Hiisi is one of the oldest attested figures of Finnic religion: the word first denoted the sacred grove or cult site itself, and place-names in hiisi- mark old worship sites across Karelia. In the runic poetry and charms the word is personified as the grove's master, increasingly demonized after Christianization into a devil-like lord dwelling in Hiitola. In the Karelian epic runes he fashions the demon elk that Lemminkäinen must catch on skis, and healing charms banish diseases and iron-wounds back to Hiisi's realm.