Lemminkäinen or Lemminki is a prominent figure in Finnish mythology. He is one of the heroes of the Kalevala, where his character is a composite of several separate heroes of oral poetry. He is usually depicted as young and good-looking, with wavy red hair.
Lemminkäinen's Mother, an 1897 painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela: She is shown having just gathered the broken body of her son from the dark river of Tuonela.
Lemminkäinen, Carl Eneas Sjöstrand, 1872
Abduction of Kyllikki, Johan Kortman, 1890
Abduction of Kyllikki, Joseph Alanen [fi], 1916–1917
Finnish mythology commonly refers of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many shared features with Estonian and other Finnic mythologies, but also with neighbouring Baltic, Slavic and, to a lesser extent, Norse mythologies.
Structure of the world, according to Finnish mythology.