Folk-healer is one of the most intriguing characters in traditional culture. They are always surrounded with a wide circle of folk-traditions which on the one hand concern details connected with the personality of the healer, while on the other hand present popular explanations of diseases and healing methods used in folk medicine.
The present publication, dealing with the folk-healer tradition in South Estonia, is focused on the healer family known under the name Suri (their officially name was Taits) who lived in Lannamõtsa and Koikküla villages in Hargla district from the 1800s up to the 1950s. Three generations of Suri healers are treated: Liis Taits (1800-1870), her son Kusta Taits (1842-1821) and his son Anton Taits (1902-1956).
The book touches also on several folk-traditions connected with the Suri family, the essence and development of these traditions. Among the material collected, there are international narrative motifs (The seventh book of Moses; Eggs to serpents; The man who knew words against snakes), as well as a proliferating tradition of memorates centered on the patient-folk-healer relationship and shorter beliefs. However, the majority of the material (80%) has been received after the death of Kusta and Anton Taits, contributing to the tendency toward mythologization of the folk-healer and his separation from the village-society.
In Estonia the research of folk-medicine started in the 1980s (M. Kõiva, A. Veidemann, A. Paju, M. Kõivupuu); in Scandinavia in the 1960s. As also shown in the book, it can be stated that Estonian folk-medicine, its means and folk-healers are similar to those found in Scandinavia.