Tharapita or Taara is the god of war in Estonian mythology. The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia mentions Tharapita as superior god of Oeselians (inhabitants of Saaremaa island) which was also well known to Vironian tribe in Northern Estonia. According to the chronicle, when crusaders invaded Vironia in 1220, there was a beautiful wooded hill in Vironia, where locals believe Oeselian god Tharapita was born and flown from there to Saaremaa. The hill is believed to be Ebavere Hill in Lääne-Viru County. It is usually associated with Scandinavian god Thor and interpreted as "Thor, help!" (Taara avita in Estonian). Other interpretations are "Thor the Thunderbolt" (Taara pitkne) or "Thor (is) great" (Taara pika). Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia (Latvian: Indrika hronikas, Latin: Heinrici Cronicon Lyvoniae) is a historic document describing the history of Latvia and Estonia from 1180 to 1227. ... Map of the Estonian archipelago (Saaremaa and Hiiumaa) Saaremaa (Swedish and German Ösel) is the largest island belonging to Estonia. ... Centuries: 12th century - 13th century - 14th century Decades: 1170s 1180s 1190s 1200s 1210s - 1220s - 1230s 1240s 1250s 1260s 1270s Years: 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219 - 1220 - 1221 1222 1223 1224 1225 See also: 1220 state leaders The world in 1220 Middle Ages in Europe Fifth Crusade (1217-1221) Events Mongols... Lääne-Viru County, Western Virumaa or Western Vironia (Estonian: Lääne-Viru maakond or Lääne-Virumaa) is a County or maakond of Estonia. ... This article is about Thor, the god of Norse mythology. ...

Tharapita seems to be known also among the Slavs of the island of Rugen, where Danish crusaders destroyed pagan idol named Turupit in 1168. Rügen (Polish Rugia) is the largest German island. ... Events December 22 - Afraid that Old Cairo would be captured by the Crusaders, its Caliph orders the city set afire. ...

The "flight from Vironia to Saaremaa" is sometimes associated with a major meteor disaster that formed lake Kaali in Saaremaa. One proponent of theories about meteor flight and its consequences was Lennart Meri, the president of Estonia 1992–2001, who has written several books about the subject. However, the studies of Kaali meteorite site have not confirmed the meteor event was recent enought to be preserved in the folklore. Lennart Georg Meri (born March 29, 1929), is a writer who served as president of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. ...

In later Estonian folklore, Tharapita is known as Taara or Tooru. Worship of Thor in Estonia was well known. After medieval chronicles, Estonians did not work on Thursdays (days of Thor). Thurdays nights were called "evenings of Tooru ". Some sources say Estonians used to gather in Holy woods (Hiis) in Thurdsay evenings where bagpipe player was sitting on stone and played while people danced and sang until the dawn.

The variations similar to the name "Thor" are known to many Finno-Ugrian. Khants have a god named Torum, Samis have Turms, Samoyed Tere. Finnish bishop Mikael Agricola mentions 1551 a war god Turisas. These deities are associated with Finno-Ugrian word meaning "high". It is suggested that Germanic god Thor himself may be a loan from Finno-Ugrians. Geographical distribution of Finno-Ugric (Finno-Permic in blue, Ugric in green). ... Khants (obsolete: Yugra, Ostyaks) are an endangered ethnic group calling themself Khanti, Khande, Kantek (Khanty), living in the autonomous region Khantia-Mansia in Russian Federation, together with Mansi peoples. ... Sami flag The Sami people (there are other names and spellings including Sámi, Saami and Lapp) are an indigenous people of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia, covering a total area in the Nordic countries corresponding to the size of Sweden. ... Samoyed may refer to: the Samoyed, an obsolete name of Nenets people of Siberia. ... Mikael Agricola Mikael Agricola (c. ... Events Russia, Reforming Synod of the metropolite Macaire, Orthodoxy: introduction of a calendar of the saints and an ecclesiastical law code ( Stoglav ) Major outbreak of the sweating sickness in England. ... This article is about Thor, the god of Norse mythology. ...

Tharapitha is also inspired a Estonian neopagan movement, known as taaralased or taarausulised. In the middle of 19th century, Taara became popular among national movement. From that period, Estonian second biggest city Tartu is poetically called "Taaralinn" (city of Taara). Neopaganism (sometimes Neo-Paganism, meaning New Paganism) is a heterogeneous group of religions which attempt to revive ancient, mainly European pre-Christian religions. ... Image of Tartu street Tartu (German, Polish Dorpat, Russian Юpьeв Yuryev) is the second largest city of Estonia, with its population of 101,246 (the Population Census data is from 2000) in an area of 38. ...