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Frogs as Ambassadors of Good Luck
In the eyes of outsiders, the inhabitants of Kuopio seem to have an air of happiness about them that is borderline mystical. Their expressions are bright, they are never at a loss for words and their hospitality is top notch. One cannot help but wonder if there is something in the genetic ancestry of North Savo that other Finns, let alone people coming from abroad, have missed out on. This may just be the case.
Or then it really is something mystical.
TEXT TIMO MANSIKKA-AHO PHOTOS ADOBE STOCK, KARI JÄMSÉN AND KUOPIO CULTURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Long into the 19th century, black magic was a common practice throughout North Savo. It was referred to as the frog coffin, named after its concrete manifestation. Museum Educator Sanna Reinikainen from the City of Kuopio says that it all came down to a search for good fortune.
“People believed that each person in the world had been allotted a certain amount of good fortune. If a person wanted more good luck, the only way to get it was to steal it from others.”
People living near large lakes were always on the lookout for more fishing luck. The resourceful folk of North Savo often turned to their neighbours for help in this matter, but without asking their neighbours’ permission.
In the cover of night or whenever the opportunity presented itself, they would cut a piece off their neighbour's seine fishing net and take it to a folk magician – another popular “occupation” back in the day. The magician would carve an alder coffin about 17 centimetres long and, having stocked up for regular demand, they would often have frogs ready in a tub, waiting to meet their fate.
The piece of net was placed in the coffin and a frog was splayed on top of it. Using wooden poles, the closed coffin was then pushed through the vent holes under the floor of a church, as close as possible to the altar.
This was followed by a series of complex charms and spells, from crawling in an ant hill to breaking branches off a rowan tree. Then all there was to do was wait for the magic to take effect. Frog coffins were also used for many other purposes besides stealing some fishing luck, but the pieces of netting found in the coffins clearly show how important fishing was to the people in North Savo already back in the olden times.
A huge number of frog coffins have been discovered during church renovations: about 200 under the Tuusniemi Church and bell tower, dozens in the Kuopio Cathedral and several in the Nilsiä Church. The most recent coffins have been placed there in the late 19th century, so there may just be some truth to the claim that there is something magical about this region.
An alder wood coffin roughly 17 cm long, found under the Kuopio Cathedral during renovation at the end of the 19th century. There is a frog inside, secured in place with pins.
