Uno Harva
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Uno Nils Oskar Harva (known as Uno Holmberg until 1927; 30 August 1882, Ypäjä – 13 August 1949, Turku) was a Finnish religious scholar, who founded the discipline in Finland together with Rafael Karsten. A major figure in North Eurasian ethnology and study of religion, Harva is best known for his body of work on Finno-Ugric and Altaic religions.[1] He is considered to be one of the foremost 20th-century European interpreters of shamanism.[2][3]
Uno Harva | |
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| Born | 30 August 1882 |
| Died | 13 August 1949 (aged 66) |
| Other names | Uno Holmberg |
| Alma mater | University of Helsinki |
| Occupations | Theology, Sociology |
Career
Harva conducted fieldwork among the Siberian Ket and Evenk peoples in the 1910s, researching their mythology and religion. He also spent the summers of 1911–1913 with the Finno-Ugric Votyaks (Udmurts) in the Urals and the Cheremis (the Mari people) on the Volga. He is considered to be an important anthropologist of Siberia.[4][5]
His study Der Baum des Lebens (The Tree of Life; 1922–23) was the first to show that the world tree from Norse mythology had many parallels in Europe and Asia.[6]
Harva wrote the fourth volume of the book series The Mythology of All Races in 1927. It contains a classic general description of Subarctic shamanism.[4]
Principal works
- Die Wassergottheiten der Finno-Ugrischen Völker (German: The Water Divinities of the Finno-Ugric Peoples; 1913)
- Permalaisten uskonto (1914)
- Tsheremissien uskonto (Finnish: The Cheremi Religion; 1914)
- Lappalaisten uskonto (Finnish: The Lapp Religion; 1915)
- Elämänpuu (Finnish: The Tree of Life; 1920); reprinted in German as Der Baum des Lebens (1922)
- Jumalauskon alkuperä (1916)
- Pohjoisen Euroopan ja Aasian pyyntiriiteistä (1922)
- Finno-Ugric, Siberian Mythology (1927)
- Altain suvun uskonto (1933)
- Die religiösen Vorstellungen der altaischen Völker (German: Religious Concepts of the Altaic Peoples; 1938)
- Mordvalaisten muinaisusko (1942)
- Sammon ryöstö (1943)
- Suomalaisten muinaisusko (1948)