Facing the sunrise,
life returned to these dead bones,
again and again.
Grandfather of the Woods
30" x 30" oils on canvas
I was arrested by the image of the bear's skull, after his slaying and ritual feasting, being placed in a sacred tree facing east, the direction of rebirth. A simple equation.

As the Master of the Animals in many of the northern cultures, the bear was immanent in the seasonal cycles, such as the spring migration of the reindeer shown here.

You can read more about the circumpolar bear cult in The Historical Atlas of World Mythology, Volume 1: The Way of the Animal Powers by Joseph Campbell.

OTSO THE HONEY-EATER

Thither I have taken Otso,
To the summit of the Gold-hill,
To the copper-bearing mountain,
Laid him in his silken cradle
In the summit of a pine-tree,
Where the winds and sacred branches
Rock him to his lasting slumber,
To the pleasure of the hunter,
To the joy of man and hero.
To the east his lips are pointing,
While his eyes are northward looking;
But dear Otso looks not upward,
For the fierceness of the storm-winds
Would destroy his sense of vision."

Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Touched again his harp of joyance,
Sang again his songs enchanting,
To the pleasure of the evening,
To the joy of morn arising.
Spake the singer of Wainola:
"Light for me a torch of pine-wood,
For the darkness is appearing,
That my playing may be joyous
And my wisdom-songs find welcome."

Then the ancient sage and singer,
Wise and worthy Wainamoinen,
Sweetly sang and played, and chanted,
Through the long and dreary evening,
Ending thus his incantation:
"Grant, O Ukko, my Creator,
That the people of Wainola
May enjoy another banquet
In the company of Light-foot;
Grant that we may long remember
Kalevala's feast with Otso!

"Grant, O Ukko, my Creator,
That the signs may guide our footsteps,
That the notches in the pine-tree
May direct my faithful people
To the bear-dens of the woodlands;
That great Tapio's sacred bugle
May resound through glen and forest;
That the wood-nymph's call may echo,
May be heard in field and hamlet,
To the joy of all that listen!
Let great Tapio's horn for ages
Ring throughout the fen and forest,
Through the hills and dales of Northland
O'er the meadows and the mountains,
To awaken song and gladness
In the forests of Wainola,
On the snowy plains of Suomi,
On the meads of Kalevala,
For the coming generations."

excerpt from Runo XLVI of The Kalevala,
The Epic Poem of Finland,
trans. John Martin Crawford (1888)