Water

Much Estonian folklore is associated with water and bodies of water, and not simply because water is an essential element of life. Estonia has a long coastline: Northern and Western Estonia are located by the sea, and 80 per cent of Eastern Estonia is separated from Russia by long inland waterways. There are many islands around the coast of Estonia and many lakes in South and Southeast of the country. The land is rather swampy and humid and it rains relatively often: rain in summer, snow in winter, sleet from autumn to spring and sometimes hail. 

The largest Estonian islands of Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, Muhu and Vormsi are located on the western coast, with Kihnu and Ruhnu further out in the Baltic Sea. The inhabited islands of Aegna, Prangli, Naissaar and Pakris are off the northern coast; and on the east coast, within Lake Peipus, is Piirissaar (earlier Borka).

There are a total of nearly 1,200 lakes in Estonia. Lakes Peipus and Pskov (Est. Peipsi-Pihkva) on the eastern border together form the fifth largest lake area in Europe. Many lakes have their own beauty, personality and stories – for example, there is the relatively large and shallow Võrtsjärv (formerly Virtsjärv), the beautiful Pühajärv – a ‘Sacred Lake’ with many associated beliefs in South Estonia. The Kaali lake in Saaremaa formed from a meteorite crater and is also called a ‘Sacred lake’. 

In the religious world view, water, like air, also extends to other worlds or is itself an otherworld. Since man is the measure of things, it is assumed that the inhabitants of this non-human environment, unsuitable for terrestrial living, must have possessed qualities beyond human capabilities. According to folklore, water was home to human food, fish, seals etc., but also to unusual, supernatural inhabitants. Bodies of water and their inhabitants had their own protectors, who were often called water mother or father in southern Estonia, although other names could be Veevana – 'water old', Veehaldjas – 'water fairy', Veevaim – 'water spirit'. In the old stories, the water spirit usually appears as a human- or fish-shaped creature who has his own farm somewhere at the bottom of the body of water, or perhaps under it. The water spirit of the older folk religion was not evil in itself, but its attitude depended on the contact; its task seems to have been to organise relations with people – to monitor people's fishing or more generally their behaviour towards the lake or sea environment.

Presumably, under the influence of more recent Christian ideas and the traditions of neighbouring nations, the local guardian spirits of older animistic beliefs have been likened to evil spirits (devils, demons, etc.). For example, to the ancient spirits who took care of the body of water and its fish were added the dangerous nixy – näkk. The Estonian evil näkk (cmp. Scan, Sw. näcken, Germ. Nix(e)) usually appeared as a woman in white, a man, or an animal, most often a horse.
The way to the underworld could be via a water gate - water as a border between this and the “other side” is also a very common motif in international folklore. The other world could be visited by falling into a well or into water.

In ancient times, the wild landscape was primarily moved by water – in the summer with boats and ships and in the winter along the ice. According to old maps, the waterway from Pärnu to Tartu ran along the Pärnu River and smaller rivers, over the Viljandi Lake and finally via the Emajõgi River to Tartu. Pärnu river is also called Emajõgi in old sources, for example in the Chronicle of Henrik of Latvia.

The inhabitants of coastal areas and lakesides have much traditional knowledge and many beliefs related to fish and fishing, as well as seal hunting. Fish made up a large part of an Estonian's diet, and therefore the motifs of fishing are interwoven with various topics: the lyrics of songs could refer to marriage with a fisherman, making a boat, luck with fishing, or the birth of fish from lice. Proverbs abound in wisdom for a good catch of fish, while many legends and personal narratives tell of supernatural and real incidents on the water. You will also find useful instructions for cooking fish.

Seals are protected today but in the old days, when they were still abundant, they were hunted. Currently the number and health of seals shows the ecological condition of the Baltic Sea. The number of seals today is about one-fifth of what it was a century ago. The study of seals has helped to discover a few very harmful environmental toxins that, upon reaching the sea, can cause infertility or destroy the seal’s natural defences. A comparison with seals that live in a cleaner ocean environment has helped to identify diseases caused by environmental toxins and their development process.

Water birds and plants require a separate topic, and we joined the lore relating to them with that of other birds and plants (see pages Plants; Birds). Quite striking among the water plants is the mysterious lemmeleht, which is featured as a part of the fatal marriage drama told in narrative regilaul songs, and assumed to be a white water lily, pond-lily, or the impatiens.

Sources: Loorits 1990; Masing 1995; Jüssi 2011; Arukask 2022.

Taive Särg; translated by the author and Les Wilson