A local fool is a person who in one way or another deviates from the rules of behaviour of a society. The deviation may manifest itself in a person's appearance, thoughts, ways of life or actions. I have studied the local fool in a village in Häme, through the life of a shoe maker Juho Mäkäräinen who was also known as Heikan Jussi. He was born in 1892 and died in 1967 after having spent all his life in the village of Herrala in Hollola.
The work of a shoe maker was not enough to provide a living for Jussi, so he had to have several other sources of income. Jussi was a shopkeeper on a small scale. This activity provided the lonely man necessary incomes as well as welcome visitors. His other sources of income were fishing, picking berries, collecting firewood and gardening. Occasionally he could also get money by writing in newspapers and selling photographs. In appearance he was quiet and unpretentious, but his tricks, pranks and jokes made Jussi a person who is still, more than 20 years after his death, vividly remembered in the village.
I chose Heikan Jussi as the subject of my theses because he was a good friend of my grandfather and I have heard all my life stories about Jussi from my family. I do not remember him personally because I was only four years old when he died. I collected my material about Heikan Jussi by interviewing villagers who had known him, during six weeks in the summer of 1989. I have also read letters written by Jussi to his sister as well as articles written about him.
The possible reasons for Heikan Jussi adopting the role of a local fool were physical and social. Of the physical reasons the most important was his poor health. Jussi suffered from tuberculosis in his youth and had to spend a lot of time in a sanatorium. At home he was not able to follow the instructions for treatment, since he could not afford for example a satisfactory diet. Because of his tuberculosis and insufficient nourishment Jussi remained small and became hunchbacked.
Jussi's social status was low, since his constant poor health alone caused economic problems. The villagers helped Jussi occasionally by for example giving him firewood or food. Jussi's life was a constant struggle against difficult circumstances. Because of the social status of his family Jussi could not continue his studies after elementary school. But he had a desire for knowledge and many talents, and he compensated his lack of schooling by studying on his own for example Russian, Swedish and Esperanto and by reading books and several magazines and newspapers.
The role of a local fool was familiar to Jussi, since his father had set him an example as a local fool. From his father Jussi learned the profession of a shoe maker as well as a sense of humour.
Jussi remained unmarried all his life, even though he showed interest in the opposite sex. During his life Jussi was in correspondence with several women, but the correspondence came to an end when he did not accept proposed meetings because he was afraid that his physical appearance would cause repulsion. In his letters he was careful not to reveal his social status.
Jussi's social status was in many respects different from that of the villagers'. He manifested his deviation in the following ways: first in linguistic and semantic games and in verbal or practical jokes; second, in his physical appear ance and movements and third, in the ways be built and decorated his spatial environment, his house and yard.
Jussi was verbally very talented. He mastered several styles of language: the everyday language spoken in the village, standard Finnish, different styles used in documents and literature well as the local dialect which was disappearing at his time and of whose mastering he was famous. He played with the double meanings of words, he invented neologisms and quoted things he had read, especially proverbs for example from the Bible, in unexpected situations. From this followed that in communicating with Jussi there could arise misunderstandings: when he wanted, he interpreted a message in a way that was the most favourable to himself. He chose the manner of speech and interpretation according to the person he was speaking with, the situation and his own mood, and the other person had to be content with what Jussi had chosen.
Verbal and practical jokes were an area where Jussi's creativity and sense of humour flourished. The jokes could be harmless of unpleasant. The victim of unpleasant jokes could be the whole village or one specific person. A great part of these jokes referred directly of indirectly to sexuality of defecation and could be an expression of sexual frustration resulting from Jussi's unmarried status. By defecating in public or in unusual places Jussi expressed his opinion in situations where other methods were inadequate. Harmless jokes were usually meant to amuse and strengthen his identity as a local fool.
Jussi's physical appearance was deviating in two ways: he was small and he had a hunchback. Sometimes he accentuated his deviating appearance in several ways: he could shave the other half of his long beard, he could use earrings, paint his toenails et cetera. He could also manifest his deviation motorically, for example by sawing wood according to a certain rhythm.
Jussi's environment, his house and yard, expressed their owner's unexceptional personality. His house was full of objects he had collected during his life. Often these objects had put into surprising uses, for example ladies' hats purchased from an auction were used to protect plants from frost. Jussi was a handy man and there were many his own inventions in the house. His house and yard were a sight which the villagers had a chance to see by bringing him shoes to mend or doing some shopping at his house.
The role of a fool to Heikan Jussi may have been a way of survival allaying his frustration with many aspects of life and preserving his sanity. He could control the actualisation of his deviating behaviour and dismiss his other roles. When necessary, he could assume several of his roles at the same time. The skill of combining these roles protected the fool: the intelligent fool was able to defend himself against the mockery, which threatened a deviating person, by his quick-wittedness, and the roles of a mocker and his victim could be reversed. Jussi was also able to regulate the behaviour of other by using his own behaviour and thus strengthen the prevailing rules. In communicating with Jussi the villagers had to be careful to 'behave correctly' when they needed the help of a shoe maker. A disrespectful behaviour towards Jussi could result in surprising methods of mending shoes.
Although Jussi's social status was lower than that of the other villagers, he gained a respected status by using his intellectual gifts. By directing his intellectual energy and creativity into deviating behaviour, Jussi was also able to get intellectual satisfaction, which otherwise would have been difficult for an uneducated, talented person in a village society. The role of a local fool was also freer than those of the other villagers and allowed him to deviate from the prevailing rules of the village. Despite his low social status Jussi had more room in his role as a local fool than the other villagers. Therefore his status could in some situations be higher than that of the others.