#norppa

Origin of Seal

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A fellow rises from the sea, from the waves uplifts himself, who counts the isles of the sea, keeps watch on the water's fish. O seal, the portly boy, that roves around the sea, rough creature of the ocean field, thy father was trash, thy mother was trash, thou art trash thyself.

The seal was important to ancient Finns mostly because it was a valued quarry so there are very few beliefs or myths related to it. It was both a symbolic and a concrete sign of wealth in the waters, but also a competitor who was after the same prey as humans, fish. People would avoid calling quarry by their real names since doing so would bring bad hunting luck. Due to this the Finnish word for seal, "hylje", most likely derives from the verb "hylätä", to abandon, because it was considered more safe to say that the sea had abandoned and surrendered the animal to humans rather than begin killed by humans.

Even without much mythology tied to the seal the animistic traditions were strong. According to animism all animals were thought to have souls and thus were thought to be like humans. All animals were worthy of respect, even and especially prey because people's livelihood depended on them.

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Seals and Queerness