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1

COMMUNICATING ACROSS THE BORDER: EXHUMATION AND THE GENERIC MEMORY OF LAMENTS FOR THE DEAD (Suheldes ule piiri: ekshumatsioon ja surnuitkude zhanriline malu)

100%
Arukask M.
Mäetagused
|
2011
|
vol. 47
39-64
EN
The present article discusses the issue of elimination of the fear of the dead as it appears in archaic cultures; first and foremost in connection with laments as a folklore genre and lamenting as a ritual practice. Primarily, it is the relevant Balto-Finnic and North Russian traditions that will be observed, in which lamenting has retained its original function of balancing the relationships between the spheres of the living and the dead, and of establishing borderlines, as well as that of restoring the interrupted social cohesion. Lament texts can be viewed as a multifunctional genre that may possibly even be addressed variously, but wherein nevertheless the interests of the community stand foremost, whereas personal psychological problems come only after them and as related to them. The lamenter's role and function in the society will also be examined. The second part of the article will, in connection with overcoming the fear of the dead, discuss exhumation - a phenomenon that has not been preserved in the North European cultures but that can, in the light of treated bones or incomplete skeletons in the graves of Bronze and Iron Ages, be assumed to have at one time existed even in Estonia. In cultures where exhumation has remained a living practice up to the present (Greek culture, for instance), it has probably also solved problems linked to the fear of the dead, since part of the person's skeleton is posthumously reincorporated into the society of the living, in the shape of an amulet or a talisman. The relevant rituals have been performed to the accompaniment of laments. The final part of the article will take a look at certain textual examples of the Seto laments for the dead, which may have preserved a distant memory of the practices connected with exhumation.
2

Vaikimine, raakimine ja muud traditsioonilised koneteod vepsa rahvakultuuris kultuuridevahelises vordluses

63%
Arukask M., Saar E.
Mäetagused
|
2020
|
vol. 77
89-116
EN
In this article we analyse factors that help interpret silence and speaking in different cultures. Economic activities and lifestyle related to natural conditions as well as beliefs are crucial here. In terms of speaking and silence, a relatively good distinction can be made between peoples traditionally engaged in hunting-gathering and agriculture, and the modern Western code of communication that has developed from the latter. The modern code does not tolerate silence and non-speaking very well, considering it either as expression of impoliteness, stupidity or lack of sincerity. For indigenous peoples silence clearly has a magical function in order not to be threatened by ambivalent animistic agents. This also explains the greater carefulness of indigenous peoples in expressing their emotions. For the same reason, in animistic cultures, which are not so human-centred, the usual communication situations (meetings, departures, making compliments) and the corresponding speech acts are very diffuse, minimalist or non-existent. In (monotheistic) agricultural cultures the sphere of spirit beings has generally been demonized, and the norm of silent behaviour that reflects it has become incomprehensible or interpreted as inappropriate. The Veps living in north-western Russia have been in close contact with Russian peasant culture for more than 1,000 years. The relatively emotional and speech-oriented Russian culture has undoubtedly had an impact on the Veps. On the other hand, the Finno-Ugric animistic norm and the corresponding tendency to speak less or remain silent can be perceived. It also seems that from Russians the Veps have acquired speech acts used at meetings and departures – greetings, farewells, blessings, formulas that close and delimit situations, and so on. The corresponding words and phrases taken from Russian also refer to borrowing. Because of the Russian influence the interpersonal relations of the Veps are not that diffuse as those of the non-agricultural indigenous peoples. Nevertheless, as the forest and beliefs related to it are still very central in Vepsian folk life, the Veps are very careful in their ways of speaking because of the animistic spirits around, which very much determines their behaviour in general. In the fieldwork situations we have noticed that silence/speaking significantly depends also on the social role and profession of the informant. There exist also situations that require silence (for example eating, certain works related to starting of something, getting on the road). Our experiences show that silence may arise also when issues related to death and the supernatural sphere are touched upon.
3

THE LAMENT OF ONEGA-VEPS WOMAN ON THE GRAVE OF HER HUSBAND (Maaratledes ennast suulises esituses. Aanisvepsa naise itk oma mehe haual)

63%
Arukask M., Lashmanova A.
Mäetagused
|
2009
|
vol. 42
55-75
EN
While conducting fieldwork in Russian Karelia, the authors encountered in an abandoned forest village of Yashozero the last native inhabitant - an almost 80 years old Veps woman Maria. There, at noon on 11 July 2005, at the lake-side cemetery, Maria lamented to her husband. Her lament, rich in archaic words and concepts, is more a one-sided dialogue than a monologue. It is possible to point out three different features in the lament as a performance. (1) Lament is addressed to the person residing in the grave. At the same time the lamenter defines oneself as a person on the edge - her senses are extremely responsive to the perspective beyond the grave as well as (2) to personal life and the problems linked to it. These two perspectives alternate and sometimes almost rival in Maria's lament text. (3) The third perspective of a lament is the sense of surroundings derived from the real situation or, more accurately, from other people currently at the cemetery. In the lamenting situation it was possible to notice Maria's ability to switch from the poetic recitative of a lament to regular speech, from the other side and/or personal orientation to current reality.The text of the lament examined in the article is relatively unstable as the performance situation was occasional rather than closely following the ritual order. Primordial fear of the dead, psychological problems and possibly also a new personal inclination towards the deceased vary all the time and are expressed in the composition and poetic language of the lament text. But instead of the historical naturalistic, wild and desolate Karelia, Maria's lament narrates about a traditional society gnarled in the Soviet cataclysm of the 20th century. Instead of a typical Karelian family one sees an increasing commitment to the problems of a modern core family, which has been drawn apart by the renewed society that separates children from the parents both in life and death. There are the desires and doubts of a woman, touched by emancipation, which wait to be expressed in the lament use. Burial lament links the person, the world(s) and the mental culture in an existentially dramatic situation, where there is little left of what is art or entertainment.
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