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Ilmatar, a MythSource painting
Finnic

Ilmatar

01Identity

Ilmatar in Finnic tradition

Crawford's 1891 English translation of the Kalevala tells of a bird settling on Ilmatar's knee and laying six golden eggs and one of iron. As the bird incubates them, the water and Ilmatar's bed grow warmer. The eggs break, and their shell parts form the earth and sky, while the white, yellow, mottled and dark parts form moonlight, sunlight, starlight and clouds. Ilmatar labours for seven hundred years before her first-born is delivered. At the end of the account Wainamoinen rises from his mother, Ilmatar, called the daughter of the Ether. This description stays with the creation and birth episode in Crawford's witness and makes no broader claim about Finnish belief or oral tradition.

SourceThe Kalevala, Volume I (John Martin Crawford translation, 1891): Birth of Wainamoinen (Rune I), pp. 6, 8–9, 13

  • In this passage, Ilmatar is Wainamoinen's mother and is called the daughter of the Ether. (The Kalevala, Volume I (John Martin Crawford translation, 1891))
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02Family

Ilmatar’s family, at a glance

Ilmatar
Väinämöinen
03The myths

The myths of Ilmatar

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Ilmatar's creation and Väinämöinen's birth

A bird settles on Ilmatar's knee and lays six golden eggs and a seventh egg of iron. It remains there for three days, warming the eggs as it hatches them. As it continues to sit, the water around Ilmatar grows warmer, and so does her bed in the sea. Ilmatar shifts her knee, and the eggs break. Their fragments remain in the water.

The shell pieces form two halves: the lower half becomes the earth and the upper half the sky. The white part makes moonlight, the yellow part sunlight, the mottled part starlight, and the dark part clouds. Ilmatar labours for seven hundred years before her first-born is delivered. During that travail she swims towards the east and south, then towards the west and north, unable to rise above the water. Storm-winds frighten her as she swims in all directions over the sea, conscious of her labour. Wainamoinen stands erect on the solid ground, turns his hands about him, sees the sunshine and moonlight, and beholds the Great Bear and stars. Ilmatar is named as his mother and daughter of the Ether.

Ilmatar's creation and Väinämöinen's birth, a MythSource painting of the scene

4 sources· checked 2026-09-28

  1. 1The Kalevala, Volume I (John Martin Crawford translation, 1891)T1
  2. 2The Kalevala, Volume I (John Martin Crawford translation, 1891)T1
  3. 3The Kalevala, Volume I (John Martin Crawford translation, 1891)T1
  4. 4The Kalevala, Volume I (John Martin Crawford translation, 1891)T1