Storied and Supernatural Places: Studies in Spatial and Social Dimensions of Folklore and Sagas

This collection of articles addresses the narrative construction of places, landscapes and their supernatural dimensions, the relationship between tradition communities and their environments, and the spatial conditions for encounters with the supernatural as they are manifested in European folklore and in early literary sources, such as the Old Norse sagas. Articles in the book discuss places cursed and sacred, churches, graveyards, haunted houses, cemeteries, grave mounds, hill forts, and other tradition dominants in the micro-geography of the Nordic, Baltic and Baltic-Finnic peoples. It emerges that places accumulate meanings as they are layered by stories and memories about personal experiences. In addition to the local dimension of place-lore, the book scrutinizes the history of folklore studies, its geopolitical dimensions and its connection with nation building. It also sheds light on the social base of folklore and examines vernacular views of legendry and the supernatural. "This book addresses the narrative construction of places, the relationship between tradition communities and their environments, the supernatural dimensions of cultural landscapes and wilderness as they are manifested in European folklore and in early literary sources, such as the Old Norse sagas. The first section ?Explorations in Place-Lore? discusses cursed and sacred places, churches, graveyards, haunted houses, cemeteries, grave mounds, hill forts, and other tradition dominants in the micro-geography of the Nordic and Baltic countries, both retrospectively and from synchronous perspectives. The supernaturalisation of places appears as a socially embedded set of practices that involves storytelling and ritual behaviour. Articles show, how places accumulate meanings as they are layered by stories and how this shared knowledge about environments can actualise in personal experiences. Articles in the second section ?Regional Variation, Environment and Spatial Dimensions? address ecotypes, milieu-morphological adaptation in Nordic and Baltic-Finnic folklores, and the active role of tradition bearers in shaping beliefs about nature as well as attitudes towards the environment. The meaning of places and spatial distance as the marker of otherness and sacrality in Old Norse sagas is also discussed here. The third section of the book ?Traditions and Histories Reconsidered? addresses major developments within the European social histories and mentalities. It scrutinizes the history of folkloristics, its geopolitical dimensions and its connection with nation building, as well as looking at constructions of the concepts Baltic, Nordic and Celtic. It also sheds light on the social base of folklore and examines vernacular views toward legendry and the supernatural." Ülo Valk, Daniel Sävborg / Place-Lore, Liminal Storyworld and Ontology of the Supernatural. An Introduction 7 I. Explorations in Place-Lore Terry Gunnell / The Power in the Place: Icelandic "Álagablettir" Legends in a Comparative Context 27 John Lindow / Nordic Legends of the Churchyard 42 Kaarina Koski / The Sacred and the Supernatural: Lutheran Church Buildings in Christian Practice and Finnish Folk Belief Tradition 54 Sandis Laime / The Place Valence Approach in Folk Narrative Research: The "Church Sinks Underground" Motif in Latvian Folklore 80 Ülo Valk / Ontological Liminality of Ghosts: The Case of a Haunted Hospital 93 Kristel Kivari / Webs of Lines and Webs of Stories in the Making of Supernatural Places 114 II. Regional Variation, Environment and Spatial Dimensions Frog / When Thunder Is Not Thunder; Or, Fits and Starts in the Evolution of Mythology 137 Madis Arukask / Sorcery, Holiness, the Third Sex – The Role of Herdsman in Finnic and North Russian Folk Culture 159 Bengt af Klintberg / The Wonders of Midsummer Night: Magical Bracken 181 Daniel Sävborg / The Icelander and the Trolls – The Importance of Place 194 Mart Kuldkepp / A Study in Distance: Travel and Holiness in "Eiríks saga rauða" and "Eireks saga víðförla" 206 III. Traditions and Histories Reconsidered Jonathan Roper / Folk Disbelief 223 David Hopkin / Legends and the Peasant History of Emancipation in France and Beyond 237 Diarmuid Ó Giollain / People, Nation and "Combative Literatures": Baltic, Celtic and Nordic Configurations of Folklore 256 List of Authors 269 Abstract 272 Index of Persons 273 General Index 276