Origins
It is possible that the figure of Ukko is mostly Indo-European, possibly Baltic, in origin. Ukko is held by researchers of religion to be largely parallel to the Indo-European patriarchal sky deities, including but not limited to Zeus and Juppiter of the Classical Greco-Roman pantheon and the Norse god Thor (albeit with properties of Odin.) Tuuri, a Germanic loan and cognate of Thor, was possibly an alternate name for Ukko. Tuuri is rarely encountered in the Finnish pantheon, and had been relegated to the mere role of deity of harvest and success.
It is possible that when Ukko took the position of the preceding sky god Ilmarinen, Ilmarinen's destiny was to become a mortal smith-hero. Stories tell about Ilmarinen vaulting the sky-dome. Whether Ilmarinen was an earlier, assumably Uralic sky deity is regardless highly questionable. Some researchers hold Ilmarinen and Ukko equivalent.
The Sami worshipped a similar deity, called Aijeke, probably as result of cultural cross-contamination or common origin. The god was equated with Horagalles.
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