# Rahko

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{{Short description|Finnish mythological figure linked to the Moon}}
'''Rahko''' or '''Rahkoi''' is a figure in [Finnish mythology](/source/Finnish_mythology). He was first mentioned in writing in 1551 by [Mikael Agricola](/source/Mikael_Agricola) as someone who "split the Moon black" (''"Rachkoi Cuun mustaxi jacoi"''), so he has been connected to the waning of the Moon.

==Description==
In 1551, [Mikael Agricola](/source/Mikael_Agricola) mentioned Rahkoi as someone who "split the Moon black" (''"Rachkoi Cuun mustaxi jacoi"''), but also wrote that [kapeet](/source/Kave_(Finnish_mythology)) (singular ''kave'') ate the Moon from ancient Finns.

In 1789, [Christfried Ganander](/source/Christfried_Ganander) wrote that Rahkoi is a ghost who the [Tavastians](/source/Tavastians) of old believed blackened the Moon. He mentioned Kuumet as someone with the same role, a demon who blackened the Moon by imprisoning it in an iron grain drying and threshing cabin (''riihi''). He specified that Agricola got it wrong: Kavet was someone who released the Moon instead of eating it.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ganander |first=Christfried |date=1789 |title=Mythologia Fennica |url= |location=Turku |pages=34–35, 45–46, 75 |access-date=}}</ref>

In [South Ostrobothnia](/source/South_Ostrobothnia), Rahko has meant a [nightmare](/source/nightmare).<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=1927 |title=SKVR XI 947 |url=
http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:sks-kvr-060771 |website=skvr.fi |location= |publisher=Finnish Literature Society |access-date=2025-05-26}}</ref>

In [Forest Finn](/source/Forest_Finn)ish beliefs, kapeet ate the moon away every month and Rahko, someone who had committed suicide, forged a new moon from cow's hooves and fat. After being a Rahko for long enough, you'd become a kave, and a new Rahko took your place. This tradition aligns with Agricola's writings on kapeet, but not on Rahko.<ref name="sks">{{cite book |last1=Pulkkinen |first1=Risto |last2=Lindfors |first2=Stina |date=2016 |title=Suomalaisen kansanuskon sanakirja |url= |location=Tallinn |publisher=Gaudeamus |pages=106, 190–191 |isbn=978-952-495-405-1 |access-date=}}</ref>

The Sámi in [Finland](/source/Finland) knew a figure called Mano-Rakko ("Rakko of the Moon"), who had been a thief who had gone up to the Moon to cover it in [tar](/source/tar) so its light wouldn't give him away. However, he got stuck and can still be seen on the Moon, a bucket of tar in one hand and a brush in the other. In [North Ostrobothnia](/source/North_Ostrobothnia), this individual was called Rahkonen and was instead about to do nighttime courting. In [South Ostrobothnia](/source/South_Ostrobothnia), it was said that Rahko-Matti was painting the Moon in tar.<ref name="krohn">{{cite book |last=Krohn |first=Kaarle |date=1914 |title=Suomalaisten runojen uskonto |publisher= WSOY and the Finnish Literature Society |location=Porvoo |pages=247 |access-date=}}</ref>

==Name==
[Kaarle Krohn](/source/Kaarle_Krohn) believed the word ''rahko'' means "chapping".<ref name="krohn"/> The [Veps people](/source/Veps_people) have a similar being who appears as a ''riihi'' [haltija](/source/haltija) (''rihenrahkoi'') or an oven haltija (''päčinrahkoi''). If he was originally a haltija of fire or coals, his name could come from ''rahko'' ("a wooden shingle holder" = "pincers"). According to [Janne Saarikivi](/source/Janne_Saarikivi), an oven haltija could've become the one who blackens the Moon, because a major source of the colour black, coal, was held with pincers.<ref>{{cite book|author=Janne Saarikivi|chapter=Huomioita Agricolan psalttarin esipuheen jumalista ja muusta itämerensuomalaisesta mytologisesta sanastosta|editor=Jeremy Bradley|title=Tonavan Laakso: Eine Festschrift für Johanna Laakso|series=Central European Uralic Studies|volume=2|year=2022|publisher=Praesens Verlag|isbn=9783706911597|pages=385–386}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

Category:Finnish legendary creatures

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rahko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahko) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahko?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.