Finno-Karelian Mythology

The goal of the thesis is to provide new approaches for the interpretation of the elaborate Finnish and Karelian bear ceremonial’s songs, which were intensively collected in the 19th Century and in the early 20th Century. The study aims to furnish a better understanding of the meanings of the ceremonial taking in consideration the context of folk beliefs at the time. The chapters will cover all the ritual phases, adapting the classic Hallowell’s typology to the Finno-Karelian case. However, each chapter aims to provide some answers to the main research questions. Why did the bear hunt require such a complex ritualized reciprocity? How were the passages of borders between the village and the forest ritualized? How and why were the forest, its spirits and the bruin personalized? Why do many Bear Songs contain references to wedding songs? How did the Christian faith and the rich cattle holders’ beliefs communicate with the hunter’s rituals, forming a historically stratified tradition? The study reveals that the vernacular definitions of the bear’s personhood changed often in the ritual phases: it was the offspring of the forest spirits or a hunter’s relative; a bride or a groom; a boy or a respected elder. On a general level, the bear had a shifting double identity: it was strictly bounded to the family of the forest spirits, but at the same time the hunter emphasized its human features to make the ritual communication easier and to transform the bruin into the guest of honor of the village feast, in which the bear meat was consumed. The hunter’s self could also change in the ritual: in the songs, he presented himself as a mighty man protected by mythic iron belts and shirts; as a handsome and mimetic seducer of female forest spirits, or as a humble orphan who needed their guidance. During the feast, the roles of the women toward the bear also varied: the mistress warmly welcomed the bruin as a guest or groom, but the women were also guided to protect the cattle. The landscapes acquired mythic features and they could be presented as welcoming or dangerous. These apparently kaleidoscopic changes followed a precise ritual logic: they were elaborate rhetorical devices to make the 'guests' – the bruin and the forest spirits – behave or react in certain ways in different ritual phases and to influence their perception of the hunters’ actions.

The myth or tale of the theft of the thunder-instrument from the thunder-god by his adversary (ATU 1148b) is encountered almost exclusively in the Circum-Baltic.  It is found in Germanic, Sámic, Finnic and Baltic cultures.  It is otherwise only encountered in one early Greek source of questionable cultural provenance.  This paper reviews the evidence of the tradition in different cultures, with a critical reassessment of the Germanic traditions, which have often been given priority.  ATU 1148b will be addressed as a Circum-Baltic phenomenon.  The paper approaches the distinct forms of ATU 1148b in each culture’s traditions in relation as reflecting socio-historical processes.  Emphasis is given to patterns of social use and how these are conditioned by relationships to other traditions and conceptions in each cultural milieu.  The evolution of the tradition into its various forms is considered the result of a long and dynamic process of interaction between cultures.  This development makes it unreasonable to attribute the Circum-Baltic traditions and forms exclusively to either Finno-Ugric or Indo-European traditions.  It is proposed that ATU 1148b is best approached as a Circum-Baltic phenomenon and representative of a Circum-Baltic mythology which is dependent on historical processes of linguistic-cultural interaction and exchange.  It is proposed that the concentration of ATU 1148b across diverse cultures in the Circum-Baltic is at least partially attributable to the maintenance of corresponding mythic narratives in adjacent cultures.  This explanation would find parallels in the persistence and form of genres (e.g. oral epic in Northern Europe) and stylistic priorities (e.g. alliteration in Northern Europe), which also appear to exhibit isoglosses related to cultural contact.

This paper explores the concept of ‘Circum-Baltic mythology’ as an outcome of long-term contacts between cultures in the Baltic Sea region. Regional variations in the mythology of a culture are approached as “dialects” and the mythologies of cultures of the Baltic Sea region are approached as “macro-dialects” with both shared features and differences. Case studies mentioned in the title are presented to illustrate different types of contact-based developments in these macro-dialects of mythology.

The orientation of this study is to explore what the sources for each narrative tradition can (and cannot) tell us about their respective histories, in order to reach a point at which it becomes possible to discuss a relationship between them and the significance of that relationship. This is not intended as an exhaustive study of every element of each source or every aspect of each tradition. It will present a basic introduction to sources for each tradition ( §3-4) followed by a basic context for approaching the possibility of a cultural exchange ( §5-7). The APE and its "powers" are introduced with specific examples from both traditions ( §8-13). This will be followed by sections on the activation and manipulation of "identities" from the level of cultural figures to textual and extra-textual entities ( §14-16) followed by relationships of traditions to individuals and social groups who perform them, and the impact which this has on the evolution of tradition as a social process ( §17-18). The study will then address more specific issues in relationships between source and application in the medieval and iconographic representations of the Baldr-Cycle where so little comparative material is available to provide a context ( §19).

In this article, I introduce the terms and concepts semantic correlation and semantic disambiguation as tools for examining aspects of mythological thinking that interface with the lexicon. Semantic correlation describes a phenomenon whereby the name of the god and of the phenomenon become the same. In other words, a change in the theonym affects a change in the common noun or vice versa. In a culture where semantic correlation is a basic principle of mythological thinking, theonym and noun co-vary so that the god ‘Thunder’ is always called the same thing as ‘thunder’, the god ‘Sky’ and phenomenon ‘sky’ are called the same thing, and so on. Semantic correlation reflects the iconicity of the god, which becomes built into the lexicon. Semantic disambiguation describes the change from a theonym and corresponding noun being the same to becoming lexically distinct: either the name of the god or the noun for the phenomenon change independent of the other. Semantic disambiguation is an indicator that the god is no longer iconic of a natural phenomenon per se: a god may be identified with the sky as a location or be identified as producing thunder by, for example, driving a chariot, but the agent does not converge with the phenomenon. Recognizing semantic disambiguation can be significant because it is an indicator of change in a fundamental principle of mythological thinking.

Discussion is organized in three case studies. The first is of Uralic sky-gods. This study by language family includes discussion of the development spread of a Finnic theonym Ilma-ri to Udmurt, Sámi and probably Chuvash, and also addresses the problem of Finnic juma-la ['god']. The second case study explores an isogloss of changes in the Mari and Mordvin branches of Uralic and the Baltic and Germanic branches of Indo-European, as well as probably an Indo-Iranian language which was in contact with Finnic as well as potentially other languages subsumed by Finnic language spread. In these languages, the inherited theonym 'Sky' disappears as does the corresponding noun, and in its place appears a common noun 'God' as a theonym. This process is proposed to derive from a spread of religious change that moved across languages, quite possibly already in the Bronze Age. The third case examines names of the thunder-god in the Circum-Baltic area, revealing an isogloss in which the theonym underwent semantic disambiguation in some, but not all, branches of Finnic, Germanic and Sámi languages.

Many readers may only be superficially familiar with the history of some of the languages discussed, and even readers familiar with these languages may not be aware of the transformations in understanding that have developed during the past decade in particular. In order to make the discussion accessible to a wider range of readers, information on the historical spread and change of these languages is introduced as it becomes relevant. Although the individual case studies may each stand on their own merits, the overarching aim here is to illustrate the phenomena of semantic correlation and disambiguation and to illustrate their value as tools for examining historical changes encoded in a lexicon.

Myth has become a fundamental frame of reference for Western thinking. This paper explores the term and category " myth " from the perspective of folklore studies, with concern for the use of myth as a tool in research. The ways in which myth has been used in both academic and popular discourses are discussed. These are viewed in a historical perspective against the backdrop of the origins of the modern term. Attention is given to how historical patterns of use have encoded " myth " with evaluative stance-taking, building an opposition of " us " versus " them " into myth as something " other people " have, in contrast to us, who know better. Discussion then turns to approaching myth as a type of story. The consequences of such a definition are explored in terms of what it does or does not include; the question of whether, as has often been supposed, myth is a text-type genre, is also considered. Discussion advances to aesthetic evaluation at the root of modern discussions of myth and how this background informs the inclination to identify myth as a type of story on the one hand while inhibiting the extension of the concept to, for example, historical events or theories about the world or its origins, on the other. Approaching myth as a type of modeling system is briefly reviewed—an approach that can be coupled to viewing myth as a type of story. Finally, discussion turns to the more recent trend of approaching mythology through mythic discourse, and the consequences as well as the benefits of such an approach for understanding myth in society or religion. There are many different ways to define myth. The present article explores how different approaches are linked to one another and have been shaped over time, how our definition of myth and the way we frame the concept shape our thinking, and can, in remarkably subtle ways, inhibit the reflexive application of the concept as a tool to better understand ourselves.

This article addresses a historical transformation in Finno-Karelian mythology of kalevalaic poetry (which provided the basis for the national epic Kalevala).  The transformation is addressed in long-term perspective, focusing on the discontinuities from a Finno-Ugric heritage.  It addresses several strata of development in terms of 'ethnocultural substrata' (see Papers on Theory, Method and Tools).  These include stratified developments evident in the lexicon of the mythology; evidence of a Circum-Baltic narrative cycle connected with the spread of iron-working technology; and concentrates on the revolution in the mythology associated with a language-based technology of incantations, which included conceptual models of the body incompatible with inherited shamanism.  Discussion centers on the mythological cycle associated with the mysterious object called sammas/sampo, looking at the historical backgrounds of the material and its transformation in the emergence of this mythological cycle.  These transformations are considered in relation to the restructuring of the mythology and its relationship to the new category of ritual specialist associated with the technology of incantations.

This paper overlaps with "Shamans, Christians, and Things in between", which is oriented to medievalists and especially Germanic scholars and discusses processes and implications of synthesis of the tradition and its spread over a large geographical area, displacing other forms of Finnic mythology and also the Sámi mythology of linguistically assimilated populations.  This paper also overlaps with "Evolution, Revolution and Ethnocultural Substrata", which concentrates on the Uralic sky-gods in long-term perspective and what happened to the inherited models in Finnic cultures.

The Case of syndyzet and spuassuzet * T his paper approaches the intersection of "mythic images" and poetic "register" through the examples of syndyzet 1 and spuassuzet 2 and their semantic fields as encountered in Karelian laments. The term syndyzet (diminutive plural derived from synty ['origin, birth, emergence']) reveals conceptions of the otherworld as a realm of the dead and its inhabitants, and is also related to divine powers. Spuassuzet (diminutive plural derived from Russian Spas, Spasitel' (Спас, Спаситель) ['Saviour']) was a parallel term which was partly synonymous with syndyzet in Karelian laments. These terms are found in laments performed in different ritual and non-ritual contexts, where they exhibit interrelated fields of meaning. The prominence of syndyzet in the Karelian lament tradition has led this term and concept to be mentioned by many researchers. However, it was only exceptionally given special attention, and the focused discussions were often problematized by limited perspectives on the corpus of laments, challenges of penetrating the circumlocution of the lament register, and/or attempting to approach laments in isolation without consideration of other genres and ethnographic materials.

Rus.
В монографии выявляются повторяющиеся у разных исполнительниц в разных по адресату оплакивания текстах элементы и детали предметного мира похоронных и поминальных плачей. При всей импровизационности жанра, изобразительные элементы мифопоэтики находят  устойчивое в этнопоэтической традиции словесное выражение. Повторяющиеся элементы текстуры образуют этнопоэтические константы, которые при выявлении и систематизации отнесены к сферам: изображение гроба и надмогильных сооружений как жилища покойного; ландшафт, элементы интерьера и фантастические обитатели загробного мира с их устойчивыми признаками и функциями; орнитологическая символика, фигуративные уподобления судьбы и переживаний утраты Эго погодным явлениям и растительности.

Engl
The Candles of the Tuonela: Verbal descripiptivity of the Karelian-Finnish Laments over Dead.

There in the study stereotypic elements of the lament fictive world are revealed, appealing in diverse laments by different female wailers, who address different relatives and family members in the ritual situation. Although a great content of improvisation is typical of the lament genre, descriptive elements of the mythic poetics represent verbal stereotypes. Repeated elements of the texture constitute ethnopoetic constants, that are revealed and arranged according to thematic spheres, such as the description of the coffin and the grave as the apartment of the deceased, the Other world with its landscape and interior and fantastic inhabitants with their constant features and roles; ornithological symbolic, decorative metaphors for the destiny and deprivation of the Ego, referring to weather and flora.

Original article in English (2014) published in the bilingual anthology Kalevala: Epica, Magia, Arte e Musica / Kalevala: Epic, Magic, Art and Music (ed. by Piludu and Frog, 2014, VociFuoriscena-Viterbo). Proceeding of the bilingual scientific seminar "Kalevala: Epica, Magia, Arte e Musica / Kalevala: Epic, Magic, Art and Music" (2012, Bottenicco di Moimacco & Cividale del Friuli, Udine) organized by Kalevalaseura (Kalevala Society), Associazione Sergio Gaggia and many other Finnish and Italian institution to celebrate the centenary of Kalevalaseura.

This paper looks at the imaginal identification of features in the naturally occurring landscape with sites in the mythic world when situating ritual performance.  It addresses relationships between visual and verbal aspects of performance in the rites of the tietäjä, a Finno-Karelian ritual specialist, recorded in Archangel Karelia. The focus is on the manipulation of motifs in the activation of mythic images which utilize features of the natural landscape. It will take a ‘thick corpus’ approach, attempting to contextualize these rites and their symbols as much as possible within broader systems of cultural activity. Two examples of ‘power’ gathering (luonto-raising) rites are addressed in detail. The discussions of these examples consider their relationships to ‘tradition’ on the one hand and the understanding of the informant on the other.

Nuova versione riveduta e corretta dell'articolo pubblicato nel 2014 (versione bilingue) e 2015 (versione italiana). La nuova versione del 2021 è pressoché identica nei contenuti, ma ci sono delle piccole variazioni, per esempio alcune correzioni e nuove note editoriali.

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the constructions of indigenous identity in relation to resource extraction in two regions of Russia. The research concentrates on two case studies: Veps in Karelia (Northwestern Russia) and Soiots in Buriatia (South-Central Siberia). Both indigenous minorities have historical ties with mining industry including diabase and quartzite in Karelia and graphite and jade in Buriatia. The changes of post-Soviet period such as the closure of state mining enterprises in Karelia and the boost of industrial development, including informal mining, in Buriatia had impact on the articulations of indigeneity in both case studies. The dissertation shows that indigenous status recognition in post-Soviet Karelia and Buriatia is closely connected to having larger control over land and resources. To retain this control, community members need to construct their indigenous identities in the firm terms defined by Russian law. At the same time, local connections to land and resources in Karelia and Buriatia influence the character of indigenous claims and question the established state narratives, e.g. through engagement in informal mining activities. Strong ties of Veps with the stoneworking industry, as well as the sacrality of landscape in Soiot and Oka Buriat culture influence the formation of resource identities which are based on local resources and become an additional resource themselves. The research demonstrates that the relations between indigenous communities and mining may go beyond the established dichotomies of “traditional” versus “industrial” or “indigenous person” versus “mining worker.” The dissertation produces a thorough analysis of the links between the construction of resource and the construction of indigenous subject. It contributes to the general scope of studies focusing on indigenous peoples and extractive businesses in the post-Soviet space. It is envisaged that the research will contribute to the practices of negotiations between indigenous residents and extractive industries in Russia.

This paper explores the use of theonyms as personal names in medieval and post-medieval Finland and Karelia. It examines two groups of theonyms (best known today as 'heroes' of the epic Kalevala) in uses for living people in pre-modern Finland and Karelia: Ilmarinen, Väinämöinen, and Joukahainen, and Lemminkäinen, Kaukomieli/Kaukomoinen, and Ahti. The long-term continuity of the naming practice is discussed in terms local ideologies competing with the Church-authorized stance toward vernacular gods as "pagan". Naming practices exhibit marked variation along and east/west divide, with 16th–17th century evidence of theonyms as personal epithets in Savo and Karelia and 19th-century evidence of ritual specialists being called the 'god' of their village in the west. The word jumala 'god' is shown, however, to have referred to a category of agency rather than 'divinity' in the modern sense, and its usage for living ritual specialist is found across these language areas.

Il presente scritto si propone come obiettivo l’analisi e la traduzione di alcuni testi poetici di Aleksis Kivi, padre del romanzo finlandese. Nel primo capitolo viene descritto brevemente il contesto letterario e vengono presentati alcuni autori di spicco dell’epoca. In seguito è invece analizzata la produzione poetica di Kivi, accompagnata da un commento personale teso a illustrare le principali tematiche e le particolarità stilistiche dell’autore. Particolare attenzione viene prestata alle interazioni tra gli elementi di innovazione delle poesie d’amore e le componenti tradizionali che rimandano alla mitologia ugro-finnica. Questa compresenza dà vita a una poetica profondamente originale e rinnovata, in contrasto con gli scritti dei contemporanei.

Originally this low-budget book was written to form part of a series of studies (Skrifter) from the Department of Finnish at the University of Copenhagen, aiming at strengthening the position of Finnish studies. It was complemented a few years later by an anthology of linguistic articles on Finnish and the Finno-Ugric languages, John Lind & Olli Nuutinen (eds.), Det finske sprogs rødder: artikler om finsk og den finsk-ugriske sprogfamilie (Finsk Afdelings skrifter 4, 1992)

This upload is prompted by the misguided decision a month ago (April 2016) by the Danish government to force the University to abolish a number of smaller language studies at the University, including Finnish. The rationale of the authorities being, it seems, that it suffices for Danes to understand and express themselves in English, even though our faith in our ability in this field is wildly exaggerated as demonstrated by the poor performance by our present prime minister at the COP 15 in Copenhagen 2009: https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/video-uheldige-loekke-se-sagerne-gennem-aarene.

Basically the book is about the cultural and political history of the Finnish language in a broad sense with a natural emphasis on the ‘Language Strife’ (Kieliriita) from the mid-19th century up to the present day. This strife divided the politically active, culturally conscious and mainly Swedish speaking upper class in Finland, when a substantial number of this upper class, known as Fennomans, decided to abandon their Swedish mother tongue and adopt the language of the mainly Finnish speaking peasantry. This was a deliberate attempt to create a new uniform ‘nationality’ based on the Finnish language, which, it was thought, would serve to strengthen resistance against Russian influence after Finland in 1809 had been ceded by Sweden to Russia. Those who refused to abandon their Swedish mother tongue became known as Svecomans. From then on the language strife has been a dominant feature of Finnish history and culture, even though, for a short period towards the end of the 19th century, the strife abated when a section of the Fennomans (known as Young Finns) joint forces with the Svecomans in resisting forced russification. In this manner the Language Strife has had a major impact on the formation of modern Finland.

The ‘venska’ and ‘vinska’ of the title reflects these linguistic facts, 1) that the first of two initial consonants in Finnish rendition of foreign words is dropped, hence ‘svenska’ > ‘venska’; 2) the sound ‘f’ does not form part of Finnish phonology, hence ‘finska’>’vinska’. That was how these two words could still be pronounced in the Finnish speaking countryside at the beginning of the 20th century.

As a historian/slavicist the topic was strictly speaking outside my academic field. Against such a background it may not surprise that the Scandinavist W. Glyn Jones gave the book a short but devastatingly negative review in The Slavonic and East European Review (1990, p 531-32). After correctly stating that “this book traces the development of Finnish, as the subtitle suggests, from the language of the common people to the official language and the vehicle of culture”, Jones went on to claim, “The foreword couples this admirable intent with an attempt to counter Danish misinterpretations of the difficulties encountered by Finns in discussions with Nordic colleagues. According to the author, these are often thought to result from one of the following: ‘(1) a conscious protest against using the Swedish language; (2) Finnish schools being inferior to Danish schools; or (3) Finns being either stupid or simple.’ This seems to be a curious basis on which to write a scholarly study”. To me, however, the itemising, construed as a quote from the book, looks like a typical strawman fallacy, because nowhere in the book are there any references to Danish schools or school system nor is there any insinuation anywhere on my part that Finns should be “either stupid or simple”, if anything, quite the contrary.

For a book of this nature, written in one of the smaller languages about another of the smaller languages, it was surprisingly widely reviewed. Thus Jones’ American Scandinavist colleague James E. Cathey gave a very different evaluation of the book in Scandinavian Studies (63 № 3 pp. 404–6, 1991/ http://www.jstor.org/stable/40919323). The book “seeks to remedy that lack [interest in and knowledge of Finnish and Finland] with this thorough and very readable external history of Finnish. By “external history” I mean that we are here presented with a cultural and political account of the long struggle for emergence and consolidation of Finnish as a modern language and of its gradual predominance over Swedish in Finland. … The book presents largely the same story as that found in such books as Matti Klinge's Runebergs två fosterland (1983), William A. Wilson's Folklore and Nationalism in Modern Finland (1976) or, for the later period, Pekka Kalevi Hämäläinen's In Time of Storm: Revolution, Civil War, and the Ethnolinguistic Issue in Finland (1979). Lind's book does more than any one of these, however, and gives a very thorough and readable history (in Danish) of the long, sometimes bitter, but ultimately healing struggle for supremacy between Swedish and Finnish and for Finland”.

Soon after its publication the Norwegian linguist Trond Trosterud with expert knowledge of both Scandinavian and Finno-Ugric languages in the region gave a detailed review on the internet (http://www.hum.uit.no/a/trond/vinska.html): ‘God bok om finsk ytre språkhistorie’ (Good book about the external history of Finnish). While deploring from a linguistic point of view that only ten out of 250 pages are devoted to the development of the Finnish language. Trosterud observes that the book displays a strong tendency towards interpreting data, asking whys and applying broader perspectives, … drawing personal conclusions. Also Trosterud stresses that my unconventional background and distance – also geographical – to the problem allows for a more balanced approach and to see the problem in a wider Scandinavian perspective. Thus Trosterud, with reference to my quote from a little known text (1855) by the prominent Norwegian historian Peter Andreas Munch (1810-63), who doubted that Finns were fit to adopt a higher culture like the Indo-European, sees that as a sad forewarning of the handling fifty years later of the Finnish minority population in northern Norway by Norwegian authorities.

It was, of course, most interesting to see if and how the book was received in Finland. Here Henrik Stenius, historian and specialist in popular movements, in Historisk Tidskrift för Finland (‘Finskhetsrörelsens historia fortfarande oskriven’ 1992: 77(2), 283-295) considered the book in a review article together with a large anthology on the history of the Fennoman Movement that appeared the same year (Herää Suomi. Suomalaisuusliikkeen historia – Wake up Finland. The History of the Fennoman Movement [Herää Suomi, being a catchphrase of the mid-19th century]). Here Stenius devoted the last couple of pages to Mellem "venska" og "vinska", which, although its topic was explicitly the position of Finnish language in its entire history, according to Stenius, nevertheless offered the more multifaceted picture of the Fennoman Movement (har den mångsidigare och intressantare bilden av finskhetsrörelsen); Stenius also found that the book presented interesting points, based fx on an ability to penetrate the minds of the Finnish militaries of the young republic and the situation of the students in the independent Finland (I rask fart tar han upp den ena frågan efter den andra, beledsagade med intressanta poänger, som ofta bygger på inlevelseförmåga … i de finska militärernas psyke i den unga republiken, i studenternas situation i det självständiga Finland ...).

The first and largest review to appear was, however, also the most surprising. On February 1 1990, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s main newspaper and by far largest newspaper in Scandinavia, both with regard to size and circulation, presented the publication of the book as a major event. Its appearance was signalled already on the front page of the News Section (Tanskalaistutkija arvioi uudestaan Suomen kieliriitoja), while in the Culture Section the linguist and expert on Finnish dialects Erkki Lyytikäinen on half a page over all six columns discussed the book under the title ‘The Language strife from hubris to reconciliation. A Danish scholar paints an uglier picture of the Fennoman movement compared to the Finnish view (Kieliriita uhosta sovintoon. Tanskalaistutkijan kuva fennomaniasta on rumempi kuin suomalaisten käsitys). Here Lyytikäinen critically discussed several points I made, but nevertheless found that the book despite differences in opinion was both ‘interesting, exiting, deserving all attention (… teos on mielenkiintoinen, jännittävä, kaiken huomion ansaitseva).

Since this upload was prompted by the decision to remove Finnish studies from the academic curriculum of Danish universities, it is worth quoting Lyytikäinen’s final paragraph. With reference to my acknowledgements in the preface, where I expressed my gratitude to the teachers of Finnish at the University, Olli Nuutinen and Tarja Soutkari, Lyytikäinen maintains, ‘both works as lectures in Finnish in Danish universities. The importance for Finnish culture of their work … is impossible to overestimate’ (… Heidän … työn merkitystä Suomen kulttuurille on mahdoton yliarvioida). This has now come to an end! A dire consequence of the removal of Finnish and a number of other language studies from the curricula of Danish universities may well be that Danish studies of linguistics on a sufficient scholarly level will die out. Certainly it will be impossible for a book like this to be written at a Danish university in the future.

A Finnish Academy Project of Folklore Studies, University of Helsinki.
Project leader: Professor Lotte Tarkka.
Research coordinator: Docent Frog.
Researcher: Doctor Karina Lukin.
Researcher: PhD Candidate Eila Stepanova.
Academic consultant: Academician Anna-Leena Siikala.

Il presente scritto si propone come obiettivo l’analisi e la traduzione di alcuni testi poetici di Aleksis Kivi, padre del romanzo finlandese. Nel primo capitolo viene descritto brevemente il contesto letterario e vengono presentati alcuni autori di spicco dell’epoca. In seguito è invece analizzata la produzione poetica di Kivi, accompagnata da un commento personale teso a illustrare le principali tematiche e le particolarità stilistiche dell’autore. Particolare attenzione viene prestata alle interazioni tra gli elementi di innovazione delle poesie d’amore e le componenti tradizionali che rimandano alla mitologia ugro-finnica. Questa compresenza dà vita a una poetica profondamente originale e rinnovata, in contrasto con gli scritti dei contemporanei.

This and another seminar-workshop provided the basis for a book, which has now appeared: Fibula, Fabula, Fact – The Viking Age in Finland, ed. Joonas Ahola & Frog with Clive Tolley (Studia Fennica Historica 18), Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society 2014 (516 pages).
http://www.academia.edu/10125680/Fibula_Fabula_Fact_-_The_Viking_Age_in_Finland_ed._Joonas_Ahola_and_Frog_with_Clive_Tolley_

Viikinkiaika Suomessa – The Viking Age in Finland is a collaborative interdisciplinary research project which undertakes to explore and assess the significance of the Viking Age for Finno-Karelian cultures and Finno-Karelian cultural areas.
The second seminar-workshop of the VAF projects was focused on contacts. Selected papers from the event will soon be appearing in a volume in English.

This paper examines the 'Blue Stone' (sininen kivi) mythic image in Finno-Karelian kalevalaic incantation traditions and their narrative historiolae.  It considers both synchronic variation in the tradition and also the potential long-term history behind it.  The discussion includes a concentrated comparison of an image system in a rare kalevalaic mythological narrative and in a power-gathering ritual of the specialist called a 'tietäjä' ['knower, one who knows'] with the corresponding image system in the Germanic tradition of Odin acquiring the mead of poetry. 

Work with ritual use of the 'blue stone' mythic image in synchronic perspective is found in "Do You See What I See?"; comparative work between Germanic and North Finnic mythological traditions is found in _Baldr and Lemminkäinen_ and concerning the institution of the tietäjä in "Confluence, Continuity and Change in the Evolution of Mythology".

This article examines the interaction of language in relation to metrical form in kalevalaic epic poetry. It presents and elaborates the concept of a linguistic multiform as a compositional framework and unit of expression that is distinguishable from an oral-poetic formula and operates according to different parameters of variation. Multiform theory provides a basis for addressing the conservatism and variation of kalevalaic epics.

Does anyone of you know where I can order a hardcopy from this book:

Ugrian heritage : West-Siberian antiquities from the collection of Urals University = [Ugorskoe nasledie : drevnosti Zapadnoĭ Sibiri iz sobraniĭ Uralʹskogo universiteta] A P Zykov; Uralʹskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ universitet im. A.M. Gorʹkogo. Yekaterinburg : [publisher not identified], ©1994.

Please reaction to: vikingsandartefacts@yahoo.com

Thank you.

Elias Lönnrotia on tavattu lainata aina itkuvirsien ymmärtämisen ja haltuunoton vaikeutta kuvattaessa. Lönnrot pyrki tallentamaan itkuja, joiden alkuperän arvioi suullisen runouden lajeista ajallisesti kaukaisimmaksi, mutta ei tahtonut kyetä tallentamaan niitä paperille useista yrityksistä huolimatta. Lönnrot kuvasi itkuissa olevan "kamaloita sanoja, joita ei ymmärrä, eikä malta yhellä eli kahella sanomisella" (Lönnrot 1902, 238). Itkujen ymmärtämiseen meidän tähänastisetkin apuvälineemme ovat esimerkiksi nauhoitettuja äänitallenteita ajatellen huikeat, mutta viime vuoden lopulla julkaistun Karjalaisen itkuvirsikielen sanakirjan avulla itkujen kielestä on mahdollista päästä jyvälle lähes kenen tahansa. Toinen asia on itkun esitystilanne ja tunneilmaisu, joita Lönnrot samassa yhteydessä kuvasi seuraavalla, ruumiillisen ilmaisun ja kokemuksen vierautta implikoivalla lausunnolla: "Itku käypi niin karkialla, oikein karwoille käywällä, läpi ruumiin ja jäsenten wihlasewalla äänellä, että wielä wuodenki päästä sitä muistellessani olen kuin säikähyksissä" (mp). Itkuja on yhä epätodennäköisempää päästä todistamaan todellisessa käyttö-ja esitystilanteessa, mutta esimerkiksi folkloristiset arkistoaineistot sisältävät niitä runsaasti, niin kirjoitettuina tallenteina kuin äänitteinäkin.

Персонажи карельских эпических песен: функции и стереотипы поведения Изучение стереотипов поведения и функций персонажей эпических песен представляет серьезную сложность. Трудности связаны, прежде всего, со спецификой материала: на явные следы древнего мышления накладывается жизненный опыт и творческий потенциал сказителей XIXначала и даже середины ХХ в. Древнейший пласт в карельском эпосе «не вытеснен, а переработан таким образом, что его основной пафос получил полное и совершенное поэтическое воплощение» [Мелетинский 2004: 95]. Другие проблемы связаны со спецификой источника. Известно, что герои эпических песен действуют в таком пространстве, где отсутствует или творчески вырабатывается по ходу развития сюжета представление о норме. Так, сватающийся к дочери старухи Лоухи Ильмаринен усердно кует Сампо (выкуп за невесту), и не ведает усталости: Целый день ковал он Сампо Ночью забавлял девицу [КФНЭ: 145]. При этом основным нравственным ориентиром для героев становится справедливость, которая также понимается своеобразно. В частности, оскорбление старшего по возрасту или социальному статусу, нарушение вековых традиций рассматривается в эпических песнях как значительно более тяжкое преступление, чем убийство. В качестве преступников могут выступать не только люди, но и предметы, материалы (например, железо). Они, словно наделенные возможностью выбора, обвиняются в нарушении моральных норм, восстании против людей, бесчисленных злодеяниях. Примечательно, что способом обуздать агрессивность и кровожадность, приписываемые железу, становится напоминание о его бесславном прошлом, когда оно еще не было затронуто творением, не превратилось в окультуренный объект окружающего мира.

This and another seminar-workshop provided the basis for a book, which has now appeared: Fibula, Fabula, Fact – The Viking Age in Finland, ed. Joonas Ahola & Frog with Clive Tolley (Studia Fennica Historica 18), Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society 2014 (516 pages).
http://www.academia.edu/10125680/Fibula_Fabula_Fact_-_The_Viking_Age_in_Finland_ed._Joonas_Ahola_and_Frog_with_Clive_Tolley_
Viikinkiaika Suomessa – The Viking Age in Finland is a collaborative interdisciplinary research project which undertakes to explore and assess the significance of the Viking Age for Finno-Karelian cultures and Finno-Karelian cultural areas.
The first seminar-workshop of the VAF project was focused on defining the Viking Age and its relevance to territories associated with Finland and Karelia in dialogue across many disciplines, including archaeology, linguistics, history, climatology, palaeobotany, numismatics, toponymy, language history, historical linguistics, folklore studies, genetics, geopolitics and so forth. Selected papers from the event will soon be appearing in a volume in English."

This presentation outlined the term and tool 'relevant indicator' for cross-disciplinary research on cultural phenomena, building on the development of this tool in the Viking Age in Finland project.  'Relevant indicators' are potential indicators of different aspects of cultural reality that can be discerned from the data and findings of different disciplines. A ‘relevant indicator’ is direct or indirect evidence of cultural processes, cultural practices or human activity. Typologies for comparison within a discipline's field of study tend to be based on formal features at some level. However, typologies based on such formal criteria are in general discipline specific.  Although a relevant indicator may be realized through formal features, the formal features are indicators of socio-historical processes that occurred in real-time cultural arenas.  This tool can be used for multiple indexing according to the social-historical processes which they reflect and which are the shared point of interest and reference in cross-disciplinary research. 'Relevant indicator' is here addressed in terms of its potential value for organizing a multidisciplinary database.

Article in Italian language published in "Uomini e Orsi: Morfologia del Selvaggio" (ed. by Comba Enrico & Ormezzano, Torino 2015: Accademia University Press). The open edition of the whole book ie available here: https://books.openedition.org/aaccademia/1363

This book is can be downloaded from the Finnish Literature Society's Open Access website:

http://oa.finlit.fi/site/books/10.21435/sff.11/

Abstract:
Lying on the border between eastern and western Christendom, Orthodox Karelia preserved its unique religious culture into the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was described and recorded by Finnish and Karelian folklore collectors. This colorful array of ritulas and beliefs involving nature spirits, saints, the dead, and pilgrimage to monasteries represented a unigue fusion of official Church ritual and doctrine and pre-Christian ethnic folk belief. This book undertakes a fascinating exploration into many aspects of Orthodox Karelian ritual life: beliefs in supernatural forces, folk models of illness, body concepts, divination, holy icons, the role of the ritual specialist and healer, the divide between nature and culture, images of forest, the cult of the dead, and the popular image of monasteries and holy hermits. It will appeal to anyone interested in popular religion, the cognitive study of religion, ritual studies, medical anthropology, and the folk traditions and symbolism of the Balto-Finnic peoples.