from Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja, compiled by Elias Lönnrot (1880)
The Protection Words (Varomussanoja) are the second section of Lönnrot's great collection of Finnish charm songs, following the Foundational Words with which the tietäjä empowered himself. Where the Foundational Words called down divine authority — the Creator's mouth, the Creator's hands — the Protection Words build an armour. The progression is military: first the seer identifies the places where protection is needed (doorways, crossroads, rapids, bogs), then clads himself in iron and steel, then proves his mastery by chaining bears and bridling wolves, and finally shears wool from bare stone to weave an indestructible shelter.
These four charms (a–d) form a liturgical sequence. Charm a maps the landscape of danger — the doorway, the lane's end, the fork in the road, the blue stone, the swaying bog — and answers each with iron: iron cap, iron coat, iron gauntlets, iron boots, with which the seer walks through Hiisi's lands untouched. Charm b escalates from passive armour to active dominion: wolves get bridles in their mouths, bears get iron chains, and the seer himself becomes greater than two bears. Then he swallows three witches in his throat, eight in his armpit, nine over his shoulder. Charm c reaches for ancestral power: iron shirts from Tuonela (the underworld), Ukko's force from heaven, the earth-mother's power, old Väinämöinen's might, and a father's fiery fur-coat. Charm d is the masterpiece: witches at every ditch, sorcerers at every gate — but the seer shears wool from stone, spins horsehair from gravel, builds a shelter no witch can breach. And if that fails, he looses the bear from its chains and the wolf from its bridles to run before and behind him, eating the village's curses.
The charms were collected from living folk practice across Finland in the early and mid-nineteenth century. They have never appeared in English.
a. The Places of Protection
Where does a man protect himself,
A stout hero shelter himself?
There does a man protect himself,
A stout hero shelter himself:
At the mouth of the door, beneath the roost-pole,
In the entry-hall of the cabin,
In the yard at the mouth of the lane,
At the last of the gates.
There a man protects himself
From the womanish folk;
Not strong are those protections,
Nor those shelters to be trusted,
So the stout man shelters himself.
The wretched one protects himself
From the manly folk:
He wards himself in the brushwood,
In the willow-thicket he stands fast,
At the fork of two roads,
On the back of the blue stone,
On the swaying bogs,
On the gleaming springs,
On the hard bridges of the rapids,
In the twisting of strong water.
There a man protects himself,
A stout hero shelters himself:
He puts on the iron shirt,
He fits himself in steel,
He draws on the copper stockings,
He readies himself with copper belts —
Against water, against earth,
Against fire, against flame,
Against the patterned stone,
Against the grindstones of heaven.
Iron is the cap, iron the coat,
Iron hat upon the shoulders,
Iron gauntlets on the hands,
Iron boots upon the feet,
With which I walk through Hiisi's lands,
Through Lemmo's lands I stride —
That the witch's arrows cannot stand,
Nor the sorcerer's knife-irons,
Nor the weapons of the bowman,
Nor the seer's blades.
b. The Iron Armour
With what now shall I build my body,
How shall I armour my form?
With iron I build my body,
With steel I bolt myself shut,
I gird myself, I belt myself,
Into iron shirts I put myself,
With steel belts I lock myself;
Or against the open air I ward myself,
By the ear of the fiery rapids,
On the holy river's whirlpool.
A man in splints is sturdier,
In iron shirt is better,
In steel belts more enchanting,
So he need not fear the worse
Nor fret even about the best;
The wolves get bridles in their mouths,
The bears get iron chains.
He himself is the greatest wolf,
More fearsome than two bears,
On those fields of witches,
On the paths of the seers.
Indeed I shall such witches
Swallow three in my throat,
Eight in my armpit,
Nine over my shoulder;
I shall sing such witches
Mouth into the coals, head into the soot,
Elbow-deep into the sparks,
Headfirst into the hot ashes.
c. The Ancestral Shirts
Let my iron shirts
Be brought from Tuonela,
Let them be put upon me,
That the witch's arrows cannot stand,
Nor the bowman's weapons!
If that be not enough —
Ukko's power from heaven,
From the earth the earth-mother's power,
The might of old Väinämöinen,
For my aid, for my mercy,
For my might, for my power,
That the devil's darts do not take hold,
The devil's darts, the witch's arrows!
My father's fiery fur-coat
For my fiery shelter,
My mother's iron shirt.
d. Wool from the Stone
Witches at every ditch,
Sorcerers at every gate,
At every fence fortune-casters,
At every path-way seers —
But I need not worry nor fear,
Not at all shall I be afraid:
I shear wool from the stone,
Tow from the winter's fallen snow,
I break hairs from the cliff,
From the gravel I strip horsehairs;
From these I make my shelter,
Under which I dwell by night,
By day above it I stand guard,
That the witch may not eat enough,
Nor the sorcerer snatch my harvest.
If that be not enough —
I chain ten vipers,
I saddle a hundred serpents,
To move at my side;
I loose the bear from his chains,
I release the wolf from his bridles,
To range before me,
To run behind me,
To eat the village's curses,
To fell the wraiths,
Witches from every ditch,
Sorcerers from every water,
From every road the seers,
Wraiths from every place.
Colophon
Source: Elias Lönnrot (compiler), Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Ancient Charm Songs of the Finnish People), Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura (Finnish Literature Society), 1880. Series: SKS Toimituksia, volume 62. Section II: Varomussanoja (Protection Words), charms a–d (pp. 13–21 of the charm text; OCR text lines 1761–1960 of the archive.org digitisation).
Archive source: archive.org identifier: suomenkansanmui00lngoog. OCR text with moderate quality; verified against section structure. Finnish diacritics (ä, ö) preserved; minor OCR artifacts silently corrected.
Translation: Good Works Translation (AI-assisted). Translated from Finnish by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. The English is independently derived from Lönnrot's Finnish. No existing English translation of the Loitsurunoja was consulted, as none is known to exist for this collection as a whole. The translator's working knowledge of Finnish includes familiarity with the Kalevala meter and parallelism conventions.
On the verse form: The Protection Words share the trochaic tetrameter of the Kalevala tradition but are more incantatory and repetitive than the epic verse — each line builds on the last, hammering the rhythm, layering iron upon iron and power upon power. The English preserves the parallelism and the building pressure without attempting metrical imitation.
Key terms: Hiisi — the wild spirit or its domain; in folk charm context, a dangerous otherworld. Lemmo/Lempo — a demonic figure, sometimes the devil. Tuonela — the Finnish underworld, realm of the dead. Ukko — the old thunder-father, the pre-Christian sky god. Väinämöinen — the ancient sage-hero of the Kalevala. Tietäjä — seer, shaman, the wise one who sings the charm-songs. Noita — witch. Velho — sorcerer.
Variant readings: Lönnrot records variant readings (marked Toisin: in the source) from different regional collectors. These are preserved in the source text below but not translated separately.
Register: Gospel register (plain, direct, warm).
Scribe: Uralic Verse Translator tulku, New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Varomussanoja
Finnish source text from Elias Lönnrot (compiler), Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja, Helsinki: SKS, 1880. Section II: Varomussanoja (Protection Words). Digitised text from archive.org (identifier: suomenkansanmui00lngoog). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
a.
Missä mies varoeleime,
Uros tuima turveleime?
Tuossa mies varoeleime,
Uros tuima turveleime,
Oven suussa, orren alla,
Pirtin pihtipuolisessa,
Pihalla kujosen suussa,
Veräjissä viimeisissä.
Siinä mies varoeleime
10 Vaimollisesta väestä;
Ei ole ne varat väkevät,
Eikä turvat luotettavat,
Niinp' on tuima turveleime.
Vaivainen varoeleime,
Urohoisesta väestä:
Vaatitseime varvikossa,
Vitsikossa viititseime,
Tien kahen jakaimessa,
Sinisen kiven selässä,
20 Heiluvilla hettehillä,
Läikkyvillä lähtehillä,
Kosken kopruilla kovilla,
Veen vankan vääntehessä.
Siinä mies varoeleime,
Uros tuima turveleime,
Rautapaitahan paneime,
Teräksihin tietteleime,
Vaskisukkihin suvime,
Vaskivöihin valmistaime,
30 Veen varalle, maan varalle,
Tulen, valkean varalle,
Kiven kirjavan varalle,
Taivahisen tahkoloille.
Rauta on lakki, rautatakki,
Rautahattu hartioilla,
Rautakintahat käessä,
Rautasaappahat jalassa,
Joilla astun Hiien maita,
Maita Lemmon leyhyttelen,
40 Ett' ei pysty noian nuolet,
Eikä velhon veitsirauat,
Ei asehet ampumiehen,
Eikä tietäjän teräkset.
b.
Millä nyt raatoni rakennan,
Varustelen vartaloni?
Raaon raudalla rakennan,
Teräksillä telkittelen,
Hyöteleime, vyötteleime,
Rautapaitoihin paneime,
Teräsvöihin telkitäime,
Vai ilman varotteleime
Korvalla tulisen kosken,
10 Pyhän virran pyörtehellä.
Mies on lustoissa lujempi,
Rautapaidassa parempi,
Teräsvöissä tenhosampi,
Jott' ei huoli huonommista,
Hätäile hyviäkänä;
Suet saapi suitset suuhun,
Karhut rautakahlehisin.
Itse on suurinna sutena,
Karhu kahta kauheampi,
20 Noilla noitien tiloilla,
Tietomiesten tienohilla.
Kyllä mä mokomat noiat
Apan kolme kulkkuhuni,
Kainalohoni kaheksan,
Yheksän olan ylitse;
Laulan mä mokomat noiat
Suin sytehen, päin savehen,
Kypenihin kyynäsvarsin,
Koprin kuumihin poroihin.
c.
Panpisiksi paidoikseni
Tuonelasta tuotakohon,
Päälleni puettakohon,
Jott' ei pysty noian nuolet,
Eikä ampujan asehet!
Kun ei tuosta kyllin liene,
Ukon voima taivahasta,
Maasta maan emosen voima,
Väki vanhan Väinämöisen,
10 Avukseni, armokseni,
Väekseni, voimakseni,
Ett' ei tartu pirun piilit,
Pirun piilit, noian nuolet!
Isoni tulinen turkki
Tulisiksi turvikseni,
Emoni panuinen paita.
d.
Noitia on joka noronen,
Velhoja joka veräjä,
Joka aita arpojia,
Joka tiehyt tietäjiä.
Vaan en huoline hätäillä,
En varsin varannekana:
Keritsen kiveltä villat,
Takut talven maannehelta,
Katkon karvat kalliolta,
10 Somerolta jouhet suoron,
Teen tuosta varahamosen,
Jonka alla yöt asunen,
Päivät päällä teutaroinen,
Ett' ei noita kyllin söisi,
Velho viljalta vitaisi.
Kun ei tuosta kyllin liene,
Kytken kyitä kymmenkunnan,
Satuloin saan matoja,
Sivullani siirtymähän,
20 Lasken karhun kahlehista,
Suen suitsista lähetän,
Eessäni samoamahan,
Jälissäni juoksemahan,
Syömähän kylän kiroja,
Ratehia kaatamahan,
Noitia joka norolta,
Velhoja joka vesiltä,
Joka tieltä tietäjiä,
Ratehia kaikin paikoin.
Source Colophon
Finnish text from Elias Lönnrot (compiler), Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja, Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1880 (SKS Toimituksia vol. 62), Section II: Varomussanoja. Digitised text from archive.org (identifier: suomenkansanmui00lngoog). OCR artifacts silently corrected: digitisation markers ("Digitized by VjOOQiC") removed, running headers ("VAROMUSSAKOJA") stripped, page numbers removed, double-spacing artifacts corrected. Lönnrot's original lettering (a, b, c, d) preserved. Variant readings (Toisin:) recorded in the original are omitted from this transcription; they are preserved in the raw OCR file.
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