Thread: Orcish Fear
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Old 09-14-2002, 12:17 PM   #76
bombur
Wight
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: finland
Posts: 126
bombur has just left Hobbiton.
Pipe

(Computer problems it seems)

...throat dried by the weariness of travel. Children must play with him or sing to him. He might get angry as he is old and bit cranky, but basically he is forgiving and kind deep down. His elves look just like the barn-eleves of ancient finns. They are small, bearded and old. They wear grey coats and red hoodlike caps and cannot usually be seen. This image has somewhat altered when the idea of santas eleves spread from Finland to other contries [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] . Most finnish people do not know why their christmas decorations include little goats made of starw. I personally still feel uneasy, unless the christmas dinner is left on the table overnight as the custom is. Only some time ago I learned that this must be done so that the house eleves can come and feast in the night. The traditional Finnish santa claus is synthesis of the house eleves who had to be appeased so that they’d give their gift of help in the good housekeeping and of the make-believe eleves played by (elderly?) men who toured house to house on the second yuleday to play with children around a big straw goat. Lately it has taken some external influences, so it is more closely related to coca cola then st. nicholas. Traditions change, but traces of magic remain in the deeper woods of Europe. After all, as long as we think it brings good luck to toss one good steam when leaving sauna in the christmass eve, the sauna eleves get their yule sauna no matter if the real reason could not be said to the priests for centuries. Many foundation stones of new buildings still have coin in them, even though almost none remember why. There is no fundamental difference between those haltijat who had to flee and those who were small and minor enough to hide. After all when leaving this mortal land after the coming of the son of Mary to depose him, Väinämöinen, the old demigod-singer-wiseman left song behind in the forests for us. And after all he did make us a promise: "Let time pass : A day goes, another comes : Again I’ll be needed : looked after, longed for : To bring forth new sampo: To make a new song : To haul a new moon : To let a new day : When there is no moon, no sun : No joy without price.”


Janne Harju
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