Summary

The first people in the world: Belarusian and Estonian aetiologies Keywords: Adam, aetiology, bible-influenced folklore, Eve, parabible Belarusian and Estonian mythological and legendary narratives, especially aetiologies, share a number of similar motifs and characters, despite the fact that Estonian and Belarusian belong to different language families and share no common borders. However, some matches in the motifs are so complete and expressive that they, we believe, cannot be explained by typology or universals. Since the topic of ties between Estonian- Belarusian folklore is relatively unexplored, along with their historical contacts, the aim of this article is to point out the similarities in the motifs of Estonian and Belarusian legends regarding the first people in the context of Slavic and Finno-Ugric legends, as

Alena Boganeva
Head of the Department of the Ethnolinguistics and Folklore Center for Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature Research National Academy of Sciences, Belarus
elboganeva@gmail.com

Mare Kõiva
Leading Research Fellow Department of Folkloristics, Estonian Literary Museum
mare.koiva@folklore.ee

Keywords: Adam, aetiology, bible-influenced folklore, Eve, parabible

Belarusian and Estonian mythological and legendary narratives, especially aetiologies, share a number of similar motifs and characters, despite the fact that Estonian and Belarusian belong to different language families and share no common borders. However, some matches in the motifs are so complete and expressive that they, we believe, cannot be explained by typology or universals. Since the topic of ties between Estonian- Belarusian folklore is relatively unexplored, along with their historical contacts, the aim of this article is to point out the similarities in the motifs of Estonian and Belarusian legends regarding the first people in the context of Slavic and Finno-Ugric legends, as well as to represent some of the original Estonian and Belarusian aetiologies. The motives under examination are the recreation of humans, the skin of the nails, creation of a woman, the death of the first people, the motifs of the snake, eel, and weather loach, the cross of Christ, and others.

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Conceptions of education in Estonian proverbs and educational science

Bianka Makoid
Head of the Department of Education and Culture Education and Youth Work Specialist Peipsiääre Rural Municipality Government
bianka.makoid@peipsivald.ee

Airi Liimets
Visiting Professor of Philosophy of Education School of Educational Sciences, Tallinn University
airi_liimets@yahoo.de

Keywords: conceptions of education, Estonia, proverbs, qualitative content analysis, educational thought, comparison of everyday conscious and scientific

In this article, we have set ourselves a goal to identify how the conceptions of education contained in Estonian proverbs coincide with the corresponding educational thought in Estonia. We have empirically studied 655 Estonian proverbs that directly refer to a child, growing up, upbringing and parents as well as the methods of education. In the empirical research, we look at whether and how it is possible to semantically categorize and define proverbs based on the educational meanings in their content. To have a clearer system for analysis, we created a comprehensive scheme of categories. The four main categories with subcategories formed during the work.

As can be concluded from the analysis of proverbs, the everyday wisdom that lies in them mostly coincides with behaviouristic conceptions of education as interaction and development management. According to educational scientist Heino Liimets, the interaction becomes truly mutual, but only at the highest level of acceptance of the educator’s influence – internal acceptance or interiorization. At lower levels, i.e., only agreeing to or external identification of influence, this is an influence from the educator’s position of power where the educable is passive, subordinate, and obeys commands. This content is characterized by behaviouristic thinking in educational science and can also be observed in proverbs.

Behaviouristic beliefs also address the need of the proverbs to take into account the peculiarity of a child in their upbringing, which mainly mean the timeliness of education, i.e., a person can be forced into something only in childhood and youth. Upbringing, education, and learning/teaching are considered practically as synonyms in proverbs and behaviouristic educational science, both being regarded as the management of development from outside a human being.

The use of certain educational methods, upbringing, and teaching methods is considered an essential condition for the management of development, education, and teaching, especially in behaviouristic thinking in science. It is a central theme also in proverbs where punishment (incl. physical), ordering, forbidding, disapproving, and causing fear are at the forefront as methods, and praising and “sharing mercy” can be found only to a very limited extent.

To speak about Estonian educational scientists, Peeter Põld dealt with the topic of punishment mainly in the first half of the 20th century and Maie Tuulik at the beginning of the 21st century; the latter, however, has completely relied on the ideas of Põld. J. Käis emphasises that the culture, language, and customs of one’s nation are obtained by means of education. Education creates identity and helps socialize. Thus, education occurs as a valuation.

The fact that education mediates and reproduces the values and norms valid in society is also clearly evident in Estonian proverbs. In the opinion of Maie Tuulik, modern diversity and ambivalence of values do not allow one clear hierarchy of values to be offered to a child to grow up. According to Põld, the bearer of values should primarily be someone authoritative as an example of education, although Põld himself also sees shortcomings of education based on authority. It levels individuality, promotes passivity and creates conventional values; it does not develop a sense of criticism. The relationships built on authority determine the higher and lower status of someone and, accordingly, the users of and subordinates to the power.

Such relationships between parents and children as well as in education appear also in proverbs, which is expected because the world of proverbs expresses the structure of a peasant family characteristic of feudal Estonia. Due to their age, children had a low social status in the family at that time. Social status also depended on the gender. In peasant society, man was the head and provider for the family. Sons had an advantage over daughters: they were given more education and they stayed at the farm. Põld has also associated authority primarily with the father. Thus, education had to reproduce the stereotypically traditional division of roles in a family, which was characteristic of the patriarchal society. The worldview was value-based and normative and divided according to the principle of black and white, containing firm truths about who is a good and who is a bad child. A child who agreed to the upbringing of his/her parents and who respected the parents was considered good. According to Tuulik, such firm beliefs that value the hierarchical nature of relationships should be based on also today.

Thus, everyday wisdom and corresponding everyday conscious world found in proverbs is present and reflected in Estonian educational science, especially in the ideas and works of two authors. These are Peeter Põld and Maie Tuulik, who represent a normative Christian-conservative view of upbringing and education, which in science is primarily related to the behaviouristic way of thinking, in which the educable is regarded as a passive object in a relationship of education based on power and authority. Thematically, of course, proverbs are also associated with the thoughts and works of other Estonian educational scientists – in particular, J. Käis, H. Liimets, A. Liimets, J. Orn, and I. Kraav, but in substantive emphasis these scientists represent a cognitiveconstructivist, humanistic and hermeneutic-phenomenological way of thinking.

Bianka Makoid on Peipsiääre vallavalitsuse haridus- ja kultuuriosakonna juhataja, haridus- ja noorsootöö spetsialist; kasvatusteaduste magister (2020, Tallinna Ülikool).

Bianka Makoid (MA in Educational Science, Tallinn University 2020) is Head of the Department of Education and Culture of Peipsiääre Rural Municipality Government and Education and Youth Work Specialist.
bianka.makoid@peipsivald.ee

Airi Liimets on Tallinna Ülikooli kasvatusfilosoofia külalisprofessor; Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemia doktorikooli ja lavakunstikooli külalisprofessor; kasvatusteaduse doktor (Dr. paed) kasvatusfilosoofia alal (2004, Heidelbergi Pedagoogikaülikool). Peamised uurimisvaldkonnad: filosoofiline ja pedagoogiline antropoloogia, kasvatusfilosoofia, noorsoosotsioloogia, üldkasvatusteadus.

Airi Liimets (PhD in philosophy of education, Heidelberg University of Education 2004) is visiting professor of philosophy of education at Tallinn University and visiting professor at the doctoral school and at the school of drama at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Her main fields of research involve philosophical and pedagogical anthropology, philosophy of education, sociology of youth, and general educational science.
airi_liimets@yahoo.de

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Werewolf lore of Estonia and Livonia as reverberation of changes in folk ontology

Merili Metsvahi
Assistant Professor Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, Institute of Cultural Research, University of Tartu
merili.metsvahi@ut.ee

Keywords: Estonia and Livonia, Estonian folktale, folk belief, folk ontology, neoanimism, werewolf, witch trials

The article gives a short overview of the Estonian werewolf tradition in the 16th and 17th centuries and a glimpse into the 19th–20th-century werewolf beliefs. The image of werewolf of the earlier and later periods is compared. The differences between the images of these two periods are explained with the help of the approaches of Tim Ingold and Philipp Descola, which ground the changes in the worldview taking place together with the shift from the pre-modern society into modernity.

The mental world of the 16th–17th-century Estonian and Livonian peasant did not encompass the category of nature, and the borders between the human being and the animal on the one side and organism and environment on the other side were not so rigid as they are in today’s people’s comprehension of the world. The ability to change into a wolf was seen as an added possibility of acquiring new experiences and benefits. As the popular ontology had changed by the second half of the 19th century – the human mind was raised into the ultimate position and the animal was comprehended as being inferior – the transformation of a man into an animal, if it was seriously taken at all, seemed to be strange and unnatural.

Merili Metsvahi on Tartu Ülikooli eesti ja võrdleva rahvaluule osakonna kaasprofessor. Tema uurimisteemad hõlmavad eesti perekonnaajalugu ja naise positsiooni perekonnas 18. ja 19. sajandil, pulmakombestikku, eesti rahvausundit ja rahvajutte ning jutustamise uurimist.

Merili Metsvahi is Assistant Professor at the Deptartment of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, University of Tartu. Her research interests include Estonian family history and the position of woman in the family in the 18th–19th centuries, wedding customs, Estonian folk belief and folktales and narrating.
merili.metsvahi@ut.ee

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Small Abkhazia’s big border issues: Baltic German explorers’ contribution to ethnic argumentation

Aivar Jürgenson
Senior Research Fellow Institute of History, Archaeology, and Art History, School of Humanities, Tallinn University
aivarj@tlu.ee

Keywords: Abkhazia, Baltic German explorers, border disputes, Caucasian War, colonization

The article examines Baltic German research expeditions to the north-western Caucasus, including Abkhazia, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and analyses the results of these trips. Although some of these researchers, such as Peter Simon Pallas and Heinrich Klaproth, came from Germany, most of the researchers were from the Baltic provinces of the Russian tsarist state: Johann Anton Güldenstädt, Otto Moritz Ludwig von Engelhardt, Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot, and Theodor von Tornau. The main focus of the article is on the descriptions of the north-western region of Abkhazia, where the historical region Dzhigetia or Small Abkhazia is located, and which was inhabited by the Dzhiget ethnic group until the 1860s. Using data from Baltic German authors, especially Theodor von Tornau, an attempt is made to answer the question of whether or not Dzhigetians belonged to the Abkhazians. The article provides an overview of the historical location and fate of Dzhigets in the 19th century.

In general, the descriptions of the peoples of the Caucasus provided by the authors of the late 18th and early 19th centuries are superficial and do not follow a uniform classification. Therefore, their interpretation offers different possibilities today. The examples of recent interpretations given in the article convince us that Russian and Abkhaz authors have interpreted earlier authors differently. The most comprehensive accounts of Dzhigetia come from Theodor von Tornau, and it can be argued that the Dzhigetians were an Abkhaz ethnic group.

The question of the affiliation of Dzhigets is important in today’s border disputes between Abkhazia and Russia. In the last decade, Russia has made territorial claims to Abkhazia in the region of historic Dzhigetia. It is also declared among the Russian scientific community that Dzhigetia is not historically-ethnically within the borders of Abkhazia. However, Tornau’s data refute these statements of Russian authors. The ethnicity of the peoples of the border areas would probably not solve today’s border problems, but would give to the parties of the dispute symbolic capital and moral support to defend their positions.

Aivar Jürgenson on Eesti etnoloog ja ajaloolane (PhD aastast 2003). Töötanud Eesti Rahva Muuseumis teaduri ja Teaduste Akadeemia Ajaloo Instituudis vanemteaduri ja osakonnajuhatajana, hetkel töötab Tallinna Ülikooli Humanitaarteaduste instituudis vanemteadurina. Peamised uurimisteemad on eesti diasporaakogukondade ajalugu ja tänapäev ning etnomükoloogia.

Aivar Jürgenson (born 1969) is an Estonian ethnologist and historian (PhD since 2003). He has worked as a researcher at the Estonian National Museum and as a senior researcher and head of department at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences. Currently he works as a senior researcher at the School of Humanities of Tallinn University. His main research topics are the history and present of Estonian diaspora communities and ethnomycology.
aivarj@tlu.ee

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Character engagement, online misogyny, and the materiality of representations: Some follow-up thoughts on the reception of Breaking Bad

Siim Sorokin
Research Fellow in Culture Studies Institute of Cultural Research University of Tartu
siim.sorokin@ut.ee

Keywords: affirmative character ontology, anti-idealism, Breaking Bad, continuance, embodiment, materialist theory of character, materiality of representations, narrative person, online misogyny, realitization

The present multidisciplinary theoretical article develops its focal line of argument gradually. At first, feminist and narrative theory are consulted; after that, some treatments in the philosophy of mind are discussed. The latter’s correlative relationship with the recent “materialist turn” in philosophy affords to propose a tentative alternative to the current and universally accepted approaches to the (fictional) character much indebted to philosophical idealism. This latter observation also determines the broad – some might argue seemingly overtly complicated – theoretical reach of the article. However, its timely point of departure – the online misogynistic abuse in fan discussions directed at Breaking Bad’s Skyler White and the actress Anna Gunn –, enables to cast the issue of character engagement in necessarily broad terms, disciplinarily speaking. Be it in the context of different scientific disciplines or as the crucial vertebra connecting them, whilst also suggesting far-reaching philosophical implications. This kind of engagement, and especially its expression in online discourse, provides an impetus to inquire about the peculiarities of the human mind and the operation of human thought. Therefore, the present article zooms in on the conventionally understood binary relationship between “fiction” and “reality”, sketching appropriate terminology (continuance, narrative person, realitization) and theoretical framework (inspired, in part, by the Soviet school of philosophical Activity Theory) to help explain the human proclivity to treat characters in naïve realist terms, i.e., as real people. The central research question is as follows: what kind of ramifications can be detected for the conceptualization of character (and narrative) engagement from a particular kind of value-laden reception (like the forms of digital misogyny that emerged in the context of Breaking Bad’s reception)?

Siim Sorokin (PhD, Tartu Ülikool, Kultuuriuuringute Instituut) on kultuuriuuringute teadur ja uurimisgrupi Narratiiv, Kultuur, ja Kognitsioon (NCC) liige (uurimisgrupi juht: prof. dr. Marina Grišakova): https://ncc.ut.ee). Sorokini peamiseks uurimisalaks on tähendustamisdiskursused netikogukondades (tegelaskujuga suhestumine välispidise ja anti-idealistliku teadvusfilosoofia vaatevinklist; narratiivne plottimine vandenõuteoretiseerimispraktikates multidistsipinaarsest vaatenurgast). Sorokin on avaldanud kaastöid hinnatud kohalikes teadusajakirjades, rahvusvahelistes toimetatud kogumikes ja kaastööd rahvusvahelistes ajakirjades (nt Popular Inquiry, 2021) on ilmumas. Sorokin tegeleb ka oma monograafia kontseptualiseerimisega (digitaalsed plottimispraktikad).

Siim Sorokin (PhD, Institute of Cultural Research, University of Tartu) is a Research Fellow in Culture Studies and a member of the research group Narrative, Culture, and Cognition (NCC) (PI: Prof. Dr Marina Grishakova; https://ncc.ut.ee). His main research field involves online discourses of sensemaking in social media communities (character and person engagement through the lens of externalist (and anti-idealist) philosophies of mind; multidisciplinary perspective on narrative plotting in the practices of conspiracy theorizing). Sorokin has published in high-profile national journals, edited volumes with international pedigree and has articles forthcoming in international journals. He is in the process of conceptualizing his monograph on digital plotting practices.

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Sleep and dreams in the Udmurt culture

Nikolai Anisimov
Department of Folkloristics, Estonian Literary Museum, Estonia Department of Philological Studies Udmurt Institute for Research in History, Language and Literature (UdmFRC UB RAS) Izhevsk, Russia
nikolai.anisimov@folklore.ee

Eva Toulouze
Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris, France Department of Ethnology University of Tartu, Estonia
evatoulouze@gmail.com

Keywords: communication with the dead, dreams, rules of behaviour, sleep, Udmurt

In Udmurt culture sleep (iz’on, kölon, um) as well as dreams (vöt, uyvöt) have occupied a significant place. According to ordinary understandings, dreams are not subjected to this world’s rules of time and space: in a dream, places and spaces may suddenly change, and time moves quickly, or it does not move at all; it has stopped. Sleep and dreams are not thoroughly explained phenomena, and as such, they play a significant role in the communication between the world of the living and the world of the deities (spirits). Their importance is confirmed by the rules one has to follow when going to bed. The dream becomes a sacred space, in which it is possible to acquire sacred knowledge and skills. The narratives we are acquainted with tell us that during sleep one of the person’s souls, called urt, can fly away. Probably this is the reason why it is forbidden to suddenly awake a person sleeping: they may not wake up at all or may even lose their reason. Earlier the Udmurt even organised special rituals to catch the second soul. In the Udmurt culture, sleep and dreams constitute a non-real space, in which the living and the dead are able to meet and communicate. The initiators of the dreams can be both the living and the dead, in different situations. Through dreams, the dead are able to transmit to the living their wishes, their knowledge about events or accidents to come; they may complain about certain circumstances, etc. Today, the Udmurt are attentive to all dreams; they see in them signs connected to the real world and given from above, and they must be considered in order not to disturb the balance between the worlds.

Nikolai Anisimov (Phd) on Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi folkloristika osakonna teadur ning Venemaa Teaduste Akadeemia Uurali osakonna Udmurdi Föderaalse Uurmiskeskuse Udmurdi ajaloo, keele ja kirjanduse instituudi filoloogia uuringute osakonna teadur. Tema huviorbiidis on peamiselt udmurdi pärimusja nüüdiskultuur, täpsemalt udmurdi esivanematekultus ja laulutraditsioon.

Nikolai Anisimov (PhD) is Research Fellow at the Department of Folkloristics at the Estonian Literary Museum, Estonia, and at the Department of Philological Studies at the Udmurt Institute for Research in History, Language and Literature (UdmFRC UB RAS), Izhevsk, Russia. His main field of interest is Udmurt traditional and contemporary culture, and more precisely, the living ancestors’ cult by the Udmurt and their singing tradition.
nikolai.anisimov@folklore.ee; kyldysin@yandex.ru

Eva Toulouze on soome-ugri keelte professor ja teadur Pariisi Riiklikus Ida Keelte ja Kultuuride Instituudis (INALCO) ning Tartu Ülikooli etnoloogiateadur. Tema peamised uurijahuvid on Venemaa soome-ugri rahvaste kultuurid, kirjakultuuri teke soome-ugri aladel ja metsaneenetsite kultuur.

Eva Toulouze is a professor of Finno-Ugric languages and researcher at the Institute of Eastern Languages and Cultures (INALCO – Paris), and a researcher at the Department of Ethnology, University of Tartu, Estonia. Her main fields of interest are the cultures of Finno-Ugric peoples in Russia, the emergence of written culture in Finno-Ugric areas, and Forest Nenets’ culture.
evatoulouze@gmail.com

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The Testament of Hattušili I

Siim Mõttus
Post-graduate student Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu
siim.mottus@ut.ee

Keywords: contHattušili I, Hittites, kingship, royal succession, testament

From the Hittite kingdom in the Anatolian peninsula of the II millennium, the first known Indo-European-ruled political entity, the so-called bilingual testament of Hattušili I (ca. 1650–1620 BC) has long fascinated modern scholars. This article offers a translation of the original Hittite text into Estonian. The testament describes the turbulent political situation of the state’s earlier period, filled with the king’s unruly family members and many rebellions. Seemingly on his deathbed, King Hattušili I proclaimed that instead of the young Labarna, the previously designated heir, a new candidate – Muršili – would take his place, due to the former’s unkind nature. Labarna had not been the first to oppose Hattušili. His daughter and son had also done that, revolting against their father. The numerous problems related to inheriting the kingship in the early period of Hittite history have also prompted an ongoing discussion about the succession principles in Hittite society. Concerning the literary value, the testament is a masterpiece that incorporates historical exempla, metaphors, similes, direct speech, and rhetorical questions to enforce the king’s arguments and to persuade his audience – the upper echelons of the Hittite society. Despite its name, the testament seems to have more didactical than juridical purposes, as the king offers many instructions to his new heir – to be kind, abstemious, pious and, first and foremost, he orders to heed his wisdom and his will. The ones around the new designee are exhorted to be united and supportive to Muršili. As such, the text can be compared to some other proto-Fürstenspiegels, like “The Teaching for King Merikare” form Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, but it also bears parallels to Gen 49. All in all, the testament is a remarkable insight into Hittite history and society.

Siim Mõttus on Tartu Ülikooli ajaloo ja arheoloogia instituudi doktorant. Tema peamiseks uurimishuviks on Vana-Lähis-Ida ning eriti Hetiidi riigi ajalugu ning kultuur.

Siim Mõttus is a PhD student at the Institute of History and Archaeology at the University of Tartu. His main topic of interest is Ancient Near East and especially the history and culture of the Hittites.
siim.mottus@ut.ee

News, overviews   

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The annual prize in folkloristics was awarded to Asta Õim

Each spring the Academic Folklore Society together with the Cultural Endowment of Estonia hands out annual prizes in folkloristics in Estonia. This year the prize went to Asta Õim, Piret Voolaid writes.

Mare Kõiva, Leading Researcher of the Estonian Literary Museum, was elected as member of Academia Europaea

Mare Kõiva, Leading Researcher of the Estonian Literary Museum, was elected as a member of Academia Europaea, the European Academy of Humanities, Letters and Sciences. Overview in English by Piret Voolaid is available in Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, Vol. 83.

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Calendar

A brief summary of the events of Estonian folklorists from April to July 2021.

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