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with as well. This makes me think that they
have to be pretty fond of their culture, and
that moves me a little. They find joy in the
old traditions, and share that joy in such a
positive, funny and absurd way with Troll
Hunter,” she smiles.
Andmaybe it was about time. Trolls seem
to have lost some of their ability so scare
these days. Especially if you picture them
as garishly coloured troll dolls, or cosy
souvenirs.
“It’s about bringing them back to where
they belong. They are terrifying creatures,
and shouldn’t decorate mantles,” she
laughs.
However, folklore andmythical creatures
used to play a much bigger part in society,
and were seen as a more tangible and real
part of the natural world.
“Today we live in a thoroughly regulated
society, where we have to abide by numer-
ous official laws and regulations. In earlier
times, legends playedmuch of the same
role,” explains Hauan.
Subterranean eco-warriors
Legends andmyths regulated the relation-
ship between humans and nature, and the
rules of human society. It was vital to not
take more fromnature than you needed,
or you would upset a supernatural people
believed to live underground. And these
subterranean people were known to extract
their revenge on greedy humans. In this
way they were almost the eco-worriers of
yore.
The subterraneans also served as a way to
upholdmoral standards and values. Young
girls who brought livestock out to summer
pastures, were often subjected to improper
advances by the subterraneans.
The vast numbers of these stories says
something about the cultural importance of
“preserving your purity” as a young girl in
this society. The tales served as a warning
against speaking to strangers, and a warn-
ing against giving in to temptation, Hauan
explains.
Moral tales
Myths also helpedmaintain the set stand-
ards and roles in society. If you strayed from
the norm, you risked serious consequences.
A clear example is the belief in utburden.
If an unbaptized baby was put out to die
by its parents, it would return as a vengeful
spirit. Unbaptized children could not enter
heaven.
“One myth tells the a story of a woman
who was on her way to her own wedding,
when an utburd showed up and clung to
her bridal veil. The moral is that old sins
never quite disappear, so it is always better
to just stay on the straight and narrow path
to begin with,” says Hauan.
Other myths served as explanations for
­occurrences or mysteries for which there
were no other answers. Children with dis-
abilities were often regarded as changelings,
where the subterraneans had switched the
human child with one of their own, during
an unguardedmoment.
These children often suffered horribly,
because people thought the only way to get
their real child back was to treat the im-
poster child so badly that the supernatural
mother would return to swap the children
back.
Old, butnot always ­Norwegian
Many of the mythical creatures can be
traced very far back in time, often all the
way to the Viking age. Still, many of them
are less Norwegian than we might like to
think. For instance, the relatives of trolls can
be found in the giants of Celts and the titans
of the Greeks.
One exception is the Stallo, the brutal arch-
enemy of the Sami people. This character is
only found in the Sami world of ideas.
“The Stallo is often described as being
similar in appearance to the Norwegian
government officials who came to collect
taxes. They constituted a threat to Sami
society, and developed into a mythological
creature that the Samis usually outwitted,”
says Hauan.
Even though today’s society relies on sci-
ence to explain things we don’t understand,
the belief in some sort of magic is not
completely gone.
Football players have their own rituals for
luck before an important game, a school girl
might avoid stepping on cracks in the road,
or even the expression “knock on wood” are
examples of howwe have retainedmagic in
our everyday lives.
Some folkloric creatures seem to have a
longer shelf life than others. It is prob-
ably more likely that you will encounter
like-minded Norwegians if you say that you
believe in ghosts, than if you admit that you
might have seen a goblin last time you had
to fetch something in the garden shed.
Sources: Birger Sivertsen, For noen troll (2000) Stein R.
Mathisen and Marit Anne Hauan, Fortellinger, folketro
og “virkelighet”. Nordnorsk kulturhistorie (1994) .
DID YOU KNOW?
Troll: A man-eating giant living in the
forest or mountains. He is stupid, but
vicious. He can smell the blood of Chris-
tians, and according to some legends
he will turn to stone if he steps into the
sunlight.
Hulder: A wood nymph luring young
men into the forest and to their doom.
You can tell she’s not a real woman by
the fact that she has a cow’s tail, and in
some traditions a hollowed out back like
an old tree trunk.
De underjordiske (literally, “those who
live underground” or “subterraneans”):
A supernatural people living under
ground. Their lives mirror the lives of
humans, and it is important not to upset
them.
Utburd: The restless ghost of an unbap-
tized infant, living in the forest where its
parents had set it out to die.
Bytting: The changeling. If a baby
looked or acted different than other
babies (often due to mental or physical
disabilities), it was common to think that
the human baby had been swapped with
a baby from the underground people.
Stallo: The Sami version of a troll.
Draugen: The ghost of a person who
had perished at sea, and therefore had
not been buried in sacred ground. See-
ing a Draug often meant impending
danger or death for those who saw it.
University of Tromsø – Labyrint E/13 ••• 11
Text: Linn Sollied Madsen