Vanapagan, Vanemuine, Koit and Hämarik, Kalevipoeg. These mythological figures are familiar to every Estonian. But how do we really know them? The answer is a bit inconvenient: a large part of “classical Estonian mythology” is a national construct of the 19th century. Let's see what is real tradition, what is Kreutzwald's creation, and why all of this is important from the point of view of occultism and symbolism.
“I bit the iron, blood gushed out.” These are blood sayings that were recorded in 1947 in the parish of Jõhvi. The village sage recited these words nine times to stop the bleeding. In this third part of a deep dive series, we look at how Estonian word magic really worked, what types of spells there were, and what specific texts have been preserved in the folklore archive.
Estonians are one of the most secular people in Europe, but at the same time a nation where 47 percent of people believe that nature has a soul. In this second part of a deep dive series, we look at who Estonian wise men and witches really were, how word magic worked, what happened in the witch trials in Livonia, and why these traditions live on today.