“The only physician of the people for a thousand years was the Witch. The emperors, kings, popes, and richer barons had indeed their doctors of Salerno, their Moors and Jews; but the bulk of people in every state, the world as it might well be called, consulted none but the Saga, or wise-woman. When she could not cure them, she was insulted, was called a Witch. But generally, from a respect not unmixed with fear, she was called good lady or fair lady (belle dame—bella donna, the very name we give to the fairies.”

Sorcière: The Witch of the Middle Ages, by Jules Michelet, 1863

Today is The Kalevala Day, known also as the Finnish Culture Day. It is celebrated each February 28 in honor of the Finnish national epic, The #Kalevala. The day is one of the official Flag days in Finland.

To mark the occasion we would like to share this free electronic edition of the Kalevala in English.


Note to the reader: Crawford makes some erroneous remarks in the preface regarding the appearance of the Finns.

The Boudica Song | Cut-Throat Celts | Horrible Histories
https://youtu.be/eHMRLoJZ5JA

A bit of humor for Friday!

“Who were these fays? Tradition says, that of yore some Gaulish queens, being proud and fanciful, did on the coming of Christ and His Apostles behave so insolently as to turn their backs upon them. In Brittany they were dancing at the moment, and never stopped dancing. Hence their hard doom; they are condemned to live until the Day of Judgment.[19] Many of them were turned into mice or rabbits; as the Kow-riggwans for instance, or Elves, who meeting at night round the old Druidic stones entangle you in their dances.”

Excerpt From
La Sorcière: The Witch of the Middle Ages
Jules Michelet, 1863

“The poor serf’s longing to breathe, to rest, to find a treasure that may end his sufferings, continually returns. More often, through a lofty aspiration, this treasure becomes a soul as well, a treasure of love asleep, as in The Sleeping Beauty: but not seldom the charming person finds herself by some fatal enchantment hidden under a mask. Hence that touching trilogy, that admirable crescendo of Riquet with the Tuft, Ass’s Skin, and Beauty and the Beast. Love will not be discouraged. Through all that ugliness it follows after and gains the hidden beauty. In the last of these tales that feeling touches the sublime, and I think that no one has ever read it without weeping.”

Excerpt From
La Sorcière: The Witch of the Middle Ages
Jules Michelet, 1863