Folklore: The Finnish werewolves are rather melancholy creatures (surprisingly...). In our stories/legends/myths a person usually turns into a wolf without really wanting it, accidentally (by doing something thatll turn him into a wolf without knowing this might happen) or because some witch has put a spell on him (according to Finns, these witches would naturally be Sami, although the Swedes thought we were pretty good at magic ourselves). The werewolf (whos usually bound to be a wolf for nights and days until something releases him from the spell) then lurks around houses, sometimes eating cattle but rarely people and waits for somebody to recognize him. When somebody does (e.g the wolfs mother), she/he can break the spell by calling the werewolf by his Christian name or giving him some bread to eat. Sometimes after the werewolf had regained his human form, he would still have his tail till the day he died. Some houses actually exhibit sauna benches (or whatever they are called; lauteet in Finnish) that have a hole in them, presumably cut for the ex-werewolfs tail. Finlands southern neighbor, Estonia is also known for its werewolf legends. Estonia is sometimes called Viro in Finnish, and at one time werewolves were called vironsusi (Estonian wolf) in Finland. It should be mentioned, though, that vironsusi is originally the same word as werewolf, meaning man-wolf and connecting it with Estonia is a false etymology due to Estonias reputation as a werewolf country ~Sabrina
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 23:30:01 +0000
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