Legends are stories about holy people (For example Jesus, The Virgin Mary) in christian culture. The picture they give often varies from religious texts.  

Legends are from Eastern-Finland, at first priests read them to the people to make Christian belief more known among them. When people learned them they often shaped them and so they got their current shape.  

The mission of legends is to teach or warn people for example, how to treat another person. Legends teach that you have to trust that God will help you and you have to realise how small your understanding actually is. Legends say that your destiny is ”written on stars”. Finnish legends reming you that the most godly is the one that serves the God in his everyday life, remembers to thank a giver, doesn’t work on Sundays and doesn’t hit small children.  

Popular subjects of legends are Jesus’ childhood, saints, building monasteries, the beginning of natures wonders and miracles.

There always happens something weird in legends, and they are solved with miracles.

The person who often are in legends are for example The Mother of God (aka The Virgin Mary), apostoles, evangelists, John the Baptist and the Saviour.

There are different king of types in Finnish legends:

-         Adaptations from stories of Bible

-         Legends about birth of something new

-         Teaching and warning legends

-         Stories of saints’ and ascetics’ lives

-         Stories of building monasteries

God’s rising to the heaven

God went to the top of the mountains and he started to spread oil all over himself, so he then became better again. If an ill person goes up to the mountain, then he will be better again.  

And people were blessed, and the sky opened and a white bird, as bright as the day and he was flying around. Some people fell down on their knees and prayed for him, and some cried.  

The happiness was so big that the whole world shaked and moved.

There was a man, who had a broken leg. He made himself a new leg of silver, because he was so rich. When he died, it was decided his silverleg would be silver plates. His body was in basement, when the maid went there to get some food in to the plate which was made of mans silverleg. Then the man lifted his head and said: ”Oh, my foot, oh, there it is!” He grabbed the maid and she fainted. When she woke up his body was still on the floor, when the maid ran away.

Viktor Kaukonen was a sailor when he was young. The ship sailed between Pietari and Sortava. Once when the ship was on the way again, the crew saw a great white passengership on Läppäjärvi. The ship was full of people wearing fancy clothes. There was an orchestra, playing beautiful music, but then the ship dissappeared. When Kaukonen arrived a harbour, he went to a pub, and told everything what had happened. They told him that it was a ghostship.

Jesus and Peter walked away from the temple by the river.

Jesus asked Peter:

”What did you think of the priests message?”

Peter answered:

”It was okey, but the priest was tattering.”

Jesus didn’t answer. They continued their journey. Peter became thirsty. Jesus asked him to drink water from the river. Peter drank, then they continued their journey. Up the river there was a body of the horse. When Peter heard about it he was shocked.

Then Jesus said:

”The talk of the priest was equally good even he was tattering as the water you drank.”

When Jesus was born in the Shepheros there was a pig walking amongs the people and nobody wanted to eat his meat. He was donking the hay and pushed them to cover baby Jesus. He got so exited about it and said: ”The pig is covering me.”

And he blessed the pig and said: ”Your meat is going to be sweater than any other animals meat.” So that happened.

On Jumala kävellyt ennen maailmassa. Sattui pajaan. Mies kengitti pajassa hevosta. Hevonen oli rauhaton, vauhko, ei voinut lyödä sille kenkiä. Jumala sanoi heille, kengittäjille:

-         Miehiä olette, ettekä osaa kengittää.

Seppä sanoi:

-         Koeta sinä.

Jumala leikkasi jalat, kaikki jalat, kengitti ja kiinnitti jalat paikoilleen:

-         Menkää ja ajakaa.

Sitten miehet tahtoivat itse kokeilla kengittämistä samalla tavalla. Leikkasivat jalat ja kengittivät. Alkoivat pistää jalkoja paikoilleen, mutta ne eivät tarttuneet. Hevonen kuoli heiltä. He sanoivat:

-         Se oli Jumala.

The God has been walking in the world before. He met the man who nailed the horse. The horse was restless, nervous, they couldn’t nail his shoe on. God said to them, the shoemakers:

-         You are men, and you can’t nail his shoes on.

The shoemakers said:

-         You try it.

The God cut all the shoes and nailed them on.

-         Go and ride.

Then the men wanted to try to nail all shoes on in the same way. They cut all the shoes and nailed them on. When they fixed the shoes on they didn’t catch. The horse died. They said:

-         It was God.