Åbo Akademi: Open Journal Systems
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Gör sporrarna mannen? Om sporrar, sköldar och svärd som identitetsskapare och statusmarkörer under medeltiden
Get PDFSpurs, shields and swords are commonly identified with chivalry and have remained so since the Middle Ages. They were often depicted with the armoured knight on his gravestone to indicate his dignity and status. Well-known examples can be seen in the cathedrals of Uppsala and Strängnäs, as well as in the parish church of Vallby in Scania. Weapons and items of armour were used in mediaeval art to indicate the high social level and rank of the person depicted and also used as attributes for kings and knightly saints. As individual objects, the swords and the spurs are good examples of both craftsmanship and economic value, but it is not until they can be associated with a particular user that they receive symbolic and historical value. As in the case of clothing, the symbolic value is created from the moment they are worn or when they are depicted to address the beholder
Child abandonment as an indicator of Christianization in the Nordic countries
No full textIn the Nordic countries, child abandonment seems to have been a commonly accepted social tradition until the acceptance of Christianity. When Christian influences reached the Far North, this old practice was gradually criminalized. When the old practice was criminalized by Christian sanctions and norms, the abandoned, murdered or aborted unbaptized children were experienced supernaturally. Their supranormal manifestations are described in Nordic folk beliefs and narratives concerning dead children; in Old Norse sagas, Swedish and Norwegian provincial and ecclesiastical laws and in Finnish runic poetry, all stemming from the Middle Ages
Resurrection, revenance, and exhumation: the problematics of the dead body in songs and laments
No full textDifferent types of folklore texts differ from each other by their function. We can distinguish between genres meant to be believed (like legend) and genres recognized in advance as fiction (fairy-tale). At the same time, textual fiction may also have served practical purposes—such as the telling of fairy-tales during the late autumn and early winter for purposes of fertility magic—as used to be the case in the Estonian folk tradition. There are folklore genres that have functioned, among other things, as an accompaniment, comment on, or support to rituals or practices being carried out—for instance, an incantation during a cure, or a lament in death-related procedures, when a person must be separated from his familiar environment. The same textual formulae fulfil different tasks in different genres, which means that they also carry a different meaning. The present paper considers some themes related to the bodily aspect of humanity in various genres of folklore, particularly in songs and laments, as well as in practices related to death and commemoration. As expected, the problems connected with the human body have in these genres undergone transformations of meaning, the understanding and interpretation of which may vary considerably. The material discussed in the article derives mainly from the Balto-Finnic and north Russian cultural area, partly from the author's own experience during his field trips
The awaited miracle: reflections of Marian apparitions in Garabandal, Spain
No full textThis article reflects upon Marian apparitions that occurred during the years 1961 to 1965 in the village of San Sebastián de Garabandal, or Garabandal, in northern Spain, giving rise to pilgrimages ever since. The events coincided with the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II. Garabandal is the only Marian apparition event to have prophesied and commented on Vatican II. Nevertheless, in Christendom, travelling to Garabandal is regarded as an alternative pilgrimage.The pilgrimage route is in several ways unique compared to journeys to other Marian pilgrimage shrines, since it has not yet been approved by the Catholic Church. Pilgrimages to Garabandal were even officially forbidden for several years. The Catholic Church authorities originally declared travelling to Garabandal as forbidden for church officials such as priests and others. This article gives an overview of the case of Garabandal through the years and reflect upon why this place is considered special in comparison to other pilgrimage sites. The study examines such aspects of pilgrimages to this village as location and motivation, the Virgin Mary and Marian apparitions and also the messages and miracles of Garabandal.
Muslim pilgrimage as education by experience
No full textIn Christian tradition, pilgrimage is connected with hardship and sacrifice. It has been used as a penance for penitents. The pilgrimage itself is a kind of sacrifice. The Muslim pilgrimage is different. The atmosphere is serious, but full of confidence. The pilgrimage strengthens faith through the spirit of community with millions of other Muslims, who share the same faith. In that respect it resembles the mass meetings of revivalist Christianity.The pilgrimage means that Muslims are brought together in action, walking, running, praying, throwing pebbles, slaughtering and, most importantly, standing for half a day in the desert. All these experiences are used for education through experience. The pilgrimage is an opportunity to educate the Muslims in religious matters. It is a typical example of ‘learning by doing’. This article elaborates the content of this education as it is performed today. The purpose is twofold: to show how well the pilgrimage is fit for education and to investigate how this opportunity is utilized today. The account is built on contemporary theological literature about Islam. Most of the works are introductions to Islam, written by well-known and esteemed scholars. They are meant to give elementary information about Muslim life. The purpose is not to decide what is right or wrong in the performance, or in the interpretation of the rituals. The purpose is to describe what is taught by the religious leaders today. They seem to regard some traditions as dubious, as they might be perceived as superstitious. They might also have been accused of this by Western scholars. That does not mean that they are superstitious. This article submits a discussion and an analysis of a trend in contemporary Islam
Does the sacred make a difference? Category formation in comparative religion
No full textWhen taken at face value, the sacred seems to be an unproblematic concept. Times, places, persons, animals and objects are classified as `sacred', because they have or have had a religious or spiritual significance for people in specific historical and social contexts. Religious traditions and their systems of signification are taken to explain why people have set aside specific things and considered them qualitatively different from other things. Deeming something as sacred means that it is disconnected from the category in social life in which similar things are classified and bestowed with special meaning and value. Sacredness of an object means that it stands in direct relationship to specific power-laden super-human entity by which members in a given culture mirror their self-consciousness or some aspects of it. A sanctuary for instance is a place that is set apart from the rest of the social space, because it is valued as a point of contact between man and the super-human agent worshipped by the local community
Gnosis and mysticism as illustrated by Eugnostos the Blessed
No full textThe Letter of Eugnostos or Eugnostos the Blessed as the text is usually called, has come down to us in two copies, one in NagHammadi Codex III and another less well preserved in Codex V. The text has aroused considerable interest as a possible sample of so-called pre-christian gnosis. Writing under the programmatic name Eugnostos and the more common Makarios, the author addresses his pupils or adepts to teach them about god. He starts by refuting three propositions about the nature of the world which to him represent the basic shortcomings of contemporary philosophy, or perhaps of philosophy as such: (1) the world is governed by itself, (2) by a providence, or (3) is subject to predestination. His refutation is neither philosophical in the proper sense of that word, nor does it deal with the implications of these propositions in detail: That which is from itself leads an empty life, providence is foolish, and that which is subject to destiny or fate is something that does not attain knowledge. According to Eugnostos, real insight is not reached through philosophy; what matters is to be able to refute the propositions of philosophy and by means of another proposition to gain access to and reveal the god of truth. The attainment of this, he says, means to be immortal amidst the mortals
Radical Israeli settlers: ultimate concerns, political goals and violence
No full textThe focus of this article is the radical and activist parts of the wider Israeli settler community on the West Bank. This Radical Israeli Settler Movement should not be confused with the general settler community in the West Bank, even if the more radical groups often recruit their members from the general settler community. The Radical Israeli Settler Movement today includes groups such as Kach, The Committee for Safety on the Roads and The Jewish Legion. The purpose of this article is to analyse some instances of violence in the radical Israeli settler movement and to identify recurring features and processes in this violence. It will be argued that these features and processes are important factors in understanding why certain movements use violence. It will also be argued that future comparative studies are needed, which include other contexts where similar radical movements have become violent, in order to develop a general theory of ethno-religious movements using political violence
The threat from without
No full textOf greatest importance in ethnic folklore are the recognised and unrecognised elements that are used when founding identity on tradition. For the aim of ethnic identification is to note and know the cultural features that connect me with people like me and separate me from people who are not like me. Every group and each of its members thus needs an opponent, a contact partner in order to identify itself. What about the Lapps? The ethnocentric values of ethnic folklore provide a model for this generalising comparison. 'They' are a potential danger, are unknown, strange, a threat from beyond the fells. They are sufficiently common for the group's ethnic feeling. It is here that we find tradition, folk tales, describing the community's traditional enemies, describing the threat from without, engendering preconceived ideas, conflicts and even war. The Lapps have never had an empire, they have never conquered others' territory, they have never engaged in systematic warfare against other peoples. For this reason Lapp tradition lacks an offensive ethnic folklore proper with emphasis on aggression, power, violence, heroism and an acceptance of the ideology of subordinating others. On the contrary,Lapp folklore is familiar with a tradition in which strangers are always threatening the Lapps' existence, plundering their territories, burning and destroying. The Lapp has always had to fight against alien powers, to give in or to outwit the great and powerful enemy. In the Lapp tradition the staalo represents an outside threat that cannot be directly concretised. If foes are regarded as concrete enemies that may be defeated in physical combat or that can be made to look ridiculous, a staalo is more mythical, more supranormal, more vague. One basic feature of the staalo tradition is that it only appears as one party to a conflict. The stories about the Lapp who succeeds in driving away a staalo threatening the community, to outwit the stupid giant or to kill him with his own weapon come close to the myth of the beginning of time when a Lapp managed to secure his existence and defend his community against an outside threat. Without the proto-Lapp battle against evil, the community would not have had a chance to exist, the right to live in its area, as the community does nowadays
The role of the icon in Byzantine piety
No full textThere is a history of doctrinal controversies settled by the six ecumenical councils, from Nicaea (325) to Constantinople (680). It appears that he who makes a picture of a man and calls the man in the picture "Christ" is guilty of heresy. For either he thinks that he can circumscribe Christ's divine nature together with His human and so confuses Christ's two natures, which is monophysitism, or he says that he only wants to make a picture of Christ's flesh. But, in so doing, he gives the flesh of Christ a separate existence and adds a fourth person to the Trinity, and this is Nestorianism. The pictures of Christ that the painters produce are false pictures. What, then, constitutes a true image of Christ? This question was answered by Christ Himself on the eve of His passion, when He took bread, blessed it and said, "This is my body," and distributed wine and said, "This is my blood." The bread and wine that pass from the realm of the common to that of the holy through the blessing of the priest constitute the only true image of the body of Christ. This image does not have the form of man and therefore does not provoke idolatrous practices. It is further pointed out that there is no prayer that could transform the icons from mere matter into something holy. The pictures of the Virgin, the saints and the prophets do not offer the doctrinal dilemma which makes the picture of Christ unacceptable. Yet they must be rejected. The craft of idol-making, which makes what is not present seem to be present, was invented by the pagans, as they had no hope of resurrection