Bieggolmai

Sámi wind-god, the 'wind-man' (classed as deity). Bieggolmai / Biegga-olmai (biegga 'wind' + olmmái 'man'); winter aspect Biegga-gállis. He shovels the winds in and out of their cave; lord of wind, weather and sea, one of the deities of the drum. The shovel is sometimes read as a paddle, linking him to the sea and (per Olrik) to Njörðr. Secondary attestation (Holmberg, Karsten; drum-iconography). Kinless in the sources beyond his place among the great gods — see SOLITARY flag.

Domains

• wind
• weather
• sea

Powers

• Shovel the winds into and out of their cave
• Grant or withhold fair weather and good winds

Sources

• Bieggolmai (Biegga-olmai; Northern Sámi biegga 'wind' + olmmái 'man') is the Sámi wind-god, the 'wind-man', who shovels the winds into and out of their mountain cave with his two implements and rules over wind, weather and the sea; he was petitioned with mountaintop sacrifices for fair winds and weather, and figures among the gods of the noaidi drum.: U. Holmberg (Harva), Finno-Ugric Mythology (The Mythology of All Races IV), 1927 (secondary); R. Karsten, The Religion of the Samek: Ancient Beliefs and Cults of the Scandinavian and Finnish Lapps (1955) (secondary); E. Manker, Die lappische Zaubertrommel (1938–50): the wind-god among the drum-figures (secondary)