Tharapita
Encyclopedia
Tharapita or Taarapita or Taara is a god in Estonian mythology
.
The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
mentions Tharapita as the superior god of Oeselians (inhabitants of Saaremaa
island), also well known to Vironian tribes in northern Estonia
. According to the chronicle, when the crusaders
invaded Vironia in 1220, there was a beautiful wooded hill in Vironia, where locals believe Oeselian god Tharapita was born and from which he flew to Saaremaa. The hill is believed to be the Ebavere
Hill (Ebavere mägi) in modern Lääne-Viru County.
The name Taarapita has been interpreted as "Thor, help!" (Taara a(v)ita in Estonian) and associated with the Scandinavian god Thor
. Other interpretations are "Thor's Thunderbolt" (Taara pikne) or "Thor (is) great" (Taara (on) vägev). 19th century creators of Estonian pseudomythology made Taara the supreme god of the Estonian pantheon. However, Taara is rarely mentioned in extant Estonian folklore.
Tharapitha also inspired an Estonian neopagan movement, known as taaralased or taarausulised. In the middle of the 19th century, Taara became popular in the national movement, as an anti-German and anti-Lutheran symbol. From that period, Estonia's second-biggest city Tartu
was poetically called Taaralinn ("city of Taara").
Taara was known by the Tavastian tribe of Finland. At an old cult place now known as Laurin Lähde (Lauri's Fountain) in the county of Janakkala, Tavastians worshipped Taara there as late as the 18th century and the church had to close the place.
Tharapita may have been known among the Slavs of the island of Rügen
, where Danish crusaders destroyed a pagan idol named Turupit in 1168.
The story of Taara's flight from Vironia to Saaremaa has been associated with a major meteor
disaster
that formed Lake Kaali in Saaremaa. One proponent of theories about the meteor and its consequences was Lennart Meri
, the president of Estonia from 1992 to 2001, who wrote several books about the subject. However, studies of the Kaali meteorite site have not confirmed the meteor event was recent enough to be preserved in the folklore.
Variations similar to the name "Thor" are known to many peoples who speak Uralic languages
. The Khants have a god named Torum, the Samis
have Turms, and the Samoyed
s have Tere. Finnish bishop Mikael Agricola
mentions in 1551 a war god called Turisas, although this is more likely to refer to Thurisas; the Finns had also a god of harvest, luck and success called Tuuri
. These deities are associated with the hypothetical proto-Uralic-language word meaning "high".
Worship of Thor (Tooru in Estonian) was common in Western Estonia. According to several medieval chronicles, Estonians did not work on Thursdays (days of Thor) and Thursday nights were called "evenings of Tooru". Some sources say Estonians used to gather in holy woods (Hiis) on Thursday evenings, where a bagpipe player sat on a stone and played while people danced and sang until the dawn.
by the missionary
priest
Henry. The first mention is in connection with mission in Vironia
in the north of Estonia, the rest pertain to the conquest and baptism of the islands of Muhu
and Saaremaa
(Osilia) off the western coast of mainland Estonia
.
Quo audito sacerdotes modicum subridentes et excusso pulvere pedum in eos ad alias villas festinantes in confinio Vironie tres villas baptizaverunt, ubi erat mons et silva pulcherrima, in qua dicebant indigene magnum deum Osiliensium natum, qui Tharapita vocatur, et de illo loco in Osiliam volasse. Et ibat alter sacerdos succidens imagines et similitudines deorum ibi factas, et mirabantur illi, quod sanguis non efflueret, et magis sacerdotum sermonibus credebant.
Gaudet exercitus christianorum, exclamant, Deum exorant. Clamant et illi, gaudentes in Tarapitha suo. Illi nemus, isti Iesum invocant, in cuius nomine ac laude fortifer ascendunt, ad summitatem valli perveniunt, fortissime et ab illis repelluntur.
(Waldia), Tharapita is banished from the fort:
Dantur pueri nobilium, quorum primum venerabilis Rigensis episcopus cum gaudio et devotione magna catechizatum sacro baptismatis fonte rigavit; alii presbyteri alios rigaverunt, qui et in urbem cum gaudio ducuntur, ut Christum predicent, ut Tharaphitam, qui deus fuit Osilianorum, eiciant, qui per medium castrum fontem consecrantes et dolium replentes primo seniores et meliores cathechizatos, deinde viros alios et mulieres baptizant et pueros.
His mysteriis in urbe Waldia celebratis venerunt nuncii, missi de cunctis urbibus et kiligundis Osilie, querentes pacem et baptismi petentes sacramentum. Gaudet exercitus obsidibusque receptis pax datur et Fraternitus amor. Dicitur, et Suecos captivos restituant liberos. Obediunt, restituere promittunt, presbyteros secum ad castra sua ducunt, qui Christum predicent, qui Tharapitha cum ceteris paganorum diis eiciant, qui populum sacro baptismate tingant. Baptizant itaque sacerdotes in omnibus castris Osilie populum universum utriusque sexus cum leticia magna et pre gaudio lacrimantes, eo quod Domino tot milia genuerunt per lavacrum regenerationis prolem spiritualem, Deo dilectam sponsam novam ex gentibus.
to banish Tharapita and drown the Pharaoh
(i.e., the Devil
).
Gloria Dei et domini nostri Iesu Christi et beate Marie Virginis servis suis Rigensibus in Osilia talia humiliter, obsides et tributa recipere, captivos omnes christiani nominis restituere, cum victoria redire! Quod reges hactenus non potuerunt, hec beata virgo per servos suos Rigenses breviter et leniter ad honorem sui nominis adimplevit. Quo completo, quo facto, populo videlicet cuncto baptizato, Tharaphita eiecto, Pharaone submerso, captivis liberatis, redite cum gaudio Rigenses.
Estonian mythology
Estonian mythology is a complex of myths belonging the Estonian folk heritage and literary mythology.Information about the pre-Christian and medieval Estonian mythology is scattered in historical chronicles, travellers' accounts and in ecclesiastical registers...
.
The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
The Livonian Chronicle of Henry is a document describing historic events in Livonia and surrounding areas from 1180 to 1227. Apart from the few references in the Primary Chronicle compiled in Kievan Rus' in the twelfth century, it is the oldest known written document about the history of these...
mentions Tharapita as the superior god of Oeselians (inhabitants of Saaremaa
Saaremaa
Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...
island), also well known to Vironian tribes in northern Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
. According to the chronicle, when the crusaders
Northern Crusades
The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were crusades undertaken by the Christian kings of Denmark and Sweden, the German Livonian and Teutonic military orders, and their allies against the pagan peoples of Northern Europe around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea...
invaded Vironia in 1220, there was a beautiful wooded hill in Vironia, where locals believe Oeselian god Tharapita was born and from which he flew to Saaremaa. The hill is believed to be the Ebavere
Ebavere
Ebavere is a village in Väike-Maarja Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northeastern Estonia....
Hill (Ebavere mägi) in modern Lääne-Viru County.
The name Taarapita has been interpreted as "Thor, help!" (Taara a(v)ita in Estonian) and associated with the Scandinavian god Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
. Other interpretations are "Thor's Thunderbolt" (Taara pikne) or "Thor (is) great" (Taara (on) vägev). 19th century creators of Estonian pseudomythology made Taara the supreme god of the Estonian pantheon. However, Taara is rarely mentioned in extant Estonian folklore.
Tharapitha also inspired an Estonian neopagan movement, known as taaralased or taarausulised. In the middle of the 19th century, Taara became popular in the national movement, as an anti-German and anti-Lutheran symbol. From that period, Estonia's second-biggest city Tartu
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...
was poetically called Taaralinn ("city of Taara").
Taara was known by the Tavastian tribe of Finland. At an old cult place now known as Laurin Lähde (Lauri's Fountain) in the county of Janakkala, Tavastians worshipped Taara there as late as the 18th century and the church had to close the place.
Tharapita may have been known among the Slavs of the island of Rügen
Rügen
Rügen is Germany's largest island. Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of the Vorpommern-Rügen district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.- Geography :Rügen is located off the north-eastern coast of Germany in the Baltic Sea...
, where Danish crusaders destroyed a pagan idol named Turupit in 1168.
The story of Taara's flight from Vironia to Saaremaa has been associated with a major meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
disaster
Kaali crater
Kaali is a group of 9 meteorite craters located on the Estonian island of Saaremaa. Formed in the 7th century BC or about 4000 years ago , it is one of the most recent craters created by an impact event and the only known major impact event that has occurred in a populated area.Prior to the 1930s,...
that formed Lake Kaali in Saaremaa. One proponent of theories about the meteor and its consequences was Lennart Meri
Lennart Meri
Lennart Georg Meri was a writer, film director and statesman who served as the second President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the Estonian independence movement.-Early life:...
, the president of Estonia from 1992 to 2001, who wrote several books about the subject. However, studies of the Kaali meteorite site have not confirmed the meteor event was recent enough to be preserved in the folklore.
Variations similar to the name "Thor" are known to many peoples who speak Uralic languages
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages constitute a language family of some three dozen languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt...
. The Khants have a god named Torum, the Samis
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
have Turms, and the Samoyed
Samoyed
Samoyed may refer to:* the Samoyedic peoples in Siberia who speak the Samoyedic languages: the Enets, the Nenets, the Nganasans, and the Selkups* the Samoyedic languages they speak* Samoyed , a dog breed...
s have Tere. Finnish bishop Mikael Agricola
Mikael Agricola
Mikael Agricola was a clergyman who became the de facto founder of written Finnish and a prominent proponent of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden . He is often called the "father of the Finnish written language". Agricola was consecrated as the bishop of Turku in 1554, without papal approval...
mentions in 1551 a war god called Turisas, although this is more likely to refer to Thurisas; the Finns had also a god of harvest, luck and success called Tuuri
Tuuri
Tuuri is a village in Töysä, a municipality of Finland.Tuuri is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Etelä-Pohjanmaa region. The village has a population of 500. The name "Tuuri" originates in the old Finnish god of luck, harvest and success, Tuuri; he was the equivalent of...
. These deities are associated with the hypothetical proto-Uralic-language word meaning "high".
Worship of Thor (Tooru in Estonian) was common in Western Estonia. According to several medieval chronicles, Estonians did not work on Thursdays (days of Thor) and Thursday nights were called "evenings of Tooru". Some sources say Estonians used to gather in holy woods (Hiis) on Thursday evenings, where a bagpipe player sat on a stone and played while people danced and sang until the dawn.
Mentions of Tharapita in Henry's Chronicle of Livonia
Tharapita is mentioned five times in the Chronicle of LivoniaChronicle of Henry of Livonia
The Livonian Chronicle of Henry is a document describing historic events in Livonia and surrounding areas from 1180 to 1227. Apart from the few references in the Primary Chronicle compiled in Kievan Rus' in the twelfth century, it is the oldest known written document about the history of these...
by the missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
Henry. The first mention is in connection with mission in Vironia
Virumaa
Virumaa is a former independent county in Ancient Estonia. Now it is divided into Ida-Viru County or Eastern Vironia and Lääne-Viru County or Western Vironia...
in the north of Estonia, the rest pertain to the conquest and baptism of the islands of Muhu
Muhu
Muhu , is an island in the Baltic Sea. With an area of 198 km² it is the third largest island belonging to Estonia, after Saaremaa and Hiiumaa....
and Saaremaa
Saaremaa
Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...
(Osilia) off the western coast of mainland Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
.
Felling the statues of gods in Vironia
Along with the first mention, Henry presents the story of Tharapita flying from a nice forest on top of a hill in Vironia to the island of Saaremaa. According to the chronicle, missionaries felled the images and statues of gods from the hill. The locals are said to have wondered at the fact that the statues did not bleed, which increased their belief in the priests' sermons.Quo audito sacerdotes modicum subridentes et excusso pulvere pedum in eos ad alias villas festinantes in confinio Vironie tres villas baptizaverunt, ubi erat mons et silva pulcherrima, in qua dicebant indigene magnum deum Osiliensium natum, qui Tharapita vocatur, et de illo loco in Osiliam volasse. Et ibat alter sacerdos succidens imagines et similitudines deorum ibi factas, et mirabantur illi, quod sanguis non efflueret, et magis sacerdotum sermonibus credebant.
The siege of the Muhu hill fort
According to the chronicle, Estonians besieged in the Muhu hill fort exclaimed to Tharapita in joy and cried to the sacred grove (nemus) for assistance, as the Christians laying siege prayed to God and exclaimed to Jesus for help.Gaudet exercitus christianorum, exclamant, Deum exorant. Clamant et illi, gaudentes in Tarapitha suo. Illi nemus, isti Iesum invocant, in cuius nomine ac laude fortifer ascendunt, ad summitatem valli perveniunt, fortissime et ab illis repelluntur.
Baptism of the sons of nobles in Valjala
As the sons of nobles are baptised in the defeated hill fort of ValjalaValjala
Valjala is a small borough in Saare County in western Estonia, administrative centre of Valjala Commune.The Valjala church lies in centre of Valjala....
(Waldia), Tharapita is banished from the fort:
Dantur pueri nobilium, quorum primum venerabilis Rigensis episcopus cum gaudio et devotione magna catechizatum sacro baptismatis fonte rigavit; alii presbyteri alios rigaverunt, qui et in urbem cum gaudio ducuntur, ut Christum predicent, ut Tharaphitam, qui deus fuit Osilianorum, eiciant, qui per medium castrum fontem consecrantes et dolium replentes primo seniores et meliores cathechizatos, deinde viros alios et mulieres baptizant et pueros.
Baptism of Saaremaa after victory
Priests spread out over Saaremaa to preach Christ and banish Tharapita.His mysteriis in urbe Waldia celebratis venerunt nuncii, missi de cunctis urbibus et kiligundis Osilie, querentes pacem et baptismi petentes sacramentum. Gaudet exercitus obsidibusque receptis pax datur et Fraternitus amor. Dicitur, et Suecos captivos restituant liberos. Obediunt, restituere promittunt, presbyteros secum ad castra sua ducunt, qui Christum predicent, qui Tharapitha cum ceteris paganorum diis eiciant, qui populum sacro baptismate tingant. Baptizant itaque sacerdotes in omnibus castris Osilie populum universum utriusque sexus cum leticia magna et pre gaudio lacrimantes, eo quod Domino tot milia genuerunt per lavacrum regenerationis prolem spiritualem, Deo dilectam sponsam novam ex gentibus.
Conclusion of the chronicle
In the concluding passage of the chronicle, Henry expresses his joy over the fact that Virgin Mary has helped the missionaries from RigaRiga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
to banish Tharapita and drown the Pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
(i.e., the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
).
Gloria Dei et domini nostri Iesu Christi et beate Marie Virginis servis suis Rigensibus in Osilia talia humiliter, obsides et tributa recipere, captivos omnes christiani nominis restituere, cum victoria redire! Quod reges hactenus non potuerunt, hec beata virgo per servos suos Rigenses breviter et leniter ad honorem sui nominis adimplevit. Quo completo, quo facto, populo videlicet cuncto baptizato, Tharaphita eiecto, Pharaone submerso, captivis liberatis, redite cum gaudio Rigenses.
External links
- Taarapita – the Great God of the Oeselians. Article by Urmas Sutrop
- The "Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, translated and edited by James A. Brundage, Columbia University, 1961; revised 2003; 288 pages ISBN 0231128886 (Try this link: http://cup.columbia.edu/search?q=henry+livonia)
- Ruth Williamson, "Primary Source Analysis of the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia"
- Indriķa hronika - full text of Henry's chronicle in LatvianLatvian languageLatvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
with comments. - Full text of Henry's chronicle in Russian with comments
- Bibliography of Henry of Latvia