Finland
Finland is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden to the west, Norway to the north and Russia to the east, while Estonia lies to the south across the Gulf of Finland.
The majority of the population are concentrated in its southern regions. Politically, it is a parliamentary republic with a central muggle government based in the capital of Helsinki.
From the 12th until the start of the 19th century, Finland was a part of Sweden.
The national symbol of Finland is the brown bear.
Magical Culture
Witches and wizards born or living in Finland generally attend Durmstrang.
The country has its own Ministry of Magic.
In February 2012, the G8 and 3/4 was held in Helsinki, Finland. Attended by Johann Storm and the then British Minister Edwin Glass.
Edward Pratt was sent there to investigate a criminal matter in November 2009 as explained by Cameron Rosier:
Right now, the document in his hands was the most exciting thing on the planet. It was the latest report from Pratt - the poor man was sent to Finland to investigate a lead. By the look of it, his Northern friend didn't quite enjoy the new setting. [1]
Drammes Apotheke operate a number of apothecaries in the country.
Historical Magical Culture
Ancient Finnish wixes participated in the country’s indigenous pagan religion prior to Christianisation. The God of thunder and sky is Ukko, Jumala was a sky god, Tapio the god of forests and hunting and Ahti the god of the sea, waters and fish. Finnish wixes might exclaim about misfortune to Jumala rather than Merlin as British wixes do.
Finnish wixes are historically known as tietäjä (shamans). Ancient magic involves spirits, offerings and animal sacrifices. They believe nature has all the answers. Wixes have constructed open air temples within forests with offering-stones. Muggles destroyed some of these when they created churches. Spells were cast with rituals, singing and chanting. Wizards were commonly seen, to the point that the Norse of Scandinavia believed all Finns were wizards.
The Finnish magical community are well respected seafarers, and sold visiting muggle sailors ropes tied in knots, embedded with weather charms. By opening the knot slowly, the sailors raised winds to power their ships, but if they opened them too quickly it would raise a storm.
Becoming an animagi has links with ancient, animistic deities where they can take a human or animal form. Animals have great importance in traditional Finnish magic, especially bears, elk and water birds such as swans. Wix children are still warned against killing water birds, because it is believed doing so welcomed your own death.
Finnish wixes believe that after a wix dies, a bird (sielulintu) takes the soul. The soul then searches Tuonela, the land of the dead, for thirty to forty days. The soul seeks to find their place in Tuonela, but in finding it, the soul visits living relatives either as a ghost or in the form of an animal. To cheer an unhappy soul, families will show respect by not speaking ill of the dead. Once the time passes, the soul moves into Tuonela, but cane return if unhappy or asked to return by relatives in need.
Shamans would try to reach the spirits of dead ancestors by traveling to Tuonela in a state of trance created by rituals. They hope to make their way of the Tuonela river by tricking the ferryman, and then being careful not to get caught as the living are unwelcome. If caught, it is believed Shamans would end up decaying in the stomach of a giant pikefish with no hope of returning to normal life.
If the soul cannot settle or is not welcomed in Tuonela, they continue haunting, and this is why ghosts are created. It can also occur if someone’s body is not buried in a graveyard - and their body must be found and reburied within one to let the soul rest.
