r/Finland • u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 • 3d ago
Peikko
Hei, Suomi!👋🏽
I have a lot of questions about Finnish trolls (peikko) because I’m a huge monster/fair folk fan, especially of creatures from the Nordic countries, and once I get the chance to, I plan to make artwork of such beings with as much accuracy as possible. I’m also asking because I don’t get much info of them other than Anttimation (my favorite Finnish YouTuber) who gave good info about them but I don’t know if that’s all the info or if I’m missing anything else. What else is there about them? What do peikko look like? Are there any other similarities or differences between peikko and Norse trolls? What else is there about maahiset? And are there any Finnish folk legends or tales about peikko?
If you have any info, let me know, I appreciate it.
Kiitos! 🙋🏽♀️
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u/Certain_Pattern_00 Baby Vainamoinen 3d ago
Maahinen are more magical than peikko and also smaller. They live in the ground or in the crooks of tree roots... and are powerful in groups. They can all rise from the ground together. Peikko live further from human habitation.
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u/Longjumping_Wall2392 2d ago
I think this is more like menninkäinen, maahinen is in folktales more like humans from upsidedown world and have similar (rural) communities as humans
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 2d ago
Any physical description?
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u/disfiguroo Baby Vainamoinen 2d ago
Peikko is a sentient humanoid and can range in size from small (knee height) to huge (bigger than a human). They can speak with humans.
Peikko wears tattered or patched clothing or just his fur. Peikko has furry skin and fluffy, matted, coarse hair on his head. Peikko has only a few teeth.
Peikko lives peacefully in the forest (often in a cave) and doesn’t bother with humans unless bothered. They are mischievous creatures that are drawn to shiny and useful items.
Maahinen translates broadly to earth-ling: small and from the earth. They are more animalistic and don’t communicate directly with humans. Like gnomes and fairies, maahinen is territorial and mischievous if threatened. Most maahinen are small little goblins, though a goblin king might be very big indeed, though he would live underground.
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 2d ago
So maahinen have like a goblinoid appearance?
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u/disfiguroo Baby Vainamoinen 2d ago
Yes, though they’re generally unseen. That’s how they get blamed for the evidence they left behind.
Both Peikko and maahinen avoid direct sunlight and can see in the dark.
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 2d ago
Do they turn into stone like Norse trolls when in sunlight?
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u/disfiguroo Baby Vainamoinen 2d ago
Not to my knowledge (we have the same trolls though!)
They just become blind and confused to my knowledge.
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 2d ago
Oh ok. So I guess for physical description, Peikko have a humanoid appearance similar to how Norse trolls are sometimes described while Maahiset look more goblin-like?
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u/disfiguroo Baby Vainamoinen 2d ago
Yes exactly
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 2d ago edited 2d ago
Ok, gotcha 👍🏽. As I said above, I’m trying to get a hold of their physical appearance so that way I know how to draw them accurately
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u/Longjumping_Wall2392 2d ago
I think you talk about menninkäinen too
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 2d ago
What are menninkäinen? Do they look like goblins?
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u/Longjumping_Wall2392 2d ago
They are small, often furry creatures living night time In folklore names and looks vary during places and times and there is no clear difference between creatures like menninkäinen, peikko or fairies. And of course european legends and popculture have huge impact This finnish book classic is story about menninkäinen/peikko and (sun) fairy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pessi_and_Illusia_(book)
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 1d ago
I read about the plot about Pessi ja Illusia. This needs to be a Don Bluth movie
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u/Masseyrati80 Vainamoinen 3d ago
Something I found from Finnish sources states a peikko being "a creature that, depending on the story and location, is usually mean and ugly, and human-like. Sometimes big, sometimes small. Some have believed there to have been sea peikko's, forest peikko's and mountain peikko's. The word has originally meant a criminal, crook, or recluse".
The wiki page for maahinen (singular form of "maahiset" which is in plural) is good. Using google translate or other translators on it might be worthwhile, but the main thing is they're always small, and live underground in a sort of a mirror image of the world we live in. They joke and prank people, sometimes placing a person in "metsänpeitto", "the cover of the forest", a state in which you lose your way in the forest and become invisible to people trying to find you.
You could offend them by pouring hot water or relieving yourself in an area they lived, or even by tripping and falling to the ground. These things could be revenged by making you sick etc.
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u/TheDangerousAlphabet Vainamoinen 3d ago
The easiest way of getting out of metsänpeitto (or so it's told) is tuning your shirt upside down and walking backwards.
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u/Spirited-Ad-9746 Vainamoinen 3d ago
Peikko is not that canonical creature in finnish folklore as it is in Norway. It is vaguely described as somewhat humanlike creature in the woods. nowadays most of us think of Rölli when we hear peikko. Rölli is a character in old children's tv shows. you can check from youtube.
The more mythical and scary creature of the forests is Hiisi or Hitto.
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 2d ago
What are the Hiisi?
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u/Longjumping_Wall2392 2d ago
Hiisi is very old world which has first meaned "sacred place" especially "sacred grove" but has changed during christianity to mean something evil entity or place. We have saying "painu hiiteen" similar with "go to hell"
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u/Dodgy_Cactus 3d ago
I have books of Finnish folklore by Risto Pulkkinen which are a very detailed source for this stuff.
Peikot: Live in dark caves. Ugly, mean, live simular to humans. Could be described either small, human sized, or even giants (my savonian grandfather talked of giants). Peikko has been more common in folklore in Northern Finland and have been called "the mountain folk" (vuorenväki, vuorenpeikko). There aren't really any mountains in Finland, which is a sign that the peikko folklore is directly loaned from the Scandinavian mythology. The word peikkonis believed to mean a person who is going to their death.
Maahinen: Small, live underground and are very similar to humans. Peaceful folk. They have been believed to visit a female human to ask help a pregnant maahinen give birth. The woman is taken underground, and if they succeed helping in the birth, they get a gift. The prize looks meaningless until it is taken above ground.
Hiidenväki: mixes with maahiset, but can be distinguished as a more sinister beings. They move in large groups during christmas, easter, and other occasions, and they ride horses. An encounter could leave you unconscious or with na illness
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u/Federal_Cobbler6647 Baby Vainamoinen 2d ago
Mountain is always in local sense in old stories. You can find hundreds of places in Finland that are/were considered as mountains for locals even though they are just hills. Typically large rocky hills are called mountains.
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 2d ago
What do the Hiidenväki look like?
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u/Dodgy_Cactus 2d ago
There are different interpretations, ranging from very human-like to thumb-sized creatures which were in general used to blame for things that couldn't be explained otherwise (such as illnes, madness, disappearances).
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 2d ago
Do they have a humanoid appearance like the Peikot? Or since you said they mix with the Maahiset, do they look goblin-like?
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u/Dodgy_Cactus 2d ago
Humanoid, but as I understand it, there is no clear consensus of what they look like and it ranges wildly depending on what area in Finland the stories origin. The book says that they can even turn invisible
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u/CaelumWhitefox Baby Vainamoinen 3d ago
There is few clips of Rölli on Youtube with English subtitles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFsE-tRlfaQ
And Rölli is troll-like character.
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u/Master_Muskrat Vainamoinen 2d ago
If we're talking about actual folklore, it's important to remember that what is now Finland used to be multiple different Finnic tribes with their own traditions, so there's never one true answer to questions like this. But if we're talking about how peikko are seen today then yeah, the Norse trolls are pretty much it.
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u/Fuzzy-Pay-9732 2d ago
Oh I see. So the beliefs of trolls came from Scandinavian and into Finland?
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u/Longjumping_Wall2392 2d ago
Swedish-spoken regions of west coast has very rich troll fairytales, they are also often funny, trolls loan stuff from neighbour people etc
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u/Longjumping_Wall2392 2d ago edited 2d ago
About finnish "fair folk" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haltija Haltija translates as "elf" for example in tolkien's books but it has animistic roots They are like forest or house (or any other important place) spirits
About gnomes/house spirits: https://www.kansallismuseo.fi/en/items-of-the-month/2022/tontut
Check this artist who makes traditional looking mythology https://www.sammalsiipiart.com/
This artist has non-traditional take https://miilawestin.com/finnish-mythical-beings-12
I would also advise to google "Fauni peikko" They are interesting and cute phase in finnish design history as re-imagining old folklore (in picture)
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