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Kihnu is a small island off the western coast of Estonia, where a number of traditional cultural phenomena have been preserved. Quite a number of traditional dances are kept alive in the traditional and modern context. These dances are danced at traditional family and calendar events: pre-wedding rituals and weddings, gatherings on the eve of St Catherine’s Day, as social dances at different festivities, during organized performances for tourists, and at festivals and other events on the Kihnu island as well as in Estonian towns and abroad. The dancers are mainly members of the amateur group Kihnumua, which has been active for more than 30 years under the guidance of Katrin Kumpan. The groups have no fixed membership, as most of the island’s inhabitants know the tradition. Dances were taught also in the local school and dance club. Some old round and partner dances have disappeared, but about 10–15 dances, mostly partner dances, are still in active use. All partner dances (incl. waltz and polka) are danced in a circle. Couples can be mixed, though women often dance among themselves. Many widely known dances have specific regional style variants. The main musical instrument nowadays is accordion, which is often played by women. Bagpipe music is forgotten, and good fiddlers were found up to the mid-20th century. Also, hand harmonica, the most popular musical instrument of the late 19th and early 20th century, has become rather rare by now.

The present article deals mainly with the works of Johannes Raicus, the scientist in the field of medicine from the 17th century, focusing on his treatise Disputatio physicomedica votiva e„j ƒšrwa surgenti jam Dorpati novo collegio region, debated at the Gymnasiumof Tartu by Petrus Turdinus, the future student of theology at the University of Tartu.When comparing this disputation with the rest of the works by both Johannes Raicus and Petrus Turdinus – physician and theologian respectively – it becomes clear that the author of the given treatise is indeed Johannes Raicus. Disputatio physicomedica votiva ... reveals an original approach to the subject matter, i.e. the city of Tartu,being clearly distinct from the medical works written in Academia Gustaviana, the Swedish University of Tartu, especially in the respect of developing the ideas of Paracelsus and his followers. Thus it can be concluded that Disputatio physico-medica votiva ...by Johannes Raicus is a peculiar phenomenon amongst the 17th century scientific works in Tartu.

The aim of the paper is to analyse the collective expression of attitudes elicited by the doping scandal that concerned the esteemed Estonian cross-country skier and Olympic gold medal winner, Andrus Veer­palu. The paper provides an insight into the evolution of an athlete into a national hero on the Internet. The analysis is based on the material col­lected from Estonian online media during two years (from April 2011 to March 2013), when Andrus Veerpalu’s court case was actively followed by the Estonian sports circles and laymen alike. The data corpus includes the most relevant news texts published in the online news portal Delfi (www.delfi.ee), comments from the same online environment, posts from the Facebook fan sites, e.g., “We believe in Andrus Veerpalu”, etc. The doping accusation called forth a quasi-religious movement, which was built around the belief that the athlete was sacred and it was not allowed to attack or accuse him in any way. The main threads in the comments analysed within this study could be divided into two opposing, although intertwining categories: the serious and the ironic. Both categories included people who believed in Veerpalu’s innocence, and those who did not; in addition, there were those who displayed their superiority towards the entire discussion. The analysis addresses the transformation of an Olympic hero into a national hero, and points out narratives that treat the scandal within the present-day genres of urban legends, conspiracy theories, and Internet humour. The more or less genuine belief of people was reflected in sought-out explanations for the doping test result and counter-arguments (above all, via conspiracy stories, but also through social mobilisation in support of Veerpalu). In the post factum comments, the ma­jority expressed the feeling that their trust had been justified; they renewed their unremitting belief in the acquitted hero. But the rather complicated end to the long case was also a confusing one, and this allowed the ironic discourse to produce parodies, jokes and other critical comments. The questions central to the analysis are the following: (1) How does the audience interpret information provided by the media and which topics do the interpretations initiate in turn? (2) How does the notion of belief emerge in the discussion, which narratives and stereotypes are believed in, and how is the belief rationalised? (3) Which folkloric and other cultural (transmedial) texts have taken inspiration from this doping scandal?

The broader source material for this article is the Soviet-era correspondence of the Folklore Department (FD) of the Fr. R. Kreutzwald State Literary Museum, today the Estonian Folklore Archive of the Estonian Literary Museum. This collection consists of letters and postcards of nearly 400 people, as well as transcripts of the FD staff letters to their contributors. The total volume amounts to roughly 4,000 pages and mainly covers the period from the 1950s to the first half of the 1990s. The article also discusses the contributions of Virumaa correspondents Mary Kaasik and Gustav Kallasto to the department, more specifically the folk medicine material collected by them, and focuses on Kaasik and Kallasto’s correspondence with the department, with the main emphasis on the personal health issues in their letters. Mary Kaasik and Gustav Kallasto were among those who collected folk medicine material according to the 1959 survey plan, assembled in co-operation with the folklorists and medical doctors. Assessing the total amount of material collected by Kaasik and Kallasto (over 3300 pages), the folk medicine material is not very large (over 200 pages), but it is one of the topics in which Mary Kaasik and Gustav Kallasto wrote down personal knowledge or experiences. The correspondence shows that their health problems were constantly reflected both in their letters and as short comments among traditional folk medicine material. Mary Kaasik was more inclined towards sharing her problems and personal knowledge and was the one who wrote to the department on behalf of both collectors. In general, it is concluded that personal health has been an important topic in the letters of the contributors to the folklore department. Health problems were a major obstacle to commuting and attending seminars; so messages about the health of oneself, one’s relatives or other collectors or informants are part of the content of the letters. On the other hand, health also comes to the fore in the letters of folklorists, who in turn informed their contributors about their own or their colleagues’ health, if deemed necessary. At the same time, writing about health issues creates an interesting dialogue thread between the correspondents and the folklorists, with mutual encouragement and pleas to take care of one’s health. Thus, a rather personal life goes hand in hand with the practical requirements stated in letters on collecting and archiving. Thus, much data on health can be found in the department’s correspondence. Health-related messages are personal and trusting, the majority of correspondents did not have internal obstacles to share their health worries and to enquire for folklorists’ health. It meant sharing problems and probably provided some well-deserved mental relief. On the other hand, these kinds of letters also show the correspondents’ sense of mission – even when they were off sick, they were eager to get back to the field again.

This paper provides an overview of the first detailed case study of a Buddhist congregation in Estonia. The object of this study is Triratna Buddhist Community in Estonia, which was established here in 1989 and is part of international Triratna Buddhist Community (formerly known as Friends of the Western Buddhist Order) created in the United Kingdom in 1967. Mainly through oral history and participant observation methods as well as analysis of data presented by different written and oral sources the researcher strives to give an overview of various aspects of activity connected with one particular Buddhist group in Estonia, including its practice, ordination rituals, beliefs and membership characteristics. It also includes a detailed overview of the congregation’s history and its relationship with members of Triratna congregations in Finland and the UK. It presents Buddhism as an emerging new religion in Estonia through a case study of a Western Buddhist ecumenical congregation.

The paper gives an overview of six plants, naturalized in Estonia: butterbur (Petasites hybridus), chicory (Cichorium intubus), elecampane inula (Inula helenium), horseradish (Armoracia rusticana), soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) and sweet violet (Viola odorata).The approach to their naturalization is based on ethnobotanical rather than biological qualities. The first disseminators of foreign plants were merchants. The earliest cultivators may have also been monasteries, although it is not known what exactly was grown in these gardens. The most important plants cultivated in monasteries were herbs, which were planted in 4-12 beds, vegetables in 9-18 beds, whereas the rest of the garden was reserved for an orchard. The establishing of the first pharmacies in Estonian towns introduced the planting of new species in gardens for sale (the earliest pharmacy, the Tallinn Town Hall Pharmacy, dates back to 1422, with a herb garden founded in 1452). The oldest preserved list of plants growing in pharmacy garden originating from Narva pharmacy from the year 1677 contains already following herbs: chicory, elecampane inula, butterbur and sweet violet. Next to pharmacies, foreign species were also disseminated by grocers and drugstores. A century later, in 1777, the list of tracheophytes found in Estonia and Livonia was compiled; this list has been considered the first written source in the field of botany. In the list all the six plants were noted as natural species. The spread of the plants was speeded by their versatile usage - all these plants were used as medicines; chicory, horseradish and elecampane inula were also vegetable plants; elecampane inula, sweet violet, soapwort and butterbur were popular landscape plants; soapwort was used to clean silk and wool. Various legal acts, which have been applied to the plants, have also influenced their spread. Elecampane inula was listed in the first Estonian dictionary in 1660. Translated literature became an important factor in introducing herbs into broader use. Already the first journal (published in 1766-1767) and the earliest popular medical book (1771) in Estonian describe the use of horseradish, butterbur, elecampane inula and sweet violet. The plants, especially garden horseradish, are repeatedly mentioned in almanacs and books published since. The use of chicory is described only once in 1895, and soapwort once in 1870. The paper describes in more detail the formation of new ethnic names. The plant names were mostly derived from adaptations of German names (e.g. aland, pestilens-wurtsel, wiola, sigur, etc.), later from German translations (e.g. katkujuur for butterbur) and in some cases, the name of the local plant was used to mark a similar new plant (e.g. sinilill, or hepatica, for sweet violet and põierohi, or campion, for soapwort). In conclusion it has to be said that the important factors in distributing those plants were changes in landscape gardening and eating habits as well as the fact that the plants were eventually abandoned from use and thus, lost the most powerful natural enemy - the man.

One of the characteristics of the 15th–16th-century pre-Reformation sacral art in southern central Europe, as well as in the Netherlands and Italy, is the multitude of natural plant depictions. Depending on the artists and subjects of paintings, plant depictions could, similarly to animal depictions, fulfil the roles of attributes, allegorical and metaphorical devices and/or to represent various landscapes. The appearance and properties of plants, their habitats and usage are the fundamental features of plant symbolism. Plant names in late medieval and early modern period herbals is another important clue for understanding the meaning of vegetation shown in the context of landscapes. Natural plants in pre-Reformation art, as interpreted here, represent the syncretism of Christian and folk belief in mundane and spiritual life. The richness of popular elements in Christian art and their interpretation, however, was a reason for the discontinuation of the same pictorial tradition and its replacement by another, suppressed into institutional frames and more controlled by the authorities.

In most of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, oral history was initiated in the circles of dissidents in the 1980s. Memories of the politically marginalised or persecuted citizens were the source of insights into uncensored versions of recent past. Therefore the term “a witness to history” is central to the “civic historiography”, which has been developed in Poland. After the fall of communism, the civic participation in the archiving, educating and researching has been institutionalised and identifies itself as oral history. The article presents epistemological and ethical paradoxes of the concept of “a witness to history” in the light of social and linguistic practice, as well as its historiographical and political usage. Examples of major oral history projects actively present in the public space and state and public institutions, influencing oral history practice in Poland, are presented. In the analysis of such institutions as the Warsaw Uprising Museum or the Institute of National Memory, the author focuses on their definition of “a witness to history” and places their practices in the context of the politics of memory implemented in Poland since 2005. Apart from the abovementioned powerful social players in the serious game of memory, knowledge and imagination, there are, however, other social actors contributing to the notion of oral history and creating an alternative vision of its tasks. The author sketches two modes of the development of oral history in Poland – academic and public oral history – pointing at the concepts of ‘narrator’ and ‘a witness to history’, and briefly summarises the main problems of contemporary dominant practice. Artiklis tutvustatakse Poola suulise ajaloo põhilisi kujunemissuundi 1980. aastatest alates kuni tänapäevani. Käsitletakse suulise ajaloo ilmnemise institutsionaalseid, poliitilisi ja sotsiaalseid kontekste olukorras, kus suulise ajaloo projektide keskseks kontseptsiooniks on olnud ajaloo tunnistaja. Artiklis tõstatatakse küsimus selle kontseptsiooni epistemoloogilistest ja eetilistest probleemidest, mis pärinevad ajajärgust, mil suuline ajalugu hakkas Poolas kodanikuõpetuse historiograafia (avaliku ajaloo) raames välja kujunema.

The tradition of the Udmurts beyond the River Kaama includes the following supernatural creatures that protect houses and outbuildings: korkakuzjo, or the cottage guardian, gulbech taka - the cottage guardian, who appears in the shape of a ram and lives in the cellar, gidkuzjo - the guardian spirit of cattle-sheds or stables, minchokuzjo - the guardian of the sauna, kuzjõrsi - the long-haired fairy inhabiting the sauna. While korkakuzjo and gidkuzjo could be either good or evil creatures, then gulbech taka, minchokuzjo and kuzjõrsi were utterly malevolent. Besides believing in spirits connected to various buildings the Udmurts beyond the Kaama also believed in the presence of zõrtkuzjo, the guardian spirit of the whole household, which embodied the characteristic features of both the cottage and stable fairy. By nature, zõrtkuzjo was both a benevolent and an evil spirit.

The article presents a selection of contemporary theories and methods of ethnochoreology. The selection was made based on the present reality of research into Estonian dance, which is currently at its very beginning. The need to bring into play recent theoretical and methodological approaches emerged in connection with project “Original Choreographic Text and Style of Performance of Estonian Folk Dances on the Basis of Recorded Audiovisual Material”, which aims at studying the authentic style of performing folk dance and at the identification and explanation of the changes that take place in folk dances during different periods and in revival processes. In the article, the concept of ‘folk dance’ (Estonian: rahvatants) is used in its broadest meaning which incorporates the ritual and social dancing of people in the past and present, and the changing meanings that have been attributed to the concept of ‘folk’ (Estonian: rahvas), as well as author works which elaborate and stylize the genres of folklore. Participatory and presentational dancing are discussed in connection with the concepts of the first, second and third existence of folklore. The author aims to stress the importance of specific research into the real use of the key concepts and terms in the field of folk dance and how they are understood by different groups of Estonian-speaking people. The article briefly addresses the historical research into folk dance studies, revealing some current problems in the history of European social and traditional dance and introducing the theory of dance paradigms. The author points out that next to studying local peculiarities in the Estonian dance tradition, more attention should be paid to parallels with the dance history of other nations and trends in the international dance practices. Ethnochoreological research as a distinctive branch of contemporary cultural studies is also discussed in the article. The (so-called American) anthropological approach and (European) choreological one are compared in terms of their disparities and similarities, and the article introduces the holistic or integrated dance research which incorporates the two approaches. Special attention is paid to the so-called performer-centred folk dance research, which may be very relevant in Estonia today. In dance analysis, two levels can be discerned – the analysis of a dance event as a cultural text and specific analysis of choreographic text, or dance movements. Two principally different ways of notation – prescriptive and descriptive – are discussed. Descriptive notation is quite a new approach to Estonian folk dance tradition and may bring along revolutionarychanges in research in this field. The article has been written with the conviction that even a brief introduction of recent theories and methods may help potential Estonian folk dance researchers effectively continue the first steps taken in scientific research into Estonian folk dance.