Some sources in English
Nov 14, 2017 11:45:54 GMT
Post by Miika on Nov 14, 2017 11:45:54 GMT
Hello! Here are some English language sources on (Northern) Finnic and closely related spiritual traditions:
The Great Bear: A Thematic Anthology of Oral Poetry in the Finno-Ugrian Languages, by by Lauri Honko (Author), Senni Timonen (Author), Michael Branch (Author), Keith Bosley (Translator) (Oxford University Press, 1994).
Over a period of fifteen years, the authors of this beautiful volume have collected and translated 450 orally transmitted poems, songs, charms, prayers, and laments from Finno-Ugrian languages such as Finnish, Estonian, and Lapp. Presented in both English and the original languages, these works offer unique insights into the worldview and lives of pre-literate peoples in various stages of cultural and social development. The poems reveal the beliefs, perceptions, and artistic genius of fifteen peoples scattered across Northern Europe from Scandinavia, deep into Russia and beyond the Urals, and of the Hungarians in Central Europe. Magnificently produced, with more than forty-five illustrations, the book begins with contexualizing essays on the Finno-Ugrian peoples, oral poetry, and the beliefs and ritual practices reflected in the poems. The poems themselves are arranged thematically, according to such topics as cosmology, hunting, agriculture, animal husbandry, love, marriage, healing, and death. They are followed by a poem-by-poem commentary which contextualizes and explicates the text.
Mythic Images and Shamanism. A Perspective on Kalevala Poetry, by Anna-Leena Siikala (FF Communications 280, 2002).
The mythic, shamanistic nature of the Kalevala has been emphasized ever since the epic was first published. The epic poetry and incantations on which it is founded afford a vista of a captivating world of archaic thought patterns and mythic images. This work by Anna-Leena analyzes the shamanistic images and metaphors encountered in the oral poetry of the Baltic Finns and at the same time examines the action of the ecstatic tietäjäs and the seers who fell into a trance. It thus reveals the images and metaphors and their variations associated with the shaman's skills, the topography and inhabitants of the other world and the shaman's journey there.
Siikala traces mythic images in the light of Old Norse poetry and sagas, the myths of Antiquity and the Middle East, medieval visions, Siberian and Sami shamanism, archaeology and linguistic developments. This book delves to the very roots of Northern European thought. The numerous incantations quoted, so far unknown to the English-speaking world, illustrate the visual nature of the poetry on which the Kalevala is based and the close relationship between incantations and epic as manifestations of mythic thinking.
Karhun kannoilla - In the Footsteps of the Bear, edited by Clive Tolley (Turku University and Satakunta Museum , Pori 2006).
The multi-disciplinary and international symposium "Karhun kannoilla" ("In the footsteps of the bear") was held at the university centre of Pori on 11th to 13th of November, 2005. The project gathered scholars in different fields from Finland and abroad who had researched the bear from an academic perspective. Represented were wildlife research, religion, folklore, literature and art.
The papers given at the symposium for the most part formed entirely new, unpublished reseacrh.
Golden King of the Forest - The Lore of the Northern Bear, by Juha Pentikäinen (Etnika Oy, 2007)
This book presents the bear, the divine being who descends from heaven and begets the forefathers of the clan, as he appears in the myth and folk tradition of the Northern World of Finland and its neighboring lands.
This brand new book describes how, though a god, the bear was ritually hunted; his body was then reverently buried, while his skull was hung upon a sacred pine tree, symbolizing his ascent back to his heavenly home.
The ancient Finnish poems, set down in writing from the seventeenth century on, are examined and presented in Finnish as well as in English translation, and the profound significance of the bear within Finnish culture up to the present day is put before the reader.
Professor Pentikäinen has produced a series of of prize-winning books, films and exhibitions based on his field work among the indigenous peoples of Siberia. He is leading expert on Finnish and Sami mythology and beliefs and an accomplished scholar of the Kalevala.
The Great Bear: A Thematic Anthology of Oral Poetry in the Finno-Ugrian Languages, by by Lauri Honko (Author), Senni Timonen (Author), Michael Branch (Author), Keith Bosley (Translator) (Oxford University Press, 1994).
Over a period of fifteen years, the authors of this beautiful volume have collected and translated 450 orally transmitted poems, songs, charms, prayers, and laments from Finno-Ugrian languages such as Finnish, Estonian, and Lapp. Presented in both English and the original languages, these works offer unique insights into the worldview and lives of pre-literate peoples in various stages of cultural and social development. The poems reveal the beliefs, perceptions, and artistic genius of fifteen peoples scattered across Northern Europe from Scandinavia, deep into Russia and beyond the Urals, and of the Hungarians in Central Europe. Magnificently produced, with more than forty-five illustrations, the book begins with contexualizing essays on the Finno-Ugrian peoples, oral poetry, and the beliefs and ritual practices reflected in the poems. The poems themselves are arranged thematically, according to such topics as cosmology, hunting, agriculture, animal husbandry, love, marriage, healing, and death. They are followed by a poem-by-poem commentary which contextualizes and explicates the text.
Mythic Images and Shamanism. A Perspective on Kalevala Poetry, by Anna-Leena Siikala (FF Communications 280, 2002).
The mythic, shamanistic nature of the Kalevala has been emphasized ever since the epic was first published. The epic poetry and incantations on which it is founded afford a vista of a captivating world of archaic thought patterns and mythic images. This work by Anna-Leena analyzes the shamanistic images and metaphors encountered in the oral poetry of the Baltic Finns and at the same time examines the action of the ecstatic tietäjäs and the seers who fell into a trance. It thus reveals the images and metaphors and their variations associated with the shaman's skills, the topography and inhabitants of the other world and the shaman's journey there.
Siikala traces mythic images in the light of Old Norse poetry and sagas, the myths of Antiquity and the Middle East, medieval visions, Siberian and Sami shamanism, archaeology and linguistic developments. This book delves to the very roots of Northern European thought. The numerous incantations quoted, so far unknown to the English-speaking world, illustrate the visual nature of the poetry on which the Kalevala is based and the close relationship between incantations and epic as manifestations of mythic thinking.
Karhun kannoilla - In the Footsteps of the Bear, edited by Clive Tolley (Turku University and Satakunta Museum , Pori 2006).
The multi-disciplinary and international symposium "Karhun kannoilla" ("In the footsteps of the bear") was held at the university centre of Pori on 11th to 13th of November, 2005. The project gathered scholars in different fields from Finland and abroad who had researched the bear from an academic perspective. Represented were wildlife research, religion, folklore, literature and art.
The papers given at the symposium for the most part formed entirely new, unpublished reseacrh.
Golden King of the Forest - The Lore of the Northern Bear, by Juha Pentikäinen (Etnika Oy, 2007)
This book presents the bear, the divine being who descends from heaven and begets the forefathers of the clan, as he appears in the myth and folk tradition of the Northern World of Finland and its neighboring lands.
This brand new book describes how, though a god, the bear was ritually hunted; his body was then reverently buried, while his skull was hung upon a sacred pine tree, symbolizing his ascent back to his heavenly home.
The ancient Finnish poems, set down in writing from the seventeenth century on, are examined and presented in Finnish as well as in English translation, and the profound significance of the bear within Finnish culture up to the present day is put before the reader.
Professor Pentikäinen has produced a series of of prize-winning books, films and exhibitions based on his field work among the indigenous peoples of Siberia. He is leading expert on Finnish and Sami mythology and beliefs and an accomplished scholar of the Kalevala.
