For the ripening of the barley,
For the richness of the Northland,
For the joy of Kalevala."
Thus is the cuckoo looked upon as a prophetic bird, or perhaps a mediator between the man and his gods.
The woodpecker is another sacred bird of "The Kalevala." In that epic he is not directly named, perhaps, because he was so very sacred, but the minor wood god, Nyyrikki, upon whom Lemminkainen calls in his distress to help him track the elk, is, like his father, Tapio, evidently a survival of Pikker, the woodpecker.
O Nyyrikki, mountain hero,
Son of Tapio of forests,
Hero with the scarlet headgear,
Notches make along the pathway,
Landmarks upward on the mountain,