This episode covers the creation myths of the Hungarian, Sami, and Romanians of Europe. To put that into perspective, we cover tales from the lands of Hungary, parts of Sweden, Norway, Russia, and Finland, and of course, Romania and Moldova. The first two tales are of the Hungarian and the Sami peoples, who are a part of the Finno-Ugric language family that also includes the Fins and Karelians of Russia. We cover their creation story in episode 18 of the series. It's a rather interesting tale - recounted from the first two runes of Finnish national epic - the Kalevala.

Our first tale is of the Hungarians. The origin of Hungarians is a matter of debate. Owing to their linguistic proximity to other Finno-Ugric languages, they are generally believed to have originated from the Ural Mountains, Western Siberia or Middle Volga. In fact, until rather recently, were considered to be directly related to the Huns. This theory has, however, been debunked. Interestingly, the first written version of the Hungarian creation myth is contained in a book titled "The Deeds of the Huns and Hungarians, and dates back to 1282 A.D. 

This and the later versions of the Hungarian creation myth, including the one recounted here, were collected and formed a part of the Hungarian mythology, which came to be known as the Saga and Legend of the Stag. It was compiled by the Hungarian ethnographer and linguist, Adorjan Magyar. 

The second story is of the Sami. The Sami or the Lapp people have inhabited northern Europe for at least two thousand five hundred years. They are a part of the Finno-Ugric family, with their homeland consisting of parts of Sweden, Norway, Russia, and Finland. We have covered the Finnish creation myth in episode 18 of the series, which is recounted from their national epic, the Kalevala. The creation myth of the Sami has a similar tale, which, for reasons that will be clear as you hear the story, is aptly titled, "Son of the Sun". It speaks not only of how the world came to be but of the travels of the Son as he sought to bring mankind into the world. This then is the Sami tale of our origin.

The final story of the episode is the Romanian creation myth. Now the origin of the Romanian people and their languages are a subject of longstanding debate. The seemingly popular theory suggests that the cultural and linguistic intermixing that happened during the second century A.D., including the wars between Rome and the Dacian people, who were inhabitants of Southwestern Europe. Romanians emerged out of this intermixing, and make up the majority population of Romania and Moldova.

Others dispute the Roman influence and suggest the origin of the Romanians from a post-Roman evolution of the Balkan Nomads. Over time, Romanians have developed intriguing and very impressive mythology. Their stories have been the source of inspiration for many writers and thinkers all over the world. One variation of their creation myth involves a duality that existed at the very beginning. This duality is represented as Firtat, or brother, who is also thought of as God; and Nefirtat or NonBrother sometimes called the devil. 

The second story speaks of a creator God, who enlists the help of animals, in this case, a mole, to create the world. Let's begin with the first story - the tale of Firtat and Nefirtat. 

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The music used for the episodes are either free to use, or under creative commons license. Below are their links and attributions:

Ghost Dance by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100573

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Wave in the Atmosphere

Artist: Dan Lebowitz

Source: YouTube Audio Library

A Face in a Cloud

Artist: Nathan Moore

Source: YouTube Audio Library

Baskets in the Sky

Artist: William Rosati

Source: YouTube Audio Library

Night Snow

Artist: Asher Fulero

Source: YouTube Audio Library

Aretes by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100325

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Upside Down

Artist: Text Me Records

Source: YouTube Audio Library

Mist

Artist: Odonis Odonis

Source: YouTube Audio Library

Minor With Cricket by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Overcome

Artist: Ugonna Onyekwe

Source: YouTube Audio Library