Abercromby Finnish magic songs

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-3-98594-234-3
Verlag: FilRougeViceversa
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 150 Seiten

The Finns possess a considerable number of words and epithets for wizard, sorcerer, witch, seer, ecstatic and the like. Some of these are native words like noita 'a sorcerer,' tieto-mies or tietäjä 'the knower,' loitsija 'the reciter of a magic song (loitsu), arpoja 'a diviner,' näkijä 'a seer,' myrrys-mies or into-mies 'an ecstatic,' lumoja 'a stupefier,' lukija 'a reciter,' katselija 'an observer,' laulu-mies 'a song-man,' ampuja 'an archer,' kukkaro-mies a bag-man.' Others are of foreign origin like mahti-mies or mahtaja < Goth. mahts or Sw. magt 'might,' taikuri 'he that uses taika '< Goth. taikns 'a token, a wonder,' velho 'a witch,' is probably an early Slav loan, while a latter one is poppa-mies 'priest-man' from the Rus. pop. Though between these appellations no hard and fast line can be drawn, dividing them into good and bad categories, yet on the whole, injurious or black magic would generally be the work of the noita, the ampuja, the velho, and the kukkaro-mies. Beneficial or white magic, like the great bulk of the Magic Songs, was used for ejecting evil spirits of disease, etc., and would be practised by a loitsija, a tietäjä, a lukija, or a laulu-mies; in some instances by a lumoja, näkijä or an arpoja. Yet we have an example of an exorcist terming himself a noita and a Lapp (12 b). As a rule there is nothing in a Magic Song to show what sort of wizard the reciter of it might be; so as his function is to drive away disease, I shall term him the exorcist.

John Abercromby, 5th Baron Abercromby of Tullibody was a Scottish soldier and archaeologist. After leaving the army in 1870 he devoted himself to languages, travel, and folklore. In 1904 he introduced the term beaker into the archaeological lexicon to describe the copper age drinking vessels being found all over western Europe.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Abercromby, John

Leseproben

Chapter 2. The Neolithic Age In Finland

By a brief study of the archæology of Finland and the north centre of Russia, we may form an idea when man first came into these northern climes, and make more or less well-founded conjectures as to his manner of life and civilisation, as well as the quarter of the compass from which he proceeded. The north of Russia must have been habitable for a long time before man thought it worth while to try his fortunes in the wintry land, for traces of the mammoth have been found in almost every part of European Russia, from north to south and from east to west. Yet no handiwork of man is found associated with the tusks of Elephas primigenius in any part where it is likely that Finns have ever resided. It is true the late Count Uvárov believed he had discovered flint implements of palæolithic type with tusks of the mammoth at Karacárovo, near Múrom, but the antiquity of the flint implements has been disputed, and the presence of sherds of pottery clearly relegates the find to the neolithic period. The history of man in the north and centre of Russia begins with the neolithic age, when he had learnt to grind and polish his stone implements, though he often neglected to do so. As illustrations of archæological objects would be somewhat out of place in a work of this sort, I have referred, whenever possible, to the well-known and very useful atlas of Mr. J. R. Aspelin, Antiquités du nord finno-ougrien , under the shorter form of Asp. No.
Perhaps the earliest type of stone implement found in Finland is a crowbar-shaped tool, a foot or two long, the point alone of which is usually ground smooth. This simple tool, supposed to have been used for boring holes in ice, is found in greatest abundance just above and below the arctic circle on the banks of the Kemi, on the shores of Lake Kemi, and even further northwards. In smaller numbers it is met with across the centre of Finland, in Karelia and Olónets, but not in the south-west of Finland, nor in Sweden and Norway (Asp. No. 28, 29). Another hacking instrument, sometimes as much as 17 in. long by 2½ in. wide, with one side carefully ground flat, the back rounded like a keelless boat, and the two ends terminating in a point (Asp. No. 34) or a short straight edge, seems to have had its focus of manufacture in Olónets. Thence it spread in no great numbers westwards, though not so far as Satakunta or to the south-west corner of Finland, and northwards without reaching lat. 64° N. Examples have also been found near the mouth of the Volkhov in the great Ladogan find, and there is a broken specimen in the University Museum at Kazan from the district of Uržum (Viátka). In a variety of this instrument, found in Olónets, the upper flat surface is concave (Asp. No. 32, 33). A flat, wedge-shaped axe of oblong section, made of the native stone of the country, and of the same type as one widely distributed in the centre and south of Sweden, in the south of Norway, and the north of Germany, is also found in the Grand Duchy (Asp. No. 17, 19). It occurs in greatest profusion in the south-west corner of the country; it does not extend so far north as lat. 64° N., or further east than the western shore of Lake Ladoga, occurring there in only trifling quantities. A longer axe, generally of quadrangular but also of oval section, is also thinly distributed over much the same area, though reaching eastwards into Olónets (Asp. No. 31). Some of the chisels are of almost triangular section, and are mainly confined to Karelia and Olónets; they are not found in Scandinavia or on the Baltic coast. Chisels no doubt were mainly used for cutting wood, though they could serve for other purposes, for stone chisels were still used not many years ago by the Lapps, in the parish of Kuusamo (Kemi), for removing the hair from the moistened hides of reindeer. [47] Of gouges there are two types. The first has a flat face, in which the groove is made at one end, and the short sides and back are rounded. With the exception of the extreme south-west corner, such gouges are common over the whole of Finland up to the Arctic Circle, but most of all in Karelia and Häme or Tavastland. They are also common enough in the governments of Kazán and Viátka; and one from Anánino, near Elábuga, in the University Museum at Kazán, may serve in dating some of these instruments. The other type has a flat back, does not taper, and the short sides are also flat and parallel. It is chiefly confined to Central Finland, and hardly touches Karelia (Asp. No. 47, 48).
The most interesting archæological objects, however, are the perforated, boat-shaped hammer-axes of the same general forms, though with slight differences, as those known in Sweden (Asp. No. 64, 65). More than a hundred are recorded, and their distribution is worthy of notice. They occur only in the south-west angle of the Grand Duchy, and are not found east of a line drawn from about the mouth of the Kymmene, on the south coast, to Ny Karleby, on the west coast. [48] A couple of flint daggers with neat serrated ridges along the haft, of well-known Scandinavian type (Asp. No. 57), have likewise been found in the south-west of Finland. As there is no flint in the country, they must have been imported from Sweden. Like the boat-shaped hammer-axes, they belong to the fourth or latest period of the neolithic age, according to the classification of Mr. O. Montelius.
Very different from the perforated hammer-axe of Southwest Finland is a rude perforated instrument, pointed at both ends, the body of which may be lozenge-shaped, or more or less elongated, but is always provided with a pivot-like protuberance, on each side of the hole, at right angles to the long diameter (Asp. No. 66–70). It has its chief development in Olónets, but it has also been found in Bothnia and in Satakunta, where both the lozenge and the narrow type occur. A lozenge-shaped axe or double pick, but without the lateral pivots, was found near the village of Volósovo near Múrom. [49] Not unconnected with these are the perforated picks of various forms, including that of the lozenge, but all terminating in the head of an animal. Five are known from Olónets, one from Karelia, and two from the government of Archangel, of which one came from as far north as the district of Mezen (Asp. 71, 73–76) [50] Though these instruments certainly belong to a stone age, it is very probable, as Mr. J. R. Aspelin supposes, that they are imitated from bronze weapons of the later bronze period, such as are found on the Lower Kama. Stone lance- and arrow-heads have also been found in small numbers, chiefly in Bothnia and Häme.
The art of pottery was also practised in the later stone age. At Hankasalmi, east of Jyväskylä, in the heart of Finland, were discovered by Dr. Heikel in 1894 several large fragments of an urn which he found possible to reunite, and so to restore in part the original vessel. In diameter it was about 15 inches, and the bottom was evidently round. It was ornamented with several alternate bands of holes in three rows and diagonally arranged punch-marks, made with a square-toothed, comb-like instrument, and the inner edge of the rim, which was bevelled, was adorned with similar punch-marks. In the neighbourhood of Lake Uleå ornamented clay vessels, partly finished, partly incomplete, were found with stone chisels, and at least two clay moulds for celts of East Russian and Siberian type. The ornament on the sherds consisted of rows of impressed points and diagonal punctured grooves, a very characteristic ornament often observed in the neolithic pottery from the mouth of the Volkhov, from Olónets, the Valdai, and the Oká. Sherds have also been discovered elsewhere, in the parish of Virdois north of Tammerfors, near Lake Kynsivesi in Häme, and in some profusion on the Vuoksi river. [51]
From the above résumé several important deductions can be drawn with more or less probability. It is evident that during the stone period, which lasted to all intents and purposes to the beginning of the Christian era, Finland was inhabited by two, if not three, distinct peoples. Which of these first appeared upon the scene it is impossible to conjecture. Finnish archæologists are unanimous in believing that the south-west part of the country, where the flat wedge-shaped axes and the boat-shaped hammer-axes are found, was inhabited by a Scandinavian people that arrived there from Sweden. According to Mr. O. Montelius, the beginning of the Bronze Age in Sweden may be dated about 1700 B.C., and these hammer-axes belong to the period immediately previous. But as doubtless they were in use for a long time after the introduction of bronze, the first appearance of the Swedish colonists might be placed about 1500 B.C. Yet as the wedge-shaped axes are of a still older type, the hardy adventurers may have found their way to the coast of Finland at a still earlier date. The second people are generally supposed to have been the ancestors of the Lapps. But as the Ladogan people at...