as commonplace as sowing the seeds was.

As mentioned earlier, majority of Finnish pagans share ecological values and the will to protect our environment. Some pagans might further this cause in political organizations, but this does not mean that Finnish Paganism is political. In fact, Taivaannaula renounces itself from all political agendas and ideologies and aims to act purely as website promoting the causes of Finnish pagans.

Further reading

Finnish Paganism by Anssi Alhonen

Contact us

Anssi Alhonen (Chairman, Webmaster): puheenjohtaja@taivaannaula.org

Henrik Jaakko (Secretary, Public Relations): sihteeri@taivaannaula.org

Tommi Yli-Ollila (Deputy Chairman): varapuheenjohtaja@taivaannaula.org

Anna Maria Parkkinen (Treasurer): rahastonhoitaja@taivaannaula.org

Discussion forum

If you are interested in Finnish Paganism, but can't speak Finnish, then you might want to register to the Hiitola discussion forum. The forum is mostly in Finnish, but they have a sub forum that is dedicated for non-Finnish discussions about Finnish Paganism.

Blog

Taivaannaula has a blog. It is primarily in Finnish and for domestic audience, but every now and then we also publish articles in English. You can view dynamic listing of these articles here.