Welcome!
You are visiting the Estonian folklorists' server Haldjas (fairy, guardian spirit), which was set up in 1995 by the folk belief research group of the Institute of the Estonian Language. Presently, the group and the server have been incorporated under the Estonian Literary Museum. The majority of electronic publications and data corpora in the server are in the Estonian language, which belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family. Estonia is a small country with ca one million people, who speak the Estonian language as their mother tongue.
The server offers a wide range of information on oral heritage, folklore and folk belief, on the institutions actively engaged in folkloristic research in Estonia as well as researchers and research projects. The covered aspects of folklore also include the heritage of other peoples of the Uralic language group. The server features two journals that have been published online and in print since 1996: Mäetagused and Folklore: An electronic Journal of Folklore.
Only parts of the material are currently available in English and/or German; in time the proportion of material in foreign language will grow.
Our news!
The Walter Anderson Lecture 2025
The Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore presents the Walter Anderson Lecture 2025: "Containment Failures: Supernatural Visitations, Folk Performance, and Europeans on the Edge in Mérimée's Ethnographic Fictions".
Guest lecturer: Prof. Dorothy Noyes (The Ohio State University)
Date: Monday September 22nd.
Time: 18:00
Place: Ülikooli 16, 216
Abstract:
What is it to be European? The tension between authenticity, modernity, and cosmopolitanism is at the core of both historic and contemporary European dilemmas of self-definition. It is nicely captured in the title and mission of Tartu's own Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore. It is, indeed, a tension more easily acknowledged at Europe's periphery than in its core, as much recent theory from southern and eastern European scholars points out. But one writer from the core was able to recognize, as early as the 1830s, the centrality of the periphery, and of folklore, to the formation of the modern European self. In this lecture, I examine this self-formation in the short fiction of Prosper Mérimée, a libertine intellectual who forged Balkan folksongs in his youth and created the French heritage bureaucracy in his maturity. He is best known for four tales (“La Vénus d’Ille,” 1837; Colomba, 1840; “Carmen,” 1847; “Lokis,” 1868) in which a fussy metropolitan folklorist on a field excursion to a frontier region is made witness to a violent, supernaturally tinged encounter between an earnest provincial man seeking to join the modern world and a shapeshifting woman seeking to exploit it. Each tale is carefully grounded in linguistic and cultural realia, and each is set in a region that evoked specific French political anxieties in the middle of the 19th century: Catalonia, Corsica, Andalusia, and Lithuanian Samogitia. Each region, although distanced in metropolitan discourse by a rhetoric of archaism and backwardness, was in fact a space of contagion that threatened to destabilize France’s precarious equilibrium and reopen the nation-state to liberal or imperial futures. Despite that suspicious French perspective, the flexible strategies of provincial actors, as elucidated by Mérimée, offer insight into current ambivalences over European belonging. More immediately, they illuminate ongoing but productive tensions in the practice of European folkloristics as it has been shaped from the periphery - by such multilingual, migratory characters as Walter Anderson and his current heirs in Tartu.
Dorothy Noyes (PhD, Folklore and Folklife, University of Pennsylvania) is University Distinguished Scholar, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of English, Professor of Comparative Studies, and Director of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University. She studies the traditional public sphere in Europe, the careers of policy concepts, and performance and ritual in international relations. Among her books are Fire in the Plaça: Catalan Festival Politics After Franco (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003); Humble Theory: Folklore’s Grasp on Social Life (Indiana University Press, 2016); and Sustaining Interdisciplinary Collaboration: A Guide for the Academy (coauthored with Regina Bendix and Kilian Bizer; University of Illinois Press, 2017). Exemplarity in Global Politics, coedited with Tobias Wille, will appear in November 2025 from Bristol University Press. She is a past President of the American Folklore Society, and was awarded a doctorate honoris causa by the University of Tartu in 2018.
Workshop: Exemplarity in Global Politics with Dorothy Noyes in collaboration with Tobias Wille
Workshop: Exemplarity in Global Politics with Dorothy Noyes (The Ohio State University) in collaboration with Tobias Wille (Goethe University Frankfurt)
Ülikooli 16–218, Tartu, Estonia
September 22, 12:15–13:45
This workshop draws on a forthcoming edited volume (Bristol Studies in International Theory, Bristol University Press, forthcoming November 2025) that seeks to theorize the impact of unexpected political gestures through a social process of amplification, judgment, citation, and emulation.
Performance events such as the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers, Greta Thunberg’s school strike, Colin Kaepernick’s “taking a knee,” or Ukraine’s first response to the Russian invasion circulate far beyond their original time and place. Such moments can prompt large-scale shifts in political orientation—though not always sustainably.
Together, we will discuss the role of performance, media, power, and individual agency in shaping both the force and the failures of exemplary action.
Participants are asked to read the first two chapters of the volume in advance, available https://shorturl.at/zFOrW.
For questions, please contact Anastasiya Astapova: anastasiya.astapova@ut.ee
The 14th International Conference of Young Folklorists “Humble theory and the Power of the Vernacular”, September 25–26, 2025
The 14th International Conference of Young Folklorists will take place at the University of Tartu Library (W. Struve 1, Tartu) on September 25–26, 2025, exploring the topic of “Humble theory and the Power of the Vernacular”.
This year’s event highlights how everyday practices and local voices shape folkloristic understanding through Dorothy Noyes’ concept of humble theory. With 40 presentations and keynote talks by Dorothy Noyes (Ohio State University) and Mariya Lesiv (Memorial University of Newfoundland), the conference covers a wide range of topics, from digital media to social and cultural contexts.
It offers an exciting space for emerging researchers to engage in discussions that connect ethnography, theory, and lived cultural experience.
Organized by the University of Tartu’s Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore and Tartu Nefa Group, the conference invites participants to share ideas, inspire each other, and shape the future of folkloristics.
Programme and abstracts are available at the conference website
We invite interested listeners and participants to register on September 10 at the latest, at https://sisu.ut.ee/youngfolklorists2025/registration-link/
BNN online lecture by Reet Hiiemäe on Fri, Sept 5, 2025 at 17:00 CEST
The 36th lecture of BNN online lecture series will be given by Reet Hiiemäe (Tartu, Estonia) on Friday, 5th of September, 2025 at 17:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST).
Her talk is titled "From the Trajectories of the Plague Spirit to the Spatiality of Recent Health Infodemics: Mental and Narrative Mapping of Environmental Health Crises".
Abstract:
What can danger maps used in modern public crisis communication learn from the ways how the journeys of the plague spirits or cholera spreaders are depicted in historical belief narratives? This paper interrogates the intersections of mythological narratives, modern science, and cartography in shaping community responses to environmental health crises. In moments of widespread uncertainty, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic or following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, societies are prompted to reevaluate not only their physical environments but also the internal, at least partly belief-based mental maps that guide their crisis management strategies. By employing a qualitative analysis of topical folklore and media narratives from Estonia and beyond, the presenter argues that these mental maps are dynamic constructs that simultaneously encapsulate collective memory and direct real-life decision-making.
The discussion is enriched by an introduction to the HERA-CHANSE project, “Mapping Environmental Health Crises – Public Understanding Through Myths and Science,” a multidisciplinary initiative in which folklorists, geographers, cartographers, and visual design specialists collaborate to explore what added value the emotional and sensory mapping typical of narrative folklore can offer to scientific, fact-based information dissemination.
In a world where crises are increasingly entangled – ecological, epidemiological, social – this presentation opens new ground for thinking with maps and narratives, and creating more inclusive, culturally attuned ways of understanding the challenges ahead.
More information (incl. the link for Zoom meeting) here.
CIFU XIV Special Panel “Finno-Ugric Language and Culture in the Research and Archival Field of the Estonian Literary Museum”
We invite you on Thursday, 21 August 2025 at 16:00–18:00 to the Estonian Literary Museum to discover historically meaningful hidden corners and open archives.
The museum houses the world’s largest archives of Estonian folklore, cultural history and book science, as well as older and more recent collections of Finno-Ugric folklore and religion.
This special event “Finno-Ugric Language and Culture in the Research and Archival Field of the Estonian Literary Museum” is part of the 14th International Congress for Finno-Ugric Studies (CIFU XIV, 18–23 August 2025, University of Tartu) and offers a unique opportunity to explore Finno-Ugric heritage and contemporary creativity.
Programme:
Exhibition “Sometimes… Between…” – unique works by the Udmurt artist Zoia Lebedeva, created specially for CIFU-14.
Exhibition “The Beauty of Life – Life of Beauty” – a tribute to Mari folk art by the designer Natalia Lill.
Experimental Translation Café SUKK – Krista Ojasaar and Natalia Ermakov perform Estonian poetry classics in Estonian and Erzya.
Short lecture in English – an introduction to the research of Finno-Ugric languages and cultures at the Estonian Literary Museum.
Finno-Ugric publications – browse folklore and religion books; some will be available for purchase, and with good luck you may get a signed copy from the editor.
Contacts: Mare Kõiva mare.koiva@folklore.ee
Astrid Tuisk astrid.tuisk@folklore.ee
Folklore 96 Special Issue: Agency of the Dead
Volume 96 of Folklore is a Special Issue with the title "Agency of the Dead", guest-edited by Mirjam Mencej and consisting of nine articles from prominent scholars in death studies.
As Mirjam Mencej explains in her introduction, the special issue is an outcome of the international interdisciplinary conference organised by the ERC project The Roles of the Agency of the Dead in the Lives of Individuals in Contemporary Society (DEAGENCY, № 101095729; 2023-2028), the aim of which is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the role of the dead in the lives of individuals in contemporary Western society, with a particular focus on post-socialist countries.
The first article in the issue, by Kaarina Koski, uses archived written reminiscence narratives to address theories of intentionality in the relation of the living and the dead, as well as the conceptualisation of their power relations as they avail themselves in the everyday life of 21st century Finnish people.
Based on her fieldwork among the Hungarian minority in Romania, Éva Pócs gives an overview of diverse forms of communication between the living and the dead within the framework of vernacular Christianity.
The doctrine of Purgatory, integral to Catholic Christianity, is the framework for Vito Carrassi’s paper, which examines two practices aimed at Purgatory souls in southern Italy and shows how an old practice can be revitalized and reassessed.
Centering on the views and conceptualisation of the dead of a particular individual living in a rural Hungarian community, Ágnes Hesz aims at addressing broader questions regarding the role of the dead in contemporary society.
Ikhlas Abdul Hadi discusses the experience of a Malay Muslim woman, haunted by the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth, within the framework of Malay rituals and broader traditional vernacular notions about spirits.
Tatiana Bužeková’s and Tina Ivnik’s papers study continued ties between the living and the dead within new spiritual interpretative frameworks. While Bužeková focuses on the communication space between the living and the dead in shamanic circles in Slovakia and on the moral dimension manifested through spatiality, Ivnik examines the ties of spiritual people in Bosnia with the dead in dreams, putting them in relation with their ideas about afterlife.
Continuing bonds with the dead are also in the centre of Simona Kuntarič Zupanc’s paper, which focuses on plants acting as “living bridges” between the living and the dead.
The special issue concludes with Mirjam Mencej’s paper, in which she discusses the transformation of the dead as moral agents in Muslim oral narratives into vehicles of the ethnonationalist agenda when appropriated by the media.
Three additional articles are included in this volume of Folklore. On the example of the storytelling and performances of Teyo Pehlivan and Cumhur Seval, Mehmet Fikret Arargüç and Özge Özgun’s article offers a new genre profile and definition of the Turkish tall tale. Richita Sulagna Pradhan and Arpita Goswami’s article examines the rich folkloric heritage of Odisha, with a particular focus on the spirituality inherent in a variety of ceremonies, festivals and folk narratives in the region, using both written literature and field interviews. Adam Grydehǿj and Qi Pan’s article uses an occupational folklore approach to study ritual service providers in a temple in a demolished village in the area of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, south China.
In the discussion section of the issue, Tatiana Korobova contributes an overview of the work of the respected Udmurt folklorist Galina Glukhova on the occasion of her anniversary. Mahendra Kumar Mishra commemorates the renowned folklore scholar Jawaharlal Handoo with a retrospective of his contributions and legacy. A eulogy to distinguished folklorist, ethnologist and anthropologist Kristin Kuutma follows.
The issue is concluded by a news article on the last few years of activity of the Finno-Ugric Language Café in Tartu.
Tiina Kirss, Estonian Literary Museum
The journal "Mäetagused", issue 92
The journal "Mäetagused", 92 addresses themes of fears, beliefs, and rituals in various cultural and historical contexts. The articles explore:
• fear discourse in media opposing conspiracy theories, by Andreas Ventsel & Mariliis Madisson. The authors define fear discourse as language use related to fear, including expressing fear, discussing one's own or others' fear.
• folkloric metamorphoses of the biblical mythological creatures Behemoth and Leviathan by Jaan Lahe. The article explores their depiction in the Bible, Jewish pseudepigraphic and rabbinic literature, early Christian theology, and Gnostic tradition, seeking to understand how their portrayal influenced texts beyond the Bible and how their roles evolved in different religious contexts. These creatures were not merely adopted from the Bible but began to "live their own lives" in these traditions, undergoing numerous transformations and becoming associated with various folkloric plots and motifs.
• challenges in translating historical texts by Sirje Kupp- Sazonov explores the writing style of article titled “How Would Ivan the Terrible Have Written in Estonian?”,
• Mahendra Kumar Mishra speaks about the life’s work of Indian folkloristics figure Jawaharlal Handoo and the development of Indian folkloristics.
• the functions of Narva’s main street in the 1920s by Olga Burdakova and Jelena Nõmm;
• rituals in the Chuvash Recruit tradition by Igor Petrov.
• healing practices among South Ural Russians, where illnesses were transferred to other objects by Farida Galieva;
Additionally, the journal includes reports on professional events, conferences, and book presentations. Mäetagused (in Estonian) is printed and online academic peer-review journal with open access.
Welcome to read: https://www.folklore.ee/tagused
The Ritual Year Seasonal Webinar #16 Summer 2025: flower festivals in the Philippines and Japan
The next seasonal webinar, #16, will take place on Monday, 4th of August 2025, 14.00 Tallinn.
Click here to connect and join the webinar via Teams.
The meeting is the first one of a new mini-series dedicated to the various continents.
This week we will start with Southeastern and Eastern Asia.
Our two speakers will be presenting on flower festivals in the Philippines and Japan:
1. Levy Achanaz-Labor, Flores de Mayo and heritage conservation.
2. Archna, The Chrysanthemum flower festival and memory making in a Shinto shrine
Information sent by Irina Stahl, Co-Chair, The Ritual Year Working Group (SIEF)
15th seasonal webinar of SIEF Working Group "The Ritual Year"
In July 14, the 15th International webinar titled "An Examination of Ritual Space took place", dedicated to Terry A. Gunnell.
Following the SIEF Congress of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore in Aberdeen, it was a pleasure to hold the webinar of the Ritual Year Working Group on July 14, 2025.
Giants in the study of folklore and mythology presented to an audience of over forty listeners.
Program included:
Emily Lyle (University of Edinburgh, School of Celtic and Scottish Studies): Boys' Chants at Oidhche Challainn (New Year’s Eve) on Berneray in the Outer Hebride
Louise S. Milne (University of Edinburgh & Edinburgh Napier University): The Incubus, The Elves and the Fallen Angels: Nature-Spirits and Nightmare
Terry A. Gunnell (University of Iceland): Masks and Space
An open forum followed, featuring questions and recollections. The session was moderated by Irina Sedakova, with technical support by Maris Kuperjanov.
The working group has been active for over twenty years. In the new period, the Ritual Year activities are led by Mare Kõiva (Estonia, President), Irina Stahl (Romania, Vice-President), Athanasios Barmpalexis (Greece), Jenny Butler (Ireland), Lina Gergova (Bulgaria), Jack Santino (USA), Maris Kuperjanov (Estonia), Jurij Fikfak (Slovenia), Tuting Hernandez (Philippines).
Webinars and online outputs are organized and prepared by the Department of Folkloristics at the Estonian Literary Museum.
In memoriam. Ekaterina Anastasova 1962–2025
Dr. Ekaterina Anastasova (1962–2025) was a distinguished ethnologist and folklorist whose work forged meaningful connections between the Balkans and the Baltics.
Her research interests ranged from migration and identity to ritual and oral tradition, always approached with intellectual depth and human sensitivity. She was a dedicated lecturer at Sofia University and a longtime researcher at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She headed key departments, mentored dozens of students, and led research teams with clarity, humor, and care. Many consider her guidance the foundation of a scholarly school in its own right. Studies and editor of the Yearbook of Balkan and Baltic Studies she leaves behind a lasting legacy.
Her voice, presence, and kindness will be profoundly missed.
