LL-L "Traditions" 2009.11.01 (04) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 31 October 2009 - Volume 03
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From: Mari Sarv <mari at haldjas.folklore.ee>
Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2009.11.01 (03) [DE-EN-NDS]

On Sun, 1 Nov 2009, Lowlands-L List wrote:

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
>
> A quick look at our neighbors in (predominantly Lutheran) Scandinavia,
> Finland, Estonia and
> Latvia reveals Saint Lucy's Day (December 13) in place of Saint Nicholas
> Day.
>

Hello,

I should comment here that St. Lucy's day is in fact very marginal in
Estonian folk-tradition, known merely in Swedish-influenced regions on
Western coast. There, the mummed "luutsis" (men and women) were going around
the village, controlling how well the people had been prepared
against the coming feast period.

And,
as a comment to the earlier halloween-topic,
one of the names of November in Estonian traditional calender is "month of
the dead"
(or more commonly it is now "time of souls/spirits").
Nothing scary though, the dead people have been invited to come in and to
eat together with living ones, or just some food have been left to some
special place for them.

All the best,
Mari Sarv
Tartu, Estonia

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Traditions

Tere, Mari! How nice to hear from you again!

Do you have an equivalent of Saint Nicholas in Estonia?

What do you call that "Week of the Dead" in Estonian? (I would expect
something like **Nädal surnud*.) What you described is very much consistent
with holidays (single days or groups of days each) of traditions spread all
over Eurasia, nd nowadays beyond that because of colonialism. They are
*not*associated with the scary. In most cases this grew out of
traditions based
on reverence and worship of one's ancestors and a need to remain connected
with them. Typically, it involves taking food and gifts to cemeteries and
spending time there. (In much of Europe this has evolved into taking flowers
and other decorations to grave sites.) Or one welcomes the spirits of
ancestors and/or other revered persons to one's home for special feasts, and
one prepares for them places at the table with food and drink. This is
particularly strong in Eastern Asia, but similar traditions exist elsewhere
and in parts of Latin America are particularly strong because European
traditions mixed with similar indigenous American traditions. In Judaism,
the spirit of Prophet Elijah (אֵלִיָהוּ *Eliyahu*) is invited to participate
in a family's Passover Seder (סֵדֶר); a place is prepared with at least a
cup of wine for him, and the door is left open, in some traditions also for
the spirit of Miriam (מִרְיָם Miryām). Of course it is increasingly seen as
merely symbolic.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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