Ajatar
Also called Aiatar, Aijatar, Ajattara, Ai, Aijo.
In Finnish folklore, Ajatar is a malevolent forest spirit imagined as a monstrous female serpent or dragon who nurses snakes and spreads sickness to any human who crosses her path.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Finnish folklore
- Region
- Finland (habitat)
- Trait family
- The Monstrous Broods
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Dragon is image-domain The dragon denotes chaotic instinctual power, guardian of hoarded treasure and fertility, destructive in the West and, in China, the beneficent waterlike way of things.
why
In Finnish folklore, Ajatar is a malevolent forest spirit imagined as a monstrous female serpent or dragon who nurses snakes and spreads sickness to any human who crosses her path.
- Snake is Snake is a broad serpent symbol of creation and guardianship; South American traditions name Snake a primordial earth-maker and giver of hunting arts.
why
In Finnish folklore, Ajatar is a malevolent forest spirit imagined as a monstrous female serpent or dragon who nurses snakes and spreads sickness to any human who crosses her path.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Serpentine elongated body
why
manifests as a serpent or dragon
Behaviour
- Mother of monsters
why
In form, Ajatar is consistently pictured as an evil female being who manifests as a serpent or dragon, and she is specifically said to suckle snakes, nursing them as a mother would nurse young.
Curses
- Curse transmission
why
Accounts agree that simply encountering her, or even glimpsing her in the woods, was believed sufficient to bring serious illness upon a person, making her less a creature to be fought than one to be avoided entirely.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Serpent carries
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Shadow carries
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Hero meets
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Ajatar."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Ajatar."