From: evc@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Edward Van Cura)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Baltic, Finnish, Saami Partial Bibliography
Date: 11 Sep 92 05:16:20 GMT

The following is a partial annotated bibliography for people interested
in Baltic, Finnish, Lappish (Saami) paganism put together by
Kveldulf Gundarsson while he works on his own dissertation topic,
"The Cult of Odhinn".    ---Thorfinn Einarsson
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Subject: One Lapp to the Finnish line...

     Heilsa all Finns, Lapps, Balts, and other folk of similar elk!
 
    The best book to start out with is Juha Y. Pentaka"inen's *Kalevala
Mythology* (tr. & ed. by Ritva Poom). This is not only really excellent, but in
English and in print, distinctions it shares with very few other books in this
field, I'm afraid. Pub. by Indiana University Press, Bloomington &
Indianapolis, 1989.
 
Others:
 
Austin, D.; L. Alcock (eds.) *From the Baltic to the Black Sea*. London: Unwin
Hyman Ltd. 1990. Less interesting than it sounds: collection of rather dry
archaeological and historical materials, though these will be useful for
getting a sort of general context.
 
V. Dioszegi (ed.). *Popular Beliefs and Folklore Tradition in Siberia*.
Budapest 1968.
 
Gray, Louis Herbert (ed.). *The Mythology of All Races, vol. III: Celtic,
Slavic*. Boston: Marshall Jones Company, 1918. Interpretations very outdated,
(I got my pinkies slapped for listing the Celtic half as a reference in my
registration piece) but useful for source references and descriptions of
folklore. Includes a VERY short chapter on Baltic religion at the end.
 
Lamm, Jan Peder. "On the Cult of Multiple-Headed Gods in England and in the
Baltic Area". Przeglad Archeologiczny, Vol. 34, 1987, pp. 219-231. Fascinating
and a good guide to the degree of religious overlap that could have gone on
during the heathen period.
 
Lehtinen, I. *Traces of the Central Asian Culture in the North*, Helsinki 1986.
Collection of articles, several of them on shamanism.
 
Lo"nnrot, Elias; Keith Bosley (tr. ed.). *Kantelar*. Oxford/New York: Oxford
University Press, 1992. Collection of Finnish "folk ballads".
 
Sternberg, Leo. "Der Adlerkult bei den Vo"lkern Siberiens". ARW 28 (1930), pp.
125-153. Pretty good, but read with care.
 
Stro"m, Ake (the A has one of the little Danish circles over it, but I have no
clue how to show that here); Haralds Biezais. *Germanische und Baltische
Religion*. Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1975. First-rate.
 
Unwerth, W. von. *Untersuchen u"ber Totenkult und Odinnverehrung bei
Nordgermanen und Lappen*. Germanische Abhandlung 37. Breslau: Verlag von M. &
H. Marcus, 1911. Beyond brilliant. Really superb.
 
Finnish is an easy language to learn. It's even easy to pronounce, despite
appearances, being very phonetic. The best source is Maija-Helliki Aaltio's
*Finnish for Foreigners*, a two-volume set with exercise books and tapes.
Published by Otava (in Helsinki). Finnish is also an excellent language for
singing, which may explain Finland's production of the world's greatest living
singer, Matti Salminen (for those who aren't in touch, he played Hagen in the
Met's 1990 TV-broadcast Ring Cycle).
 
Hope this helps you get started. If anyone finds a network to which the elusive
Gunnora Hallakarva is attached, ask her for more info; she has done a fair bit
of work with the Finnish materials.
    I think I'm Finnish now...
 
                                Kveldu/lfR