LEGEND ABOUT ELLEY IN THE COLLECTIONS AND RESEARCH PAPERS OF G.V. KSENOFONTOV

Author(s): Albına Dyachkova / Language(s): English Issue: 16/2012

A considerable part of the scientific heritage of G.V. Ksenofontov, a well-known Siberian social anthropologist and folklore specialist is devoted to the narratives about one of the legendary progenitors of the Yakuts – Elley. G.V. Ksenofontov, exploring the rich folklore and historical material about Elley, collected by him, drew attention to the presence in this cycle of legends of the genetic parallels with the myths and legends of the Turkic- speaking ethnic groups of medieval Asia, which is confirmed by the modern researchers.

Развойни тенденции в съвременния полски фолклор

Author(s): Violetta Wróblewska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2014

The Polish folklore after the constitutional transformation in the 1989 began to be in thrall to strong west influences similarly to other aspects of life. The modern media, including the Internet, has had the most vital impact on its transformation. They have created more opportunities for forming, modifying, copying and sending new types of communications. In this way, each of the internauts could easily become a potential folklore addressee and sender. These changes have been creating numerous forms of folklore, such as demotivators or mems. They have also transformed traditional forms, e.g.: chain letters and riddles. Folklore obviously has strong connection with the media and the current country affairs, however, the noticeable tendency in the development of folklore is the domination of comical forms or those creating fears (urban legends). These tendencies may be interpreted as a reaction to stress associated with continuous cultural and economical transformation in Poland. It might also be an attempt to tame the fears of everyday life.

Годината на Оскар Колберг в Полша

Author(s): Weronika Grozdew-Kołacińska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2014

200 Years of Oskar Kolberg

За народните ни умотворения, особенно за песните. Отъ К.А. Шапкаревъ

Author(s): Kuzman Anastasov Shapkarev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 23-24/1888

(Български народни умотворения) Български песни: Гьергьев ден. Отъ С. Ж. Д-въ

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 23-24/1888

(Книжнина: Рецензии) Баба Ега или сборникъ отъ различни вервания, народни лекувания, магии, баяния и обичаи въ Кюстендилско.

Author(s): Lyubomir Miletich / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 23-24/1888

Palindromes and Letter Formulae: Some Reconsiderations

Author(s): Mare Kõiva / Language(s): English Issue: 8/1998

The article is based on the collection of incantations in the Estonian Folklore Archives and it aims to provide a description of an old and less-known type of incantations in Estonia. The term “letter formulae” will hereafter be used to designate incantations based on letters or letter combinations, palindromes, other formulae connected with letter mythology, and also names which function as spells. In general it can be said that this originally old type of incantations has reached this cultural area relatively late. A majority of the formulae are more or less directly connected with cabalism, the connection is genetic and the formulae spread through the mediation of cabalism. The formulae reached Estonia through secondary manuscripts and it is not likely that at that time any Estonian folk doctors/healers would have been familiar with the cabala; neither were proper names attributed meanings and values characteristic of occult sciences.

On the Relationships of the Rhetorical, Modal, Logical, and Syntactic Planes in Estonian Proverbs (part 2)

Author(s): Arvo Krikmann / Language(s): English Issue: 8/1998

The clearest and most effective indicators of the stereotypicality of proverbs are not, however, the basic formulae of logic and degrees of modality or the basic patterns of semantic transformations or other similar constructs, but rather syntactic clichés with their more or less clear correlations with stereotypes occurring on other levels. Similarly, the well-known formula-like, or ornamental character of proverbs which has led some scholars to believe that it is possible to subject proverbs to a logical description, manifests itself first and foremost as syntactic symmetry (in Estonian inevitably accompanied by morphological symmetry). In the proverbs of Baltic- Finnic peoples (Finns, Karelians, Estonians, Votes) whose fondness of the so-called ‘runic verse’ can be observed in a considerable part of their “metric” folklore in several genres, structural symmetry is particularly frequent and pure, especially as compared to German or Russian proverbs, for example, in which end rhyme with its anti-parallelist effect is much more frequent. Syntactic symmetry is, by nature, yet another aspect of parallelism. Having – in the above discussion of the logical structure of proverbs – pointed out a parallelist supra-implicational level, we should like to emphasize that in proverbs, manifestations of parallelism are certainly not confined to this supra-level, but reach the basic implicational level as well.

Cinderellagame by Paul-Eerik Rummo as compared to Song games

Author(s): Harri Mürk / Language(s): English Issue: 8/1998

According to the opinion of the author of the present article, among the very few original Estonian plays that can claim to be of international stature, Cinderellagame (Tuhkatriinumäng, 1969) by Paul- Eerik Rummo should be regarded as one of the truly outstanding works in Estonian dramaturgy. In the following essay, I will briefly analyse one of the reasons for the destitute state of the original Estonian dramaturgy and then view one of the aspects of the structure of Paul-Eerik Rummo’s remarkable play in this context. A proficient English translation of the play by Andres Männik and Mardi Valgemäe is available in Alfreds Straumanis’ anthology of Baltic plays Confrontations with Tyrrany (1977). All quotes from the play below are taken from this publication.

Death and Afterwards

Author(s): Madis Arukask / Language(s): English Issue: 8/1998

For a folklorist all death-related aspects of human life can be divided in two groups: 1) ritual, beliefs that begin to operate at the instance of death in the neighbourhood; 2) general death-related beliefs in daily life. While the first group can be seen as the more ceremonial one and, thus, more obligatory in a way, the other contains more explanations that are not bound to particular customs. In my opinion beliefs connected with certain activities are inclined to be preserved due to their complexity and dynamic character, while at the same time they are constantly under threat of being levelled down and modernised in accordance with changes in human interpretation. On the other hand, the beliefs that enjoy a certain degree of “freedom” can be more fragmented, but they are more likely to contain more archaic traits. Penetrating into the people’s ideas about what will happen after death, how this world and the one after death are connected to each other, or what is their notion about the other world in general, helps us gain information about everyday beliefs.

Трудноћа у обичајима Рађевине

Author(s): Mirjana Petrović Savić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1/2012

The paper discusses the representation of pregnancy in the customs and beliefs of a region in Serbia known as Rađevina. The research was aimed at recording and preserving the customs and lexis regarding pregnancy in this part of Serbia. We obtained the lexis through topicguided conversations with the informants. The article is divided into several sections: on pregnancy before pregnancy, prohibitions during pregnancy and consequences if they are not observed, revealing the baby's gender, conlusion and glossary. Rađevina used to have a system of regulations that the pregnant woman had to adhere to. Special attention was paid to the behaviour of the pregnant woman herself. It was in larger part regulated by means of numerous prohibitions and limitations. Most of those prohibitions were based on the assumption of a magical relation of the future mother and the foetus in her womb. It is interesting to note that some prohibitions were observed before pregnancy itself, during the wedding ritual. In this period, the community tended to facilitate the bride's conception of a fair, healthy male child. During pregnancy itself the pregnant woman used certain objects to protect herself from evil and negative influences of her surroundings. The largest number of prohibitions during pregnancy were implemented so that a healthy, but also fair child should be born. Apart from that, the prohibitions were intended to influence the child's longevity. The section on pregnancy before pregnancy lists the techniques applied in the wedding ritual which influenced the bride's fertility with imitative magic. We also shed some light on the traditional revealing of the future child's gender, and the paper is ends with a glossary.

Kad Ibro pođe zemlju da brani

Author(s): Rusmir Djedović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 35/2013

U „Izvornoj muzici“ sjeveroistočne Bosne, pjesma „Kad Ibro pođe zemlju da brani” jedna je od najpopularnijih pjesama ove vrste tradicionalne narodne muzike. Pjesmu je snimila izvorna grupa „Kalesijska trojka“ iz Kalesije, 1969. godine, kojom je obezbijedila posebno mjesto među ostalim grupama ovog muzičkog žanra.Ubrzo nakon snimanja pjesma stiče kultni status, a mnogi je i danas smatraju svojevrsnom himnom „izvorne muzike“ sjeveroistočne Bosne. U ovom radu se daju osnovni podaci o toj pjesmi, o okolnostima pod kojima je snimljena na gramofonsku ploču, te o značajkama koje su joj obezbijedile status najpopularnije pjesme „izvorne muzike“ zadnjih decenija. Dosta podataka sam dobio od lidera izvorne grupe „Kalesijska trojka“, Hasana Šabanovića, zvanog Šabanije (rođen 1937. godine), u više razgovora, tokom 2012. i 2013. godine.

Andreas Arvidi disputatsioon De natura et constitutione medicinae arstiteadusliku mõtte arengu peegeldajana 17. sajandi Tartu ülikoolis

Author(s): Kaarina Rein / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 39/2008

The present article deals with a medical disputation, written and defended at the University of Tartu during its first period of activity in the 17th century, when the university was called Academia Gustaviana. More precisely, under investigation is the disputation of the Swedish poetry theorist Andreas Arvidi (ca 1620–1673), De natura et constitutione medicinae and its context. The medical education was at the insufficient level at most 17th-century universities in Europe and this was the case at the University of Tartu as well. There were very few students of medicine at the University of Tartu during the Academia Gustaviana period (eight, all in all) compared to the whole number of students (1056) during that time. Only two of these eight students were afterwards active as physicians. There were but few medical disputations defended during the Academia Gustaviana period, of which two were solely medical, supervised by the professor of medicine Sebastian Wirdig. The first of these, the disputation by Andreas Arvidi, deals with medicine in general. Andreas Arvidi was not a medical student but studied natural sciences at the University of Tartu. As a person of great talent, he debated on a variety of themes, including astronomy, mathematics, botany, medicine and ethics. His disputation De natura et constitutione medicinae is explaining the meaning of the word ‘medicine’ by exposing its etymology and providing synonyms and homonyms to this word. In defining medicine he quotes Jean Fernel, the famous French Renaissance physician. Then he discusses the reasons and purposes for inventing medicine and finally presents the systematisation of medicine. The whole work reveals the author’s brilliant knowledge of Greek and Roman authors, as well as of contemporary medical authorities. Of the latter ones, iatrochemist Daniel Sennert, professor at Wittenberg University, has been quoted on several occasions, which implies to the fact that Sennert was an authority in the 17th-century Faculty of Medicine in Tartu. Andreas Arvidi’s disputation De natura et constitutione medicinae is a work that gives the broadest overview of medical thought at the University of Tartu in the 17th century.

Põhja paikkondlik traditsioon komide rahvameditsiinis

Author(s): Irina Ilyina / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 39/2008

The article based on field work materials discusses the characteristics of folk medicine among the northernmost group of the Komi – namely, those living in the Izhemsky District (Komi iz’va). During the populating of the tundra and the development of reindeer herding tradition borrowed from the Nenets, the Izhma Komi developed a striking cultural and practical character which is expressed in the structure of medical knowledge, the range of remedies and treatment methods, and the system of nutrition and hygienic tradition. The folk medicine of the said ethnic group is characterised by remarkable rationality, which is expressed in a rare use of magical treatment methods, the majority of folk healers are bone-setters, and a sceptical attitude towards the Nenets Shamans is prevailing. In the framework of ancestral worship practised by the Komi developed the cult of Tandze Marya, a famous folk healer and bone-setter. The mythologisation of the well-known healer has been greatly facilitated by the means of mass media, which has, in some respects, appeared on the initiative of local intellectuals.

Etnomeditsiin

Author(s): Birgitte Rørbye / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 39/2008

Research in ethnomedicine involves the observance of the views, principles, and behaviour regarding illnesses and diseases by different people and cultures. The activities of folk healers and turning to them for help are still topical, even though the awareness of people has grown and the level of education is considerably higher than in the past. Nevertheless, it appears that regardless of the availability of medical care, there are always patients who turn only to folk healers. Another group of people who tend to turn to folk healers for help are those whose treatment by medical professionals has not been successful. In folklore the theme is represented by tales of diseases and illnesses, in which the main characters are a positive or negative patient and a positive or negative healer. These often stereotypical folktales are almost the only material that enables drawing conclusions on the illness behaviour of the customers of folk healers. The reason behind all that is that the society is steadfastly fixated on the health myth. Source: Rørbye, Birgitte 1982. Ethnomedicine. Ethnologia Scandinavica: A Journal for Nordic Ethnology, vol. 12. Lund: Folklivsarkivet, pp. 53–85.

Rahvapäraste taimenimede seosed botaanilise nomenklatuuriga HERBAs

Author(s): Raivo Kalle / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 39/2008

Herba, the Estonian folk medicine database of herbal treatment (available at http://www.folklore.ee/herba), has been the source of lore texts about the use of plants and herbs as popular remedies since 2006. At the present moment, the database includes the earliest archive texts up to the year 1939, estimated to constitute slightly less than half of the total number of texts. The identification of plant names in the texts are largely based on the monograph Eesti taimenimetused (‘Estonian Plant Names’) by Gustav Vilbaste (1993). Even though most of the collected Estonian plant names have been identified by Vilbaste, new ethnobotanical names emerge while processing the lore material. The article describes the linking of new folk plant names with the botanical nomenclature and establishing connections with the already known folk plant names (on the basis of texts in the database and specialised literature). The database text can be associated with the species on the basis of three criteria: folk plant name (according to Vilbaste’s monograph), the Latin name included in the text, and the plant description. The number of informants with more than one Latin extension in the database is currently 11. Some texts may correspond to nearly all the criteria, but this is an exception rather than a rule. The largest number of Latin names has been contributed by the following informants: pharmacist Hans Jako (in Jakob Hurt files), physician Mihkel Ostrov in 1891 and 1892 (folklore files of the Society of Estonian Literati), school teacher Julius Lunts in 1937 (Estonian Folklore Archives collection) and medical student Jaan Lääts in 1938 (Estonian Folklore Archives collection). Gustav Vilbaste has likewise used the texts of the said informants, though selectively; for instance, the text contributed by Mihkel Ostrov yielded more than 15 new equivalents. The most time-consuming section of the work was to establish connections according to other plant names and/or description and habitat represented in the texts. Usually, a plant can not be identified on the basis of a single text and the results are unreliable. For identification, texts from different collections were gathered together and were analysed according to different parameters, such as the origin of the text, informant’s background, other names mentioned in the text and so on; in addition, the results were compared against the data of plant geography. As to the more complicated texts, mycologists and botanists had to be consulted with. One of the aims of the article is to publish the plant names rediscovered in the course of the work and provide inspiration for deriving new Estonian names for species so far unnamed (e.g., family Gymnosporangium).

Meditsiin on-line

Author(s): Mare Kõiva / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 39/2008

The adaptation of information technology to everyday clinical practices coincided with the emergence of online databases, personal medical history and institutional information websites. One of the central issues in online medicine is source credibility. This paper overviews the types and communication of online medical information that have changed the logistics of doctor-patient communication. Inter-doctor communication also benefits from the possibilities for professional communication, and application of multiprofessional knowledge; it helps shape and unify professional terms and nomenclature, guarantees the confidentiality and security of data, while providing easy management of high-quality data; makes provisions for knowledge management and ambulatory e-services. The paper overviews the information portal Kliinik.ee (www.kliinik.ee, OÜ Tervisenõuanne) which shares medical information made available by medical professionals for non-medics, mostly for patients. The portal offers a range of e-medicine services, such as responses by specialists, psychologists, pharmacists. The Communication groups offer the patients free medical advice, feedback, a second opinion to their treatment scheme, as well as an opportunity to share knowledge and their personal experiences, and receive emotional support. Writing therapy is becoming increasingly popular and has spontaneously moved online. Today, there are discussion forums available for people suffering from diabetes, cancer and other serious (or incurable) medical problems. The Internet is in many respects advantageous for this type of therapy: it provides an opportunity to establish a dialogue with others with a similar condition while protecting one’s privacy and anonymity. Medical professionals post comments under their own names which gives them credibility. Seeking medical help at an institutional site from practising doctors makes the language use and attitudes of the online forum official, polite and serious. A closer look at the construction and vocabulary of the doctor-patient communication act reveals that the most common features are formality and distancing – the partners are not equal in their sociopolitical standing. Inter-patient discussion groups are more varied in their style of communication and language use, ranging from informational notices to narratives and displays of emotion. A discussion concerning a visit to a folk healer is treated at more length. Interaction of this kind is a discussion that preserves the individual characteristics of many people in writing. Opinions are individualised, making the discussion similar to oral dialogue in which different strategies are used in reasoning. The posted messages reflect natural personal language use in forms ranging from informational notices to lengthy narratives. The general attitude is supportive and trusting towards official medicine and the personal reactions to social and situational events.

Poliitilised anekdoodid postsotsialistlikus Eestis (Delfi Naljalehe näitel)

Author(s): Liisi Laineste / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 01/2007

The article surveys Estonian political jokes made available on the Web in 2000– 2006. The analysis concerns the nearly 800-strong collection of political jokes accessible on the humour site of the Delfi portal. The jokes (accumulated since the site was first established) are analysed from three points of view: first, how actual political events may have influenced the number and contents of the jokes; second, the inner structure of the political joke category and whether it could indicate any depolitization of certain (e.g. animal or job) jokes; and third, whether the recent transition from totalitarianism to democracy may have influenced the local joke tradition. Thus, against a pervasive background of Soviet joke properties the article manages to discuss the main subjects, popularity, and genre directions of the modern Estonian political joke.

Симпозиумът (пирът) и концептуализацията на храната в културата

Author(s): Dechka Chavdarova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2009

Survey

Ej, Bugári, Bugári. Piesne bulharských Slovákov zozbierané Jánom Michalkom [Песни на българските словаци, събрани от Ян Михалко]. С., 2008

Author(s): Natalia Rashkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2009

Book Review