Peijainen

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In Finland, Peijainen is the ritual burial of a bear that has been communally brought down and has died. A bear was never "hunted"; it was merely brought down. A single man could claim to have hunted and killed a bear, but in a community effort, the bear simply died. The ceremony was always a much more elaborate affair than the most influential member of the community would have merited. In eastern Finland it would have copious mourners and wailers, and the people would address the bear as a relative or as the son of a god. Its flesh was not eaten — that would have been cannibalism — or, if it was, an elaborate show was made to symbolically render the meat into that of another animal, e.g venison. The bear's head was usually mounted on the top of a young tree, or on a pike. Carrion-eaters would then eat it, leaving only the skull, which would then become an object of veneration. A courtyard would also be cleared around the skull. Traditionally, only bears were sanctified thus.

Sometimes the ceremony was held as a sacred marriage rather than a burial. In such cases the bear was either propped up inside a frame, or strapped to a cross, and the chosen bride would with all due ceremony marry the bear.

Nowadays 'peijaiset'(plural) usually means the festivities ending a successful hunt or hunting season (usually only for moose and bear). On many occasions these include making a meal of the latest kill for hunters in the evening.