Ilmatar (Luonnotar)

In the Kalevala as compiled by Lönnrot, Ilmatar (literally 'Airess') is a virgin spirit of the air who is impregnated by the sea and wind and gives birth to Väinämöinen, the central culture-hero and singer-shaman figure. The maternal role is placed in the opening runes of the epic's origin narrative. Regional runic-song variants, however, sometimes substitute other figures in the maternal role (for example Pohjan neito in an Ostrobothnian song, or Iro / Saint Irene and Maaria / the Virgin Mary in Ladoga Karelian variants), indicating variability and syncretism in local traditions.

Primary runic and summary sources do not provide a standardized bodily description. She is described in the Kalevala lead as a 'virgin spirit and goddess of the air' (Ilmatar) and is also named Luonnotar ('Naturess'). Later artistic and musical treatments (notably Sibelius's tone poem Luonnotar) dramatize her as a tormented, expectant nature-spirit heavy with child, but the sources supplied do not establish a canonical physical depiction.

The sources reliably record Ilmatar's generative role: she is impregnated by elemental forces (sea and wind) and becomes the mother of Väinämöinen. Secondary commentary and one interpretive source note a 'valiant witch-mother' figure in a rune who revives her son and whom some identify as Ilmatar, but that identification is interpretive and the primary texts supplied do not enumerate additional powers such as magic, shape-changing, or explicit world-creating acts beyond her maternity in Lönnrot's compilation.