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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Festivals as Celebrations of Place in ModernSociety: Two Examples from Norway

Torunn Selberg

Abstract

This article concerns the role of festivals in marking places as unique andinteresting in the modern world. Two festivals from two peripheral areas arediscussed—one is a revitalisation of a saint’s feast dating back to medieval times,and the other is a new construction from the late nineteen seventies. The articlefocuses on the narratives that are ritualised in the festivals, on their connectionwith narratives and discourses far beyond the borders of the two areas, and howthe ensuing dialogue gives these remote sites a place in global discourses.

Introduction

There seems to be an almost general assumption that the number of symbolicexpressions, such as public festivals and rituals, is radically reduced in modernsociety. Many scholars have forecast that increasing secularisation, industrialis-ation, the rationalisation of production, mobility, the mass media, and alternativesources of entertainment, would take their toll on the number and viability ofpublic rituals. The fact is, however, that since the 1970s, the number of publiccelebrations has actually been increasing in the western world (Boissevain 1992).American anthropologist Frank E. Manning states that, “Throughout both theindustrialized and developing nations, new celebrations are being created andolder ones revived on a scale that is surely unmatched in human history”(Manning 1983, 4). He also adds that the flowering of celebration is a truly strikingaspect of contemporary society. In Norway, for example, the number of festivalevents has exploded over the past decade, and there now appears to be one inevery local community, and one for every taste (Aftenposten 17 June, 2004). Thereare festivals for classical, jazz, folk, or rock music, for example. There are alsofestivals celebrating old wooden boats, or traditional crafts, literature and poetryfestivals, or festivals focusing on a community’s history and the past; the examplesare legion. In fact, one could almost talk of a “festivalisation” of culture. Commonaspects of festivals are that they are celebrated at regular intervals, almost likecalendar rituals, and that they take place in specific locations. Thus, in addition tofocusing on a particular theme, festivals are also often a celebration of the locationwhere they take place. A place can, therefore, become inextricably linked to acertain festival, and, in this way, a community can become “the city” of theparticular theme that the festival celebrates.

Very often the subject of the festivals is the local community itself; and when thisis the case, the emphasis of the event is often directed to the community’s past orits history. In this article, I discuss two festivals the main focus of which is the

Folklore 117 (December 2006): 297–312

ISSN 0015-587X print; 1469-8315 online/06/030297-16; Routledge Journals; Taylor & Francisq 2006 The Folklore SocietyDOI: 10.1080/00155870600928948

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celebration of places and their past. The increasing popular interest in the past andhistory has been termed the “use of history” by some Swedish historians. Theunderlying implication here is that the past is being staged and reused forpurposes other than the acquisition of knowledge. In fact, it has been argued thatstories of the past are being employed to confer desired meanings on the present(Aronsson 2004). Local events, persons, myths, and narratives are being ritualisedand actualised in festivals. The celebrations, therefore, are designed to make usremember the past—or those parts of it selected for retelling during the festival.Festivals dedicated to the past include those that have been newly invented, aswell as revitalisations of older public rituals, or new creations with an allegedtraditional content. But, irrespective of whether the festivals are old or new, theyconvey a message that relates not only to the contemporary local world, but also tothe external world far beyond the boundaries of the immediate community. Whilethe festivals’ emphasis on the local communities’ uniqueness is directed towardslocal identity, I would suggest, however, that if a festival is to be successful, itslocal narratives must stand in dialogue with those currently relevant in the outsideworld. A festival can, thus, be viewed as a focal point for the merging of local andglobal narratives, and as an occasion when, and a space where, relations betweenglobal, national, regional, and local levels are discussed, negotiated, and, perhaps,redefined.

Place, Past, Narratives, and Festival

The two festivals discussed here are modern events, which take place in two small,peripheral, yet very different places. The festivals also differ from each other incontent, expression, and atmosphere. I will consider especially the narratives aboutthe local past that are ritualised in the performance of the festivals. By comparingthese two different events, and the locations and communities in which they takeplace, I hope to show in both specific and general terms, how place and festivalrelate to each other. We shall travel between the west and east of Norway, from thesmall North Sea island of Selja, to a woodland region called the Finn Forest on theNorwegian/Swedish border. The festival that takes place on Selja is called“Seljumannamass” and that relating to the Finn Forest is called “The FinnishSettlers’ Days.” Seljumannamass is a revitalisation of an old Church feastday,which dates back to medieval times, while The Finnish Settlers’ Days is a newfestival dating from 1971.

While the Finn Forest has always been on the periphery, located as it is on theSwedish/Norwegian border, Selja’s history as a religious and political centre datesback to medieval Norwegian times, as the island was a pilgrim destination in theMiddle Ages. Remains of the sacred monuments dating from early times are stillstanding there, and form a vital part of the celebration of the Seljumannamass.These structures are set against the background of the open sea and make amagnificent impression. The Finn forest, on the other hand, is an area ofdeep forests, scattered lakes and marshes, and a dispersed population.

The two festivals take place every year at the same time—the second weekend ofJuly—and while they can be regarded as calendar customs, they are morecelebrations of place than of time. Time is present, however, since narratives of thepast of the two local communities are significantly present in the festivals. And, as is

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the case with so many contemporary festivals, one of the goals of the two events isto signify that the locations where they take place are unique in a globalised world.In this context, the perceived distinctiveness of the festival locations are largelyderived from, and created through, narratives of each local community’s past. This,in itself, is a globalisation trend—in the contemporary western world, a globalconstruction of what is particular to a local area is to be observed (Featherstone andLash 1995, 5). As already indicated, however, I would suggest that such localparticularity is not only locally derived, but also that a sense of place would appearto be created by means of dialogue with narratives and ideas in circulation farbeyond local borders.

The articulation of a group’s, or a local community’s, cultural heritage can thus beseen as an important purpose of many festivals. According to the Swedishfolklorist Barbro Klein (2000, 25), cultural heritage refers to phenomena in agroup’s past that are given high symbolic value, and therefore must be protectedfor the future. She also states, however, that heritage is not something that ismerely there; rather, it is selected or appointed by means of complex processes.Festivals and public rituals of various kinds can, therefore, be regarded asexamples of complex processes and performances by which heritage is selectedand articulated. Depending on the particular circumstances, festivals can be usedboth to strengthen local identity, and to make the community known to the outsideworld—for instance, to tourists.

The term “festival” is rarely used for such events, however. Instead, a namerelated to the purpose of, or the core symbols of, the event is employed (Brown1998, 16). Selja, for example, is famous for the legend of Saint Sunniva and theSeljumen—the holy ones of Selja—and the Island festival is called Seljumannamass,a name derived from a medieval Norwegian church feastday with the samenomenclature. The significance of the current revitalisation of this feastday gains inimportance when it is remembered that the Norwegian church is Lutheran, whichis the branch of Protestantism to which the Norwegian State Church belongs.Saints and holy places have not, until recently, been particularly venerated in theNorwegian Lutheran tradition. During the Reformation in the second half of thesixteenth century, veneration of the Catholic saints was banned as it was regardedas a superstitious activity. Saints have no place in Protestant religions, and in theNorwegian Lutheran churches there are no pictures or iconographic represen-tations of saints. During the past decade, however, the island of Selja and itsreligious past have been growing in significance in people’s consciousness, and itis now regarded as a singular place enriched by a pre-Reformation sacredtradition. where religious rituals are re-enacted on the old hallowed ground.

The festival in the Finn Forest is—as already stated—called “The FinnishSettlers’ Days,” a name that derives from a Finnish immigrant settlement that tookplace there during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This immigration wasnecessitated by the Finns’ slash-and-burn method of farming and the resultingcontinual need for new desolate areas for cultivation. The Finns differed from theNorwegian population not only in their farming methods, but in many other waysalso—for example, they spoke a different language, they had strange customs suchas using the sauna, and their names differed from those of the Norwegians.Because of these and other factors, the Norwegian population of the area lookeddown on them as strangers to the region. Today, however, the “forest Finns,” as

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they are called, have the status of a national minority. Thus, the celebration of thefestival of The Finnish Settlers‘ Days has led to a revaluation of relations betweenthis minority group and the Norwegian majority population (see Selberg 2002).

On the island of Selja there are both material and immaterial memories of thepast that may be defined as Cultural Heritage with a capital C and H. There areruins of a Christian centre of considerable size, which were restored during thepast century. In fact, some of the oldest Christian buildings in the country,consisting of churches and monastic houses, were situated there. According to thetraditional narratives concerning the Island, the first church was erected on Selja in996. Then, in about 1100, English Benedictine monks commenced the building of amonastery dedicated to St Alban. The pivotal element of the site, however, is alarge cave in the mountainside with an old stone altar, called “Sunnivhola,”meaning, “the cave of Sunniva,” and, in the same area, there is a naturalfreshwater spring—the so-called Sunniva’s spring. Selja’s heritage is clear andunambiguous, and Gro Steinsland (1997), the Norwegian historian of religions,has described it as one of the most fascinating holy sites from the initial phase ofChristianity in Norway. This impression of Selja also seems to influence the waysin which the past can be expressed and ritualised in the festival.

The Finn Forest, on the other hand, is an interior area with large forests andlakes, scattered settlements, and some minor communities. The narratives andmemories concerning The Finn Forest are more ambiguous than those of Selja, andthe festival of The Finnish Settlers’ Days also has a different character. Thiscelebration, however, has led to a reassessment of the importance of Finnishculture in the area (see Selberg 2002).

Selja and the Holy Sunniva

The island of Selja is often described—in official tourist literature, for example—as“legendary”; that is, as an island with a storied past tied to the legend ofSt Sunniva, the only female among the three Norwegian patron saints (the othersbeing St Olav and St Hallvard). The legend, which tells that she died a martyr onthe Island in 996, is preserved in written variants from around 1000 and 1100.According to the legend, Sunniva was the Christian daughter of King Otto inIreland, and she had inherited his kingdom. Word of her piety, beauty and powerbecame widespread and a heathen Viking-king wanted to marry her, but she fledfrom him with a following of pious women and men—the so-called the“seljumen,” or the “holy ones.” They put their lives in the hands of God when theyset out on the sea without sails, oars, weapons, or other equipment. Sunniva andsome of her companions ended up on Selja, which, since it is an island off the coastof Norway facing the open sea, is a likely place for anyone to land if they set outfrom Ireland and let themselves drift eastwards with the winds and the currents.Once on Selja, according to the legend, they took up residence in a cave, wherethey lived in peace until discovered by the heathens on the mainland, whosuspected them of being thieves and robbers. The mainlanders urged theirheathen king, Hakon Jarl, to kill Sunniva and her followers who, in response, drewfurther back into their cave, praying to God that He might save them from beingcaptured—whereupon the slate roof of the cave collapsed on top of them. None of

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the people inside was ever found alive, and this incident, which made Sunniva amartyr, is the reason why she is traditionally depicted with a stone in her hand.

Later, according to the legend, sailors passing the island would witness astrange column of light, and there were rumours of human remains, whichemitted a sweet scent, having been found there. An important character in thelegend is the former Viking and mighty Norwegian king, Olav Tryggvason.He was baptised in England in 994 and returned to Norway the following year toclaim sovereignty of the country. He then commenced the task of converting thepeople to Christianity. The story goes that, after hearing about the strangephenomena on Selja, he went there in 996, where he found heaps of sweet-smelling bones and the undisturbed body of Sunniva in the cave. The bones werecollected and kept on the island, and in the same year King Olav was said to havebuilt a small church near the cave, to house Sunniva’s remains. Thus, the Sunnivalegend grants Selja a major place in Norwegian Christian heritage; firstly, becauseof the collapsed cave it became a pilgrimage destination during medieval times,and secondly, because in 1070 the Island was chosen as the site for the firstEpiscopal residence in the western part of Norway, a distinction it retained for afurther century. Thereafter, it was moved to Bergen, and Sunniva’s holy shrine wastransferred to Bergen Cathedral where it remained until the Reformation. In thisway, Sunniva became Bergen’s patron saint. The monastery, built c. 1100 byEnglish Benedictine monks and dedicated to St Alban, reached the zenith of itsimportance in the late thirteenth century, and then went into decline during theperiod of the Black Death.

The legend of Sunniva contains details of both historical and political interest.With the introduction of the modern discipline of history around the middle of thenineteenth century, historians began to discuss whether the Sunniva legend hadany historical merit, and agreed, more or less, that it did not. In 1853, however, theNorwegian historian P. A. Munch pointed out, for the first time, that King OlafTryggvason would probably had realised the value of the human remains hefound on Selja in the task of christianising the country. The king was in need of asaint and a pilgrimage destination, and Selja was strategically significant in thoserespects. In this interpretation, the legend about Sunniva and her holy followerstakes on the quality of poetry with a national and political objective (Djupedal1996, 11). Sporadic discussion of the story’s historical merit has occurred eversince the middle of the nineteenth century. The interpretations vary, with somescholars being of the opinion that the narrative is a product of fantasy, while othersaver that the legend is based on a kernel of truth.

But even if historians have declared the Sunniva legend to be without historicalmerit, for many people, and in many ways, she is real. The legend has a prominentplace in the history of the Christianisation of Norway, and gave rise to thecelebration of a thousand-year jubilee in 1996–7. In 1995, the Norwegian churchcelebrated its one thousandth anniversary, and then in 1996–7 it was Selja’s turn tobe commemorated on a grand scale, the climax of which was a large ecumenicalservice on Seljumannamesse (7 July). This service took place in the ruins of themonastery.

The jubilee focused attention on Sunniva and Selja once again; and thecelebration re-activated a social memory that led to the revival of theSeljumannamesse, and also to a renewal of interest in the legend of St Sunniva.

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One of the female residents on Selje recently stated that Sunniva’s presence on theIsland has never been more acutely felt than it is today, when new variations andrepresentations of the legend—in popular music and modern iconography, forexample—are being constructed (see Selberg 2005). In an article about modernpilgrimage in a popular magazine (Hoglund 2000, 220–30), Selja and the story ofSunniva are included among descriptions of well-known pilgrimage sites such asthat at Santiago de Compostella, and, more controversially, Jim Morrison’s gravein Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris. The Island is presented under the headline“Quiet Wonder,” and one of the pilgrims to Selja states that she comes to the Islandbecause of “the silence, the landscape, nature, and the medieval atmosphere andfeelings from early history.” “On Selja,” the pilgrim says, “a strong connection topeople from earlier times can be experienced, and even more importantly, fromthe point of view of the significance of the Sunniva legend, she states that:“Sunniva is the only Norwegian female saint and that the Christianisation ofNorway is tied to her legend . . . St. Sunniva is in some way the mother of theNorwegian Church, and a female counter-balance to the severe Vikings, whobelieved that right belonged to the mightiest” (Hoglund 2000, 224). In dealing withSelje, the magazine’s story tells about pilgrimage, medieval times and connectionsto humans from the past—topics that find resonance far beyond the shores of Selja.And, not least, the legend about Sunniva is being interpreted in relation to thefemale aspect of the history of Christianisation, which also finds resonance incurrent ideas concerned with underlining and making visible the female elementin Christianity. In certain situations, historical authenticity is less important thanthe mythological, religious, or political role narratives about the past may havehad (Anttonen 1997, 4). Sunniva is, of course, also present in the currentcelebration of the Seljumanna Mass.

Figure 1. Monastery ruins, island of Selja. Photograph: John Leer, 2003.

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The Seljumannamass

In the late Middle Ages, Seljumannamass was a feastday “maius duplex,” that is,of the second highest degree. One of the high points of the thousand-year jubileecelebrations on Selje was the ecumenical Mass held in the ruins of the monastery.This highly successful event led to renewed emphasis on the feast, which is nowcelebrated with High Mass and is called Seljumannamass and Sunniva days.In addition, cultural events such as concerts, art exhibitions, and vespers in theCeltic tradition, take place in the local Church.

A new element in the celebration of Seljumannamass is organised pilgrimage—pilgrimage as praxis, memory, and reference—and it is being accordedincreasingly greater significance today. In the Middle Ages, when the pilgrimscame to Selja by boat, the island was perceived as being both centrally andstrategically situated in the important sea route between the medieval towns ofBergen and Trondheim. Nowadays, places that can only be approached by boatare perceived to be both isolated and marginalised. This point is illustrated by thedescription of Selja as a pilgrim destination, which is said to be “a hidden,windswept island” in the Western Country (Hoglund 2000, 224). At Seljumanna-mass, the participants—who numbered several hundred on the occasions when Imyself was present—arrive by boat and are taken to the interior of the Island, fromwhence they are brought on a pilgrim journey around the Island. When Iparticipated in the event, after coming ashore, we were met by a group of mendressed as Benedictine monks, and a young woman representing St Sunniva, wholed us around the island to the monastery and Sunniva’s cave.

Figure 2. St Sunniva and the monks leading pilgrims towards Sunniva’s Cave. Photograph: John Leer, 2003.

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This pilgrimage journey around the Island to the ruins—which brings Selja’spast as a pilgrim island to life—takes one hour, and there is a number of stationalong the route where one stops and listens to the “monks’” stories about themonastery and Selja’s past. Then, suddenly, the path opens, the dramatic ruinsand the tower of the old St Alban’s church with the sea in the background can beseen, and it is hard not to be moved by such an exalted view. The itinerary to theruins turns into a journey through the past as well as through a magnificentlandscape. As a staged pilgrimage, the walk around the Island is a kind of pageantthat actualises Selja’s past as a medieval pilgrimage destination and a MonasteryIsland. One walks in the landscape of Sunniva’s legend and is reminded aboutSelja’s past as a sacred place. The walk—and especially the boat ride—represent aritual passage, a liminal phase, where the short voyage takes one away from whatis regarded as being everyday life, and prepares one for entering into somethingdifferent—a sacred area, another time, an Island that once was a living sanctuary,and to which thousands of pilgrims came.

The American historian John Gillis claims that it is an old and widespreadidea that islands are not only separated from the continent in space, but alsoin time (Gillis 2001). Travelling to an island is also a journey back in time.When one joins the staged pilgrimage around the Island towards the holySunniva’s cave, one walks in the footsteps of thousands of earlier pilgrims,and on holy ground. The participants also walk with a certain dignity, and itis clear that this is not a stroll in the beautiful landscape, but something moresignificant—a ritual that redefines and reshapes one’s experience of the place.The walk is not only a memorial to earlier pilgrims; it also represents earlierpilgrims’ journeys and recalls Selja as a pilgrim Island. When the past is beinglocalised, it seems real; the participants experience the past, a social memoryis actualised through the ritual of the pilgrimage, and the present is connectedto the past, creating continuity with the holy island of the medieval times. “Itis a beautiful experience to participate in the Mass among the old ruins onSelja,” the local paper states, “one hears the murmur of the sea, the sky, andChristian life and prayers through thousands of years.”

The creation—or rather recreation—of holy places in our time and in aNorwegian context is problematic, however, when viewed in the context of theLutheran history of ideas, which upset the traditional religious definition of place.In the ideology of Protestantism, the sacred is thought to be everywhere, ratherthan being concentrated in distinct places (Amundsen 2002, 163ff) But on Selja—and in other places in Norway and Europe—a redefinition of the idea of holy sitesis taking place in the context of popular interest in pilgrimages, which, in spite of abreak of several hundreds years in their performance, are interpreted asrepresenting continuity with earlier traditions. The local paper in Selja writes, forinstance, that: “For over a thousand years Selja has been a sacred place in ourcountry . . . By sea and land the pilgrims came to the monastery at Selja in theMiddle Ages. Now new pilgrims are travelling to various sanctuaries in Europe,and the island of Selja is once again an attractive pilgrimage destination”(Fjordenes Tidende, 9 July, 2001). By placing Selja within the framework of a largernetwork of holy sites in Europe, and within a time-span of a thousand years, localevents concerning Selja are thereby both globalised and traditionalised. And by sodoing, the newspapers also place Selja within a larger context both in time and

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space, and give the Island—the pilgrim site—an authenticity beyond discussion(Selberg 2005).

The Magical Finn Forest

The Finn forest plays no part in Norwegian national or Christian heritage. Thenarratives of the past in this region are concerned with marginal groups andperipheral locations, and differ from Selja’s history in many ways—in terms of, forexample, the name and origin of the settlement, the agricultural practices of theinhabitants—the Finns—and the attitudes of their Norwegian neighbours.

There are two major—and contradictory—popular narratives about the Finnishpopulation and their settlement in the Norwegian forests. In many stories, theFinns are said to have had magical powers, which they used against theNorwegians. This motif is part of a larger narrative cycle about people who differ,in various ways, from the majority population. It can be used with reference tovagrants, or an ethnic group such as the Sami, for example. Peasants were oftenafraid of tramps and other strangers, whom they feared in terms of the exercise ofblack magic and the bringing of all kinds of bad luck into the community. Thesebeliefs and narratives were an integral part of the maintenance and constantrecreation of an ethnic border between the two groups—and the same situation,although larger in scale, prevailed in the Finn Forest between the Finns andNorwegians (Mathisen 1993). These ideas about the Finns existed until our owntime, because, as late as during the 1960s, it was said that the Finnish language wasmainly useful for magical formulae, and the Finns were subjected to derogatoryremarks about their ancestors. They were also told that they smelled of smoke—areference to their old slash and burn farming practices (Gustavsson 1987).

The Finns’ narratives about the reason for their settlement in the area proclaimquite a different message, however. In these it is told that when the Finns, aftertheir long wanderings from their homeland, found themselves on a hill and laideyes on the forest landscape with its scattered lakes, they felt at home. Once againthey had found their “land of the thousand lakes”—the poetic name for Finland.These stories tell that people and landscape found each other, that the Finnslocated a small piece of Finland in Norway (Grønoset 1974; Sørensen and Olsen1981). This is a narrative in which fate and harmony are emphasised, and the storyresonates with the Old Testament narrative of the Promised Land.

Thus, one of the narratives is about conflict and the other is about harmony, buton one level they both accentuate the Finns’ perceived incongruity in theNorwegian situation. These two narratives have been merged in today’smarketing of the Finn forest as a tourist destination, since we are told that: “TheFinns came because of crop failures and suffering but found new hope in thedeep forests here. The farms with Finnish names like Sargelamp or Lebiko are notin Finland but in the Finn Forest in Norway. The Finns settled in our forests duringthe seventeenth century, they built their houses and saunas and carried on theirancient slash and burn farming [methods]. The old Finns are supposed to knowblack magic, and among the thousand lakes and old farms you can still feel themagical atmosphere” (Finnskogferie [Tourist brochure]) And with reference to theFinns’ supposed magical powers, the tourist leaflet adds: “It is easy to understandthat the area is still known for it’s traditional weather prophets. The Forest Finns’

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descendants are modern Norwegians, but proud of their roots.” Here the narrativeabout the Finnish landscape, and the Finns’ perceived dangerous magical powers,are being retold, but, in the language of tourism, in which their supposed ability toperform magic has been turned into something attractive. In this way, the storiesof the Finn Forest are part of a larger narrative about magical places—in fact, amodern way of describing many tourist sites.

During the 1960s, people in the Finn Forest experienced the same problems,such as job losses and emigration—as those in many other peripheral areas, withthe result that a sort of general pessimism set in, and people began to ask whetherit was possible to reverse such a negative trend, and how this might be done. Onesuggested answer was to highlight the area’s distinctiveness—and, in that context,the Finnish culture of the region, which had been virtually forgotten during thecourse of the twentieth century, was highlighted once again. According tominority politics in general until the 1960s, it was more important for the Finns,like other minority groups, to present themselves as a part of mainstream society.By the 1970s, however, this situation slowly began to change and an interest inwhat was perceived to be marginal and exotic began to emerge. Narratives of theFinn Forest’s past contained elements that fitted this trend, and even if the Finnishculture of the region had, by this time, been more or less forgotten, memories of itwere still present, in narratives, in the Finnish names of families and farms, and invernacular architecture remains of the area (Selberg 2002, 86). In addition, a smallmuseum, which had been established in the 1940s, demonstrated the traditionalFinnish way of life in the region in previous centuries.

The Finn Forest Days

In 1971 the festival of The Finnish Settlers’ Days was established, telling the storyof the old days of the settlers in the Finn Forest. Subsequent to the creation of thefestival, the narrative about the Finnish immigration became gradually moresignificant and developed in new ways. Nowadays, the story of the Finnish past inNorway is celebrated annually on the second weekend of July (Selberg 2002).

The purpose of the festival according to its current programme is todemonstrate “The particular cultural heritage and folk life of the Finn Forest.”While Seljumannamass is a revitalisation of a feast day dating back to the MiddleAges, the Finn Forest event is a new and modern festival. But even if the event is arecent creation, the subject of the festival is the old days of Finnish culture in theregion, and its celebration. Both Seljumannamass and the Finn Forest days focuson what is considered the noteworthy past of these local communities, and theemphasis placed on the perceived uniqueness of the place does this. At a timecharacterised by the global expectation and construction of local particularity,festivals are appropriate media for emphasising the uniqueness of a place byritualising what are considered remarkable events in the locality’s past.

The festival of the Finn Forest Days follows a rather traditional pattern,involving the celebration of important ancestors, dramatisations of the past,including a pageant telling about the Finns’ life in the forests, and how theysuffered discrimination at the hands of the Norwegians. Another form ofdramatisation of the past takes place in the performance called “Everyday life inthe old days,” when people don old-fashioned dress and take on various roles

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relating to the past. Here we meet, in dramatic presentation, both beggars andtramps from the past—who are now described in positive ways. In this context ofarranged traditional folk culture, and as part of a performance of heritage, figures,whose status was formerly considered to be dubious and even frightening, havebecome an attraction. Through a process that portrays them as being both archaicand exotic, they are reshaped in the theatrical performances of heritage (see, forexample, Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1998, 131ff).

The most original part of the event is the opening of the festival with thedeclaration of the “Republic of the Finn Forest,” when that region’s separationfrom the Kingdom of Norway is playfully asserted. This part of the festival is fullof improvisations and surprises—within an otherwise well-defined programme.During the opening ceremony the banner of the Finn Forest—a variant of theNorwegian national flag—is raised, and flies for three days; that is, for theduration of the festival. A “government” is elected, also for the three days, and a“border” to Norway is established. A so-called visa is demanded of all Norwegianguests, while those from Finland are invited and welcomed to pass freely throughthe “border” area. The Finnish ambassador to Norway is always present and allthose with Finnish blood in their veins—whether from Finland or elsewhere—arewelcomed. The declaration of the “Republic of the Finn Forest” incorporatescarnival features, where relations between centre and periphery are beingnegotiated. On one occasion the “Republic” kidnapped an executive of the localcouncil and a ransom fee for his “release” was demanded! The ransom money, itwas said, was the only contribution the community council gave towards theorganisation of the festival!

This incident made fun of the high and mighty as a representative from thecentre of the community was humiliated before the public. And the point was also

Figure 3. A little boy in old-fashioned costume and using old-fashioned fishing gear at the celebration of “theolden days” in the Finn Forest. Photograph: John Leer, 1999.

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made by this incident that it was only by the demanding of so-called ransommoney that financial support for the festival could be obtained from the localcouncil, thereby highlighting adverse conditions that can still exist in peripheralparts of the community.

During the opening the event, the festival’s president reads “The declaration ofthe state of affairs,” which includes imagined greetings from far and near,especially from afar—from the President of the United States or the Secretary-General of the United Nations, for instance. Thus, while the Finns in reality haveperipheral status within the Norwegian nation, the “Republic of the Finn Forest”is perceived as having central status in the context of the wider world. For theduration of the festival, the Finn Forest symbolically resigns its membership of theNorwegian nation and takes on world status. Centre and periphery thus changeplaces, with the Finn Forest becoming a centre, and the small community hostingthe festival becoming a metropolis.

After the first celebration of the Finnish Settlers’ Days, there was a growingawareness of Finnish culture, not only among the original Finns’ descendants, butalso among the local Norwegian population. An important part of the revaluationprocess of the area and its culture was to trace their roots to Finland—that is, to theancient or archaic Finnish culture. This was particularly emphasised during thefestival, and increasingly so for the rest of the year. Finnish guests to the area statethat it is in this district that they find archaic cultural traits and customs, whichhave long since died out in Finland itself. The Finnish forest culture—earlierlooked down on—is now, also among Norwegians in the area, referred to asheritage, as something that is unique, worthy of being preserved, and somethingto be proud of. Thus, nowadays, the Finnish heritage of the area confers an aura ofthe extraordinary on the whole district. The so-called dangerous magical powersof the Finnish population have now been translated into a kind of mystiqueassociated with deep forests—something which modern people appear to findattractive. A general interest in the marginal and peripheral is thus being locatedin the Finn Forest, and the festival celebrating a culture once perceived as inferiorhas been an important factor in this process.

The Past, the Landscape and Narratives

With regard to the perception of Selja as a sacred site, the local vicar says that, onthe Island, the veil that separates this world from God’s invisible world isespecially thin. In this context, the vicar is inspired by ideas emanating fromstudies dealing with Celtic spirituality. It is said that the Celts were conscious ofliving on the very border between the visible and invisible worlds. God waspresent everywhere, but could also be linked to specific sacred places, which werecharacterised by the thinness of the veil that separated them from heaven (Wood1999; Harpur 2002, 174; Power 2006; see also Selberg 2005). “The landscape of Seljais reminiscent of Ireland,” the vicar writes, “with it’s green meadows amidstmountains and beaches. Both the geography and the church history linked to theSunniva legend, mediate closeness to Ireland and the Celtic areas in the West. I feelvery much akin to the Celtic Christians” (Wohlberg 2001, 16). When interpretingSelja as a sacred place, the vicar, through the Sunniva legend, turns for support to a

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narrative about Celtic spirituality, a narrative that today finds resonance in placesfar beyond the shores of Selja.

In spite of considerable scholarly uncertainty with regard to Celtic history,religion, and culture, or perhaps because of it, Celtic ideas and beliefs areextremely popular in many parts of the world. A British historian of religion,Marion Bowman, states that the interest and fascination for the Celts and for Celticspirituality has always been more or less present, but that it is greater than evertoday, especially within modern religions such as New Age and paganism(Bowman 1993; 1994; 2000). Rosemary Power has also stated that there has been aCeltic revival both within Christianity and Paganism dating back over the pasttwenty-five years, a phenomenon she refers to as the “new Celtic Twilight” (Power2006, 33). Celtic qualities are claimed to be more of “a spiritual” than a “heritagething,” and they are associated with explicitly positive characteristics. CelticChristianity is perceived as being intuitive and in tune with nature. Within CelticChristianity, a sense of place, linked to a desire for travel, expressed as pilgrimage,holds a central position. There is also an interest in using the lives of the Celticsaints, including well-known female saints, as models for today (Power 2006, 34).The current interpretations of both the island of Selja and the legend of Sunniva fitwell into these ideas. Through the legend about Sunniva, a current and globalnarrative about Celtic spirituality is localised on the island of Selja.

The narratives about the Finns, ritualised in the festival, also indicate topics anddevelop main points that can be seen as variations of popular trends. Theaspiration of the festival was to emphasise aspects particular to the region, and inthis way to accentuate the positive elements of the Finnish culture of the area.Prior to the 1970s, it was important for the Finns in Norway—as with many otherminorities elsewhere—to present themselves as Norwegian. After that period,however, the situation changed with the emergence of an interest in, and anunderstanding of, marginal cultures, and their need for self-articulation. InNorway, for instance, that was the case in relation to Sami culture and that of theFinn forest. Variation was thus considered to be more interesting thenhomogeneity, and, in this way, what was thought of as being unique, particular,or exotic came into focus.

The perceived particular nature of the Finn Forest is marked by a jocularseparation of the “Republic of the Finn Forest” from the kingdom of Norway. Butin thus symbolically delimiting itself from the Norwegian nation, the areaemphasises its connection to Finland, and this, also, is now being increasinglypositively valued in the surrounding Norwegian areas. The local paper reports onvisits from Finnish schoolgirls to the Finn Forest, one of whom stated: “We are ofthe impression that the old Finnish culture is better preserved here in The FinnForest then in Finland, and we find it exiting to come to an area with so manyFinnish names—so far from our homeland. It is a bit exotic also for young peoplefrom Finland to experience . . . the old Finnish culture here in the area.”

The special nature of the Finn forest’s culture has become exotic also in a touristcontext. A revaluation and a redefinition has taken place as black magic isregarded as a mystique, the wilderness is considered attractive, and the formerethnic oppositions are positively characterised as “multicultural.” The differentstyle of culture that characterises the Finn Forest is no longer considered to beinferior; it has become attractive and by virtue of its surroundings has been

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labelled and defined as cultural heritage. The festival has been an importantvehicle in achieving this.

A Piece of Ireland and Finland in Norway

The landscapes of Selja and the Finn Forest are thus filled with narratives aboutthe past, such narratives being ritualised in the two festivals discussed here. TheSunniva legend is a part of a social memory colouring Selja’s landscape, and, bymeans of the narrative, Selja’s green aspect and closeness to the ocean becomereminiscent of Ireland. The festival of the Finnish Settlers’ Days has revitalised theold Finnish culture, the landscape of the forests with its scattered lakes isreminiscent of Finland, and the Forest has become a sanctuary for ancient Finnishculture, and the earlier despised Finns now represent the heritage of the largerregion.

The expression that “The Past is a foreign country” is illustrated in the waysSelja and The Finn Forest choose to give a distinctive character to the localcommunity by using the narratives of the past. The stories tell about people whocame from a particular place in a distant past, and the place from which they cameplays a significant role in how the place to which they came is made distinctiveand celebrated, and how it is experienced today. Thus, in the case of The FinnForest and Selja, they become singular by reference to the place from which theFinnish immigrants first came, or the island from which Sunniva set sail in a boatwithout oars or sails, respectively. The land of a thousand lakes and the Green Islein the west ocean are part of the mental pictures utilised to create the stories of thetwo places discussed here. These interpretations also illustrate how comparisonwith other places and landscapes is often used when we describe our sense of aplace.

Selja and the Finn Forest are very different places. Selja was once at the centre ofthe Norwegian kingdom, and the legend about Sunniva played an importantpolitical role in the Christianisation of Norway. Today, the legend has a place inthis context as well as in alternative interpretations of Christianity in Norway. Onthe other hand, the history of the Finn Forest is one of marginality and diversity.Nowadays, however, such qualities are in demand and are considered attractive.The characteristics of sacredness in relation to Selja and of mystique in terms of theFinn Forest, are accentuated in the marking as significant—and the marketing—ofthese places; and, by means of the narratives, these qualities become closelyassociated with the landscape, and certain mindscapes are thereby also produced.A place or a landscape is experienced in a personal way, but at the same time agreat deal of established and shared cultural knowledge and frames of referencealso colour the experience (Lofgren 1999, 95). The Island of Selja is perceived as aplace suffused with legends, and the deep Finnish forests as a place full ofmystery. They are both peripheral places, but at the same time they relate tolocations beyond the borders of Norway. The Finn forest even withdraws from therest of the nation once a year. When relations beyond the national borders becomeessential, the communities are no longer on the margins, but are rather centres indifferent mindscapes and narratives circulating in the larger world.

A place is continually being produced, reproduced, and revaluated, andfestivals can be instrumental in this process. Thus, the highlighting of Selja and the

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Finn Forest as singular places during the festivals can be seen as an interpretationof the two locations’ distinctive past. In addition, the interpretations andnarratives of these selected pasts can be seen to be in dialogue with stories andideas that are part of popular discourses that can be localised in many places.Locations are meeting places (see, for example, Massey 1991). Festivals aredirected towards local identity, but they also communicate outwards, in that theymake the place interesting to outsiders—tourists, for instance. The two festivalsdiffer in this connection. The idea of the Finn Forest Days was to strengthen localidentity by connecting with all people with Finnish blood in their veins, whetherFinns or Norwegians with Finnish ancestors. For three days the Finn forest resignsits membership in The Norwegian Nation, and relates to Finland. Thus, theinhabitants look out over the borders of their own local community in order toexpress their local identity.

Selja, on the other hand, is referred to as a place where the pilgrims came in theirthousands in the Middle Ages. The celebration of Seljumannamass and therevitalisation of the Sunniva legend thus relate to a modern and globalised trend—renewed interest in pilgrim journeys. But in the narrative that the Finn forestsettlers tell about themselves, elements that are of particular interest to modernpeople are also accentuated—such as the untouched, wild forest areas, and themystique of the olden days that is still thought to survive in them.

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Biographical Note

Torunn Selberg is Professor of Folklore Studies at the Institute for Cultural Studies, University of Bergen,Norway. Her main research interests include modern popular religion, folk belief, and alternative spirituality.

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