entities: ENT_FINN_VAINAMOINEN

The core table — every entity in the database, spanning gods, angels, demons, aeons, prophets, saints, heroes, spirits, monsters, personified abstractions, cosmological realms, and ritual categories. Use category to filter by functional type (146 values: Underworld Deity, Hero, Adversarial Being, Revealer Figure, etc.). Use tradition to filter by tradition. The short_note column contains a scholarly description with source citations.

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entity_id canonical_name greek_name tradition entity_type category primary_domains tags cult_scope primary_period evidence_confidence review_status inclusion_basis earth_association_score chthonic_flag serpent_flag short_note entity_class
ENT_FINN_VAINAMOINEN Väinämöinen   Finnish shaman-bard / culture hero / primordial sage Hero music; poetry; wisdom; shamanism; magic; creation; seas; kantele       A           The central figure of the Kalevala; eternal sage, primordial shaman, and culture hero of Finnish mythology. Son of Ilmatar, the air spirit who floated on the primordial sea. Väinämöinen spent 700 years in his mother's womb before emerging as an already-old man with full wisdom. He is the greatest singer in the world — his kantele (Finnish harp, which he carves from a pike's jaw) has magical power over nature and humans. The Kalevala's main narrative follows Väinämöinen's quest for the Sampo (a magical mill), his contests of wisdom and music, his descent to the realm of the dead (Tuonela) to retrieve knowledge, and his conflicts with the sorceress Louhi. He is a paradigmatic shaman figure in the tradition described by Eliade — capable of soul-journey, magical singing, and cosmogonic action. At the end of the Kalevala (Runo 50) he departs in his boat to a realm between sky and earth, promising to return when needed. Pentikäinen (1999) pp. 148-220; Kalevala Runos 1-3, 16-17, 26-30. sage

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