<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">===========================================<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 31 October 2009 - Volume 03<br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><a href="mailto:lowlands@lowlands-l.net">lowlands@lowlands-l.net</a> - <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/">http://lowlands-l.net/</a></span><br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">
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===========================================<br></div><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: Mari Sarv <<a href="mailto:mari@haldjas.folklore.ee">mari@haldjas.folklore.ee</a>></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2009.11.01 (03) [DE-EN-NDS]</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">On Sun, 1 Nov 2009, Lowlands-L List wrote:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><br>
<br>
A quick look at our neighbors in (predominantly Lutheran) Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia and<br>
Latvia reveals Saint Lucy's Day (December 13) in place of Saint Nicholas Day.<br>
</blockquote>
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Hello,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
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</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
against the coming feast period.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
And,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
as a comment to the earlier halloween-topic,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
one of the names of November in Estonian traditional calender is "month of the dead"</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
(or more commonly it is now "time of souls/spirits").</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
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.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
All the best,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Mari Sarv</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Tartu, Estonia</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">----------</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>></span></p>
<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: <span>Traditions<br><br>Tere, Mari! How nice to hear from you again!<br><br>Do you have an equivalent of Saint Nicholas in Estonia?<br><br>
</span></span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">What do you call that "Week of the Dead" in Estonian? (I would expect something like </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">*Nädal surnud</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">.) 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 </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">not</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> 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 (</span><span style="white-space: nowrap; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">אֵלִיָהוּ</span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Eliyahu</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">) 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.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Regards,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Reinhard/Ron</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Seattle, USA</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
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