Folklore Archives Research Articles

Evading Military Service and Tales of Hidden Artillery: Military Legends in Estonian Folklore

The article explores Estonian military lore, focusing on the legends and rumours that circulated mainly among men conscripted into the Soviet army, but also among those who served in the Estonian Defence Forces. Many of these legends played an important role in fostering a sense of camaraderie among the troops and continue to circulate as part of men’s oral tradition. Although, unfortunately, the legends were not collected during their active spread, we can get some idea of this cultural phenomenon from discussion threads posted on online military forums (e.g., www.militaar.net) and from comparative material sent to the Estonian Folklore Archives in the 1990s. The legends and rumours in the memories of servicemen and veteran soldiers tell us about hidden weapons, army discipline, strategies to evade military service, sexuality, fate, and serendipity, as well as exploring particular natural objects in local landscapes (bridges, secret passages, etc.).

FONOTECA ARHIVEI DE FOLCLOR „VASILE ADĂSCĂLIȚEI” – UN TEZAUR AL „CÂNTECELOR DE DEMULT”

Vasile Adăscăliței (1929–2007), ethnologist, professor at the University of Iași, was particularly interested, during his teaching, research and publishing activity carried out for half a century, in customs related to the New Year, more precisely to the 12-day period between Christmas and Epiphany, i.e. customs involving groups of masked people and, mainly, the folk theatre of scholarly influence, in which he did pioneering work, being the first to dedicate a study to the subject. He also approached other customs, like those related to deathwatch. Nevertheless, the fundamental preoccupation of his activity was the foundation of a folklore archive. For half a century, starting with 1950, while being a student, he had continuously enriched the archive of the Folklore Seminar within the University of Iași with more than 40,000 items, including ca. 400 magnetic bands of recordings made during field research and 4,000 files of manuscript notes from indirect surveys. These two collections were accompanied by ca. 1,000 black-and-white photographs and slides. Since 2014, we have digitized the audio recordings of this folklore archive and named it “Vasile Adăscăliței”, in memory of its founder. Between 2018 and 2023 eight volumes had been released, grouped thematically, each of them accompanied by a CD. The first volume, “Conscription Songs”, was dedicated to the Centenary of the Great Union, and it was followed by volume 2 - “Longing and Mourning Songs”, volume 3 – “Old Songs”, volume 4 – “Deathwatch Games and Songs”, volume 5 – “Wedding Songs and Customs”, volume 6 – “Old Songs and Customs”, volume 7 – “New Year’s Customs”; a new volume, issued this year, includes “Charms and Beliefs”. All eight volumes sum up almost 1,500 selections recorded between 1966 and 1983, stored in the folklore archive founded over half a century ago by Professor Vasile Adăscăliței.

Mythical Character of Space in the Place Legends on the Plateliai Lake

Using the place legends stored at the Lithuanian Folklore Archives and the questionnaires from the Collection of the Lithuanian Place Names, the author of the article analyzes folklore related to the Plateliai Lake (in Plungė District) and its segments, including islands, peninsulas, and shallows. Having systematized a number of place legends related to the lake, the author discerns three themes that are further analyzed in the article, namely: the appearing of the Plateliai Lake and several lakes connected underground, the underwater world of Plateliai (the lake demanding sacrifices), and the image of the Plateliai Queen. Applying the concept of the mental landscape and the current research on placelore, he reveals the mythical character of the Plateliai Lake and its surrounding space. Special attention is paid to the way that various segments of the lake are depicted in place legends. Among the most frequently mentioned, several islands, peninsulas and shallows connected to the mythical plots are pointed out, as well as the lake itself. According to the folklore analyzed in the article, the lake had an important role in human life, while certain motives related to the pre-Christian religion (including the sunken church, the Queen of the lake, the souls residing at the bottom of the lake, etc.) allow one to conclude that from the ancient times, the Plateliai Lake was perceived as an important mythical place.

Актуализация ОБРАЗОВ И стереотипов ОБЫДЕННОГО и профессионального СОЗНАНИЯ в устных рассказах о челябинском метеорите

The article is devoted to the analysis of images and stereotypes of everyday and professional consciousness represented in oral stories about the Chelyabinsk meteorite. The stories include various linguistic means for describing and considering the unique phenomenon that occurred on the morning of February 15, 2013. For the first time in the world history a large space body (in scientific terms an asteroid, meteoroid or bolide) flew and exploded over an industrialized and densely populated region, causing considerable destruction. The article views the stories of people who witnessed the event. Some of these stories were recorded in different years and stored in the folklore archive of the South Ural State Humanitarian and Pedagogical University, others were published in the popular science book “Chelyabinsk Superbolide” and the newspaper of Chelyabinsk State University “University Embankment.” The authors of the article consider that the stories reflect the subjective image of the objective world, largely due to the experience of people. The basis for the storytellers’ describing and interpreting what they saw and experienced includes either ordinary images and stereotypes (fire, car headlights, fireworks, building noise), or images and stereotypes characteristic of professional consciousness (shock wave, inversion trail, welding arc radiation, etc.) A certain part of the oral stories about the Chelyabinsk meteorite demonstrates the transition from the use of images and stereotypes of everyday consciousness to understanding the event in line with the folklore tradition. The analysis proved that a person’s cognitive activity relies on existing knowledge schemes, on the one hand, and is focused on the conceptual system of a particular individual, on the other hand.

Paralipsis Archives: Ways of Localisation and Interpretation of Gaps in a Folklore Archive

This article explores the problem of the paralipsis of a folklore archive with reference to materials stored at Ural Federal University. The author hypothesises that folklore archives can be studied not only through access to the collections kept in them but also through paralipsis/lacunae that appear in them. In the Russian and European traditions, the very principle of collecting material determines the appearance of gaps in folklore archives. The researcher interviews the informant in accordance with their mental map, which inevitably leads to the loss of part of the material, especially in situations where the “context of the situation” is not fixed. The author analyses archival texts collected in the village of Gary, Sverdlovsk Region, in 1977. Gaps and omissions were identified during the digitalisation of the Ural Federal University folklore archive collection. The article describes the method of keywords, which made it possible to partially localise gaps. Also, the description of the texts of the archive through keywords helped identify lacunae of a genre, thematic, and contextual character never studied previously. The last part of the article mainly focuses on describing and interpreting gaps that appeared due to the lack of context. The article puts forward several hypotheses that make it possible to interpret some of the gaps identified. The author also attempts to restore the research context in which the material was collected, for which she employs methodological recommendations formulated by V. P. Kruglyashova, the academic leader of the folklore expedition. Part of the interpretation of the gaps relies on the comparison of her recommendations with their implementation in practice with reference to the Gary collection. From the methodological point of view, the article can be of use to everyone working on the problems of the digitalisation of cultural heritage.

Opening Archives to Society: The Experience from the Folklore Archive at Rovira i Virgili University

The Folklore Archive at the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) is a university archive. The materials it stores are products of the fieldwork conducted by students on the Catalan Studies programme and the work done by professors researching into folk literature. From the year of its creation to the present, the Archive has adapted to the needs of the society of which it is a part. The present article discusses two issues. First, it explains how the results from our university research are transferred from the Archive to society (web, specialized digital resources, social networks, etc.). And second, it describes a specific activity entitled La ciutat a cau d’orella (The whispering city), which focuses on legends and involves several entities in Tarragona (city hall, public library, schools, youth organizations, writing workshops, etc.). This activity can be regarded as a way of developing mutual relations between the academic world and the general public.

Udmurt Folklore Material in the Folklore Archives of the Estonian Literary Museum and Its Collectors: A Brief Review

The digitisation and preservation of language and folklore sound collections are highly relevant issues for many archival institutions in the Russian Federation. The folklore archive of the Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature in Izhevsk has not been an exception to this. The first folklore and language recordings on analogue magnetic tapes appeared in the early 1960s. In subsequent years, local folklorists and linguists made numerous expeditions to survey all areas of Udmurtia and the neighbouring regions where the Udmurts lived. Estonian researchers also participated in the recording of the Udmurt language and folklore during expeditions both in Estonia and outside. The article covers the joint efforts of Estonian and Udmurt scholars in collecting Udmurt folklore and language materials, which are currently stored at the Estonian Folklore Archives.

The Estonian Folklore Archives as a Knowledge Hub

The article focuses on matters both in Estonia and abroad that have influenced the establishment of the folklore archives in Estonia, ideological trends within the work of the archives, material coverage, and the development of the archives from an institution preserving collections into a research institution.

Mapping Female Folklore Collectors in the Norwegian Folklore Archives

This article adopts a map methodology to explore the forgotten female folklore collectors in the Norwegian Folklore Archives, examining their connections to the archive and what they collected. By focusing on historically invisible female collectors, the risk is that they are isolated as gender representatives and thus never become a part of the mainstream canon. Still, by literally putting these women on the map, it is our ambition that this will inspire a new take on the question of gender in the history of knowledge of folklore archives. The methodology employed combines remote reading and close reading, zooming in on a particular collector’s life and actions. The article reveals the spatial dimensions of mobility with the aim of expanding our understanding of the female collectors who left their mark on the collection of folklore.

Performing an Archive: Aims, Interests, Ideologies and Expectations

Public archives are repositories of human memory and history, which collect, preserve, and provide access to the records and documents creating a bridge between the past, present, and future. Archives are dynamic structures that can be interpreted as knowledge hubs, with channels of information flowing in them, activities performed within the “black box” of the institution invisible for outsiders, and channels to disseminate information for groups that they serve. These channels develop and are designed under the impact of several factors. In this article we present six factors that have shaped the development and functioning of the Estonian Folklore Archives. We first illustrate the impact of these factors, browsing through the historical periods of Estonian folkloristics. Successively, the articles of the current volume on various aspects of tradition archives are introduced and presented within the framework of the hub conception, and the relevant impact factors are highlighted. The article demonstrates that ideological framework, public expectations, institutional status, research paradigms, individual incentives of the people in charge, and (developments in) technological equipment constantly shape the content and operation of tradition archives in various time periods and circumstances.

The Contradictory Foundation of the Estonian Folklore Archives: Traditionality and Modernism, Unification and Segregation, and Basics of Authenticity

The Estonian Folklore Archives (EFA) has intertwined with the basis of reasoning about folk and nation in many ways. The article discusses opposing concepts that affected the foundation of the institution and the development of its collections while altering according to prevailing ideologies. Traditionality and modernity, and unification and segregation were interlaced while constructing the Estonian nation during the period of national awakening (starting in the 1850s). In this modernist process the history of Estonians had to be (re)created. Country-wide folklore collection campaigns were organised, during which young people were gathering material from old people about culturally outdated genres and obsolete knowledge. These large collections became the basis of the EFA in independent Estonia and, according to erstwhile principles, the collection of folklore and filling in the white spots on the Estonian map continued. However, since there was no longer any threat to nationality, folklorists also began to experiment with new methods and study the genres, or social/national groups, which so far had been regarded as marginal or insignificant. The Soviet occupation was accompanied by major ideological changes. As a result of constant external pressure, folklorists enclosed themselves into ethno-centrist conservatism – folklore of Estonians and kindred peoples, archaic genres of peasants’ tradition – were preferred to be recorded and studied once again. Authenticity – the set of qualities of texts such as archaic, traditional, oral, or reliable – became the supreme principle for collecting and publishing. Interest in ethnic minorities and contemporary topics arose only at the end of the Soviet era, experiencing an explosive success in the re-independent Estonia.

“You Uncultured Northerners Don’t Know What Rhythms Are”

This article is a presentation of the ethnomusicologist Birthe Trærup (1930–2022) who was a pioneering fieldworker and disseminator of Eastern European folk music in the 1950s. She concentrated her fieldwork among Albanians in Kosovo in the period 1959–1976, but also visited other countries and other areas of the former Yugoslavia. Despite being a pioneer, she has not received the attention she deserves. The Danish Folklore Archive at the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen contains a wide range of material donated and bequeathed by Trærup.

Layers of Folkloric Variation: Computational Explorations of Poetic and Narrative Text Corpora

Variation is a core feature of folklore that plays a part in configuring the processes of folkloric communication, transmission and creativity. Computational analysis of large folklore collections offers new outlooks on the study of variation. The article explores the nature of folkloric variation on the basis of folk song and fairy tale text corpora from the Estonian Folklore Archives. Our enquiry into regional variation in Estonian folk song showed different patterns of geographic variation for metre, repertoire and language. To investigate further the possibilities to disassemble the components of variation we turned to a smaller corpus of fairy tale texts from the distinct Seto language community. The results of stylometric analysis of fairy tales collected within the close language community as a rule found that word usage patterns in stories told by the same storytellers were closer to each other than stories with the same content (i.e. tale types). However, other factors, such as collectors’ individual styles, recording time, length of text, and storyteller’s place of origin contributed notably to similarity as per stylometric scores. The study has shown that the individual features and aspects of such a complex phenomenon as folklore can follow its own variation patterns. Computational analysis of the variation in large text corpora helps us get a better understanding of the functioning of variation, and the processes of folkloric creation. However, the layers of folkloric variation are not that easy to disassemble, one must be aware of the biases in text corpora and keep in mind the effect of the linguistic variation on the results.

Folkloristika Tartu ülikoolis 1941–1944: eriala järjepidevuse küsimus

The article looks at the teaching of folklore at the University of Tartu during World War II and the German occupation. It covers three academic years, from the autumn of 1941 to the spring of 1944. In previous studies, the period under review has been presented as a disruption: these years were either ignored altogether or described as an aberration in the development of the Soviet university. Yet it is noticeable that, when discussing the contribution of scholars whose professional biography also covers this period, their work is presented in the context of years, not political periods. All three approaches are characterised by the ideology of an authoritarian state: if research done during the German occupation was spoken of positively, it could be interpreted as anti-Soviet. Therefore, this topic – the everyday life of the University of Tartu during the German occupation and the war – is expected to become relevant. The gap in knowledge needs filling. Was there any activity in folklore at all during this period? The Chair of Folklore was established at the University of Tartu in 1919, when the Estonian-language university was opened. In the Tsarist era (1802–1917), studying the Estonian language and culture was possible in lectureship courses only. Jaan Jõgever (1860–1924) systematically taught folklore as part of the lectureship course from 1909. In 1919, Jaan Jõgever became the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and one of the leading architects of the structure of the chairs of the Estonian language, culture and history at the university. Walter Anderson (1885–1962), an alumnus of Kazan University, who was already internationally renowned, was invited to the post of professor of folklore. In parallel, courses in Estonian folklore were taught by M. J. Eisen (1857–1934), who had previously worked as a pastor but, as a folklore collector, was a good expert on Estonian folklore. After Eisen died and Anderson left Tartu (in the course of the Umsiedlung in 1939), three alumni of the Estonian-language university engaged in teaching: Oskar Loorits (1900–1961), Elmar Päss (1901–1970), and the literary scholar August Annist (1899–1972). Elmar Päss moved to Tallinn at the end of the 1930s. Oskar Loorits, who was also the director of the Estonian Folklore Archives, became in charge of the chair. Due to conflict with the German occupation authorities, he could not continue working at the university at the end of 1942. However, folklore-related activities at the university continued: literary scholar August Annist delivered lectures and gave examinations in the specialisation. In autumn 1944, when the Soviet university reopened, Eduard Laugaste became the head of the Chair of Folklore. Annist continued as a lecturer of literature but was arrested in the early summer of 1945 and spent the next six years as a political prisoner. After he was released, he did not return to the university. This excursus reveals that, despite favourable and unfavourable circumstances, the teaching of folklore at the university that had started in 1909 was not discontinued during the war. However, it also shows that in the first half of the 20th century the government’s role was decisive in shaping the independence of the discipline by establishing the institutions. Today, it is important to analyse the development of the discipline, considering the interactions between the state, the institutions and the researcher(s), to gain a complete picture.

Documente folclorice muzicale din Bucovina, culese de Alexandru Voevidca

This article is an evocation of Alexandru Voevidca, a teacher and folklorist due to whom the folk song from Bukovina entered the national patrimony in the last century. The pages that follow constitute a part of a larger research, which analyses the contribution of researchers on the field of traditional culture in historical Bukovina (representatives of Ion G. Sbiera, Simion Florea Marian, Elena Niculiță-Voronca and Alexandru Voevidca) to the development of ethnological disciplines (folkloristics, ethnography and ethnomusicology) at the beginning of the XXth century, when the efforts of redoubtable philologists and musicologists such as Ion Bianu, Ovid Densusianu, Ion Muşlea, D. G. Kiriac, Béla Bartók, Constantin Brăiloiu, to orientate and present Romanian folk researches in a European vision, are noted. In the first three decades of the last century, in the systematic research of traditional folk culture, the problem of noting syncretism in the collection of the folk text and the establishment of folklore archives returns with greater stringency. The phenomenon had already manifested itself before in Western Europe. By 1918, a first non-selective collection of the Romanian repertoire of the folk song had been made in Bukovina, followed later by a thematic classification. The approach was determined by a strong movement developed in Vienna, aimed at collecting, analysing and publishing the folklore of the different ethnic groups embedded in the empire, with the aim of defining their cultural “specificity”. Philology Professor M. Friedwagner and folklorist teacher Alexandru Voevidca linked their names to this achievement.

Siberi eestlaste lapse sünniga seotud kombestik ja sünnituslood

To study the childbirth customs and stories of Siberian Estonians, I used conversations and interviews conducted in various Siberian Estonian communities during the fieldwork of the Estonian Folklore Archives between 1991 and 2013, as well as the memories of Estonians who had been born in the Estonian settlements in Siberia and repatriated during or after the Second World War. As information related to childbirth customs is very much a private matter, the collection of such material during fieldwork in Siberia was somewhat limited due to short time and the guest status of the collectors. Women born in the 1910s–1930s who had experience of giving birth at home were more likely to share information. Siberian Estonians, who were born and raised in village communities with a rich heritage, share both personal and community experiences in their childbirth stories. Although the triumph of state medicine, with its small hospitals, had reached Siberian villages after the end of the Second World War, the initially trained medical professionals were met with mistrust and alienation. Village midwives were still respected, and villages adhered to many of the old beliefs about childbirth, as childbirth was controlled by the village community. Over time, giving birth under the supervision of hospital-trained medical staff became the norm. So, the need for village midwives has disappeared, and some of the traditions and customs associated with childbirth have been forgotten. At the same time, traditions related to the pre-pregnancy period and some childbirth stories helping to raise community awareness have remained very much alive.

Izdzīvošanas spēks un dzīves vērtības Liepājas Universitātes folkloras arhīva dzīvesstāstos

The folklore materials of the Liepāja University record many life stories of various Latvian narrators. Some of them are more extensive and cover the people’s ability to survive during difficult periods of history. The purpose of the article is to systematize and analyze the main values depicted in the life stories available in the Liepāja folklore archive. These values helped people survive during the changing times of the 20th century and helped them overcome difficult life situations. The article explores stories of personal experiences which indicate an event experienced by the narrator, as well as life stories that talk about the narrator’s life in general. In addition to life stories, the article also analyzes the folklore materials included by the narrators and their included explanations. The study provided a deeper understanding of the narrators’ outlook on life and their value system. In order to locate the topic in the context of folkloristic theory, the author has used the guidelines developed by several recognized researchers in the studies of personal narratives. The life values depicted in the narrated stories recorded in the folklore materials are arranged according to their thematic lines. These are values related to human character and virtues, attitude to life, emotional balance, physical and mental health. The life stories and personal accounts indicate the main values discussed by narrators during the period. Among these are values nurtured in the family – like virtues of work, patience and perseverance, positive outlook to life and inner strength, values on interpersonal relationships – like optimism, gratitude and helpfulness, kindness, love and trust in nature and natural order. Along with these, values of joy, singing and celebrating are also mentioned – as they restore strength and create a balance between work and relaxation. Overall, it is clear that the values and virtues mentioned in the classical folklore sources have been very important in surviving the changing times of the 20th-century Latvian territory.

The William A. Wilson Digital Folklore Archives

The William A. Wilson Digital Folklore Archives

КОЛЯДНЫЕ ПЕСНИ В КОНТЕКСТЕ СВЯТОЧНОЙ ОБРЯДНОСТИ ПСКОВО-ПЕЧОРСКОГО ОБОЗЕРЬЯ И ВЕЛИКОРЕЧЬЯ

The article, based on an analysis of materials from the folklore archive of Pskov State University, recorded on the territory of the Pskov-Pechora Obozerye and Velikorechye regions during folklore expeditions of the 1970s–2010s, presents the place of koliadkas in the Christmas and New Year home-to-home walk complex and identifies stable elements of their structures. The practice of “under the window” performance of koliadkas of a general type (addressed to the whole family) in the period from Christmas Eve to Epiphany by mixed gender and age groups of singers, often mummers, has been noted. An analysis of the structure of koliadkas showed an almost universal absence of a benevolent and majestic part in their composition, which indicates a transformation of the genre, as it leads to the loss of the song’s original semantics, that is a spell for the well-being of the family for the coming year. Koliadkas of the Pskov-Pechora Obozerye and Velikorechye regions are usually short texts that open with a ritual beginning and continue with a request, demand and threat in the main part.

Обходы «со звездой» в контексте святочной обрядности Псково-Печорского Обозерья и Великоречья

Based on the analysis of materials from the folklore archive of Pskov State University, recorded on the territory of the Pskov-Pechory Obozerye and Velikorechye during the folklore expeditions of the 1970s — 2000s, the article demonstrates the process of interpenetration of the archaic and Christian traditions during the Christmas season. This process causes the blurring of the borders between archaic and Christian types of carolling in most of the territory under consideration. This is manifested in the terminology used in relation to carolling, in the transfer of specific dressing traditions from Pagan to Christian customs, as well as in the content of texts that were performed by “Christ glorifiers”. The texts included such structural elements of archaic carols as the demand for a gift and threats to stingy hosts. The role of the “Christmas star” is explained as a generalized symbol of the holiday; a set of data on the methods of its making and use as an attribute defined by folk tradition is presented.