Synty
Syntysanat ('origin-words') or syntyloitsut ('origin-charms') provide an explanatory, mythical account of the origin of a phenomenon (such as an illness), material (such as iron), or species (such as a bear), and were an important part of traditional Finno-Karelian culture, particularly in healing rituals.
[6] More recent work, however, has suggested that, though often combined with other incantations, the synty element is in these cases usually central rather than preliminary, and not so much a diagnosis as a cure; their primary context of use seems instead to have been healing physical (as opposed to metaphysical) injuries and wounds where there was no illness agent (such as a witch) to conjure.
[11][12][9]: 66, 62, 63 The earliest scholarly discussion of synnyt is in the fourth fascicule (published in 1778) of Henrik Gabriel Porthan's De poësi Fennica.
[13][14] Synty next makes a significant appearance as a genre term in Christianus Erici Lencqvist's dissertation De superstitione veterum Fennorum theoretica et practica, published in 1782.
Tuuli silloin kuusi vuotta, Seurui seitsemän keseä, Tuuli taittoi tammen latvat, Rutaisi ruhevat raiat, Maasta mättähän mäkäisi, Tuopa myöstihe merelle, Siitä saari siunautui Meren selvälle selälle, Saarelle salo sorea, Salohon sileä nurmi, Siihen kasvoi kaksi neittä, Koko kolme morsianta.
Vaka vanha Väinämöinen, Tietäjä ijän ikuinen, Oli teitensä käviä, Matkojensa mitteliä, Löysi rautaiset orahat, Teräksiset touvon taimet, Katselevi, kääntelevi, Sanan virkkoi, noin nimesi: ‘Mitkä nää on toukojansa, Ja kutka orahiansa?
Jotain noistaki tulisi, Luona taitavan takojan.’ Kokosi ne knottihinsa, Kantavi sepon kätehen; Tuop’ on seppo Ilmarinen Etsivi pajan sijoa, Löysi maata pikkuruisen, Notkoa ani vähäisen, Johon painoi palkehensa, Johon ahjonsa asetti, Vaan ei kasva rauta raukka, Sukeu suku teräksen, Pajassa ovettomassa, Ahjolla tulettomalla; Puita puuttui pauan seppä, Tulta rautojen takoja.
Otti orjan lietsomahan, Palkkalaisen painamahan, Katsoi ahjonsa alusta, Lietsimensä liepehiä, Jopa syntyi rauan synty, Sikesi suku teräksen.
Then it blew six years, seven summers it inflicted harm, the wind broke off the heads of oaks, smashed branching [v. huge] sallow trees, knocked a hillock from the ground and conveyed it to the sea; an isle was formed by spells from it on the clear and open sea on the island was a lovely wood, in the wood meadow smooth, on this two girls grew up, a triplet of brides.
He took a servant to blow, a hireling to press them down, he looked underneath the forge, along the bellows' outer edge, iron was already made (F. born) and steel produced.
The Suomen kansan vanhat runot editions list around 131 topics for synty texts, 114 of them categorised as syntyloitsut ('synty-charms'), in a total of around 6900 individual records.
[21][22]: 26 The ten most popular subjects among the synnyt categorised in the SKVR as incantations (loitsut) are, in declining order, rauta ('iron', 862 examples), käärme ('snake', 714), tuli ('fire', 690), niukahdus ('sprain', 539), käärmeen purema ('snakebite', 290), pistos ('stabbing pain', 260), puu ('tree', 219), koi ('cancer', 180), voide ('ointment', 175), ähky ('colic', 137), riisi ('rickets', 135), läävämato (literally 'cowshed-snake', 125), and löyly ('sauna steam', 108).
These overall patterns of popularity are consistent with the earliest attested synnyt, recorded in trial-records from Ostrobothnia in the 1650s (where the synty tradition had been lost by the nineteenth century): these are all on topics which were later in the top ten (cancer, stabbing pain, fire, and iron).
[20]: 120–21 Further texts, closely representing the field records of folklore collectors, were published in the Suomen kansan vanhat runot series.
