From Harva's Survey of Permian Religion

This is the second part of a two-part translation from Uno Holmberg's Permalaisten uskonto (The Religion of the Permian Peoples; Helsinki, 1914) — the foundational Finnish-language survey of Votjak (Udmurt) and Komi-Zyrian religion. The first part, covering the three-layered cosmos, the sky gods Inmar and Jen, and the water spirits, is published separately as "Komi-Zyrian and Votjak Sacred Cosmology — From Harva's Survey." This second part translates the sections on forest spirits, sacrifice in the groves, the malign forest beings, and the sacred bear — the intimate spirit world at ground level, where the Permian peoples lived their daily religious life.

At the center of this material stands the bear — gondir in Votjak — which the Permian peoples regarded not as an animal but as a human-like being, wiser and stronger than any person, who understood human speech and whose true name could never be spoken aloud. Around the bear revolve the forest spirits proper: the nules-murt, immense and foolish, who rushes through the trees like a gust of wind and celebrates weddings in whirlwinds; the meadow-dwarf lud-murt, who guards the cattle in its white garment; and the malign beings — the half-person pales-murt, the hairy shurali, the cow-footed man-eater, and the ubir, soul of a dead sorcerer who flies through the night sky as a fire-serpent. The Komi-Zyrian parallel tradition — the versa or veris-mort — is described alongside the Votjak material, and Holmberg's comparative analysis reveals that the forest spirits are, at their deepest root, the ancestral dead who were once buried in the forests themselves.

Holmberg (who later changed his name to the more Finnish form Harva) drew on Russian and German fieldwork reports from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries — Rytshkov, Georgi, Gmelin, Aminoff, Vereshtshagin, Pervuhin, Wichmann, Gavrilov, Janovitsh, Hlopin, Nalimov, and many others. His Finnish text is a secondary scholarly account, not a primary-source translation from Votjak or Komi; translating his Finnish into English constitutes a genuine act of translation from the Finnish source language. No English translation of Permalaisten uskonto has ever been published.

I. The Forest Spirit

Just as the household spirits, most of the forest spirits too are borrowed from neighboring peoples. The most common designation for the forest spirit among the Votjaks is nules-murt or tshatsha-murt ("forest-person"). In Glazov district it is also known by the name nules-nuna ("forest-uncle") and in Sarapul district nules-ut'is ("forest-guardian"); in Urzhum district it is called obida. In outward appearance and habits the forest spirit is entirely human-like, but it is often imagined to be one-eyed, and it is believed to have the ability to lengthen and shorten its stature — though it cannot make itself shorter than the tallest man. Ordinarily it holds its head level with the tops of the highest trees. Because of its great size it is also called in Glazov district by the name bidzim nuna ("great uncle"). In the forest where it dwells it has a household and family and great wealth — gold, silver, and cattle. It dashes through the forest like a gust of wind, invisible, from one place to another. The Votjaks of Glazov district tell that the forest spirits even celebrate weddings. These happen twice a year, in summer and in winter, when the forest spirits travel in whirlwinds so that the tall trees crash and roar. The forest spirit lures humans to itself, especially children. Sometimes it leads cattle astray into the forest or carries them long distances in whirlwinds. It is immensely strong but at the same time foolish — for this reason it is not a dangerous or feared being. Often it is even of great help to humans: it gives game to the hunter, protects cattle in the forest, and assists in beekeeping.

II. Sacrifices to the Forest Spirit

Just as to the household spirits, it has been customary to offer sacrifices also to the forest spirit. These have, however, year by year grown ever more rare. This is due above all to the fact that the forests themselves in most Votjak regions have in recent times greatly diminished. In earlier times the situation was different. As late as 1733, when Gmelin traveled among the Votjaks, he reported that their principal livelihood was hunting. Besides smaller forest game, he noted that they also hunted bears, wolves, and foxes. On their forest expeditions they used the bow as weapon; a few also had firearms. In those times the sacrifices to the forest spirit were still abundant and commonplace.

In the present day, by contrast, the Votjaks perform sacrifices to the forest spirit only in the northern regions, where forests still exist in our time. Aminoff says that in Sarapul district it is customary to sacrifice to nules-ut'is in autumn, in the forest, beneath a spruce tree. All hunters take part in the sacrifice ceremony. The offerings are brandy, bread, an ox, and a grey ram. The sacrifice is performed by specially chosen men: a prayer-reader, a broth-boiler, and a slaughterman — of the first there may sometimes be two. In some places it is customary to place bread on tree branches for the forest master. What is peculiar about sacrifices to the forest spirit is that the dead are also remembered at the same time. To them a duck is offered as sacrifice. One prayer to the forest master, recorded by Aminoff, reads: "Give me, forest master, your forest creatures — your squirrels, your foxes, your bears. Give me also your bees; guide them into the beehive I have made. For that we shall give you still more gifts."

Of the Votjaks of the same district, Vereshtshagin reports that they sacrifice to nules-murt twice a year, in spring and in autumn. In spring a grey sheep and a goose are slaughtered, and prayers are offered that no fierce winds come during summer. In autumn the Votjaks ask of it hares, squirrels, birds, and other forest game.

The same author reports that the Votjaks of Glazov district also sacrifice to the forest spirit for the well-being of their cattle. In spring, when the cattle are driven out to pasture, the head of the household prays to it with the following words: "Bidzim-nuna! Nules-nuna! Now we begin to drive the cattle to the meadow and at the same time begin the ploughing. Therefore we give you a sacrifice. Accept it. Guard the cattle from wild beasts and from evil people. Our cattle cross twelve rivers, pass behind twelve meadows. Protect and shield them from disease and from every evil." The sacrificial porridge prepared for the forest spirit is carried in a birch-bark container to the field enclosure. In autumn, when the cattle return home, a sacrifice is again performed — pirtan-soton. The offering this time is a grey goose, and the ceremony takes place in a nearby grove. The forest spirit is thanked for having well tended the cattle in the forest during the summer.

Among the Bessermans too, as Wichmann reports, it is customary to slaughter a goose for the forest spirit (t'ashsha-murt). The sacrifice takes place in autumn somewhere at the forest's edge, preferably in a spruce grove, where a table-like platform is erected. A cloth is spread on the platform, and two food-dishes are set upon it: one with porridge, the other with the meat of the sacrificed goose. The forest spirit is asked to be favorable toward the people and animals who pass through the forest — especially it is asked not to frighten them.

Occasional sacrifices too are performed to the forest spirit. So do hunters when setting out on trapping expeditions. In Sarapul district a duck is sometimes sacrificed to it during stormy weather. Often an offering is also made to it in case of illness, at the prescription of a seer. So do, for example, the Bessermans, who in case of disease sacrifice porridge to the forest spirit. The Votjaks of Glazov district call the sacrifice performed for an occasional reason — such as disease — by the name sion-poton ("taking out food"). The ceremony closely resembles the veneration of the dead. Just as for the dead, the offering to the forest spirit is carried to the field enclosure. The number of pancakes, which the wife of the household specially prepares, must necessarily be odd — three, five, or seven. If someone happens to be encountered on the way to the sacrifice, it is a bad omen; therefore one must avoid meeting anyone. Upon returning home from the sacrificial place, the sacrificer must go straight to the hearth without saying a word, to clean his hands in the ashes. Only after this purification may he approach his family.

III. The Meadow Spirit

Among the forest spirits to which sacrifices are given, the lud-murt ("meadow-person") must also be counted — though it must not be confused with the previously mentioned lud-kuzo or lud-asaba (keremet) spirit. Lud-murt is known chiefly in Glazov district. It is a dwarf the size of a five-year-old child, which, like nules-murt, can somewhat lengthen or shorten its stature. Among tall stalks it is as tall as the stalks; in low grass it is as short as the grass. For this reason it is difficult to see. It wears a white garment. It dwells principally in pastures, where it tends and protects the cattle. Only occasional sacrifices are offered to it, and those but rarely. In spring, when the cattle are first driven to pasture, every householder prays to it, hat on head: "Guard the animals well, bring them safely to pasture, do not let them fall into the clutches of wild beasts."

IV. Spirits of Fear — The Malign Forest Beings

Besides the above-mentioned spirits of worship, the Votjaks have also a number of forest spirits to which no sacrifice is ever offered. Such is above all the pales-murt ("half-person"), known in all Votjak regions, which Georgi also calls alida. It too is human-shaped, but it has only one half of a human body: thus it has only one eye, one leg, and one hand, and a single breast so enormous that when the pales-murt thrusts it into a person's mouth, that person suffocates. It is not, however, a greatly feared spirit, for it is not a man-eater. Only by its howling at dusk does it frighten the solitary traveler in the forest. In Yelabuga district it is said that if it somehow happens to shed blood, from every drop of blood a new pales-murt is born.

Worse than the preceding is the shurali, known in the southern Votjak regions, which is also human-like but naked and hairy. On its hands it has only three long fingers. It howls at night in the forest, leads people astray from the path, and carries them to itself. Sometimes it attacks people outright, tickling them ferociously or dancing them to exhaustion. Often in the pasture it mounts a horse's back and rides wildly around the meadows, so that the horse is ready to collapse.

Among the evil forest spirits is also iskal-pido-murt ("cow-foot-person"), whose appearance its very name reveals. Down to the waist its upper body is dressed in a peasant's clothing, but the legs — hair-covered and cloven-hoofed — are bare. This is a forest spirit of the nules-murt kind, to whose company it belongs, but it is far more cruel and savage, and the Votjaks believe it devours humans.

In Sarapul district, according to Vereshtshagin, there are also known the babasir ("forest-devil"), which cackles in the forest, and the kuzpino murt ("long-toothed person"), which has long teeth in its mouth that crave human blood, and the kukri-baba, which the author compares to the Russian baba-yaga ogress.

To the ranks of evil spirits must also be added the ubir, which is the soul of a dead sorcerer. It comes from the grave to drink the blood of the living. The Votjaks also call it kulem-ubir ("dead-person ubir"). On the pale body from which it has sucked blood, blue spots remain as a mark. It also steals the fetus from the mother's womb. Through the air it flies as a fire-serpent — that is to say, as a meteor. Whoever sees it can stop it by tearing apart the laces of the shirt-collar, whereupon the ubir becomes powerless, falls to the ground, and even transforms back into the person who had been moving as a fire-serpent. The Votjaks further believe that the darkening of the sun and moon is caused by the ubir swallowing them; but since the fiery orbs soon begin to burn it, it spits them out again. To this evil spirit too the Votjaks never sacrifice. By the collective name they call all evil spirits by the Tatar terms shaitan (satan) and peri (devil).

V. The Sacred Bear

Among the forest spirits, the bear (gondir) must also be mentioned, which the Votjaks regard as a human-like being. In their understanding, however, it is wiser and stronger than a human. It understands human speech but cannot itself produce it. When speaking of the bear, the Votjaks do not mention its true name but use all manner of flattering euphemisms — most often they call it "the old man." When they encounter a bear in the forest, they bare their heads before it as before the forest master himself. Sometimes they bow to it, even kneel, for they believe that if one shows respect to the bear, it will not harm the person who encounters it. The bear knows its enemy even after death and haunts that person. For this reason it is not good to laugh near a killed bear. Nevertheless, there are no longer any bear-feast ceremonies — peijaiset — alluding to a bear-cult among the Votjaks today. Not even the elders can tell of them. This is because, as the forests have vanished, the bears have retreated to more northerly regions.

Among the Votjaks of Glazov district, Pervuhin says, there is also a household spirit named gondir ("bear") which dwells in the cellar or storehouse and must be feasted — just as the korka-murt — when moving into a new house. When it grows angry, the household's food stores diminish. Judging by its name, however, this spirit is originally a forest being.

VI. The Komi-Zyrian Forest Spirit

The Votjak nules-murt is perfectly matched by the Komi-Zyrian versa ("forest-dweller"), also known as veris-mort — sometimes also lesak-mort ("forest-person"). Janovitsh reports that the Komi-Zyrians fear to call it by its true name; therefore they call it now this, now that. Most commonly they call it, in the Russian manner, djadja ("uncle") — compare the nuna of the Glazov Votjaks. Like the Votjak forest spirit, the Komi-Zyrian forest spirit too is human-like, with an estate and family in the forest. It too is enormous, taller than the tallest tree, and for this reason the Komi-Zyrians often call it kuz dada ("tall uncle") — a name that corresponds to the Glazov Votjaks' bidzim nuna ("great uncle"). Like nules-murt, veris-mort also dashes like a gust of wind from place to place, sometimes taking with it people and cattle. Women greatly fear it, for it seeks romantic encounters with them. Just as the forest spirits of the northern Votjaks, the Komi-Zyrian forest spirits too celebrate weddings, traveling in great wedding processions as humans do. In general veris-mort is a good spirit from which humans may derive many benefits. Hunters with whom it is at peace it especially guides through the wilds, comes to warm itself at their campfires, and drives forest game into their traps. For this reason it is the custom of hunters to perform small sacrifices to it from time to time. Hlopin says that the Komi-Zyrians bring birch tobacco into the forest once a year, placing it on a tree stump in a thicket, for "forest-uncle" is fond of tobacco. More valuable offerings — ptarmigan, squirrel pelts, and grain — are reported by Dobrotvorskij to have been sacrificed to it. Nalimov further reports that the Komi-Zyrians sacrifice bread, salt, and fish pie to the forest spirit when cattle go missing.

The beliefs and customs regarding the bear are the same among the Komi-Zyrians as among the Votjaks.

VII. The Origins of Forest Spirit Worship

When we survey the forest spirits of the Permian peoples, we notice that among them too are several that are also known among the surrounding nations. Comparing the beliefs of different Votjak regions, one observes that a considerable difference prevails between the northern and southern conceptions — a difference arising from the fact that beliefs in the northern regions approach Russian folk religion, while those in the southern approach Tatar folk religion. We have already noted the similarities between the forest-spirit beliefs of the Komi-Zyrians and those of the Glazov Votjaks. This correspondence, which is not always original, arises from the fact that both peoples have borrowed their beliefs directly from the Russians, whose forest spirits they resemble in every detail, and whose very names they often use alongside their own. From the same source has come also the Votjak meadow-person (lud-murt), which corresponds to the Russian polevik ("field-spirit"). Just as the Votjaks, so the Russians of Orlov district have sometimes performed sacrifices to it. Pervuhin therefore rightly observes that it is very difficult to perceive the boundary where the original Votjak beliefs end and Russian folk religion begins. The foreign culture has at the same time brought about that formerly known spirits — which have no counterpart in the neighboring Russians' present folk religion — are gradually beginning to vanish from the memory of the Votjaks. Spirits on the verge of being forgotten in the northern Votjak regions are, according to the same author, the pales-murt and the iskal-pido-murt, of which the former corresponds to the Chuvash ar-zori ("half-person") and the latter to the Tatar sijir-ajak ("cow-foot"). In the southern Votjak regions the Tatar influence is to this day still very strong. Here the Votjak forest spirit closely resembles the Tatar urman ejäse ("forest master") spirit. From the same quarter have come also the evil shurali and ubir spirits, whose very names are borrowed from that people's language. Obida, which is also known to the Chuvash, may have come to these lands from the direction of the Bulgars.

Of all the forest spirits, only the bear and the fully human-like being — showing no signs of later development — to which sacrifice is offered may be genuinely indigenous to the Permian peoples. That the latter is originally nothing other than a revenant — a spirit of the dead — is evident not only from its appearance but also from the sacrifices offered to it, in which the Votjaks follow the same customs as in the veneration of the dead. Among the shared features we have already mentioned: to both must be given an odd number of food offerings; when going to sacrifice one must avoid meeting anyone on the way; and after the sacrifice ceremony the hands must necessarily be purified in fire. Of this last point Jelabuzhskij also remarks, noting that just as the Votjaks after a burial bathe in the sauna or fumigate their caps and hands in fire, so they proceed also when sacrificing to forest spirits. The kinship between forest-spirit worship and ancestor veneration is further shown by Kuznetsov's report that when sacrificing to nules-murt, blood and bones are buried in a pit dug in the ground — just as when worshipping the earth spirits. Moreover it must be noted that the Votjaks customarily honor both classes of spirits at one and the same time. Thus Aminoff states that in Vyatka province — probably Sarapul district — where hunting is still an important livelihood, at the beginning of the autumn hunt sacrifices are offered to the dead at the same time as to the forest spirits. That from the dead there could easily develop forest spirits is no wonder, when we remember that the Votjaks in earlier times had the custom of burying their dead in the forests. As a memorial of this custom there has been preserved into our own time the belief that the dead, as the above-mentioned author observes, like to dwell in the deep forests.

Colophon

Translated by the tulku Ilma (New Tianmu Anglican Church), March 2026.

Source language: Finnish. The source is Uno Holmberg (later Harva), Permalaisten uskonto (The Religion of the Permian Peoples; Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1914). The Project Gutenberg edition (ebook #61164) was the text consulted; the Finnish plain-text file was read directly in Finnish, and this English is independently derived from that Finnish. No English translation of Permalaisten uskonto was consulted — none exists.

Note on the author's name: The author published this 1914 work under the name Uno Holmberg. He later changed his surname to the more Finnish form Harva, and is more commonly cited in later English-language scholarship as Uno Harva. Both names refer to the same person.

Translation method: This is a translation of Holmberg's Finnish scholarly text — not a translation of original Votjak or Komi-Zyrian primary sources. Holmberg's text is a secondary ethnographic account written in Finnish, drawing on Russian and German primary fieldwork sources: Rytshkov, Georgi, Gmelin, Aminoff, Vereshtshagin, Pervuhin, Miropoljskij, Wichmann, Gavrilov, Janovitsh, Hlopin, Nalimov, Dobrotvorskij, Kuznetsov, Jelabuzhskij, Zhakov, Fuchs, Smirnov, Buchin, and many others, all cited in his original text. Translating Holmberg's Finnish into English constitutes a genuine act of translation from the Finnish source language; it does not constitute translation from the Votjak or Komi-Zyrian originals. The colophon is honest about this: this is Finnish scholarly text made accessible in English, not a primary-source translation of Komi or Udmurt sacred texts.

On coverage: The passages translated here cover the forest-spirit and bear-worship material from Section 6 ("Ihmisenkaltaiset haltiat ja niiden palvonta" — "Human-like spirits and their worship") of Holmberg's book. The companion translation, "Komi-Zyrian and Votjak Sacred Cosmology — From Harva's Survey," covers the cosmological material from the same work: the three-layered world, the sky gods Inmar and Jen, and the counter-creation of Omel'.

On the peoples: Holmberg distinguishes throughout between votjakit (Votjaks, i.e., Udmurts) and syrjänit (Syrjani, i.e., Komi-Zyrians). The Bessermans, mentioned in the sacrifice sections, are a distinct Permian people closely related to the Udmurts. This translation preserves these ethnic distinctions as Holmberg makes them.

On key terms:

• nules-murt / tshatsha-murt — the Votjak (Udmurt) forest spirit; called also nules-nuna ("forest-uncle"), nules-ut'is ("forest-guardian"), bidzim nuna ("great uncle")
• versa / veris-mort — the Komi-Zyrian forest spirit, parallel to the Votjak nules-murt
• gondir — the Votjak (Udmurt) word for bear; treated as a sacred, human-like being, wiser and stronger than humans, whose true name must never be spoken
• lud-murt — the meadow spirit, a white-clothed dwarf who guards cattle in the pastures
• pales-murt — the "half-person," a being with only one side of a human body
• shurali — a hairy forest spirit of Tatar origin that tickles people to exhaustion
• ubir — the soul of a dead sorcerer, which flies as a fire-serpent and drinks the blood of the living
• peijaiset — bear-feast ceremonies, no longer practiced among the Votjaks but attested in the bear-cult tradition
• sion-poton — "taking out food"; the occasional sacrifice to forest spirits that closely resembles ancestor veneration

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Finnish passages from Holmberg, Permalaisten uskonto (1914)

Source: Uno Holmberg, Permalaisten uskonto (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1914). Project Gutenberg ebook #61164, plain text file. Passages cited by approximate line number in the staged source extract (holmberg_permi_cosmogony.txt, Sections 6–7).

Passage I: The Forest Spirit (lines ~328–350)

Samoin kuin kodinhaltiat ovat useimmat metsänhaltioistakin vierailta lainattuja. Yleisin metsähisen nimitys votjakeilla on nules-murt eli tshatsha-murt ("metsä-ihminen"). Glazovin piirissä se on tunnettu myös nimellä nules-nuna ("metsä-setä") ja Sarapulin piirissä nules-ut'is ("metsän-vartia"), Urzhumin piirissä sitä kutsutaan obidaksi. Ulkomuodoltaan ja tavoiltaan on metsänhaltia aivan kuin ihminen, mutta usein sitä kuvitellaan yksisilmäiseksi sekä uskotaan, että sillä on kyky pidentää ja vähentää kokoansa, lyhyemmäksi pisintä ihmistä ei se kuitenkaan saata tekeytyä. Tavallisesti se pitää päätään korkeimpien puitten tasalla. Suuren kokonsa vuoksi kutsutaankin sitä Glazovin piirissä vielä nimellä bidzim nuna ("suuri setä"). Metsässä, jossa se asustaa, on sillä talous ja perhe sekä paljon rikkautta, kultaa, hopeaa ja karjaa. Tuulen vihurina se siellä kiitää näkymättömänä toisesta paikasta toiseen. Glazovin piirin votjakit kertovat, että metsänhaltiat viettävät häitäkin. Ne tapahtuvat kaksi kertaa vuodessa kesällä ja talvella, jolloin metsänhaltiat vaeltavat tuulispäissä niin, että korkeat puut ryskyvät. Metsähinen houkuttelee luokseen ihmisiä, varsinkin lapsia. Joskus se eksyttää karjatkin metsään tai kuljettaa niitä pitkät matkat tuulispäässä. Se on ylen väkevä, mutta samalla tyhmä haltia, sen vuoksi se ei ole vaarallinen eikä pelätty olento. Monesti se on ihmiselle suurena apunakin, se antaa näet metsämiehelle riistaa, suojelee karjaa metsässä sekä on mehiläishoidossa avullisena.

Passage II: Sacrifices to the Forest Spirit (lines ~352–421)

Samoin kuin kodin- on metsänhaltiallekin ollut tapana toimittaa uhreja. Ne ovat kuitenkin vuosi vuodelta alkaneet käydä yhä harvinaisemmiksi. Tämä johtuu ennen kaikkea siitä, että itse metsät useimmilla votjakkialueilla ovat viime aikoina suuresti supistuneet. Entisinä aikoina oli asian laita toisin. Vielä v. 1733, jolloin Gmelin matkusti votjakkien keskuudessa, kertoo hän heidän pääelinkeinonsa olleen metsästyksen.

Nykyaikana sitävastoin votjakit toimittavat uhreja metsänhaltialle ainoastaan pohjoisalueilla, missä metsiä vielä meidän päivinämme on olemassa. Aminoff sanoo, että Sarapulin piirissä on tapana uhrata nules-ut'isille syksyllä metsässä kuusen alla. Uhritoimitukseen ottavat osaa kaikki metsämiehet. Uhrina on viinaa, leipää sekä härkä ja harmaja oinas. Uhrin toimittavat vartavasten valitut miehet: rukoilija, liemenkeittäjä ja teurastaja. Eräs Aminoffin kirjoittama rukous metsänisännälle kuuluu: "anna minulle, metsänisäntä, metsäneläviäsi, oraviasi, kettujasi, karhujasi. Anna myös mehiläisiäsi, tekemääni mehiläispesään niitä johdata. Siitäpä vielä sinulle lahjoja annamme."

Vereshtshagin kertoo Glazovin piirin votjakkien uhraavan metsänhaltialle myös karjan menestykseksi. Keväällä, kun karja ajetaan laitumelle, rukoilee perheenpää sitä seuraavin sanoin: "bidzim-nuna! nules-nuna! nyt me ryhdymme ajamaan karjaa vainiolle ja samalla aloitamme kyntämisen. Sen vuoksi me annamme sinulle uhrin. Ota se vastaan. Varjele karja pedoilta ja pahoilta ihmisiltä. Meidän karjamme kulkee kahdentoista joen yli, kahdentoista niityn taakse. Varjele ja suojele sitä taudeista ja kaikesta pahasta."

Uhripuuro, joka metsänhaltialle on valmistettu, viedään tuohisessa peltoaitaukselle. Syksyllä, kun karja palaa kotiin, toimitetaan jälleen uhri pirtan-soton. Uhrina on tällä kertaa harmaja hanhi ja toimitus tapahtuu läheisessä metsikössä. Metsänhaltiaa kiitetään siitä, että se on karjaa metsässä kesän aikana hyvästi hoitanut.

Passage III: The Sacred Bear (lines ~487–506)

Metsänhaltiana on vielä karhu (gondir) mainittava, jota votjakit pitävät ihmisenkaltaisena olentona. Se on kuitenkin heidän käsityksensä mukaan ihmistä viisaampi ja väkevämpi. Ihmiskieltäkin se ymmärtää, mutta ei osaa itse sitä käyttää. Karhusta puhuessaan votjakit eivät mainitse sen oikeaa nimeä, vaan käyttävät kaikenlaisia mairenimityksiä, useimmiten sanovat sitä "vanhaksi mieheksi". Kun he metsässä kohtaavat kontion, paljastavat he sille päänsä kuten metsänisännälle ainakin. Joskus kumartavatkin sitä, vieläpä asettuvat polvilleen, sillä he uskovat, että kun karhua kunnioittaa, se ei vastaantulijaa vahingoita. Vihamiehensä karhu tuntee vielä kuoltuaan ja vainoaa sitä. Sen vuoksi ei ole hyvä nauraa kaadetun karhun ääressä. Mitään karhunpalvelukseen viittaavia peijaisia ei votjakeilla kuitenkaan tätä nykyä enää ole olemassa. Eivät edes vanhukset tiedä niistä kertoa. Tämä johtuu siitä, että karhut metsien hävitessä ovat vetäytyneet pohjoisempiin seutuihin.

Passage IV: The Komi-Zyrian Forest Spirit (lines ~508–536)

Votjakkien nules-murtia vastaa täydellisesti syrjänien versa ("metsällinen") eli veris-mort (joskus myös lesak-mort "metsä-ihminen"). Janovitsh kertoo, että syrjänit pelkäävät sitä nimittää sen oikealla nimellä, sen vuoksi he sanovat sitä milloin miksikin. Yleisimmin he nimittävät sitä venäläisten tavalla "djadja". Samoin kuin votjakkien on syrjänienkin metsänhaltia ihmisenkaltainen, jolla on metsässä kartano ja perhe. Sekin on suuri kooltaan, korkeampi kuin pisin puu, sen vuoksi syrjänit usein nimittävät sitä myös kuz dada ("pitkä setä"). Nules-murtin tavalla kiitää veris-mortkin vihurina paikasta toiseen vieden mukanaan joskus myös ihmisiä ja karjaa. Naiset suuresti sitä pelkäävät, sillä se pyrkii lemmenseikkailuihin heidän kanssaan. Samoin kuin pohjoisten votjakkien metsähiset, viettävät syrjänienkin metsänhaltiat häitä matkaten, kuten ihmiset, suurissa hääsaatoissa. Yleensä on veris-mort hyvä haltia, josta ihmisellä on monenlaista hyötyä. Varsinkin metsämiehiä, joiden kanssa se on sovinnossa, se opastaa saloilla, tulee heidän nuotioilleen lämmittelemään sekä ajaa heidän pauloihinsa metsän karjaa.

Hlopin sanoo, että syrjänit vievät metsään kerran vuodessa lehtitupakkaa, jota he asettavat kannon päähän tiheikköön, sillä "metsä-setä" pitää tupakasta. Arvokkaampia uhreja, kuten pyitä, oravannahkoja ja ryynejä, tietää Dobrotvorskij sille uhratun. Nalimov kertoo lisäksi, että syrjänit uhraavat metsänhaltialle leipää, suolaa ja kalapiirakkaa karjan kadotessa.

Karhua koskevat käsitykset ja uskomukset ovat syrjäneillä samat kuin votjakeilla.

Passage V: The Origins of Forest Spirit Worship (lines ~538–597)

Luodessamme yleissilmäyksen permalaisten metsänhaltioihin, huomaamme niidenkin joukossa useita, jotka ovat tunnettuja myös ympärillä asuvilla kansoilla. Eri votjakkialueiden uskomuksia vertaillessa huomaa, että melkoinen eroitus vallitsee pohjoisten ja eteläisten käsitysten välillä, joka johtuu siitä, että uskomukset ensiksimainituilla seuduilla lähenevät venäläisten, viimeksimainituilla taas tatarien kansanuskoa.

Kaikista metsänhaltioista omaperäisiä saattavat permalaisilla siis olla ainoastaan karhu sekä täydellisesti ihmisen kaltainen ja tapainen ilman minkäänlaista myöhempää kehitystä osoittavia piirteitä oleva olento, jolle he toimittavat uhreja. Ettei viimeksimainittu alkujaan ole mikään muu kuin vainaja, käy ilmi paitsi sen ulkomuodosta myös sille toimitetuista uhreista, joiden suhteen votjakit noudattavat samoja tapoja kuin kuolleita palvoessaan. Yhteisistä piirteistä olemme jo edellä maininneet, miten kumpaisillekin on uhriantimia annettava epätasainen lukumäärä, että uhraamaan mentäessä on vastaantulijoita vältettävä ja että uhritoimituksen jälkeen kädet välttämättä ovat tulessa puhdistettavat.

Metsähisten ja vainajain palvonnan yhtäläisyyttä osoittaa myös Kuznetsovin tiedonanto, että nules-murtille uhrattaessa veri ja luut haudataan maahan tehtyyn kuoppaan, kuten maanhaltioita palvottaessa. Lisäksi on huomattava, että votjakeilla on tapana samalla kertaa muistella kumpaisiakin haltioita. Niin lausuu Aminoff, että Vjatkan läänissä, missä metsästys vielä on tärkeä elinkeino, uhrataan syysmetsästyksen alussa kuolleille samalla kertaa kuin metsänhaltioille. Että vainajista helposti on saattanut kehittyä metsänhenkiä, ei olekaan kumma, kun muistamme, että votjakeilla entisinä aikoina on ollut tapana haudata kuolleensa metsiin. Siitä muistomerkkinä on meidän aikaamme asti säilynyt usko, että vainajat oleskelevat mielellään syvissä metsissä.

Source Colophon

Translated from Uno Holmberg, Permalaisten uskonto (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1914). Project Gutenberg ebook #61164. The full text is freely available at gutenberg.org/files/61164/61164-0.txt. The book is in the public domain; it was published in 1914, and its author (Uno Holmberg/Harva, 1882–1949) died in 1949. Under Finnish copyright law (and international public domain standards) the work is in the public domain. No English translation of this work exists; the Project Gutenberg edition is Finnish only. Source retrieved 2026-03-23.

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