Freethought Nation

Chapter 2
Amlodhi (Hamlet) was identified, in the crude and vivid imagery of the Norse, by the ownership of a fabled mill which, in his own time, ground out peace and plenty. Later, in decaying times, it ground out salt; and now finally, having landed at the bottom of the sea, it is grinding rock and sand, creating a vast whirlpool, the Maelstrom (i.e., the grinding stream, from the verb mala, "to grind"), which is supposed to be a way to the land of the dead. This imagery stands, as the evidence develops, for an astronomical process, the secular shifting of the sun through the signs of the zodiac which determines world-ages, each numbering thousands of years. Each age brings a World Era, a Twilight of the Gods. Great structures collapse; pillars topple which supported the great fabric; floods and cataclysms herald the shaping of a new world.

Chapter 7
The main sequence is built around the forging and the conquest of a great mill, called the Sampo
Comparetti's studies have shown that the Sampo adventure is a distinct unit (like Odysseus' voyage to the underworld), "a mythic formation which has remained without any action that Can be narrated" and which was then fitted more or less coherently into the rest of the tradition. [n2 D. Comparetti, The Traditional Poetry of the Finns (1898).]. Folk legend has lost its meaning, and treats the Sampo as some vague magic dispenser of bounty, a kind of Cornucopia, but the original story is quite definite.

Vainamoinen, "sage and truthful," conjurer of highest standing, is cast upon the shore of Pohjola much as Odysseus lands on Skyra after his shipwreck. He is received hospitably by Louhi, the Mistress (also called the Whore) of Pohjola, who asks him to build for her the Sampo, without explanation. He tells her that only Ilmarinen, the primeval smith, can do it, so she sends Vainamoinen home on a ship to fetch him. Ilmarinen, who addresses his "brother" and boon companion rather flippantly as a liar and a vain chatterer, is not interested in the prospect, so Vainamoinen, ancient of days and wise among the wise, has recourse to an unworthy trick. He lures the smith with a story of a tall pine, which, he says, is growing

Near where Osmo's field is bordered.
On the crown the moon is shining,
In the boughs the Bear is resting.

Ilmarinen does not believe him; they both go there, to the edge of Osmo's field,

Then the smith his steps arrested,
In amazement at the pine-tree,
With the Great Bear in the branches,
And the moon upon its summit.

Ilmarinen promptly climbs up the tree to grasp the stars.

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Then the aged Vainamoinen,
Lifted up his voice in singing:
"Awake, oh Wind, oh Whirlwind
Rage with great rage, oh heavens,
Within thy boat, Wind, place him
Within thy ship, oh east wind
With all thy swiftness sweep him
To Pohjola the gloomy."

Then the smith, e'en Ilmarinen
Journeyed fortb, and hurried onwards,
On the tempest forth he floated,
On the pathway of tbe breezes,
Over moon, and under sunray,
On the shoulders of the Great Bear
Till be reached the balls of Pohja,
Baths of Sariola tbe gloomy

The “pole star” or the “nail star”, being attached to the head of the sky-supporting
“world pillar”, holds a strong position in the ancient beliefs of many North-Eurasian
people (see Setälä 1932; Eliade 1987; Hultkrantz 1996 and refs. therein). According to
Setälä (1932:539-41, 547, 560), the “nail” was usually described as being made of iron,
but in the Finnish and Estonian mythology, it is also described as “golden”, which
probably is the older epithet of these two. Not only the nail, but also the whole pillar was
described as being made of iron, gold, or copper by many North-Eurasian peoples.

There are historical accounts that both the North-European Germanic tribes and
the Samí had, in their houses and shrines, sacred wooden columns, which had nails
attached to the top of them (Setälä 1932:537-48). In Germany, Scandinavia and Lapland,
the wooden columns in the temples and outdoor shrines represented the world pillar that
supports the sky. The nails of the Vikings were called “the nails of gods” or “the world
nails”, whereas the Samí nails were more clearly related to the pole star, which was, and
still is, called boahenavlle, “the nail of the bottom” or “the nail of the north”. The sky
was seen as a giant concave “lid”, which was attached to the sky pillar with the nail at its
bottom. This worldview is also seen in the ancient Finnish name of the sky, kirjokansi,
“the embroidered lid”. The lid was supported by sammas or sampo, the metal world
pillar, which had a golden nail atop of it.

Parpola (2004) suggested that the Finnish and Estonian word sampo for the world
pillar, around which the sky revolves, and which has the “nail star” atop of it, is of Proto-
Indo-European origin from 3000-2000 BCE. At this time, the pole star was Thuban (
Draconis), which had moved closer than Edasich to the north celestial pole around 3900
BCE. The North-Eurasian concept of the world pillar as a revolving entity could thus
have originated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans using the early chariot wheel, which was
invented in 4000-3000 BCE. The North-Eurasian distribution of the “pole star” –myth
also points towards a common origin.

However, the myth of a world pillar without the metal “nail” atop of it is probably
much older than 4000 BCE. As it is also encountered among some Native American
tribes (Hultkrantz 1996), it is probably of ancient Paleolithic origin.