The Kalevala Society Foundation

Dictionaries as Sources of Folklore Data

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0200

What does Elias Lönnrot have in common with Vladimir Dahl, Antoni Maria Alcover and the Brothers Grimm? The answer is that all of these folklorists were also lexicographers. And there is much folklore data buried in dictionaries, whether compiled by those who were folklorists or by those who were not. Thus dictionaries represent a notable source of folklore data supplementary to the already familiar field, archival and monographic sources. This book attempts to take the measure of such data with a set of studies ranging from Greece to England, and from Newfoundland to Trinidad and Tobago.

An introductory essay discusses the location of folklore within dictionaries. Then the first of the three main sections of the book deals with the role folklore has played in the formation of certain remarkable dictionaries. This is followed by a series of case studies of the folklore content of particular dictionaries. And the book closes with a set of studies that address the methodological issues that using dictionaries as folklore sources raises.

Representations of Fear

Camilla Asplund Ingemark, Dominic Ingemark — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0300

This book deals with folk narratives expressing some of the basic fears of ancient Roman culture. These included, on the one hand, threats to the survival of the family, especially concerning children, pregnant women and to some extent also young men, and, on the other hand, the hidden dangers of the urban environment, especially places such as sewers, cemeteries, crossroads, inns and harbours.

Human existence was precarious in many ways in antiquity: success could swiftly turn into misfortune, health into illness and death, with disastrous consequences for the most important social network in this era, the family. These misfortunes could be difficult to cope with, and adversity, calamity and death had to be made intelligible emotionally. By verbalizing fear – in the form of stories of demons, witches, ghosts and wild animals – it could be endowed with a concrete shape.

The argument of this book proceeds from the assumption that the act of narrating stories helps us to make sense of our lives and the world we live in. In narrative, we articulate our emotions, thoughts and opinions, voice our hopes and desires, our anxieties and fears. The therapeutic power of stories lies in their ability to provide a space for reflection on the difficulties and anxieties in life.

The concept of emotional topography is introduced as an analytical tool in studying the relation between space, emotions and time. Certain places were associated with one range of emotions during the day and another at night, such as a cemetery, which at night evoked dread and disgust. Other places, such as for example inns, could evoke a sense of unease regardless of the time of day; they were places where horrendous things might take place, where you risked encountering everything from murderous inn-keepers to werewolves.

Ludwig Mühlhausen, Séamus Ó Caiside and Scéal Rí na Gréige

Maxim Fomin — Sat, 01 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0300

On 25 August 1937, a strange-looking man appeared in the fishing hamlet of Teelin in Donegal, Ireland, wearing a gentleman’s suit and a pair of round glasses. He spoke Irish, albeit with a foreign, Kerry accent. After a month there, he asked a local storyteller, Séamus Ó Caiside, if he could relate a few stories for him. Between 24 September and 13 October 1937, the two men recorded 12 tales and two songs across 24 storytelling sessions.

The visitor’s name was Ludwig Mühlhausen, Professor of Celtic Studies at the University of Berlin. On his return to Germany, ten tales collected from Ó Caiside were published as Zehn irische Volkserzählungen aus Süd-Donegal. Of the tales the scholar chose not to publish, one called ‘Scéal Rí na Gréige’ (‘The Tale of the King of Greece’) falls within the focus of this study.

‘Scéal Rí na Gréige’ presents a version of the well-known international folktale type ATU 707: ‘Three Golden Children’. The author examines the type’s dissemination in Ireland, and provides its classification into four ecotypes. Despite its wide distribution in the Irish oral tradition, the author suggests that the story known to Ó Caiside came from the printed medium – from a popular version of The Arabian Nights Entertainments.

To be understood by the Irish-speaking audience, the story was rendered in the vernacular; yet, its key elements were articulated in English, embellishing the plot with a flavour of exoticism and of the faraway lands. ‘Scéal Rí na Gréige’, a unique folklore product, marries the Irish vernacular to the European print culture. It represents a true testimony to Séamus Ó Caiside’s inquisitive mind and creative genius, and signifies an innovative step in the development of the Irish oral tradition.

Ludwig Mühlhausen (left) and Séamus Ó Caiside.
University of Tübingen library (Mn 4-23; Portraitsammlung).

Atlantic Outlooks on Being at Home

Matthias Egeler — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0300

Much of both lcelandic and medieval lrish literature is, in one way or another, storytelling about places, reflecting a deep engagement with the concept of ‘place’ and the creation of a ‘sense of place’.

This book takes as its starting point the shared interest that lcelandic and lrish storytelling have in ‘place’ and asks whether the medieval lcelandic sense of place, as reflected in lcelandic narrative culture, has been influenced by the close contacts that existed during the Viking Age between lceland and the Gaelic-speaking world of lreland and Scotland.

ln attempting to answer this question, the book contributes to the long-standing debate about Gaelic influences in lcelandic culture, the much more recent discourse on the spatiality of medieval lcelandic literature and storytelling, and the cultural history of the lcelandic settlement period. Obliquely, the findings of the book may even shed light on the origins of lcelandic saga literature. Along the way, it also offers insights on a number of general points of spatial theory as well as, in particular, on two medieval lcelandic texts that are especially place-focused: Landnámabók, the ‘Book of settlements’ and Eyrbyggja saga, the ‘Saga of the lnhabitants of Eyr’.

Tschuden und andere Feinde in der saamischen Erzähltradition

Hans-Hermann Bartens — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0200

Sagen, die von Auseinandersetzungen mit in mehr oder weniger großer Zahl eindringenden Feinden handeln, die sog. Tschudensagen, bilden eine zentrale Gruppe innerhalb der saamischen Erzähltradition. Diesen über das gesamte saamische Traditionsgebiet verbreiteten Sagen werden im vorliegenden Band Erzählungen von anderen Untaten, u.a. interethnischen Vergehen, zugesellt. Das alle hier erfassten und unterschiedlichen Schichten zugehörigen Sagen Verbindende ist die vielfältige Bedrohung von Leben und Besitz der Saamen durch den Fremden.

Für die einschlägigen Sagen wird ein Typenkatalog erstellt. Dabei werden die einzelnen Typen eingehend beschrieben, so dass auch regionale Besonderheiten erkennbar werden. Die detaillierten Angaben bilden dann die Grundlage für sich dem Typenkatalog anschließende Erörterungen etwa zu der Frage, inwieweit die Sagen die (historische) Lebenswirklichkeit der Saamen widerspiegeln oder was sie über die soziale Stellung der Saamen und ihr Verhältnis zu den Nachbarvölkern aussagen.

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Hans-Hermann Bartens war bis 2008 am Finnisch-Ugrischen Seminar der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen tätig. lm Rahmen seiner Tätigkeit hat er u.a. Lehrveranstaltungen zum Saamischen und zur Kultur der Saamen abgehalten. Seine Publikationen befassen sich sowohl mit Sprachen der westlicheren finnischugrischen Völker als auch mit deren Folklore.

Finding Heritage Through Fiction in Dracula Tourism

Tuomas Hovi — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0200

Heritage and tourism have become inextricably linked. Depending on the view point, the effect of this link can be seen either negative or positive. Does tourism produce in authentic and falsified tradition, threatening cultural heritage? Or does it, in fact, help to preserve heritage, culture and folklore in a changing and globalizing world? In this book, Finding Heritage Through Fiction in Dracula Tourism, Tuomas Hovi investigates heritage in the context of Dracula tourism in Romania: tourists visiting places connected with either the fictional vampire Dracula or the historical Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, a 15th century Romanian ruler. How is Romanian heritage and culture presented and promoted through a seemingly superficial Dracula tourism based on Western popular fiction in Dracula tourism? Finding Heritage Through Fiction in Dracula Tourism offers new perspectives on the research literate concerning tourism and heritage, and a folkloristic view of tourism research.

Blood Rite

Billy Mag Fhloinn — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0200

The custom of sacrificing animals on St. Martin’s Eve (November 10), or ‘spilling blood for St. Martin’, was known in a large part of Ireland until recently. This ritual offering has played an important role in the religious calendar of Christian communities in Western Europe for many centuries. Numerous authors over the last two hundred years have explored ideas about ancient pagan survivals being involved in the festival. Billy Mag Fhloinn addresses this situation, offering both an account and an analysis of the folk manifestation of the cult of St. Martin in the 19th and 20th centuries. In Blood Rite: The Feast of St. Martin in Ireland, Mag Fhloinn presents theories on the origin, meaning and function of traditions and narratives associated with the cult, which has existed in Ireland since at least the seventh century. Bill Mag Fhloinn is an adjunct lecturer in Irish studies at the University of Limerick, and the Sacred Heart University Centre for Irish Cultural Studies. He was awarded a PhD in Irish Folklore from University College Dublin 2013. His area of research interest includes folk religion, ritual, and calendar customs.

The Types of International Folktales – A Classification and Bibliography

Hans-Jörg Uther — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0300

The catalogue of international tale types (ATU) based on the system of Aarne/Thompson constitutes a fundamentally new edition with extensive additions and innovations. The descriptions of the tale types have been completely rewritten and made more precise. The essential research cited for each type includes extensive documentation of its international distribution as well as monographic works or articles on that type. More than two hundred and fifty new types have been added. Types with very limited distribution have been omitted. A detailed subject index includes the most important subjects, actions, and other motifs, including actors and settings.

Originally published in 2004, this online publication is of the 2011 second edition.

The Types of International Folktales – A Classification and Bibliography

Hans-Jörg Uther — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0300

Hans-Jörg Uther (b. 1944) is Professor of German Literature at the University of Duisburg-Essen, a senior member of the editorial staff of the Enzyklopädie des Märchens, Göttingen, and the former editor of the series “Die Märchen der Weltliteratur”. He is a prominent scholar in the area of traditions and folk literature with special interest in historical and comparative studies. He has edited over fifty books on folktales and legends, among them critical editions of the Brothers Grimm (1996, 2004), Wilhelm Hauff (1999), and Ludwig Bechstein (1998), and published numerous articles in German, English and other languages.

Originally published in 2004, this online publication is of the 2011 second edition.

The Types of International Folktales – A Classification and Bibliography

Hans-Jörg Uther — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0300