A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
The Materiality of Finnish Folk Magic: Objects in the Collections of the National Museum of Finland
Authors: Sonja Hukantaival
Publisher: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Publication year: 2018
Journal: Material Religion
Journal name in source: MATERIAL RELIGION
Journal acronym: MATER RELIG
Volume: 14
Issue: 2
First page : 183
Last page: 198
Number of pages: 16
ISSN: 1743-2200
eISSN: 1751-8342
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2018.1443893
Abstract
In Finland the material aspects of magic have long been of marginal interest to scholars. Still, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries several magical objects were gathered into museums, in addition to the archived vast folklore collections describing magic practices. The latter have been widely discussed, while recently also the material culture of magic is becoming the object of study.This paper discusses the objects classified as magical in the collections of the National Museum in Helsinki. The collection includes, for example, miniature coffins containing an impaled frog or a wooden stick figure, magic pouches with various contents, animal bones and teeth, "snake's court stones," and curious growths of trees. The objects date mainly to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This collection is briefly presented and the process of ascribing magical meanings to a natural or constructed object is analyzed, both from the viewpoint of practitioners and museum personnel.From the practitioners' standpoint a complex combination of analogical thinking, potent agencies, and specific contexts resulted in special qualities of objects. In the museum, specific objects used solely for ritual purposes have attracted more attention than multi-purpose everyday items. Moreover, a foreknowledge of what kinds of objects were used ritually has guided choices of cataloguers. As a result the collection is quite limited.
In Finland the material aspects of magic have long been of marginal interest to scholars. Still, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries several magical objects were gathered into museums, in addition to the archived vast folklore collections describing magic practices. The latter have been widely discussed, while recently also the material culture of magic is becoming the object of study.This paper discusses the objects classified as magical in the collections of the National Museum in Helsinki. The collection includes, for example, miniature coffins containing an impaled frog or a wooden stick figure, magic pouches with various contents, animal bones and teeth, "snake's court stones," and curious growths of trees. The objects date mainly to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This collection is briefly presented and the process of ascribing magical meanings to a natural or constructed object is analyzed, both from the viewpoint of practitioners and museum personnel.From the practitioners' standpoint a complex combination of analogical thinking, potent agencies, and specific contexts resulted in special qualities of objects. In the museum, specific objects used solely for ritual purposes have attracted more attention than multi-purpose everyday items. Moreover, a foreknowledge of what kinds of objects were used ritually has guided choices of cataloguers. As a result the collection is quite limited.
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