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Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the role of conflicting ideologies in shaping and manufacturing place-lore, its symbolism, and building alternative storyworlds. It discusses the relationship between folklore, Orthodoxy, and state-sponsored atheism.

Paper long abstract:

The paper explores the place-lore of Alutaguse parish in North Eastern Estonia as a realm of ideological conflicts. The historical changes starting from the national movement and Russification policy of the Czarist Empire in the 19th century, leading to the establishment of the Estonian Republic, the following Communist occupation, and the restoration of independence reconfigured the meaning of the local landscape. The region is rich in giant-lore representing the country's mythic past, including a hillock identified as the grave of Kalevipoeg – the mythical king who ruled the country in historical legends and the Estonian epic "Kalevipoeg". Only a few kilometers away in Kuremäe is the Orthodox convent of the Dormition of the Mother of God, established in the late 19th century. Nearby is a holy spring and other places related to religious legends about the apparition of the Virgin Mary and the discovery of a miraculous icon. Atheistic fight against Christianity in Soviet Estonia and the new wave of Russification entangled the giant-lore and Orthodoxy, expounding the former in a progressive light and the latter as an example of superstitious ignorance. The paper explores the role of conflicting ideologies in shaping and manufacturing place-lore, its symbolism, and building alternative storyworlds.