Keel ja Kirjandus (Sep 2024)
Esimene teade eestlaste laulmisest – kas ainult?
Abstract
"The first record of Estonians singing – or more?". This article explores three key questions: how folklorists have interpreted the account of warriors’ singing and dancing in Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum; how 20th-century researchers have conceptualized the facts about Estonians presented in Saxo’s work; and what insights have been gained from using folk songs to study depictions of Estonia’s past during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Saxo Grammaticus describes a battle near the island of Öland in 1170, where Christian Danes and Swedes faced off against Estonian and Curonian pirates. The description suggests that the pirates prepared for battle by singing and dancing, among other things. This account has emerged in the history of Estonian folklore studies as the earliest record of Estonians singing. However, dancing has received significantly less attention, owing to the classification of folklore by genre. Singing was a favoured topic in 20th-century folkloristics, while interest in dance was relegated to the periphery of the field. Returning to Saxo’s text, it provides insights into the cultural environment of the time, where singing and dancing were used to express sentiments and readiness for battle. In light of medieval dance culture, it is worth considering whether the mention of dancing in Saxo’s work could indicate a precursor to singing games, especially since the medieval dance ‘reigen’ is etymologically linked to the old Estonian folk song known as ‘regilaul’ (runosong). Saxo’s text inspired Jaan Jõgever (1860–1924) to seek connections between the imagined songs from the time of the Battle of Öland and the Estonian folk songs recorded in the 19th century. Through stylistic analysis of these songs, he uncovered a diversity of mentalities within Estonian war-related folk songs. Furthermore, in his analysis of Saxo’s text, Jõgever emphasised that before the 13th century, Estonians did not live in the cultural isolation characteristic of the 19th century. This view differed from that of Baltic-German researchers, and Jõgever considered it important to incorporate this perspective when studying Estonian history and educational conditions.
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