Uralic Mythologies

Uralic mythologies is a cover term for the mythologies and indigenous religions of the Finnic, Ugric, and Samoyedic peoples, who speak related Uralic languages. An ancestral Uralic people is thought to have divided into the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic branches about 4,000 BCE, and again into Finnic and Ugric peoples about 3,000 BCE. The mythologies retain traces of archaic Uralic religious systems merged with foreign influences, both ancient and modern, and are similar to the beliefs of neighboring non-Uralic peoples of north-central Eurasia.

Of ancient Hungarian mythology (Ugric), not much is known other than it was based on shamanism, there was a belief in the afterlife and a high god, and a tradition of being descended from a female deer. There was also belief in a world/life tree (Világfa/Életfa) which has three levels, each a different world. A shaman was believed to be able to climb through each of these levels freely by a ladder.

Ancient Finnic mythologies had an emphasis on astronomy, with asterisms seen as animal spirits. Creation myths involved a world egg and a world pillar.

The traditional Samoyed religion was based on shamanism and totemism. Tales were sung (syodobobs) or spoken (uahanoku).