Tapio (spirit)

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Tapio (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈtɑpio]) is a Finnish forest spirit or god in Finnish mythology.^[1] Hunters prayed to him before a hunt and prayed to the nut god after the hunt. His wife is the goddess of the forest, Mielikki. He is the father of Annikki, Tellervo, Nyyrikki (the god of hunting), and . Fitting the Green Man archetype, Tapio has a beard of lichen and eyebrows of moss.^[2]

Mikael Agricola mentions Tapio as a Tavastian god in the prologue to his Finnish translation of the Book of Psalms, .

He lends his name, in the form of Tapiola, to:

• one of the major urban centres within the city of Espoo outside Helsinki; and
• an unincorporated community in the US state of Michigan.

He has appeared various times in songs by Finnish metal bands, for example in the gothic metal band Nightwish song, Elvenpath, as Tapio, bear king, ruler of the forest, and has also been used extensively by the folk metal band Korpiklaani, especially in their album "Spirit of the Forest".

Jean Sibelius' tone poem Tapiola (1926) is a depiction of the forest Tapio inhabits.

References[]

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