Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 14 (1): 121–139 DOI: 10.2478/jef-2020-0008 TRAVELLERS, EASTER WITCHES AND CUNNING FOLK: REGULATORS OF FORTUNE AND MISFORTUNE IN OSTROBOTHNIAN FOLKLORE IN FINLAND KAROLINA KOUVOLA Doctoral Student Department of Culture / Study of Religions University of Helsinki P.O. Box 59 (Unionkatu 38E) 00014 Helsinki, Finland e-mail:
[email protected]. ABSTRACT This article* is about the distinct groups that practised malevolent and benevolent witchcraft in Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia in late-modern Finland according to belief legends and memorates. Placing belief legends and memorates in Mary Douglas’ tripartite classification of powers that regulate fortune and misfortune illuminates the social structure of agents who posed a threat or regulated it by means of their supranormal powers. Powers that bring misfortune dwell outside or within the community, whereas powers that bring fortune live within it but nevertheless may be ambivalent and pose a threat to its members as well. Threat towards the community was based on the concept of limited good, in other words the belief that there was a finite amount of prosperity in the world. The aim is to paint a detailed picture of the complex social structure and approaches to witch- craft in late-modern Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia. KEYWORDS: witchcraft • cunning folk • folk healing • folk belief • benevolent magic INTRODUCTION This article concerns the folklore of the Swedish-speaking minority in late-modern Ostrobothnia, Finland, the aim being to study how various users of witchcraft were understood within the context of limited good in this Swedish-speaking community. I suggest that Mary Douglas’ (2002 [1966]: 130) notion of a triad of power that controls fortune and misfortune in a community facilities the drawing of three distinct groups * I wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on an earlier version of this article and Joan Nordlund for her help with language revision.