Pohjola

The North

Pohjola means 'the North' or 'the place at the bottom'. In Finnish folk poetry it is a cold, dark land of sorcerers and man-eaters, the source of diseases, frost, and wolves, and also a place of wealth and desirable brides. Its gate is guarded, its people are hostile, and its mistress, Louhi, is a powerful witch.

In the Kalevala

The Kalevala's plot turns on journeys between Kalevala (or Väinölä), the heroes' home, and Pohjola. Väinämöinen is stranded there; Ilmarinen forges the Sampo there and later marries Louhi's daughter there; Lemminkäinen performs his tasks and kills Pohjola's master there; and the heroes finally steal the Sampo from its mountain. Its prosperity comes from the Sampo, and its later poverty from the Sampo's loss.

Geography

Nineteenth-century readers often identified Pohjola with Lapland, and the Kalevala sometimes blends the two, but Pohjola is better understood as a mythic land of the north, and this site does not place it on the map. The identification of its people with the Sámi reflects historical Finnish attitudes that modern scholarship treats with caution.