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{{short description|Goddess in the Kalevala epic}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Robert Wilhelm Ekman - Ilmatar - A II 1256 - Finnish National Gallery.jpg|thumb|''Ilmatar'' by [[Robert Wilhelm Ekman]], 1860]]
'''Ilmatar''' ({{IPA|fi|ˈilmɑtɑr|pron}}) is a virgin spirit and goddess of the air in the Finnish national [[Epic poetry|epic]] ''[[Kalevala]]''.<ref>Lönnrot, Elias, compiler. ''The Kalevala: Epic of the Finnish People''. Translated by Eino Friberg. Otava Publishing Company, Ltd., 4th ed., p. 365. (1998) {{ISBN|951-1-10137-4}}</ref>

==Origins==
The name Ilmatar is derived from the Finnish word ''ilma'', meaning "air," and the female suffix ''-tar'', corresponding to the English "-ess". Thus, her name means ''Airess''. In the Kalevala she was also occasionally called '''Luonnotar''' ({{IPA|fi|ˈluo̯nːo̞t̪ɑr}}), which means "Naturess," "female spirit of nature" (Finnish ''luonto'', "nature").<ref>Lönnrot, Elias, compiler. ''The Kalevala, or Poems of the Kaleva District: A Prose Translation with Foreword and Appendices''. Translated with foreword and appendices by Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963.</ref>

She was impregnated by the sea and wind and thus became the mother of [[Väinämöinen]].

Ilmatar does not appear connected to the [[Baltic Finnic creation myths|creation of the world]] in [[Finnish mythology]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pulkkinen |first1=Risto |last2=Lindfors |first2=Stina |date=2016 |title=Suomalaisen kansanuskon sanakirja |publisher=Gaudeamus |isbn=978-952-495-405-1 |pages=188–189 }}</ref> In [[runic song]]s, the name only appears in one collected [[White Karelia]]n poem in reference to the [[Kave (Finnish mythology)|oldest of women]]. In a rare [[Ostrobothnia (historical province)|Ostrobothnian]] runic song, it is said that the one who gave birth to Väinämöinen was the Maiden of North (''Pohjan neito''). This is the runic song basis for Lönnrot's Ilmatar as the feminine birther of the world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Siikala |first=Anna-Leena |date=2012 |title=Itämerensuomalaisten mytologia |location=Helsinki |publisher=Finnish Literature Society |isbn=978-952-222-393-7 |page=220 }}</ref> In [[Ladoga Karelia]], the one who gives birth to Väinämöinen is either Iro (Saint Irene) or Maaria ([[Virgin Mary]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Siikala |first=Anna-Leena |date=2012 |title=Itämerensuomalaisten mytologia |location=Helsinki |publisher=Finnish Literature Society |isbn=978-952-222-393-7 |page=287}}</ref>

[[File:Joseph Alanen - Ilmatar.jpg|thumb|''Ilmatar'' by {{ill|Joseph Alanen|fi}}, 1913–1916]]

==Sibelius’s ''Luonnotar''==
{{Main article|Luonnotar (Sibelius)}}
{{Inappropriate tone|date=May 2024}}
[[Jean Sibelius]] composed the Finnish epic [[tone poem]] ''[[Luonnotar (Sibelius)|Luonnotar]]'', for soprano and orchestra in 1913. In this work, the mythical origin of the land and sky (recounted in verses from the ''[[Kalevala]])'' becomes an intense [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelian]] metaphor for the inexorable force of terror of all creation. Considered to be one of the composer's most compelling works, it alternates between two musical themes. As heard at the outset, these are the shimmering stirrings of ever-growing possibility; and, underpinned with dissonant, static, harp strokes, the even more incantatory, distressed cries of the "nature spirit" (''Luonnotar'') herself, heavy with child.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

==Homage==
* ''[[Ilmatar (album)|Ilmatar]]'' is an album by the Finnish band [[Värttinä]], released in 2000. Its theme was inspired by the goddess's origin-story in the ''Kalevala'' and similar Finnish folk-lore and magic.
* The [[Main Belt]] [[asteroid]] [[385 Ilmatar]] is named after the goddess.
* In the book ''[[The Quantum Thief]]'', members of a humanoid race living in the [[Oort cloud]] sometimes pray to Kuutar and Ilmatar.
*[https://www.amazon.com/dp/1704341981/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_HLA0DbRTT81AF Tales Eldelórne trilogy by Karleigh Bon, book one], introduces Ilmatar as the "womb of their gods, where immortal elves are reborn". 2014-2019
* One of the protagonists of the [[anime]] ''[[Strike Witches]]'', Finnish aviator Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen, shares part of her name with that of the goddess.
* Two [[passenger liner]]s of the now-defunct [[Finland Steamship Company]] were named after the goddess: the {{SS|Ilmatar}} of 1929 and the {{MS|Ilmatar}} of 1964.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{deity-stub}}
{{Kalevala}}

[[Category:Finnish goddesses]]
[[Category:Sky and weather goddesses]]
[[Category:Characters in the Kalevala]]