| Popis: |
The folklore of cows and cattle in pre-industrial Sweden The farmers in Sweden have always treasured cows, even though they rarely pro-duced rich amounts of milk, skin or meat. This article examines the folklore, magical rites and customs, for protecting and handling cows in 19th and early 20th century pre-industrial Sweden. A common notion was that cows were sensitive and vulner-able animals; therefore, there existed all kinds of safety measures and magical rites for making sure that they got as much protection and help as possible. This also ap-plied to notions of diseases and cures, that some ailments or injuries was the result of sorcery or the harmful interference of supernatural beings or witches. Therefore, magical charms and customs was the most effective cure. When a farmer bought a new cow to his farm, it was important to follow certain rituals and customs to make sure that she did not start longing for her earlier home. There is a large number of customs and magical rites described in the folklore archives for protecting and mak-ing sure that crucial elements in the breeding and handling of cows worked properly, as well as the milking of cows and protecting the milk from witches, the evil eye or supernatural beings. Another topic is liminal phases when the cows were extra sensitive and vulnerable from the supernatural, for example, during calving or when the cows were released for summer pasture. This article examines hundreds of such folklore accounts, based on the collections of The Archives of Dialect- and Folklore Archive in Uppsala. |
