From Lönnrot's Collection of Ancient Finnish Charm Songs
The Nuhdesanoja — Scolding Words — employ a unique rhetorical strategy: the tietäjä interrogates the affliction as a parent interrogates a disobedient child. "Who told you to do this work? Was it your father? Your mother? Your eldest brother? Your youngest sister?" The answer is always "no" — the affliction acted alone, of its own evil will, overstepping God's boundary. The technique strips the disease of any authority. It is not a commissioned agent; it is a rogue, acting without permission, and therefore without power.
The Haltioihin-saattosanoja — Words for Summoning into the Spirits, or Spirit-Summoning Words — are the opposite motion. Where the Scolding Words address the enemy, these address the self. The tietäjä calls up his own luonto (nature-spirit, guardian soul) from beneath stone, beneath moss, beneath the earth. In charm (b), the ancestral dimension is explicit: "My grandfather's luonto, my grandmother's luonto, my father's, my mother's, the luonto of my powerful ancestors." Over the body a burning shirt descends, a fire-red fur coat, so that the Hiisi-spirits grow dim and the earth's terrors cringe. In charm (c), the luonto is rebuked for sleeping: "A week you have lain in the ground, long in a wretched place, no better than the dead, no fairer than a corpse." The tietäjä reminds it of the golden age when it last rose: mountains flowed with butter, blue forests dripped honey, stagnant pools turned to ale.
These incantations were collected by Elias Lönnrot and published in Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Ancient Charm Songs of the Finnish People, Helsinki, 1880), sections 11 and 12. This is the ninth file in the charm-singer sequence. Translated from the Finnish by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
Yleisiä nuhdesanoja — General Scolding Words
Who commanded you to evil work,
Who urged you to wretchedness,
To raise your snout,
To turn your glare,
To do these deeds,
To cut the work of death?
Did your father command you,
Your father or your mother,
Or the eldest of your brothers,
Or the youngest of your sisters,
Or your other great kindred,
Your shining household,
That you did your villainous work,
Gnawed at the work of death?
Your father did not command you,
Not your father, not your mother,
Not the eldest of your brothers,
Not the youngest of your sisters,
Not your other great kindred,
Your shining household —
You yourself did the villainous work,
You yourself gnawed at death's hairy thing,
You yourself did much evil,
All from your own head,
Beyond the will of God,
Past the bliss of the Blessed One.
Haltioihin-saattosanoja — Spirit-Summoning Words
a.
I rouse my nature-spirit,
I summon my guardian;
Rise, my luonto, from the pit,
My guardian, from beneath the log,
My helper, from beneath the stone,
My escort, from the moss;
Come, Death the terrible,
Come in hard sufferings
As my support, as my shelter,
As my strength, as my power,
For these works to be done,
For these wounds to be treated!
b.
Rise, my luonto, strongly,
Guardian of my spirit, awake,
From beneath the stone, bright-eyes,
From beneath the slab, patch-cheeks,
My luonto hard as stone,
My temper tough as iron;
My grandfather's luonto, my grandmother's luonto,
My father's luonto, my mother's luonto,
The luonto of my powerful ancestors,
Added to my own luonto;
A burning shirt upon me,
And a fire-red fur coat,
So that the Hiisi-spirits grow dim,
So that the earth's terrors cringe,
When this sorcerer works his sorcery,
When this Laplander fashions his craft!
c.
Stir, flesh, within me,
Desire, in the man's shoulders,
Rise, my luonto, strongly,
My guardian, eagerly,
To enchant beside me,
To work magic with me,
To overcome obstacles,
To overthrow enemies;
Rise from sleeping,
From resting in the grove!
A week you have lain in the ground,
Long in a wretched place,
So that you are no better than the dead,
No fairer than a corpse;
Rise as you rose before
When I roused you!
Then the mountains flowed with butter,
The cliffs with pork-fat,
The blue forests with honey,
The stagnant pools with ale,
The low lands rose up,
The high lands sank down,
When God's hour came,
When the Lord's help dawned,
When this child spoke,
When I did the rousing.
Colophon
Translated from the Finnish by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Source text: Elias Lönnrot, Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran kirjapainossa, 1880), sections 11 ("Yleisiä nuhdesanoja") and 12 ("Haltioihin saattosanoja"). One scolding charm and three spirit-summoning charms with variant readings noted in the source.
This is the ninth file in the charm-singer sequence, following:
- Foundational Words (Alkusanoja)
- Protection Words (Varomussanoja)
- Evil Eye Words (Kateen sanoja)
- Retribution Words and Origin-Investigations (Kostosanoja / Alkuperäisyyden tiedustussanoja)
- Work-Repair Words and Wrath-Removal Words (Työnsä korjaussanoja / Vihotussanoja)
- Yielding Words (Luovutussanoja)
- Conveyance Words (Kyydityssanoja)
- Pain Words (Kipusanoja)
The haltia/luonto concept is central to Finnish shamanism. The luonto is not the tietäjä's soul in the Christian sense but a separate spirit-guardian that inhabits the person from birth — an ancestral force that sleeps beneath stone and moss when not needed and must be actively roused for magical work. The escalating calls in charm (c) — "no better than the dead, no fairer than a corpse" — are the tietäjä's way of shaming his own guardian into action.
Blood Rule attestation: translated independently from the Finnish. No prior English translation is known to exist. Lönnrot's Finnish text is the sole source. The 1880 edition is in the public domain.
Scribe: Uralic Verse Translator (Rímur Translator lineage), New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026.
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Source Text
11. Yleisiä nuhdesanoja.
Ku käski pahalle työlle,
Kenpä kehnolle kehotti,
Nokkoasi nostamahan,
Karseasi kääntämähän,
Tekemähän näitä töitä,
Töitä kalman katkomahan?
Käskikö sinun isosi,
Isosiki vai emosi,
Vaiko vanhin veljiäsi,
Vai nuorin sisariasi,
Vaiko muu sukusi suuri,
Heimokuntasi heleä,
Kun sa teit tihua työtä,
Työtä turhoa tukahit?
Eipä käskenyt isosi,
Ei isosi, ei emosi,
Eikä vanhin veljiäsi,
Ei nuorin sisariasi,
Eikä muu sukusi suuri,
Heimokuntasi heleä,
Itse teit tihua työtä,
Katkoit kalman karvallista,
Laait paljolta pahoa,
Aivan päästäsi omasta,
Ylitse tahon Jumalan,
Päitse auvon autuahan.
12. Haltioihin saattosanoja.
a.
Luontoani nostattelen,
Haastattelen haltiata;
Nouse, luontoni, lovesta,
Haon alta, haltiani,
Kiven alta, auttajani,
Sammalista, saattajani;
Tule, Kalma kauhistava,
Tule tuskissa kovissa
Tuekseni, turvakseni,
Varakseni, voimakseni,
Näille töille tehtäville,
Vammoille vaottaville!
b.
Nouse, luontoni, lujasti,
Hengen haltia, havaja,
Kiven alta, kiilusilmä,
Paaen alta, paikkaposki,
Luontoni kivenkovainen,
Karva rauan karkiainen;
Ukon luonto, eukon luonto,
Isoni, emoni luonto,
Luonto valtavanhempani,
Oman luontoni lisäksi;
Päälleni palava paita,
Ja turkki tulipunainen,
Jotta Hiiet himmeneisi,
Maan kamalat kaippeneisi,
Tämän noian noituessa,
Lappalaisen laatiessa!
c.
Liikkuos, liha, minussa,
Halu, miehen hartioissa,
Nouse, luontoni, lujasti,
Haltiani, haikerasti,
Luonani lovehtimahan,
Kanssani kavehtimahan,
Vastuksia voittamahan,
Sotisia sortamahan;
Nouse pois makoamasta,
Lehossa lepeämästä!
Viikon oot jo maassa maannut,
Kauvan kaihessa sijassa,
Jott' et kuollutta parempi,
Kalmalaista kaunihimpi;
Nouse niinkuin nousit ennen
Minun nostatellessani!
Silloin vuoret voina vuoti,
Kalliot sian lihana,
Simana salot siniset,
Oluena umpilammet,
Alahaiset maat yleni,
Ylähäiset maat aleni,
Tullessa Jumalan tunnin,
Avun Herran auvetessa,
Tämän lapsen lausiessa,
Minun nostatellessani.
Source Colophon
Source text from Elias Lönnrot, Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran kirjapainossa, 1880), sections 11–12. Public domain. Digital text sourced from Project Gutenberg edition #48751.
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