Paper Short Abstract:

When elf mills were collected at the turn of the 20th century, they were interpreted as traces of a magic past. Rereading the accompanying documentation, however, shows they were part of a living practice, and as such central to conflicts over tradition, gender, and class

Paper Abstract:

This paper will explore alternative interpretations of so-called elf mills, a type of folk magic objects currently held in the collections of the Nordic Museum and Skansen in Sweden. Elf mills are typically large stones with cup-shaped bowl pits, into which the rural population have placed small offerings, such as coins and needles, as part of rituals for healing or disease prevention. When these objects were collected at the turn of the 20th century, they were interpreted as residual traces of a soon to be lost magical past. However, a closer examination of the accompanying documentation reveals that these stones were not merely relics of a distant magical tradition, but rather part of a living practice and as such central to conflicts of the time. In many cases, the documentation includes accounts of attempts by the local population to hide or dispose of elf mills. Additionally, there are several reports of young boys stealing coins from the elf mills, challenging their supposed magical powers. In contrast, the elderly and women often emerge as the primary guardians of these magical practices. While seen and recorded, though, these aspects did not make it to the final stage of knowledge production: to the exhibiting. A rereading of the elf-mills provides insight into the contested nature of magic, revealing its connection to broader societal issues such as the tension between tradition and modernity, femininity and masculinity, as well as questions of age and class in rural Sweden at the turn of the 20th century.