I. Mythological Trees in Lyrical-Epical Folk songs
Types of Estonian folksongs focusing on forests and trees:
The Baptized Forest (Ristitud mets): a woman is sexually violated by a night wanderer. The forest feels shame and starts to wither and die. The priests are called in from Paide to christen the forest: only then can the forest feel well and flourish once again. It is more than likely that this type of folksong dates from the Catholic era. This song was prevalent in northern Estonia (Virumaa and Järvamaa), and spread from there to Ingria.
The Ship`s Timber (Laevapuu, see handout): internationally recognized folkloric motif about trees that will not allow themselves to be felled. Only the oak agrees. In the Kalevala (Runo 16), the other trees argue that they are not fitting for ship`s timber either because a snake has slept in their roots or a hawk with a bloody mouth has sat in their branches. This song-type made its way from Estonia into Ingria (and by this route into the Kalevala epic).
The Making of the Kannel (version from Nigula)
Minu aga veike vennakene
See tegi kannelta mäella
Kolmest kõvasta puusta
Õunapuusta õigeesta
Sarapuusta sirgeesta
Tammesta kõvasta puusta....
(I had a little brother, who made a kannel on a hill, from three hard woods, the appletree, the hazel, and the oak)
The Great Oak (cf reading 19, p. 180)
Lönnrot wove this song into the Kalevala, and Kreutzwald did the same in the Estonian epic Kalevipoeg (Fifth Tale): a giant tree grows fast and strong and tends to envelop the whole world in its shade. A superhuman helper chops it down. In the mythology of many northern peoples the branching Milky Way is seen as the cosmic tree after it has been chopped down.
II. Significance of Trees in the Folklore of Everyday Life (Estonia)
THE OAK TREE (TAMM)
- A holy tree (only the linden tree and the alder could compete with it)
- Practical uses:
Tüvest tehti tünderida,
Otsast tehti hoonesida,
Keskelt sai kena kiriku
Okstest sai hobusetalli,
Ladvast laste laululauda,
Mis jäi üle laastukene,
Sest sai neiul kihlakirstu,
Kihlakirstu, veimevaka (Kolga-Jaani)
(Folksong showing how polyfunctional the oak tree was: from its trunk, barrels; from its top, a building; from its middle, a nice church; from its branches a stable for horses; from its crown songs for the children; from the chips that were left over, a maiden`s betrothal chest; betrothal chest, dowry chest)
- Oak trees are valued in Estonia, since they have always been scarce; Estonia is located at the northern border of the climatic region appropriate for the growth of oak trees: on the other side of the Gulf of Finland it grows only in the coastal regions of southern Finland).
- Much of the oak forest in Estonia was destroyed when forests were cleared for farmland; the soil in which oak trees grow is fertile for agriculture. In the 17th century,the author of the first agricultural handbook in the Baltics, S. Gubert, recommends oak forest as a good place for assarting (clearing land by burning)
- By the middle of the 17th century oak forest was so scarce in the Baltic provinces that the Swedish authorities tried to limit its use through laws. Oak was also much in demand for shipbuilding, since it was especially durable in water, the best shipbuilding timber in Europe. Peter I also issued edicts prohibiting the felling of tall oaks for masts, some of which carried capital punishment as the penalty.
- Significant numbers of oak trees remained only on in western Estonia and the island of Saaremaa.
- Use of oak in the building of mills and machinery, as well as for furniture. In cabinetmaking it was referred to as „peasant`s iron“ (talupoja raud), and used for wooden pegs, „hidden sticks“ to join parts of furniture together, (nagad, nakid, salapulgad ehk pisidetailid as well as for decorative details In Saaremaa the main parts of a windmill were all oaken (SEE DIAGRAM from VIIRES, p. 135), as well as gateposts, the main parts of wagons and sledges. Wooden chests with curved lids were widespread in western Saaremaa as well as on the island of Gotland, and the coastal regions of Kurland (present-day Latvia).
- The Black Oak (must tamm): an oak tree that had stood for years (sometimes hundred of years) in the water; due to the crystallization of iron salts and oxides in its cells it had turned black. This type of oak could be found most readily in the rivers of southeastern Estonia (Mustjõe and Koiva). It was, however highly in demand in another part of Estonia, namely the islands and western Estonia, where it was used in the making of wooden beer steins.
- Oak bark was used in tanning, and medicinally to treat diarrhea.
- Acorns were used to fatten the pigs, and used as human food only in times of famine.
- An oak tree that kept its leaves in winter was referred to as „widow`s oak“ (lesktamm) or „stone oak.“ (kivitamm)
- A folk tale about the „stone oak“: A long long time ago, when the gods still walked the earth, the devil went to God and demanded that his wishes be respected for once. God responded that he would honour the devil`s wish when all the trees had lost their leaves. Then the devil could come with his wish, and it would be fulfilled. Since God did not really want to give the devil what he wanted, he made it so that the oak tree kept its leaves until springtime, when the maples would start to get leaves again. When all the other trees lost their leaves, the devil got very angry at the oak, and tried to tear off its leaves, but to no avail. From that time forward the leaves of the oak look bumpy and torn. (Loorits, Endis-Eesti Elu-Olu II; 1941, pp. 140-141)
THE SPRUCE (KUUSK)
- The best tree for finding shelter in a rainstorm. The folk expression „to go under a spruce tree“ usually refers to a wife who cannot get along with her mother-in-law, and having no place to go, except outside, under a spruce tree. A folk tale tells of the foster son of the king of the forest being stuck in the forest in a rainstorm. He sought shelter from the birch and the bird-cherry (toomingas), who refused him. The spruce accepted, and in thanksgiving the prince gave it the power to remain green all year, while all of the other leafy trees were only green for a short time each year.
- Spruce was used as logs for building, fenceposts, roof shingles, furniture (not as durable as pine, harder to process due to hard branches. As a type of wood, the regularly placed, hard branches were also an advantage for spruce over pine: the acute angles of the roots made them useful for making harrows. Notice the Estonian words for harrow (ägli, ägel) in relation to the Latvian word for spruce (egle). The typical harrow in the forested areas of northeast Europe was the bear harrow, a split spruce with 3-5 branches a half metre in length left on them (SEE ILLUSTRATION VIIRES p. 88)
- mis männist parem: kõvad, reeglipäraselt paigutatud oksad ja tugevad, järsu nurga all käänduvad juureharud: loodusvorme kasutati ära rahvapärases tehnikas: ägli, ägel seoses läti kuusenimetusega egle. Lõhestatud kuusepakkudest, mille külge jäeti 3-5 poole meetri pikkune oksatüügas oli kogu Kirde-Euroopa metsavööndi alemaade tüüpiline äke karuäke.
- Young spruce was the material of choice for fencebuilding (cf. Folksong „Ship’s Timber“)
- To make wooden vessels, especially to hold water, spruce boards were used. Since thegrain of the spruce was not always even, the boards would warp easily. Spruce chopped down for future use in making wooden vessels was piled up to dry.
- Spruce was an important wood for making musical instruments, including wooden gongs (lokulauad).
THE BIRCH
- The first deciduous trees to grow back on assarted land (land cleared by burning.) Thus the word kask has come to designate assarted land in Estonian, Finnish, and among the Karelians. The Southern Estonian word (kõiv, Finnish koivu) corresponds to very similar words in Ugrian and Samoyed.. Two types of birch: silver birch (lowland birch, est. arukask) and dwarf birch (sookask)
- Birch sap fermented made a delicious drink, and syrup could also be made from it. Birch sap was said to remove freckles, and to soften the skin.
- Cambium (mähk), eagerly consumed by herders (children)
- Meiud: young, fragrant birches brought into the clean house for summer holidays, including midsummer`s eve, as symbols of fertility and summer. The wedding chamber was also adorned with birch trees.
- preferential wood for making birch switches for the sauna, as a preservative for brewers yeast. To gather birch branches for the sauna, women would go into the woods around the summer solstice. This was referred to as lehesil käimine. They would gather thin branches rich in leaves, usually from young silver birches. Sauna switches should be made during the waning moon, according to folk teachings, which is said to optimize their healing powers. They were then hung up in bunches to dry. A woman who went to the sauna carrying a pair of birch switches was believed to bear twins. Folk customs to foster healthy hair growth in babies included taking 2-3 week old infants to the sauna with their head smeared with a special batter that was to remove „bristles,“ and wrapped in wool. The child would then be thoroughly „switched“ in a hot sauna from head to toe, after which the mixture was washed from his head.
- pipes were made from birch gall (pahk)
- children who were mischievous dreaded the birch tree, since its branches provided ammunition for corporal punishment (the euphemism „plaster of birch catkins“, kaseurvaplaaster)
- a folk medicine treatment for cancer was drinking tree made from „birch cancer,“ a crumbly brown mass that grows on old birch trees whose bark has been injured. This is boiled for 15 minutes and the brown liquid is consumed like tea.
- use of birch for yellow dye for fabric; brown dye for flax and cotton could be obtained from the underbark of young birches.
Sources
Loorits, Oskar. Endis-Eesti elu-olu II (1941), available electronically in Estonian on www. kirmus.ee (link to folklore section).
Viires, Ants. Puud ja inimesed. (Ilmamaa, 2000).
STUDY QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES
1. Examine the folksong „The Birth of the Kannel“ (Reading 19, pp. 49-51) What types of wood are mentioned, and what are they used for? How does this version of the song connect (or disconnect) the activities of building a ship and building-playing a musical instrument? What other materials go into the making of musical instruments?
2. What role does the brother play in the making of music? Is the association of music-making with being „spoiled“ by being fed the best of foods an indication that music is only a leisure-time activity, icing on the cake of a life devoted to hard work, or appropriate only for (idle) children who are not yet expected to participate in work?
3. Return to the „Egle, Queen of the Serpents“ story, and compare the mythological and practical functions of the trees listed above to the meanings of the trees in the story.