Vetekhinen

The master of water in Finnish mythology and folklore.

Vetekhinen is usually perceived as an evil being, sometimes as a kind one. It could have been the soul of a drowned man who was trying to lure the living to drown themselves. It could rise to the land and attract the inhabitants of the land to the water. In this respect, Vetehinen resembles nakki and may be the local predecessor of the non-nakki character in Finland.

According to a folk tale, Vetekhinen molested fishermen on the lake. He followed the boat for a long time and finally grabbed it by the side, after which the people in the boat chopped off the pulling arm with an axe. Vetekhinen promised to leave people alone if he could get his arm back. That's what happened, and since then Vetekhinen has not come out of the depths to bother people.

However, water is not always bad. In some traditions of spells, the Veteran is invoked in the hope of a better catch of fish, and he is called the Fish God of Karelia. It is also said that people caught water cows, especially good cash cows.

According to one concept, Vetekhin is the male equivalent of a mermaid. He is described as a handsome and muscular man with a tail starting below his navel. The tail is wider than a mermaid's.