Finnish shamanism laid bare : sauna, ecology and embodied rituals

Tuotetiedot

Bathing culture is picking up steam across the world, like a Bear waking up from its winter den. Kaarina Kailo’s seventh book/anthology on the sauna introduces sauna lovers to a topic missing in sauna literature: the traces of a pre-Christian culture where women were in the ceremonial center. The book explores the matriarchal traces and shamanistic wisdom traditions of the sauna, revealed as the embodied Mother-house of birth, death and rebirth. Its rituals, songs and healing practices blend practical etiquette and sacred ecology. The book focuses on agrarian sauna rituals that were held during seasonal and life cycle events. They carry traces of the magic ecology of the past. In this study you learn about ecologically and socially sustainable beliefs that have been part of Finnish mythology and cosmology. Included are examples of the Finns’ and Karelians’ uses of imitative magic and the role of gifting relations with the spirit world. The book is aimed at anyone interested in getting the most out of sauna experiences and it has useful ritual knowledge for sauna therapists. It includes incantations, magic formulas, spells and prayers addressed to the elements and spirits. Practical instructions, medical advice, herbal knowledge and sauna rules are included to help bathers make the most of the sauna experience. Dr. Kaarina Kailo, Docent of North American studies is a cultural studies scholar, and Finnish foremother of ecomythology/ecofeminism. Currently fellow of the European Institute of Archeomythology and part of the Creatrix Studies of the Mago Academy, she has held women’s studies positions in Canadian and Finnish universities. She has carried out research on northern and Indigenous women’s issues as fellow of the Finnish Academy. The Woman who married the Bear (Oxford UP) which she co-authored with Barbara Mann received the Sarasvati award for the best non-fiction work in 2023 (Ass. for the Study of Women and Mythology). She is also a self-made quilt artist. www.kaarinakailo.info.