Ahhh. About not worshipping. This was the other thing apart from the integral non-definability of Finnish myth man-spirit-god things I was trying to communicate... I do not think any of the above were ever "worshipped."
For example Tapio was kind of "god of the forest" to Finns, well or king of the forest more accurately. (Exept that he was an elf = kind of spirit of the forest... meaning that he was allpowerful within THE forest and three hundred kilometers to the east there was no Tapio, but there was Hiisi, who was kind of god of THE forest...) Men INTERACTED with theese eleves. They did not have churches or temples. Sacrifices of food were evidently given only to ancestors. Tapio demanded certain attitudes towards the forest, certain ways to be used in killing a bear, etc, not "worship."
Perhaps a good example of what I mean is the fact that the word prayer came to Finnish language as a lent word from Russian along with the first priests. Concept of prayer was unknown before christianity.
For example the thing with leaving the food on table on the yule is just that. It is not sacrifice. The food will be eaten along the night and in the next morning. We make lots of food in the christmas. On the 25 december no one needs to bother working in kitchen.
The rationale "religionwise" is that the food must be set out so that eleves MAY take their share.
Janne Harju
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