Tiermes

Tiermes
Sami people offering to Tiermes. Copper engraving by Bernard Picart from Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde (1723–43)

Tiermes is a Sami god of thunder and rain, also called Aijeke or Ajeke and often identified with Horagalles.

Tiermes is god of the sky and thunder and lightning, the rainbow, weather, oceans, and lakes and rules over human life, health, and well-being. He protects people and their animals from "hurtful demons" and "evil spirits" (i.e., trolls).[1] According to the mid-18th century Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde, "Thiermes or Thoron" is the first in a trinity, of whom the other members are Storjunkare and Baivre or Jumala.[2] He is also called Aijeke, "grandfather" or "great-grandfather"; in 1673 Johannes Scheffer wrote that when Aijeke thundered, he was called Tiermes.[3]

The names of the god vary considerably between regions, with Tiermes and variants being commonly used among northern Sami and Horagalles and variants among southern Sami,[4][5] but unlike Horagalles, the name Tiermes is not a loanword; it is related to Torym, found in Siberia.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ Matthias Alexander Castrén, Nordiska Resor och Forskningar volume 3, Helsinki: Finska Litteratursällskapet, 1853, pp. 49–51 (Swedish)
  2. ^ Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde, ed. Jean Frédéric Bernard and Jean-Charles Poncelin de La Roche-Tilhac, 2nd ed., volume 1 Amsterdam/Paris: Laporte, 1783, OCLC 13814643, p. 57 (French)
  3. ^ The History of Lapland, 1674 translated ed., facsimile ed. Suecica rediviva 22, Stockholm: Rediviva, 1971, ISBN 9789171200013, p. 37.
  4. ^ Kaarle Krohn, "Lappische Beiträge zur germanischen Mythologie," Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen 6 (1906) 155–80, p. 164 (German)
  5. ^ Jens Andreas Friis, Lappisk Mythologi, Eventyr og Folkesagn, Christiania: Cammermeyer, 1871, pp. 65–66, 69 (Norwegian)
  6. ^ Folklore 25–28 (2004) p. 49.
  7. ^ Ørnulv Vorren and Ernst Mauritz Manker, tr. Kathleen McFarlane, Lapp Life and Customs: A Survey, London: Oxford, 1962, OCLC 264994678, p. 119.
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