Sudenkirja

Norwegian folk magic

Norway has a lot of traditional superstition that comes from old beliefs of magic, often descendants of norse culture. Here are some of my favourites

"Troll in word" This means that if you talk about something bad, it might actually happen. Similar to other cultures we also do knocking on wood, this comes from the belief that bad spirits lived in wood and you drove them out by knocking

During midsummer there's a tradition of gathering seven different flowers and if you keep them under your pillow that night you might dream of the person you will marry

If it's cold in may, there will be a good harvest

Similarly, if the winter has a lot of snow, the summer will be warm

If you gift a romantic interest a handkerchief, it will only bring tears

Many put brooms on their porch on Maundy Thursday (not sure if this is the right word in english, the thursday in easter) because they believed witches flew to meetings that night and if they didn't have a broom, they woulds steal a horse or other animal instead

If you break a mirror, your soul will break as well. Meaning you will be heartbroken or something bad happens

If you throw a copper coin into the sea, the wind will blow in the direction you throw. The further you throw, the harder the wind will blow

Heads up, any comment that starts with the above has no extra value to it. Just because you have a Karelian ancestor somewhere in there does not make you a specialist in Karelian issues. Comments like this are often used to push back at Karelian activists campaigning for f.ex. getting Karelian language recognized as a language in Finland, against cultural appropriation, or trying to bring up what evacuees faced upon arrival that has had a lasting effect on later generations etc. 

This approach ignores completely that Karelians are not a uniform people with identical experience and starting points, there are many things that affected how your Karelian ancestors have been treated. These largely boil down to 1) Language, 2) Religion, 3) Age/Generation, 4) Social Standing and 5) …ok slightly unrelated since this is self-inflicted, but Code of Politeness. There are more, but these are the largest four elements.

“I have a Karelian grandma and she never had this problem” is therefore not the strong argument you think it is. Let’s use MY Karelian grandma as an example to why.

1) Language, iow did they speak Finnish, Karelian, Ingrian, Russian, or Swedish. ALL FIVE ARE EXISTING OPTIONS. Karelia had numerous immigration waves, which brought on Finnish and Swedish, meanwhile Russian, Karelian and Ingrian all existed in the area by default. My grandma spoke Finnish as her first language, as did many, many other evacuees, and she could speak “book Finnish” at will. She was a Finnish teacher after all. I was also taught to speak book Finnish from early childhood, grandma’s rule. Finnish was the so-called “easy option”, but it came with one difficulty setting, Karelian dialect. If you had that you were automatically profiled as a Karelian. However, speaking Karelian, Ingrian, or all gods help you - Russian - was worse… often met with immediate hostility. There are cities that emptied out of Karelian evacuees within FIVE YEARS of them trying to settle in, because of the cold welcome.

There’s no lack of anecdotal stories from both Finnish and Karelian side on how Karelians would f.ex. be denied any job opportunities, and not getting hired at all was kinda harsh when you had lost everything you had. They were profiled by dialect or language, so eventually many returned to the east border where the dialect was similar. My grandma’s family did too, as Savonians were a bit easier to get along with than Häme, or the west coast.

2) Religion. There were roughly 40 000 Orthodox Christians among the evacuees, and they were not shown much neighbourly love in Lutheran areas. Ostrobothnian area especially had a demand on becoming Lutheran if you wanted to work, and many Orthodox were forced to convert.

My grandma was a Lutheran, though, so she dodged this bullet as well.

3) Age/Generation.

If you’re now around 40, your grandparents were either very young, small children, or not yet born at the time of evacuations. Give that a second to drop, your grandparents were very young when they were evacuated! They may not have even been born yet, if you’re younger than 40! They may have been born to Karelian parents and yes, that makes them Karelian, but it also makes them Finnish Karelian. They grew up in Finland. They learned the language and the culture of the area they lived in. They found a spouse, made a family, their children blended in almost seamlessly for a plethora of reasons. Those children, the third gen, are your parents, or even grandparents if you’re younger. Life got easier with time, by which I mean generations. The more Finnish and less Karelian you are the easier time you have, duh. Your grandparents were at most gen 2 if you’re around 40, they may even have been gen 3. They may have grown in a Karelian home and therefore have a strong connection to the culture, but they connected strongly to Finnish culture as well.

4) Social Standing - yeah, not every evacuee played with an equally strong hand! 

My grandma was a highly educated young lady. She married well, so she ended up wealthy and influential. She was a hecking patron of Oiva Toikka and other young, promising artists and designers.  This was a bit of a puzzle at first, because what I knew of her was that she was evacuated first round at 1940, family moved to Riihimäki, but the town was super hostile towards evacuees. At the first chance they got they moved back to Karelia. Grandma had her confirmation there. Soon though the war started again, and they got evacuated a second time in 1944. This time they chose to stay near the east border, though the place they were given was impossible to farm; yet all children of this family managed to get well-educated.

I asked dad how they did this. “Loans, probably”, he replied.

Not a bad strategy, since once the girls were at work, the family status quo dramatically changed. However, this option was not available for people, who did not have something to risk in order to get a loan. Grandma’s family would have had the house they lived in - Karelians living in cities would not have owned a house.

OK SO LET’S SEE:

My grandma spoke Finnish as her first language, could mask her dialect, and was a Lutheran. She was well-educated, married well, by the time she was a young mother she was influential and wealthy. She was also keen at following trends, and boy, the world changed a LOT in the after war years! Young people dropped many old traditions and habits just because that was Not Very Modern, and hid some others just so they’d have a few more opportunities in life. My grandma was one of these people, and so…

…being rich, Finnish-speaking Lutheran Karelian who did not stand out as a Karelian, she was well out of reach for the harshest oppression. The same went for the whole family.

I get that she was very unusual. Her experience was probably extremely rare! However, I’m presenting this as a scale of how just because your grandparent/s was/were Karelian, you can’t automatically use that to negate other Karelian experience.

From the movie Opri. Akviliina on the left, Opri on the right. …oops we forgot one part.

5) Karelian Politeness Code.

Complaining, and dwelling on bad feelings, is rude. Momentary anger is totally allowed and boy, angry Karelians are LOUD, but you’re to drop the badfeels asap.

I remember one saying my grandma used to use on me (I was a crybaby as a kid): “Joy to the surface, even if your heart was rotting”. You’re supposed to put on a happy face no matter what.

Karelian culture allows more emotions than Finnish (esp Häme), but one thing that’s strongly discouraged is lingering negative feelings. Depression is even classified as a potentially lethal illness, losing a soul. You’re not allowed to keep a grudge going, no matter what was done to you; at the latest, though preferably earlier, you’re expected to drop it entirely once the other person dies. You’re not allowed to even speak badly of what they did, no matter how heinous.

The movie Opri gives a particularly good example of this. Opri speaks to her dead husband in friendly, gentle tones, and only when her main “enemy” Akviliina bitterly complains she had a good life in comparison to her, since Akviliina’s husband was violent, the truth comes out. Opri’s husband cheated on her, even had a child with someone else as they two could not have one together. He wasted their money flippantly, drank too much, and beat Opri up regularly, so she spent many nights hiding in a cold storage house when she knew him to be out drinking.

“But now things are different”, she concludes. “Now I talk to him, and he listens.”

So the locals were hostile toward you after you had been forcefully evacuated - because yeah, evacuations were not a choice, Finnish soldiers had orders to burn down your house and cattle, and you had maybe two hours to pack. Ok, but let’s say ten years have passed. Your children (that’s your grandparents if you’re about 40 now) are fitting in a little better than you did, though they still face some quaint Quart-a-Russkieing from the locals. You can’t use your language, and can only be yourself inside your house or among other Karelians.

You don’t complain. You bury your bad experience and try to forget. If everyone’s looking happy, that makes life feel better for everyone.

Then eventually you come along, as a grandchild to either 1st, 2nd or 3rd gen of Karelians. Karelians are hella doting on grandchildren, they get pampered to no end. How likely do you think it is, that your grandparent would grumble about their life problems around a grandchild? After all this time of acting polite, the last person s/he’s going to share the dark times with is YOU.

https://vesemir.blogspot.com/2019/08/blog-post_6.html

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Anima mundi by horilyc

Karelia has been trending this past year or two, and slowly the effects of people actually finding out Karelians exist are emerging. It’s p much the same as always, take a few interesting bits, call them Finnish (or Finnish-Karelian if we’re feeling generous), toss out anything that’s “too Russian”. Now that Karelian traditional magic is also becoming known, Neo-Pagans are getting on it. Which, sure, whatever. I’m not impressed but I also don’t care.

Anyway, it’s totally possible to learn some magic stuff! I could teach you some if it’s ever relevant for something! But I’m gonna have to be honest with you: it will be dull. Karelian magic, the kind that anyone can learn, is related to everyday stuff, and it’s done because that’s how things are done.

Karjala by Ville Hyvönen

The other kind of magic is not available for just anyone. You’ll need to have an unusually strong luondo, that’s the number one requirement. It’s good if you have other markings of a magic user, and third step is finding someone to teach you their knowledge. The people who can do this are called tiedäi or noida, depending on the type of practice (and whether the person talking about them knows the difference, these words are often used interchangeably). They’ve studied all their lives and have amassed an extensive repertoire of knowledge on various types of magic, though they, too, often specialize in some, not all.

Typical specialization areas are:

- bloodstopping  - weather (usually wind and storms -related stuff) - sea (weather AND currents) - dreams (finding lost items and/or predicting future and/or receiving messages from the now) - healing - snake taming (yes! :D) - shapeshifting - using weather phenomena as a vehicle for long distance traveling - generic problem solving of various types - moving on all layers of the world YEAH THAT’S A LOT. On top of that you need to speak Karelian. Magic is done by reciting word to word, every part has to be correct, and since the spells’ original language is Karelian that’s the language you’d be using. Translated, the words would lose their power (however, if you’re specializing in Finnish magic instead of Karelian, the language ofc would be Finnish, same reason).

Karelia, Russia by Ninara

So yeah… since we’re becoming more visible, some New Age-y people want a piece of us. There’s even people advertising their Karelian magic skills and courses for potential students, which… sounds good, but usually they’re not real. They’ll charge you a long penny and give you a campfire LARP of some supposedly shamanistic stuff, all fancy and weird and upsetting, and hey, lots of people love that! No judging, but none of that has anything even remotely to do with Karelian magic or tradition. Which is still alive and practiced to this day, it just doesn’t look fancy and people often kept a bit quiet about it, so it doesn’t sell.

Here’s a few ways to tell a fake from a real thing.

- working with drums; drums are not a part of Karelian tradition, they’re Sami - using music: Karelian magic is recited, not performed - the people selling this stuff dressing in some weird Neo-Pagan-y way; your actual Karelian tiedäi looks like anyone, cause it’s their skill/role and not their job - they try to make themselves seem “unique”, or “last of their kind” - in reality there’s no lack of Karelian trad magic users - use of drugs/drink/mushrooms/whateveredibles; Karelian myrrysmies needs none, the whole point of having a strong luondo is so you can whip it out and chop a table in two with it - advertising… tiedäi do not advertise, because that only gets kade on you - gathering students, Karelian tiedäi/noida do not typically gather cults around them - claiming to be able to heal something modern medicine can’t heal; RUN FKEN RUN tiedäi don’t put themselves above doctors - letting you photograph or video them at work; tiedäi don’t usually allow this, though they may allow photos before and after -they’re asking for payment: tiedäi/noida don’t ever ask for payment (not that you shouldn’t pay them, they just can’t ask)

All the above are signs of someone who’s read Kalevala and has no idea of what the real thing is like.

Mist rising by Petri Damstén Wait, so if the real ones don’t make noise of their skills, how do you even find one? Welp that point about there being no lack of these people is what. If I had to find someone who has a particular skill, I would simply ask other Karelians if I didn’t already know of someone on that line of skill. Then I would politely approach the person and explain my reason to visit them, if that was needed, some powerful noida can tell beforehand what your business will be, and may already have solved it for you. :DDD 

Some original religions/traditions are closed from outsiders, some are partially closed, and some are open. None of them are a smörgåsbord where you can help yourself to the most interesting, exotic, shiny bits though, not even the open ones. It’s a whole package deal.

Väenusko is first and foremost ancestor worship. Second in order of importance are powers/spirits, and gods come last. Gods aren’t worshiped in this religion, they’re just there. Some of them can be negotiated with, thanked, or even fought, but not all of them are even approachable. Most of those that can be approached can only be approached within their own realm. Some can be given offerings, but offerings are more typically given to spirits and ancestors.

If the ancestor part does not resonate with you, no prob. However, that means this religion might not be right for you. You can’t just boot out the basis of a whole belief and grab a part that’s of lesser importance and call it a day, no matter how open the belief is.

And ffs, no, you can’t just selectively choose Väenusko stuff to witchy stuff, because in Väenusko not just anyone can be a witch. You usually have witches in the family and/or happen to have unusually strong luonto-soul; then if a witch chooses to teach you you’ll end up a witch. My grandpa had the ability, my mother inherited some from him (though he was stronger), but I did not, so no matter how much I study I could never be a witch in Väenusko tradition. I have studied, because knowledge is never a bad thing, but I lack the strength of luonto to actually be a witch. I’m a perfect example of what does not a witch in Väenusko make.

Absolutely feel free to study Väenusko, the god stuff is pretty interesting! Spirits too, and how to get along with them, all those stories are parts of what we are and imo should be freely shared. However, if you think you might want to partake in the religion for reals, then you have to include everything, not just those two topics. It also won’t hurt to learn more about the cultures behind the religion, food, a little bit of the language maybe, music, all kinds of things. None of that is closed, in fact it shows respect to the culture that you’re interested in it on a larger scale than just mythology.

Technically they all are. 

I've talked about it before but karelian deities don't really do the "any generic thing on my area works" thing. That is to say, one can't worship them on altars, and one can't go to any body of water anywhere and try to contact Water Matron and Fish Herder or any forest anywhere and be in the realm of Bear King and Master Healer. It just doesnt work like that. One needs to be in their realm within the Karelian areas

Similarly, the vägi are tied to their relation in certain locations. There are holy trees, streams, boulders etc that have their own vägi who people turn to or show reverence when need arises.

Savusaunan ikkuna

“Славянский миф” (“Slavic Myth”)

https://vesemir.blogspot.com/2018/05/blog-post_30.html

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Продаю цифровые принты своих готовых работ.

Пишу красками копии со своих работ.

Рисую нечто новое на заказ.

I sell copies and prints of my works.

I work to order.

e-mail [email protected]