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Paper short abstract

This presentation provides an overview of Estonian traditional folk narratives about hunters examining their lifestyle, customs, rituals, and relationships with both humans and non-humans. The tales depict the forest as inhabited and moralized space, negotiated with non-human agency.

Paper long abstract

In this presentation, I provide an overview of traditional folk narratives (collected in the 19th and early 20th centuries) that are told from the viewpoint of peasants who practiced illegal hunting. I examine how hunting folklore reflects the lifestyle of hunters, their customs, rituals and their relationships with both humans and non-humans they encountered in the surrounding natural environment. In the complex conditions of the time where wild animals provided an important supplement to the diet, or even the main livelihood, hunters were troubled not only by landlords, who were owners of all resources in forests, thus considering all hunting illegal to peasants, but also by the supernatural beings inhabiting the woods and acting as guardians and masters of the forest, capable of protecting resources, or punishing disrespect. This presentation will exemplify how these narratives portray the forest as inhabited and moralized space, where human activity is continuously negotiated with non-human agency.