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THE WATERS AND WATER SPIRITS INVOTIAN FOLK BELIEF *
Ergo-Hart Vstrik
INTRODUCTION
In this article I intend to focus on the belief reports, legends
anddescriptions of customs concerning the bodies of water and
water-related supernatural beings recorded from the Votian
linguistic areain the Votian language.1 As compared with the
analogous Finnish(Jauhiainen 1998: 257266), Estonian and Livonian
material (see,for example, Loorits 1998: 111210) the records of
Votian folkloreare scarce and relatively fragmentary, comprising a
total of 120shorter or longer texts. Except for a few from the 18th
century, theera of the exploration of Votian folklore, the majority
of accountswere collected by the greatest researcher of the Votian
language ofthe 20th century, Paul Ariste, an academician and
professor of TartuUniversity. (These are available in the
collection of manuscriptsThe Votian Ethnology and partially
published in Ariste 1935;1941; 1958; 1964; 1965; 1969; 1976; 1977.)
In order to be able toorientate in this fragmentary material and
categorise it in someway I will attempt to distinguish between the
concepts reflectingthe tradition spheres of different periods based
on certain religiousphenomenological processes as described by the
Estonian histo-rian of folk religion Ivar Paulson in his collection
of essays TheOld Estonian Folk Religion (1971).
Although the Votian linguistic area was relatively small
duringthe collection period, we can distinguish between the
preferencesof different village groups as regards the names of the
water spir-its2, beliefs and characteristic plots of folk
narratives: particularlythe Central Votia rich in lakes (the
village groups of Orko, Mtiand Kabrio) contrasted with the western
coastal villages and thoseat the River Lauga (the village group of
Vaipooli and Kukkuzi; seemap 1). The geographical position of the
village groups has deter-mined their different natural surroundings
and sources of liveli-hood. Even in the middle of the 20th century
people in Vaipooligained their sustenance mostly from deep-sea
fishing (the coastal
dianaText Boxdoi:10.7592/FEJF1999.12.spirits
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villages had retained the common dragnet crews), whereas in
Cen-tral and East Votia the smaller-scale fresh-water fishing had
onlya secondary role in providing subsistence (see Rnk 1960: 79).
Thedifference is reflected correspondingly in the tradition
concerningwater spirits: in the Central Votian lake area the
perception of waterspirits was never associated with fishing,
whereas in the villagesof Vaipooli it was clearly a part of fishing
at sea and in the RiverLauga.
In the whole Votian area the names of water spirits refer to
familyrelationships, particularly to maternal relations, and also
to pos-session or ownership (containing the stem word haltiaZ
spirit, lit-erally halta- to own, to rule): for example, vesi-em3
watermother, vesi-mm water woman; jg-em river mother, jarvi-em lake
mother, jarvi-is lake father, jrv peremmeeZ lakemaster, jarvi-pappi
lake priest; vesi-haltiain, vesi-haltias, vesi-haltialain all
meaning water spirit, meri-haltia sea spirit, jrveehaltiaZ lake
spirit, jaa haltiaZ stream spirit, lhte haltialain,lhtie alt both
meaning spring spirit. The names of the waterbeings are
distinguished according to their location in sea, river,lake,
stream or spring, which is a manifestation of the belief thatwater
spirits may inhabit every body of water. However, it is
rathercomplicated to differentiate between the distinct categories
of wa-ter spirits in the 20th century folkloric material on the
basis ofterminology. Below I intend to observe the water related
tradition
Map 1. Votian villages andvillage groups.
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as a set of clusters concentrated around a specific domain of
inter-est, focusing mainly on ritual performances and their ways of
in-terpretation.
FISHING: FEMALE DEITIES, MASTERS OF THEUNDERWATER AND GUARDIANS
OF FISH
Similar to the tradition of other Baltic-Finnish and more
distantkin peoples, the Votian tradition includes the notion of
water spiritas a patroness of fish and mistress of the underwater.
An 18th cen-tury account by the first investigator of Votians
Friedrich LudolphTrefurt,4 the Baltic-German pastor from Narva,
states that theVotians had devoted one day in the year for the
goddess of the seaand rivers, the name of which Trefurt translated
as Seemutter:
On this holy day everyone goes at midnight to the seashore.
Ifthey have gathered together, they all attire themselves in
whiteand pray for a good and plentiful catch; in exchange they vow
togive back the first fish caught to the Sea Mother after it
hasbeen cooked. Then they go back to their homes. Early the
nextmorning they start fishing for the first communal catch of
theyear, cook the first fish at the shore and throw it back into
thesea; there upon they fish for the whole day and at the end of
theday are quite exuberant, especially if the haul has been
suc-cessful, and they entertain themselves with excessive
eating,drinking, singing and playing bagpipes as they used to do on
St.Florus Day.5 (Trefurt 1783: 1819).
A similar description of water spirit cult has been recorded at
thebeginning of the 1790s by the Russian historian Feodor
Tumanskiin his description of the St. Petersburg Guberniya
(Pronvince).6
According to Tumanski the Votians worshipped the goddess of
thewaters, lakes and rivers called Alteas on St. Elijahs Day
(July20th/ August 2nd). Similarly to Trefurt, Tumanski mentions
thefestive clothing of the participants, the gathering to a nearby
lake,or a river or stream, the praying in the evening for a
successfulhaul, the cooking of the first fish caught the next day,
and joyousfestivity (pik 1970: 112). We could, however, point out
one differ-ence: namely, according to Tumanski, the fishing began
only afterthe service in the afternoon, adding that:
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The very same day they have a custom to ask a priest to
sprin-kle holy water on their cattle and sheep. They believe that
thevery year they stop performing that ritual their cattle will
notincrease and the fishing will not succeed. (pik 1970: 112).
Thus, we might assume on the basis of Tumanskis text, that
thecollective sacrifice of the first fish described above was, at
least insome areas, associated with Christian church practice and
thesaints day. Nevertheless, it is more likely that such a joint
sacrifi-cial ritual was held in spring, and not on St. Elijahs Day
asTumanski describes it. The reference to a goddess(es) here is a
char-acteristic interpretation of the 18th century scholars: both
emmother as well as (h)altias spirit compounds are clearly
relatedto the 1920th century water spirit tradition, whereas
Trefurtsterm Seemutter might be identified as the vesi-em or
vesi-mmof the Vaipooli villages. One of the most important elements
of theritual is the white or festive clothing of the participants
which hasalso been mentioned by Trefurt (1783: 22) in connection
with magicand sorcery, and which has been described in even more
recentaccounts of sacrificial customs (see below). Another
significant factis that, according to the scholars, the joint
sacrificial ceremony ofthe community was performed to obtain a good
fishing catch andgeneral well-being. The 19th and 20th century
folkloric reportscertainly contain references to sacrifice but the
meanings attrib-uted to ritual performances are associated with
other spheres oflife.
The respect towards the sea and supernatural beings in it is
alsoreflected in the behavioural standards which prohibited
swearingand quarrels during fishing (Ariste 1965: 431). The
tradition re-lated to fishing includes accounts recorded in the
20th century whichsay that a water spirit could impede the haul of
greedy fishermenby tearing the fishing net or obstructing the
fishermen in pullingthe nets out. In some cases sacrifice is
mentioned in connectionwith saying charms for the water spirit
stressing the do, ut desidea:
Meez meni hell oHtogoll. Pani vrkoD jrvee. Oomnikoll tmsai pallo
kalaa. Saatii tl inimezet tt, ett tm saipallo kalaa. Jott Joro sai
pallo kaloi. Ja pantii tizd mehedvrkod vettee. Oomnikoll mentii
vrkkoi vttamaa. Evd vrkkoi
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tttee saanD. Anna vrkod vll, nii v. M annammsill musaa katii p
palkkaa! Eb antanuD vrkkoi vll.Jaa nii neeD vrkoD jivD. Meni kaHs
ntelii, ku mentii vrkkoikattsomaa. Sis saivad vll. Se mokoma
vesihaltialain.
A man went out one night. Cast nets into the lake. In the
morn-ing he got a lot of fish. Village people found out that he
caught alot of fish. That Joro [=name of the fisherman] caught
plenty offish. So other men cast their nets into the water. The
next morn-ing they went to pull out the nets. They could not pull
themout. Please, be so kind and give us back our nets. We will
payyou with the head of a black cat. She did not give the netsback.
And so the nets were left in the lake. Two weeks passedand they
went to see the fishing nets. Then they could pull themout. It was
some kind of a water spirit. (VE VIII 199200< Jgper, Darja Lehti
(1938) = Ariste 1941: 4849).
Throwing the head of a black cat into the water might be
regardedas a placatory offering by addressing the water being and
promis-ing an offering in return for a good catch. A similar
preventive magicritual, a remnant of the sacrifice tradition, was
also known in thevillages on the banks of the River Lauga where
people, before go-ing to sea, had a custom of casting a small stone
into the water(Ariste 1965: 431).
Photo 1. Lake Svjarvi. Photo by Ergo-Hart Vstrik 1998.
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A single account from Liivtl village (VE XIX 14) lets us
knowthat getting lost at sea was interpreted as the interference of
a seaspirit. Another interesting contamination of popular beliefs
occursin a report where the water spirit was identified as a
hobgoblinwho knew when the vessel would sink (VE III 141 <
Luuditsa).
As compared to the tradition of the Central Votia, the texts
re-corded from West Votian coastal villages contain but single
refer-ences to the appearance and typical activities of water
spirits. Nev-ertheless, I will introduce them, simultaneously
pointing out thedifferent possible associations. For instance, sea
spirits (vesi-mm,meri-haltiaZ) were believed to have the power to
create waterspoutsand capsize ships and boats (VE IX 195 <
Luuditsa; Ariste 1958:35). In these cases the water spirit has been
also described as ahuge fish or some other aquatic animal. A water
creatures appear-ing in the shape of a fish might suggest its
affinity to the guardianspirit of fish, however, in the scanty
recorded material such re-ports are associated not with fishing
luck but rather with accidentsat sea. Another popular shape for a
water spirit is half-human/half-fish, also known through a
migratory legend about a waterspirit who became entangled in the
net and bowed to the fisher-men who had set it free before
disappearing (cf. Jauhiainen 1998:L 56, L 234; Loorits 1998: 183184
(S.27)). In the Livonian andEstonian folklore the narrative is
connected to the pharaohs chil-dren, in the Votian variant the
fish-tailed being is not specificallydetermined:
Siso juttli sit viisii. Tm nti, ku tmmattii nootaakaa.
Naiz-elokaz li, kalaa nt li. lpool li inemiin, a alapool li
kala.Soomust pl i kalaa nt. I siis ko tm tmmattii maal, tmkui ep
tahtonnu. Siis takaaz lastii vettee. Tm siis kummrtli,pkaa
kummrtli. nnkaa ku hloppaz, nii meni. Se li kasinUst-NaroovaZ.
Pallo voosii on jo, ko li. Siso li herroill piikan.Sii ttii kik
kattomz.
My sister told me this. She saw when the seine was hauled in.
Itwas a female, had a fishtail. Her upper part was human, lowerwas
fish. Had scales and fishtail. And when they pulled herashore she
did not like it. Then they released her back to thewater. Then she
bowed. Bowed her head. Flapped her tail asshe went. It happened
here in Ust-Naroova [=name of the set-
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tlement]. Many years have passed since. My sister worked as
amaid for the gentry. Everybody went to see her [the sea crea-ture]
then. (VE XII 267 < Luuditsa, Paro Dmitrijeva (1969) =Ariste
1977: 152).
DROWNING: GENII LOCI, DEMONS AND DIDACTICSTORIES FOR
CHILDREN
Narratives focusing on water spirit as demonic drowner occur
innumerous variants in Votian folklore. Such focus is mainly
charac-teristic of the tradition associated with the Central Votian
lakes,still it is known in Vaipooli villages and in East Votia.
In these beliefs the feminine aspect is also prevalent, which is
sug-gested by the specific terminology as well as the description
of thewater spirits outward appearance. Votian tradition, however,
con-tains no elaborated legend types (fabulates according to
Wilhelmvon Sydows terminology) about water spirits. The water
spirit asan empirical supernatural being could be perceived for
only a shortperiod of time: a criterion for the supernatural is the
sudden disap-pearance of an anthropomorphic being, particularly
when an ob-server happens to expose its proximity. References to
the placeswhere spirits were most often seen or were believed to
live are moregeneral. Such places in bodies of water could be, for
example, siteswhere water suddenly swirls upstream, sites with a
deep bottomor those where people had drowned. Although the time of
the wa-ter spirits appearance is often unspecified we should note
that inseveral reports and memorates the supernatural event has
takenplace at high noon:
Pajatan ize enes, mit mill tapaHtu nuorn pojon. Menenhskrt
Kattilal. Se li spivl. Menem mie kanvaa rantaam. Liti kalmoi li
lhe. Mie vaatan: meneb inehmiin, daiduumaan: meneb vetta juomaa
lHtiess. Tulm mie litiplie,inehmiin hviz. Vaatan Htiep-puol,
tisp-puol, vaatan:tm isub lHtie serv pl da sugp pt. Mie
seizattuzindai vaatan i thtin vai aivassiin. Dai hvis se inehmiin.
Miemenin, tzin Kattilal i tulin kotuos tagaaz. Pajatanmamal, mit
mie nin. Mama juttB: se li lHtie altD vaialt. Mama juttB, etti
tehsi-pivll nvt tagottavad
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nttss. Mie tuozh ln nhn. Mille tuli vassaa dai krrazhviz. Tuo
senes samaz lHtiez nin.
I will tell what happened to me when I was a young boy. OnceI
went to Kattila [=the name of the settlement and manor], ithappened
at high noon. I walk along the channel. There was aspring near the
cemetery. I see: there goes a person, and I think:they must be
going to drink water from the spring. I went closer,the person
disappeared. I am looking to the right, then to theleft and then
see: they are sitting at the shore combing theirhair. I stopped and
looked at them and coughed or sneezed. Andthe person disappeared. I
went to Kattila and then returnedhome. I tell my mother what I saw.
Mother says: it was the spriteor spirit of the stream. Mother says
that they usually appear athigh noon. I have seen them too. They
came towards me andthen disappeared. I saw them in the same spring
as well. (VEIV 1819 < Vanakla < Pummala, Grigori Kuzmin
(1932) = Ariste1935: 1011).
One of the commonest shapes for a water spirit is a woman
withexceptionally long and dark hair, often sitting on a rock near
abody of water or at the very edge of water, combing her hair,
cryingor lamenting. More detailed descriptions mention a silk scarf
or awhite shift as the characteristic attribute of a water spirit.
A fewaccounts refer to the fishtail of anthropomorphic water
spirits butthis shape, though extremely popular in the Russian
tradition(Vlasova 1995: 93), is not very common in Votian
tradition.
Still, we cannot argue that the Votian water spirit tradition is
re-stricted to female shapes only. The legends recorded in the
CentralVotian villages around Lakes Jarvigoisjarvi (also called
Savvokka-laa jarvi, Baabinoi jarvi, Russian Babinskoye ozero) and
Svjarvi(Russian Glubokoye ozero) in particular, say that Lake
Jarvigoisjarviis the home of a female spirit7 and Lake Svjarvi the
domain of amale spirit. A popular belief about both lakes is that
the spiritsliving in them drown people from the opposite sex, that
is, onlymen are drowned in Jarvigoisjarvi and only women in
Svjarvi. Asingle text about the dialogue between the male and
female spiritsconfirms their co-existence enabling us to speculate
on certain fam-ily relationships between the different genii loci
in the waters (seeVE I 211 < Krvttula, Ignati Smirnov (1942) =
Ariste 1964: 169;
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1977: 153). The differences between male and female spirits
arenot, however, portrayed in any greater detail in the 20th
centuryfolklore. Often the corresponding tradition is rendered as a
mererecognition of the existence of water spirits of different
gender:
No vot, ved jullaz, etti jka jarvez on ma em, i ma is. Votjaa,
en t, Jarvigoiz-jarvz, miltin sill on, naiz-elj vai.Kuza-libo on
meez-elj. A Svjarvz on meez-elj. Etti onkase, ettib on. Vot, meill
li mokom konsti. Kupoloo pivllmentii, no, vennekaa ebll vene,
taitaa mokom kori li mentiiliukumaa. Kahsaa enti i garmoniikaa, se
noorizo. Jaa. I vot,mokomaa lauluukaa mentii kottoa, illookaa
mokoma. I kui nvtsill mentii kukrpalloa. I vot nell enti, nii ebi
saatu jarvssavll. Ep saatu eB, ep saatu. Mnikkaat saatii, vot, izze
tultii.Kummad ujuttii, kummat kui. A vot, nit ebi levvett. hellemll
kahs poikaa. Jaa siz hell i tizlla tttereD. Jarvi-emupotti.
Well, you see, they say that every lake has its own mother,
andits own father. You see. I dont know which is there in
LakeJarvigoizjarvi, a female? There is a female somewhere. But
inLake Svjarvi there is a male. So it is the way it is. We did
thistrick, you know. On Midsummers Day people took, well, a dug-out
boat wasnt even a boat but I guess some kind of a dug-out and went
onto the lake. Eight souls and an accordion, theyouth. Yes. And you
see, they were singing and having such funwhen they went. And
somehow they capsized the boat. And yousee, four souls were not
found and pulled out. Were not. No,were not. Some were, you see.
Came out themselves. Whoevercould swim, any way they could. But you
see, they were notfound. Two sons of one mother. Yes. And then two
daughters ofdifferent mothers. The lake mother drowned them. (VE
XVII265 < Mati, Maria Boranova (1974) = Ariste 1977:
154155).
The abundance of memorates, recorded in the 20th century,
provethe widespread acceptance of associating all kinds of water
fatali-ties with water spirits. In addition often just a simple
statementthat the water spirit drowned, or took the person who
drowned, ismade (VE II 8 < Savvokkala, Jevdokia Ivanova (1956)).
More de-tailed accounts of what happened to the drowned person or
hissoul after his death have not been recorded in the tradition.
Still,
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this might be associated with the gender differentiation of
thedrowned discussed above.
The seeing or hearing of a water spirit is most often
interpreted asan omen for the imminent water accident and drowning.
Accordingto the legends water spirits make sounds and appear
sitting onrocks at the shore with the purpose of luring curious
passers-bytowards water (see, for example, VE II 75 < Mati, Olga
Ivanova(1959) = Ariste 1964: 170; VE XVI 141142 < Liivtl,
NadjozhaLeontjeva (1973)). It also introduces the idea of
predestination:people believe that the water spirit drowns at a
certain predeter-mined hour (VE I 140 < Mati < Jarvigoistl,
Avdotja Onufrijeva(1942) = Ariste 1977: 153154). Furthermore, some
bodies of waterare associated with a belief that every year an
animal or a humanwill drown in it if the sacrificial ceremony is
not performed at thecustomary time (most commonly in spring).
Interestingly enough,the latter idea has been a basis for
justifying the necessity of watersacrifice in Ingria. This is, for
example, how the sacrifice of a ramor its head and feet to a creek
at the River Lauga near Kotko vil-lage on St. Elijahs Day has been
interpreted:
Kutsuttii umpi-apaja. Ku Iil praaznikka tuli, sis tapttiboranoi
ja veetii apajaa. Vizgattii sinne: NaHH, s boranaapit, el s
inemisii! Kotko tlz li riigoi takan. hskaHtmmed virstaa li Jgperlt
Kotkoos.
It was called a creek. For St. Elijahs celebration a ram
wasslaughtered and taken to the creek. It was cast in there:
Here,eat the ram heads not people! At the village of Kotko it
wasbehind the threshing barns. There was nearly 20 verst
[21,3kilometres] from Jgper to Kotko. (VE VIII < Vanakla