“For a Witch Cannot Cross Such a Threshold!” Building Concealment Traditions in Finland C
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Archaeologia Medii Aevi Finlandiae XXIII Suomen keskiajan arkeologian seura – Sällskapet för medeltidsarkeologi i Finland “For a Witch Cannot Cross Such a Threshold!” Building Concealment Traditions in Finland c. 1200–1950 Sonja Hukantaival Turku 2016 How we live our everyday lives has to be the main concern of religion. – Kodo Sawaki, The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo. Archaeologia Medii Aevi Finlandiae XXIII Publisher: Suomen keskiajan arkeologian seura – Sällskapet för medeltidsarkeo logi i Finland (The Society for Medieval Archaeology in Finland), Turku Advisory board for the series: Anders Andrén, David Gaimster, Georg Haggrén, Markus Hiekkanen, Werner Meyer, Jussi-Pekka Taavitsainen, and Kari Uotila Editor of the series: Janne Harjula Editing and layout: Sonja Hukantaival Language revision: Albion M. Butters Cover image: Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Building (Rakennus), 1903. © Finnish National Gallery / Photographer: Hannu Aaltonen. © Sonja Hukantaival and The Society for Medieval Archaeology in Finland 2016 University of Turku Faculty of Humanities, School of History, Culture and Arts, Archaeology Doctoral Programme Juno Supervisors: Jussi-Pekka Taavitsainen, Veikko Anttonen Examiners: Peter Carelli, Frog Opponent: Peter Carelli The originality of this thesis has been checked in accordance with the University of Turku quality assurance system using the Turnitin OriginalityCheck service. ISBN (print) 978-952-67329-8-5 ISBN (pdf) 978-952-67329-9-2 ISSN 1236-5882 Printed by Waasa Graphics, Vaasa, 2016 Contents Foreword i Part I Foundation 1. Introduction 1 2. Theoretical Framework 5 2.1 Key Concepts of the Study 6 2.2 Building Rituals: Foundation Rituals, Consecration, and Beyond 8 2.3 The Question of Cultural Change 10 3. Methods and the Formation of the Research Material 13 3.1 Methodology of the “Archaeology of Folk Religion” 14 3.2 The Source Materials: Formation and Critique 21 4. Research History of Building Concealments 31 4.1 The “Ballad Era”: Classic Research on Building Concealments 31 4.2 Research on Finds of Historical Building Concealments 33 5. Wider Context 37 5.1 Brief Overview of the Geography and History of the Study Area 38 5.2 Society and Worldview in Finland c. 1200–1950 40 5.3 The Buildings and Their Surroundings 55 Part II Material 6. Outlines of the Evidence on Finnish Building Concealments 63 6.1 The Folklore 63 6.2 The Finds 66 6.3 Building Concealments in Witchcraft and Superstition Trials 69 7. Concealed Objects 75 7.1 Objects in the Folklore 75 7.2 Objects in Late Modern Finds (c. 1700–1950) 77 7.3 Objects in Early Modern Finds (c. 1500–1700) 80 7.4 Objects in Medieval Finds (c. 1200–1500) 82 7.5 Combining Evidence on Objects 83 8. Locations and Buildings 91 8.1 Locations in the Folklore 91 8.2 Locations in Late Modern Finds (c. 1700–1950) 93 8.3 Locations in Early Modern Finds (c. 1500–1700) 95 8.4 Locations in Medieval Finds (c. 1200–1500) 96 8.5 Combining Evidence on Locations 98 9. Meanings and Patterns 101 9.1 Meanings in the Folklore 101 9.2 Patterns in the Folklore 105 9.3 Combining Evidence on Patterns 118 Part III Construction 10. Worldview of the Concealments 123 10.1 Meanings of Objects 123 10.2 Spatial Aspects 130 10.3 Agents and Agency 137 10.4 Concealments as Practice 144 11. Temporal and Regional Aspects 155 11.1 Document Concealments and Other Living Traditions 155 11.2 Speculation about Temporal Aspects 157 11.3 Reflections on Regional Differences 164 12. Interpreting the Finds 171 12.1 Understanding the Find Material 171 12.2 “Thunderbolts” and Other Re-Use of Antiquated Objects 181 12.3 Concealments in Church Contexts 185 13. Further Implications – Folk Religion in Archaeology 195 13.1 Folk Religion as a Formation Process in the Archaeological Record 195 13.2 Folk Religion as a Part of the Archaeological Toolkit 199 14. Conclusion 201 References 207 Appendix 1 Theoretical Discussion on the Key Concepts of the Study 243 Appendix 2 Catalogue 1 The Folklore Accounts 261 Appendix 3 Catalogue 2 The Finds 293 Appendix 4 Tables for Chapter 9.2 385 Lyhennelmä (Finnish Summary) 389 Foreword Why is this study important? If taken to extremes, this question will lead to a notion that nothing is truly important in a large perspective: there seems to be no purely logical reason outside of our instincts and personal feelings why even the survival of either the individual or the species would be essential. However, when put back into its framework, the question has a good answer. The study of our past can be compared to the psychological method of psychoanalysis: by finding out what happened in the past, we can understand why things are the way they are in the present, and we can assess how things might be in the future. The study of the past is essentially the study of ourselves. A sense of magical causality has not disappeared from human life. When something unusually good or bad happens we easily think back in order to try to find the cause of this fortune or misfortune in some previous deed. In some cases we find logical connections: I received a big grant since I managed to prepare a good application. Still, just as often we may think that what happened now is connected with some more logically distant but perhaps chronologically closer deed: I received this big grant since I helped that old lady cross the street this morning. Or, to take an example closer to my study, why do we easily expect that an accident is more likely to happen when our home insurance bill is unpaid? Even if we do not recognize this kind of magical thinking in ourselves, it is widely exploited in something quite everyday: the marketing industry. Take a closer look at any advertisement for beauty products or supposedly healthy foodstuffs, and you will see how the use of the product is promised to have magical effects on your whole life: the sun will shine, you will attract the attention of gorgeous members of the opposite sex (note also the heteronormativity), and even your children will be happy and more lovable. The wide use of this kind of marketing implies that it actually works. Thus, understanding this mechanism does not only contribute to understanding past mentalities. Speaking of past mentalities, the tendency to emphasize mental processes over the material reality of human life has lately been criticized.1 This critical discussion has not as such influenced this study, since the manuscript was already finished when I familiarized myself with it. However, although maybe not always explicit, as a wider Zeitgeist the notion of the importance of materiality alongside mental aspects of human life has been a basic notion throughout the study. Even when the meanings of the practices are discussed through the material finds, the main formula tested in the study (meaning = concealed object + its location) is not meant to imply a hierarchical relationship where the mental aspect is somehow primary to the material aspects of object and context. These all form the phenomenon of building concealments together. Owing to Bjørnar Olsen’s illuminating example of the Norwegian adventurer who skied across the Antarctic alone, but only with the help of a massive cooperation of equipment, 1 E.g. Olsen, B. 2010. In Defence of Things. Archaeology and the Ontology of Objects. Archaeology in Society Series. Lanham: AltaMira. i Foreword their manufacturers, and sponsors,2 I realize that this study is not my own but the product of a universe. Even at times when it seemed that I worked alone I was supported by numerous people and things: the late 19th–early 20th century collectors of folklore and the archivists, my excavating archaeologist colleagues, the previous academic studies cited here, my computer and programs, and their manufacturers, my university, and my funders. Even the manufacturers of the food I have eaten to be able to keep working and the providers of other basic needs have contributed to this work. This finished study is gratefully offered in return for all these efforts. More specifically I wish to thank: Auli Bläuer, Timo Muhonen, Juha Ruohonen, Tanja Ratilainen, Harri Jokinen, Janne Harjula, Mirva Pääkkönen, Anne-Mari Liira, Virva Lompolo, Tõnno Jonuks, Ester Oras, Elina Saloranta, Mika Ainasoja, Aki Pihlman, Kristiina Korkeakoski-Väisänen, Henrik Asplund, Sari Mäntylä-Asplund, Heini Kirjavainen, Ville Laakso, Visa Immonen, Andreas Koivisto, Risto Nurmi, Vesa-Pekka Herva, Timo Ylimaunu, Petri Halinen, Markus Hiekkanen, Georg Haggrén, Tuukka Talvio, Leena Koivisto, Mika Sarkkinen, Hannele Lehtonen, Hanna-Leena Salminen, Kirsi Luoto, Tapani Tuovinen, Juhani Gradistanac, Hanna-Maria Pelli nen, Hilkka Oksala, Anni Rissanen, Kreetta Lesell, Heiki Valk, Juris Urtans, Pavel Vařeka, Kendra Willson, Kaarina Koski, Jari Eilola, Anu Lahtinen, Ulla Kos- kinen, Raisa Maria Toivo, Emmi Tittonen, Miia Kuha, Owen Davies, Ceri Houlbrook, Brian Hoggard, Esteri Kopperoinen, Sanna-Liisa Mattila, Väinö Pajulahti, the Museum Centre of Turku, Finland’s National Board of Antiquities, and the Folklore Archives of the Finnish Literature Society. My supervisors, professors Jussi-Pekka Taavitsainen and Veikko Anttonen. The examiners, Peter Carelli and Frog, for valuable comments on the manuscript. For funding this study: Finnish Cultural Foundation (Suomen Kulttuurirahasto), University of Turku: School of History, Culture and Arts (Doctoral Programme Juno), Nordenskiöld-samfundet i Finland r.f., Turku Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (TUCEMEMS). I also wish to thank my family and non-archaeologist friends for reminding me that there are other things in life as well. A special thanks goes to Larri for sharing observations on reality. 2 Olsen 2010: 143. ii Part I Foundation Part I Chapter 1 Introduction When they were digging the foundation for a new cowshed at Mikkola estate in Saikari village in Rautalampi, they put a horse’s head and hooves into the foundation ditch.