Table Of Content*No. 2/93
FINNISH UFOLOGICAL :o·uLLET:J:N
Editor:K alevi Mikkonen,T ervask. 11, 96190R ovaniemi, Finland
4B
THE MYSTERY OF THE SAMPO
SmithI lmarinen
at the thirdd ay'se nd
leanedo ver tloo ok
at his forge'sun derside
saw the Sampob eingb orn
the bright-ligdr owing.
The Sampop oemsa re them ost studieadn de xplorede lementosf the
(1,)
Kalevala the FinnishK-arelianna tionaelp ic,w hich is the main
mythologicsaolu rceo f the Finno-Ugriapne oplesT.h e Kalevalgar ew
outo f a richo ralt raditionI.t has prehistorirco ots, buti t also
containlso tso f medievaaln d laterm aterial.
The Kalevalwaa s assemblebdy the Finnishs cholarE liasL Onnrot
_; ) (180-3 1884) 1849.
and publisheidn its finalf ormi n EliasL Onnrot
withh is assistantcso llectetdh e songst hath e used in composing
the Kalevalbay writingt hemd ownf rom the dictatioonf singerosf
the epic.. T henL Onnrote ditedt hiso ralp oetryt o forma continuous
·
narrativi�n the mannero f the Iliada nd the Odysseoyf Homer.T he
-.centra·l narrativeo f the epic concerntsh e changingr elations
betweenK alevalaan d Pohjola( Northland).
Mostl ikelyt hereh as neverb een a countrcya lled Kalevalai n
Finlando r in Fenon-Scandinavia,s o scientificalslpye akingt he
K9levlaa epic is not a documento f the ancientw orld but a
compilatioonf separatoer alt raditiopnu t together by LOnnrotI.n
spiteo f thatt he Kalevalcao ntaingse nuinem ythsf romt he pastt hat
haveb eenp rovedr eliablbey scientifimce thodsS.o we canu sei t as
a historicaslo urce bwuitt hc aution.
Whatw as the Sampo?
. .
. '
He forgedt he Sampow ith skil:l
on one stde there'sa corn mill
, -... ,,. . ·
on the seconda salt mill
,, a moneym ill on the third.
And then the new Sampog round
and the brigh-tlid rocked:
L•,,. ground a binfula t twilight
one··bi nfult o eat
·�
anotheri t ground to sell
and a thirdt o storea t home.
The Sampoi s oftenm entioneidn the Kalevala.I t was createodr
.forgedb y .�lmarinent,h ee ternal Smithg oadn,ad n d it was deposited
·in Louhis' Pohjolaw,h ereL ouhi,a dragon-liwkoem ano f intimidating
powersr eigned.
Whatw as thism ysticaSla mpo?T hish as beena n eternalq uestioinn
Finland among the scientistsa nd laymen.T here are some
identificatimoanr kso f the Sampo, wahrieca hc ceptedb y almosta ll
researcherTsh.e ya re:
1)
The Sampop roducewde alth,
2)
it wasa lso called" kirjokansi("= bright-libdr,i ghtly-coloured
covero r a lid of manyc olors)w,h icha lsom eans heaven,
3) it was a thingt hatw as forgedo r created,a nd it wasl ater
2
carriedi ntot heb oat,w herei t broket o pieces,
4)
it had cosmicc onnections,
5)i t had alsoa connectiotno thes ea,
6)
and it meanta statueo r a mill, whichc overw as saidt o revolve
or grinda nd it had threes ides.
There are alsom anyo thers uggestiopnus tf ortht o describe the
Sampot hata rem orec ontroversilailk e thatt he Sampoh ads omek ind
of roots; or that it was a chest( maybae treasure choers at
jewelryb ox);o r a froogr a turtleo r a turtles' back (a purely
technicalo bject on which a revolvinagx isr ested)o;r the sun
itselfo;r the vaulto f heaven;o r the axism undi, the axleo f the
worlda ttacheadt the top to theN orth Star, sometimerse ferretdo
as "then avelo f the North",a roundw hicht he entirew orldr evolves.
It is saidi n the Kalevalat hat itsi nstallatiwoans b ehindn ine
locks withtihne Mounto f Copper. Daoneysb odyk noww heret he Mount
of Copperi s?
Thes cholars hadviev idetdh esee xplanatiotnos three categories:
first the cosmologicals,e cond the historicala nd third the
abstractive. Nowatdhaeyrse are also many combinatioonfs t hese
explanationTsh.e o ptionsa re virtualleyn dless.
Mosts cholartso dayh oldt hatt he Sampo was a fertility symbol,
worshippeidn order to secureg ood crops, harvestss,a fety for
livestockc,o ntinuepdr osperitfyo r human beings, magipco wers,
beauty and happinessA. v eryp opulaer xplanatioins alsot hatt he
Sampo wasa mill,a s it was toldi n the KalevalaT.h is explanation
is strengthenbeyd the similaritbye tween tShaem pod escriptioannsd
the Scandinavisatno ryo f Grotti,a magicm illo wnedb y kingF rodi
of Denmark.
Is there a connectionb etweent he Sampo and the manna-
--�--------------------�
machine?
As we can see manyo f these identificatimoanr kso f the Sampoa re
very much alike the descriptionosf "The Ancienotf Days"o r a
(2).
manna-machianse p ostulatebdy GeorgeS assoona nd RodneyD ale
Thesed escriptiohnasv ea lso much in commonw itht he Baphomet-cult
of the Templars,w hich has also been connectedw itht he manna
machine- traditiotno gethewri th the Grail-legeansd p ostulatebdy
Johanneasn d PeterF iebag( 3).
I offerf orc onsideratitohna ti t is possiblteh att he Sampoc ould
be one continuatiaonnd additiont o this supposemda nna-machi-ne
Baphome-t Grail- traditionA.l readyL Onnrots uggestedt hat the
Sampoi s an imageo f a god. Since then many other scholarhsa ve
connecteidt witht he mysticadli vines tatue.F or somer easonm any
artists, when atrhee dye pictintgh e Sampo, pau bte ardedf aceo f a
mano n the outsideo f it. Baphome(ts upposedt o haveb een a some
kind of idol)a lsoh ad a beard,w hich probablyw ere stringsa nd
wireso f the manna-machinaec cordingt o Sassooann d FiebagsE.v en
the Finnish name "saimsp oq"u ite closet o the name" Baphomet"o r
"sophia"( =wisdom)W.i sdomw as one of the most commonn ameso f the
supposemda nna-machinNeo.b ody can surely say w"shaamtp oe"x actly
means.T here has been some etymologicaclo nnectiownhsi chc ould
suggest thaotn e of the meaningso f it could be "wisdom".
Etymologicalr oots like "sammas""s,a mpas"o r "sammakkoh"a ve
alsot echnologicmaela ningsl ike mill, statue,g oldeno r stone
column.
ProfessoMra ttiK linge( 4)f rom HelsinkUin ivers�twyh,o d oesn ot
support amnayn na-machion�e G rail- theo�ies�,t atest hatt he Sampo
poems are a part of medievala nd CentraElu ropea·wriorldo f ideas,
whichh avee xtendetdo Finnishm ythologyt hroughB alticc ountries,
3
especialltyh roughE stoniaA.c cordintgo ProfessoKrl inget he Sampo
poemsh aver ealh istorical rooHtes t.h inkst hat the Sampo wasa
statuea liket he GermanR olandss�ulet.h ink that it is possible
I
thatt he Sarnpoc oulda s wells ymbolizeB aphometO.f course thisi s
onlyt heoreticsapl eculatiobnu,t therea re some interestinlgi nks
betweetnh eset wo mystical objetchtast c annotb e ignored.
There stilrle mainst he questionh owt henc ouldt hism edieval
tradition hcaovmee i ntot he Finnismhy thologyA?s we knoww hent he
1312
Ordero f the Templew as dissolvedi n by command of the Pope
Clemens many Templars,w ho weren ota rrestede,s capedt o all
V,
possible directiMoannsy.o f themj oined" derD eutschOer den"w,h ich
had in possessionl arge areas in easternE uropea nd in Balticurn
1561.
until Somep ieceso f theirt raditiocno ulde asily have spread
to Finlanadn d Kareliab,e causem any of the Germank nightse ven
lived in Karelia.A ccordingt o mostm odern scholatrhse, B altic
influenceo,f the variousi nfluencess,e ems to haveb eent hem ost
radicali n reshapintgh e Finns'( and the Estonians's)t yle of
singingA. furthere videnceo f the Baltici nfluencies thatt he
Indo-Europeana-ksipneg Balts-LatvianLsi,t huaniansa,n d the now
extinctO ld Prussiansh,a vea formc alledt he daina whichs trongly
·-. : L resemblewsh at is now known as Kalevalam etre. Of all Uralic
speakerosn lyt hosei n the Balticr egionu sedt his metre. So there
arel otso f indicatiotnsh ata t leasts omep artso f the Kalevalaan d
�-::_t, .,p ossibltyh e Sampo-poeamrse a parto f a medievatlr aditiotnh ath as
.�
:comet o Finlandt hroughB alticump erhapfsr omC entraolr Western
·E.urope.
Epilogue
Then she (Louhi)r eachedf or the Sampo
with her ring finge:r she dropped
the Sampoi n the water
felleda ll the bright-lid
down over the red craft's side
in the midsto f the blue sea;
:" J
·theret he Sampoc ame to bits
and the bright-litdo piece.s
. . '
� .;· -.'� . �. . So someo f thoseb its, thogsree at
,.,' ["
;._,. fragmentso f the Sampow ent belowt he quietw aters
down to the blackm ud;
!. -:.. ( �
they were left for the water
';.1 •. ·t·r eastJ.resf or Ahto-land'fso lk.
I •:. :I ..
But someo therb its
·some smallerf ragmentsw ere left
the blue high seas
J 'J": I r qn
on th� broads ea'sw aves
·for the wind to lull
.-- ,.l· . the billowst o drive. ..
' .:•/. .. ! �• -
steadyo ld Vainamoinen
saw the surf pushing
• •� . .. I . ·andt he sprayw ashingl andward
.. :'f; .
the billowd riving ashore
·. · t'hoseb itso f the dear Sampo
�. .i c.�t::_ .
'·:t ho·se pieceso f the bright�lid.
..;_,.·. . �.. . :�-· . .H e was delighted
-· L.·r _-..··: _�.,..,·.: 'a-� .J?.'dO ··U.�u.ot. tt.f.e _tr:ehdi sa;a w ·soer_edd,j."J� pipll\k·e� t�phriuns:g I',
·� :' � ,.l, �-•' ' -: i 't •.""' , �<I • 1 �' • • l I
. .''") .,.
4 'r( ,''
constantg ood luck will begin. .."
If the Sampo-poemasr e a part of the manna-machine - Grail
-traditiownh,a tc onclusiocnosu ldw e drawf romt hem? Unfortunately
not much,b ecausaec cordingt o the Kalevala-eptihce rew as a fight
betweetnh eL ouhi'ms enf romP ohjolaan d the men fromK alevalaat
thes ea.T he Sampos anki ntot hes eaa nd wentt o pieces.S o at least
thatp rovest hati t couldn ote ntirely habveee nm adeo f wood.A lso
accordintgo the Kalevala-epitch e wavesw asheda shores omep ieces
of the Sampoa roundt he world and the hero vainam�inetnr iedt o
collectth em.
Is thiss ea-adventusroem ehowc onnectewdi th the fact that the
Templartso okt heiro wn valuablesi,. e.p ossiblBya phomeatn do ther
treasuresa,n dt ransportetdh emt o La Rochelleo r someo therp lace
to be shippeda way,s o thatt he Frenchk ingP hilipt he Fairc ouldnt'
get holdo f them.M aybet he Kalevalai s tellingu s thatt he Sampo
(=them anna-machinies) n owa t theb ottomo f thes ea or perhaps some
pieceso f it ares cattereadr oundt hew orldi n some secreth iding
placesw,h ichp erhapsw ere importantp laces to the Templarasn d
whichm ightb e importantto theh eirs of them, especiallyt o the
Freemasonasn d the RosicrucianSso. m aybew e shouldn ot try to find
a wholem anna-machibnuet insteadso mep articleosf it possiblfyr om
the relicso f the ChristianJ,e wisho r Muslims hrineso r fromo ther
holyp laces.
References:
(1) 1985.
Ka1eval(a,Finnishe dition)M.i kkeli
1989.
The Kalevala(,t ranslatbeyd KeithB osley)O.x ford
(2)
GeorgeT . Sassoona ndR odneyD ale,T heM anna-Machine.
1978.
London
George T. Sassooann d RodneyD ale,T heK abbalaDhe coded. .J
London1 978. ,I/
(3)
t Johanneusn d PeterF iebagD,i eE ntdeckundge s Grals.
1989.
Munchen
(4)M attiK lingeM,u inaisuutemmmeer ivallatK.e uruu1 983. j.. . 1 •
(c)K aleviM ikkonen
. ********************* ********* ************ ****************** ********
.:.• "'
1',
• I
. t ··'
A Kareliasni nger RistoT apionkaakima de thisp icturoef
the s..po in the year1 921T.he SBMpo ia depicted aa a
-.chanica!de vice.
5
RIAP:S OHBB ASICD ATA
I
ResearchI nstituteo n' AnomalouPsh enomen(aR IAPh)a s been
establisehd in 1992·b y the VERTICALA erospac CompanrI.t 1is an
independnet reseai�h body, aimeda t scieen tifisct udies in the
fields of bioastronomya nd non classical SBTI (Searcht or
-
Extraterrestrial Intelligence). The Institute makes its
invesitaationsi n strict conformityt o requirementso f the
scientiifc methoda nd in closec ollaboratiowni th theC IS Academy
of Cosmonuaticsa nd the Russian Acadeomfy S ciences.
-�· ·
As it is known, bioastronomy is an interdisciplinary
scientificf ield of research,a imed at search tor lite and
intelliaencei n the Universe.T his field involvesa ranae ot
scientifidci sciplinesw,i th astrophysicasn d cosmoloahyo ldinat he
central positiCoons.m ologyp rovides bioastrnoomy witht heoretical
justificatioonf modelso f the evolutioon f the Universfer om the
Big Bana tot he rise of life and intelliegnce; astrophysicasn d
··r adio astronomy provide it with methods of the search for
extrasolaprl anetarsyy stems and cosmicc ivilizations.T he latter
�
.,t aski s commonlyr eferredt o by the abbreviatioSnE TI. This is a
�
undametnal scientifipcr oblem,h avinga lonlp rehistory.B ut it
., ·
has been onlyi n the last years thats ophisticatedr adio
30
..,. a.st ronmoical equipmentc ame into being, which enabled real
experimentisn thisd omain. Theseh ave been mainly searchesf or.
·· .
repetitive sequenocfe s narrow-band radioor optical pulses
· .,.
transmtited (as the researchers hopfer)o m the outskirtso t Solar
likes tars. However,b y this time such attemptsh ave not been
successfu(lw hichm ade some authors concludet hat BT civilizations
do not exist.)
But is th.ic.sl assica.l.a pproach the only possible way of
the BTl we
quest?I t is hardlys o. In tact, cannotc onsciously
chooset he optimal SBTI strategyo nly on the basiso f purely
theoreticaclo nsideartions. Some alternative( or non-classical)
approachest o this problem may have even a greaterp otentialt han
the classicaslt rategy.
To increaset he likelihooodf successfusl olutioont thSeE TI
problem,i t is essentialt o supplementt he search tor interstellar
signals with the search for alien artifacts (space bases,
extraterrestriparlo bes,v arioust echnicadle vices, etc.,o r their
remnants) tihne SolarS ystem.O ne of the most promisinas itesf or
a search is the Moon. This atmosphere-fresea tellitei s, by
such
�its. v.e ry nature, a potential. r.e serve" of possiblet races of
extraterrestrivails itationosv er a periodo f severalb illionso f
years.E vent hougha t presentt herea re no activeE T deviceso n the
Moon,t he veryl ong periodo f the .a.c cumulationo f trace.s. a llows
us to anticipatfei ndingt hem.O n the contraryi, f, aftere xtensive
exploratioonf the Lunars urface,t he absenceo f any ET traceso n
the Moon is ascertainedit, will imply that durinlt he last
billionso f yearsi ntelligent liifne the Galaxy has been (and
probablyi s) a veryr are phenomenon.
The Instituties carryingo ut the program. S.e arch for Alien
Artifactosn the Mo.o.n( SAAM).T his programi ncludes:
a) searchf or sunlight reflectionsf romf lat (mirror-like)
surfaceso f hypotheticaElT objects( e.g. reconnaissance devices
monitorintgh e Earth);
b) search for other assumed artificiale xtratrerestrail
phenomenoan the Lunasru rface;
T.S.V.P
.
.,
·..{�.. . ·:· i.
�),
., .• . �. "�f
. � .,� ' ..
·I'
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6
c) consideratioonf the possibilitoyf interaction betwteheen
terrestriaaln d extraterrestriacli vilizationosn the Moon;
d) simulatioonf probableE TI strategiefso r the Moon.
Thesei nvestigatioenmsp loyp hotographosf variousr egionso f
the Lunars urfacet aken from" Apollo"," LunarO rbiter","L una"a nd
"Zond"s pacecraft,a s well as the existingc atalogues of Lunar
TransientP henomena( LTP)a nd the datao btainedb y the networko f,
LTP observerst hat have been recentlys et up by the Institute
speciallfyo r this purpose.T he network invoaltv epsr esenta group
of competenotb serverisn Ukraine,R ussiaa nd Byelaruss.
The Institutes taffc onsistso f RIAP Fellows- the scientsits
and scholars,p ermanently employedb y the Institute,a nd RIAP
ContributinFge llows,w ho artee mporarilye ngaiedu nderc ontracts.
They are distinguishesdp ecialistisn physics,a stronomyh,i story,
psychologya,n d othedri sciplines.
The ScientifiCco uncila nd AdvisoryB oard ot the Institute
includes uch Russiana nd Ukrainiasnp ecialistisn the SETIf ielda s
A.V.Arkhipo(vr adio astronomerw ho has discoveresdu pposedB Tl
radio sources near some distant starDsr)., V.N.Fomneko
(invesitgatoro f the famousV ashkaf ind, as well as others upposed.
ET artifacts), Dr. L.M.Gindilis( astronomearn d SETIe xpert),D r.
Yu.V.Platov( Vice-Chairmaont the AcademicR esearchG roup on:
'
AnomalousP henomena)D,r . A.D.Ursul( Presidenotf the CIS Acadeym
of Cosmonatuics), Dr. A.V.Zoltoov (investigator ot the.
Tunguskae xplosoin), and others.D r. V.V.Rubtsovh as been appoin��d
the Directoro f the Institute.
�
RIAP is starting two special periodicals:j ournl
"Anoaalisticasn d Astronomy" (iRnu ssian) and newsletter" RIAP
Bulletin"( in English), as well as non-periodical" RIAP-�
Proceedings... '· ·
budget of Institutei s formed from subsidieso f
The the
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organizationsg;r ants an d donations.T hanks to the VERTCIAL.
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the Ukrainianc urrency,w hat enabled the beginninogf its resea�cb
activitiesH.o wever,s ome (limitedi n the number, but importar)i t
equipmentm,a terialsa nd servicesm ay be obtainedh ere mainloyi
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