TEA13TIME

Metsänpeitto is a phenomenon found in Finnish folklore. It was used to describe people or domestic animals who went missing in nature for unexplained reasons.

People “covered by forest” were described as not being able to recognize the terrain around them, even if they were on familiar grounds. In other cases they might have walked endlessly through unfamiliar terrain, or were rendered completely paralyzed, unable to move or speak. Unnatural silence devoid of the sounds of nature was also common.

People or animals under the influence of the phenomenon were described as becoming either completely invisible to other people, or looking like part of the nature around them, like a rock. In one story a man had been looking for a missing cow for days. When he finally gave up and returned to his work, the first tree stump he struck with his axe transformed back into his cow.

The cause behind metsänpeitto was usually credited to maahinens, who were small humanoid creatures living underground (usually translated to English as “gnomes”). Some people managed to free themselves from metsänpeitto by their own means, for example by turning their jacket inside out, by switching their shoes to the wrong feet, or by looking between their own legs. This was because of the idea that everything was topsy-turvy in the lands of the maahinens. Some were released seemingly without reason, others only after being sought after by a shaman. Some were never seen again.

Of my favorite phenomena in the Finnish folklore is that of metsänpeitto. Literally it means “forest’s cover” (or blanket).

It’s something that can happen to people and farm animals alike - when they are walking in a familiar forest, even one in which it’s thought to be impossible to get lost, they suddenly cannot recognize anything around them, as if they’d come to a part of the forest they’ve never seen. It is said that sounds grow quiet or muffled, light and even the forest itself appear to change, even turn upside down. This is not all - it is also said that those concealed by the forest cannot be seen or heard by other people passing by (and may appear like stones or tree-stumps). Sometimes those in metsänpeitto never find their way out, but sometimes they may find themselves walking into their back yard or wherever they were headed, or end up kilometers away (but in a place they recognize).

Common ways to try to get out of metsänpeitto include turning one’s clothes inside out and looking through their own legs. Those looking for the lost may also turn their clothes inside out, look through tangled and knotted trees and roots, and pouring water into the tracks. Someone with the ability to find people or animals in metsänpeitto is called “päästäjä”, which could be translated as “releaser”.