Charms, Charmers and Charming

International conference at the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania, June, 24 - 25, 2010

Organised by:
International Society for Folk Narrative Research -
Committee on Charms, Charmers and Charming
Institute of Linguistics “Iorgu Iordan - Al. Rosetti” of the Romanian Academy
Institute of Ethnography and Folklore “C. Brăiloiu” of the Romanian Academy

June, 24, Romanian Academy, “Ion Heliade Rădulescu” Hall

Opening:
9h00 - 9h15: Marius SALA, Director of the Institute of Linguistics “Iorgu Iordan - Al. Rosetti” of the Romanian Academy, Vice-president of the Romanian Academy
Section 1: 9h15 - 10h15
1. (9h15 - 9h45) Tatyana A. MIKHAILOVA: On the Function of Name in Oral and Written Charm's Tradition (Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia)
2. (9h45 - 10h15) Larissa NAIDITCH: Enumerations and Repetitions in German Charms (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel)

Coffee-break: 10h15 - 10h40

Section 2: 10h40 - 12h40
3. (10h40 - 11h10) Ştefan COLCERIU: How chameleonic can a demon be? Lix Tetrax from Ephesia Grammata to The Testament of Solomon (Institute of Linguistics “Iorgu Iordan - Al. Rosetti” of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania)
4. (11h10 - 11h40) Stéphanie VLAVIANOS-TOMASZYK: Les charmes de Byzance: quelle parole pour la figure du mage? (VIIIe - fin du XIe s.) (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France)
5. (11h40 - 12h10) Lea T. OLSAN: The 'Three Good Brothers' Charm: Some Historical Points (Cambridge, UK)
6. (12h10 - 12h40) Jacqueline BORSJE: Multilingual charms from Western Europe (University of Amsterdam. Art, Religion and Culture Studies, Netherlands)

Lunch: 12h40 - 14h30

Section 3: 14h30 - 16h30
7. (14h30 - 15h00) Éva PÓCS: Hungarian rite-based charms: the relation between rite and text (University of Pécs, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Hungary)
8. (15h00 - 15h30) Daiva VAITKEVIČIENĖ: Saying the words in a breath: the charm technique in Lithuania (Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, Vilnius, Lithuania)
9. (15h30 - 16h00) Sabina ISPAS: The Wordless 'Charm'. The Căluş (“Constantin Brăiloiu” Institute of Ethnography and Folklore of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania)
10. (16h00 - 16h30) Sanda GOLOPENTIA: Flying Fatemen (Brown University, USA)

Coffee-break: 16h30 - 17h00

11. (17h00 - 17h30) Jonathan ROPER: Charms in Tales (University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia)
12. (17h30 - 18h00) Aigars LIELBARDIS: Boundaries of the Latvian Magical Spell Genre: Similarities in Fairy Tales and Folk Legends (University of Latvian Institute Literature, Folklore and Art, Latvia)
13. (18h00 - 18h30) Laura JIGA ILIESCU: The One Who Handle the Book (“Constantin Brăiloiu” Institute of Ethnography and Folklore of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania)
14. (18h30 - 19h00) Seyfi AGIREL: Curative Magical Agents in Azeri Folktales (Mevlana University, Konya, Turkey)

19h15: Film projection at the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore "C. Brăiloiu" of the Romanian Academy
20h00: Wine Reception Sponsored by the Folklore Society.

June, 25, Institute of Ethnography and Folklore “C. Brăiloiu” of the Romanian Academy

Section 1: 9h00 - 10h30
1. (9h00 - 9h30) Ioana REPCIUC: Flum Jordan et le rite baptismal dans les charmes roumains (Institute of Romanian Philology “A. Philippide”, Romanian Academy, Iaşi, Romania)
2. (9h30 - 10h00) Tom ĶENCIS: Latvian Types of Flum Jordan Charm (Archives of Latvian Folklore, Latvia)
3. (10h00 - 10h30) William F. RYAN: Ivan the Terrible's Malady and a Charm to Cure It (Professor Emeritus, University of London, UK)

Coffee-break: 10h30 - 11h00

Section 2a: 11h00 - 12h30
4. (11h00 - 11h30) Andrei TOPORKOV: Charms and Apocryphal Prayers among the Eastern Slavs (Institute of Universal Literature “M. Gorki”, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)
5. (11h30 - 12h00) Svetlana TSONKOVA: Practical Texts in Practical Situations? Bulgarian Medieval Charms as Apocrypha (Central European University, Budapest, Hungary)
6. (12h00 - 12h30) Emanuela TIMOTIN: Reshuffled Structures and Wandering Motifs. The Apocryphal Writing The Legend of Saint Sisinnios in Romanian Manuscript Charms (18th - 19th Centuries) (Institute of Linguistics “Iorgu Iordan - Al. Rosetti” of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania)
Section 2b: 11h00 - 12h30
7. (11h00 - 11h30) Adina BACIU: Anthropo-medicals Concepts of the Charms (Institute of Anthropology “Francisc I. Rainer” of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania)
8. (11h30 - 12h00) Mircea CIUHUTĂ, V.-V. TOMA, Adina BACIU: From Medicines to Charms. Illness narratives and patterns of help-seeking in Romanian patients suffering from bronchial asthma (Institute of Anthropology “Francisc I. Rainer” of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania)
9. (12h00 - 12h30) Cosmina TIMOCE: La symptomatologie de l'action de la sorcellerie et son diagnostic. Étude de cas (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

Lunch: 12h30 - 14h30

Section 3a: 14h30 - 16h30
10. (14h30 - 15h00) Tünde KOMÁROMI: Harmful magic in a Transylvanian village (Cluj County, Romania) (The Folklore Archive of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
11. (15h00 - 15h30) Bogdan NEAGOTA: Ecstatic Illnesses and Magical Therapies in Contemporary Rural Romania: Căderea între Milostive, Căderea Rusaliilor, Căderea/Luatul din Căluş (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
12. (15h30 - 16h00) Haralampos PASSALIS: Genres and categories of verbal magic: towards a holistic approach (Intercultural School of Evosmos Thessaloniki, Greece)
13. (16h00 - 16h30) Cătălina VĂTĂŞESCU: Termes albanais pour 'incantation' (Institute of South-Eastern European Studies, Bucharest, Romania)
Section 3b: 14h30 - 16h00
14. (14h30 - 15h00) Eleonora SAVA: Charming and Cooking - Feminine Traditional Structures (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
15. (15h00 - 15h30) Vladimir KLYAUS: Spell and charm traditions of Argun region: transformation and evolution over time (University of Moscow, Russia)
16. (15h30 - 16h00) Ileana BENGA: The quest for fertility: triggers and opponents in a balanced story (The Folklore Archive of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

Coffee-break: 16h30 - 17h00

Section 4: 17h00 - 19h00
17. (17h00 - 17h30) James A. KAPALO: Authority, Narrative and Performance in Charm and Prayer (University College Cork, Ireland)
19. (17h30 - 18h00) Antoaneta OLTEANU: Love and Fate Charms (University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania)
18. (18h00 - 18h30) Martin LOVELACE: Immaterial Medicine: Charmers and their Communities in Newfoundland (Department of Folklore, Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada)
19. (18h30 - 19h00) Domhnall Uilleam STIÙBHART: Analysing Charms from the Scottish Highlands (University of Edinburgh, UK)

1. SEYFI AGIREL (MEVLANA UNIVERSITY, Konya, TURKEY)
CURATIVE MAGICAL AGENTS IN AZERI FOLKTALES

Practice of magic is as old as mankind. It is possible to see cultural elements which include almost in all cultures. Azeri folk literature provides abundant examples of magic. There are plenty of folktales that include magic in Azeri folktales. Spells, certain objects, magic helpers are used to create magic. It is interesting that magicians do not active role in many tales. Magic in the tales has various functions. One of the major functions is to cure the sick people. They are often a member of a royal family. In this paper, I focused on the curative (healing) and rejuvenative function of magical objects (called magical agents in this paper). The most commonly used magical agents are apple, water, blood, father and leaf. I explained each agent in great detail. The way the protagonist obtains the magical agent also varies. Fairies, giants, or a dervish can act as a donor to provide the protagonist with the magical agent. I also gave a list of curative magical agents in English folk tales to draw a comparison between Azeri and English folktales. I found out that some of the curative magical agents used in Azeri folktales are regional while the others are universal.

2. ADINA BACIU (INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY “FRANCISC I. RAINER” OF ROMANIAN ACADEMY)
ANTHROPO-MEDICALS CONCEPTS OF THE CHARMS

In our age in which we are “shelled” with informations, in which the diagnosis and the medical treatment supports on advanced and sensitive techniques, to talk about charms seems comical or at least out-of-date, as much as about clinical manifestations of these. Never the less many sickly people thinks it their diseases are due from to these occult practice. In my medical experience I met more patients who believe their suffering owing to charms, for example: schizophrenia, depression, alcoolism, poliadenopaties, dermatitis, psoriasis, blindness, deafness. For patient the own suffering is above all scientifical explication, thus for help them we must giving our attention their own perception about sickness, to. Starting with these premises with years ago I moved off a study, more a journal which contains different opinions of patients about occult influences in release some diseases and in therapeutic failure of classic and alternative medicine in some cases, to. This paper tries to present some aspects of clinical manifestations of the charms.

3. JACQUELINE BORSJE (UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM, ART, RELIGION AND CULTURE STUDIES)
MULTILINGUAL CHARMS FROM WESTERN EUROPE

The corpus of medieval Irish spells consists of multilingual verbal forms with which people tried to influence reality. A Latin text may be surrounded by Irish remarks about the ritual performance; or Irish texts are concluded by Latin adaptations from the Bible or liturgy. This paper will focus on healing texts found in Ireland and Britain. An Irish charm in an Old English remedy was qualified by the Anglo-Saxons as a 'choice Irish incantation'. With its seven variant versions, this is the most frequently attested charm in Anglo-Saxon records (Pettit). These healing texts not only use the vernacular (Old English and Irish) and Latin but we can also detect a broader cultural background from Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic language and culture. This paper will explore the use of a variety of languages in verbal expressions known as 'words of power', to which recourse was taken as coping tools in existentially challenging situations of life.

4. MIRCEA Ş. CIUHUŢA, VALENTIN-VERON TOMA, ADINA BACIU (INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY “FRANCISC I. RAINER” OF ROMANIAN ACADEMY)
FROM MEDICINES TO CHARMS - ILLNESS NARRATIVES AND PATTERNS OF HELP-SEEKING IN ROMANIAN PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM BRONCHIAL ASTHMA

Beside the biomedicine's preoccupation with diseases, the illness experience of the individual patient is usually neglected by the physicians, producing a gap in knowledge and practice which is filled by the alternative and complementary medicine. Charming is regarded in certain communities as a serious alternative to the scientific medical explanation for disease and illness. The subject's explanation of the illness episodes may include a variety of beliefs and forms of lay medical knowledge which medical anthropologists usually organize as explanatory models, prototypes and chain-complexes. This paper aims to present, based on qualitative interviews, the illness narratives of a number of subjects diagnosed with bronchial asthma who developed a pattern of magical explanation and help-seeking for their illnesses, paralleling the medical explanation and treatment offered by their clinicians. There is no clash between biomedicine and its remedies, on one side, and folk medicine, on the other side, the alternative therapy being just a complement to pharmaceuticals. Our conclusion is that charms and charming are regarded by physically suffering people, in this particular case by asthmatics, even in the XXI-st century, as a serious alternative to the biomedical explanation for their disease.

5. ORSOLYA GYÖNGYÖSSY: (PHD STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF SZEGED, UNGARIA)
CHARMING DEATH. ONE RITUAL TO CALL AND DEFEND THE DEATH (SEKLERS, ROMANIA)

How is it possible to rush and reverse Death with the same ritual? How could the small details change the aim of the ritual practice remarkably?
My presentation is based on a field research among the Roman Catholic Hungarian-speaking popularity in Ojdula (Covasna County, Romania). In this small community (ca. 8000 inhabitants) I examined the funeral ceremonies, practical and spiritual actions around the moribund and the dead person in general. During my research I discovered a blooming practice to protect the soul of the dying from the evil spirits which makes the process of death less painful, or possibly it could bring the dying back to life.
The key action is the usage of the “Lightning of Christ𔄙: the consecrated candle. The candlelight and the fume symbolize the shine of the Heaven, the leaving soul of the moribund person and the hope-giving Christ. This sacred object could influence the process of dying in both ways depending on the intention of the person who transacts the ceremony. There are no specialists who own the knowledge exclusively about what the living ones have to do around the moribund person: the old members of the community keep the rite alive.
The aim of my paper is to present how people make efforts to influence and “charming” Death in the example of one well-known ritual (Balázs, Lajos 1995, Kunt, Ernõ 2003 etc.). My experiences during the fieldwork open up new perspectives in this topic because it presents a completely new aspect of this rite.

6. CHARLOTTE HUET (CASA DE VELÁZQUEZ, MADRID, BOURSIÈRE)
LES TRANSFORMATIONS D'UN ENVOUTEMENT D'AMOUR EN ESPAGNE ET EN AMERIQUE LATINE : LA PRIERE A SAINTE MARTHE, DE L'INQUISITION A INTERNET

La légende de sainte Marthe prend ses origines dans le sud de la France et plus particulièrement en Provence, région dans laquelle elle aurait vaincu le monstre qui terrifiait les habitants de Tarascon: la Tarasque. Cependant, c'est au domaine hispanique que je voudrais consacrer cette intervention. En effet, le culte dédié à sainte Marthe s'est développé très tôt en Espagne. D'abord invoquée contre les morsures de serpents, c'est surtout dans la magie amoureuse que la sainte s'est révélée très efficace. Au cours des procès inquisitoriaux des XVIème et XVIIème siècles, de nombreuses femmes accusées de sorcellerie citent la prière de sainte Marthe et le rituel magique qui l'accompagne. Celui-ci permettrait d'attirer les hommes, d'anéantir leur volonté. Plusieurs siècles plus tard, sainte Marthe est toujours invoquée pour résoudre des problèmes d'ordre amoureux. Après s'être transmise de bouche à oreille, la prière circule maintenant sur Internet.
Cet exposé a pour but de mettre en lumière les transformations de cette prière au cours des siècles. Il établira un parallèle entre les anciennes incantations des sorcières espagnoles et les oraisons modernes.

7. JAMES A KAPALO (UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK, IRELAND, LECTURER IN GLOBAL CHRISTIANITIES)
AUTHORITY, NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE IN CHARM AND PRAYER

This paper offers some theoretical reflections on the relationship between the genres of charm and prayer from the perspective of 'narrative experience' and performance. I pay special attention to the genre of 'archaic prayer' and its relationship to verbal charms. The scholarly distinction between these genres often cuts across emic categories and insider knowledge structures. Building on some theoretical observations by Hungarian ethnographers Éva Pócs and Irén Lovász amongst others, this paper will examine the discursive or propositional content of Gagauz archaic prayers and charms in relation to the experiential and performative dimension of the texts in context. I will also consider some important parallels in relation to the authority of scripture and its performative role within contemporary Neo-Pentecostal Christianity.

8. TOMS ĶENCIS (TARTU UNIVERSITY, DOCTORAL STUDENT; ARCHIVES OF LATVIAN FOLKLORE, JUNIOR RESEARCHER)
LATVIAN TYPES OF FLUM JORDAN CHARM

In this paper I wish to present the Latvian types and variations of Flum Jordan charm. Preliminary research has already shown that there are basic types (with and without the baptism of Christ) of the charm in Latvian blood-staunching charms and interesting variations of this charm all across the corpora of Latvian verbal charms that reaches beyond 50 000 recorded entities.
Further I will discuss Latvian variations in comparison with the ones in nearby languages and countries. Although almost all Latvian charms are recorded in last two centuries, rich variety of Flum Jordan charm could help in pan-European mapping of this charm-type.

9. VLADIMIR KLYAUS (MOSCOW)
SPELL AND CHARM TRADITIONS OF ARGUN REGION:
TRANSFORMATION AND EVOLUTION OVER TIME

River Argun has been marking the Russian-Chinese border since XVII century. Argun prison, the first Russian settlement, was initially built on the right river bank, but upon entering into the Nerchinsk treaty it was moved to the Russian bank of the river. With time, when Kossack villages started emerging along the border river, Argun prison became a large village center, and during Soviet times it turned into a regular little town. Still, history spared Argunsk: it escaped enlargement, unlike many other former Kossack villages located along the bank of the river and its tributaries.
The practically unsettled lands located on the Chinese bank of the river and rich in forests, fish, hunting animals, meadows, had long attracted the Cossacks. Sometimes illegally, sometimes with the permission of Chinese authorities, they started building hunting lodges on the right river bank, grazing cattle, fishing, hunting. And after the end of the Civil War, these lands became a refuge for the Kossacks who had fought on the side of the White Army. Thus, former hunting lodges turned into villages and settlements of the Trans-Baikal Cossack army located in the so-called “Tri-rivers” - on the rivers Gan, Derbul, and Haul which are the tributaries of Argun.
The first research on the charms of the Trans-Baikal Kossacks emerged in the second half of the XIX century. They were initially published by N.I.Kashin (1860), and later by N. Kirillov (1893). In the beginning of the XX century Kossack charms were collected and published by my great-grandfather - P.M.Tolmachev (1912). But the most comprehensive collection of the texts of this genre belongs to K.D. Loginovsky (1899, 1903). His collection, published at the turn of the XX century, is one of the most representative with regard to the quantity and functional diversity and still is a very important source of comparative and historical study of charms.
My own research, conducted 100 years after Kirillov, Loginovsky, and Tolmachev, demonstrate that both on the left (Russian) and right (Chinese) banks of Argun, charms are still extant.
An important distinction between these two traditions consists in the fact that the Chinese tradition is declining. The main reason for this decline is the decrease in the numbers of Russian speakers in China and their Chinese assimilation. This process started toward the end of 1950-s, when Russians started repatriating or emigrating to Australia, America, Argentina, etc. The remaining Russians in the Tri-rivers region are mostly women who have married inter-ethnically, and their half-blood children. They remember charms against hexes, counter-charms for fright which they mostly use to protect their children. That is the only functional group remaining from the formerly rich charm tradition of the Trans-Baikal Kossacks, which is still used by the half-blood population of Chinese Argun region. I have met three elderly women in the Tri-Rivers region who are possessed of the knowledge of charms and make video-fixations (in some cases, repeated) of the healing rituals and counter-charms for fright.
The existence of charms in the Russian Argun region is more sustained and wide-spread. Charms are of wider application. It is manifested in the fact that each village of settlement has at least one or two elderly women known as wise women. Charms are more diverse functionally: besides charms against hexes, there are charms for treating blues, hernia, child insomnia, tooth pain, boils, styes. Some of these I have been able to video-fixate during their real-life healing performance or its demonstration, not merely copy by dictation or from copybooks.
Comparative analysis of the contemporary “Russian” and “Chinese” video recordings of performing healing charms demonstrates significant differences between the two, allowing one to enrich the picture of the existence of certain functional genres of charms at the turn of the XX century. Comparing contemporary texts against the texts published by Kirillov, Loginovsky and Tolmachev reveals a considerable decrease in the charm repertoire over time, in particular, simplification of texts of the written origin. At the same time, a significant influence of the “written knowledge” is apparent, in the form of parapsychology and esoteric knowledge. Overall, such picture seems characteristic of the Russian charm tradition in the last one hundred years.

10. KOMÁROMI TÜNDE (INSTITUTUL “ARHIVA DE FOLCLOR A ACADEMIEI ROMÂNE”, STR. REPUBLICII NR. 9, 400015 CLUJ NAPOCA; RESEARCH ASSISTANT)
HARMFUL MAGIC IN A TRANSYLVANIAN VILLAGE (CLUJ COUNTY, ROMANIA)

The paper gives a synthesis on the phenomena of harmful magic (see Romanian “făcătură” and Hungarian 'rontás') in a Transylvanian village based on fieldwork (1997-2001). The harmful magic in the region is linked with three types of social problems: (1) marriage and love-affairs, (2) problems connected to health and well being, (3) and broadly defined economic problems. While problems of relationships and economic issues are most often seen by the local population as causes of the harmful magic the damages to health are seen only as outcome. In addition to magical health damages witchcraft can have an impact on both the relationships and in the economic sphere. Magic is ambivalent according to the local view therefore it can be both negative and positive according to the social judgment. In cases when it is seen as positive it has the role of an alternative justice. I made a distinction between the spiritual and physical magical techniques based on the local ideas of the transmission of magical power. The distinction can be made based on the existence or inexistence of the physical contact between the witch and the victim. My conclusion is that the spiritual techniques are characteristically used in the processes of the alternative justice while physical techniques are most often associated with creating and unmaking relationships.
Although the villagers may request the help of a specialist my study reveals that in most of the cases they perform magical acts by themselves. Through the analysis I review the social relations that can be seen as important from the perspective of the magical acts. The most important finding in this domain is that witchcraft in this society is a family matter or is linked with close kin-relations. A small proportion of the witchcraft accusations are between neighbours.

11. AIGARS LIELBARDIS (UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA INSTITUTE LITERATURE, FOLKLORE AND ART; RESEARCH ASSISTANT. UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA FACULTY OF HUMANITIES: PHD STUDENT)
BOUNDARIES OF THE LATVIAN MAGICAL SPELL GENRE: SIMILARITIES IN FAIRY TALES AND FOLK LEGENDS

As genre borders have expanded or partially faded away due to intertextuality, folklore materials can also be compared and examined more broadly and are not limited by genre definitions any more. Separate text fragments, characters, and figures and their meanings can find similarities and explanations in the materials of another genre. The presentation pertains to an analysis of Latvian magical spells in comparison with fairy tales and folk legends, creating shared textual and semantic characteristics. Fairy tales, folk legends, and magical spells are considered ancient forms of oral expression, and as such it is believed that they contain very old ideas and concepts or fragments thereof. Even though they belong to different genres, fairy tales, folk legends, and magical spells all offer similar insights about the origin and dwelling of sicknesses and the presence of and struggle between deities or mythological beings, the meaning of which can be found in the comprehension of magical spell texts.
The materials analysed are magical spell texts that have parallels in fairy tales and folk legends and are associated not so much with Christian legends and characters, but mainly with pre-Christian concepts.

12. MARTIN LOVELACE (DEPARTMENT OF FOLKLORE, MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY, ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR, CANADA)
IMMATERIAL MEDICINE: CHARMERS AND THEIR COMMUNITIES IN NEWFOUNDLAND

Abstract: Within an overview of the practice of charming in the Canadian province of Newfoundland, this paper will explore the following questions: how is the status of charmer obtained? What are the traditional qualifications for recognition as a potential healer? Is social pressure brought to bear on those who fall into such categories as seventh son, posthumous child, woman who marries a man of the same surname, to make them take up the healing role? How do individuals learn to charm and is there a consistent code of practice? Do clients and charmers collaborate, perhaps unconsciously, in shaping a stable yet adaptive tradition? How do clients' and charmers' narratives contribute to the effectiveness of acts of healing?
Evidence will be drawn from my past and current field research and from the holdings of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive. While formal ethnographic research in Newfoundland dates only from the early 1960s, the history of European settlement goes back to the 1600s with primary influence from the English West Country and South-East Ireland.

13. TATYANA A. MIKHAILOVA (LEADER-RESEARCHER OF THE INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS, RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, MOSCOW, PROFESSOR OF GERMANIC AND CELTIC DEPARTMENT OF PHILOLOGICAL FACULTY MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY BY NAME M. LOMONOSOV)
ON THE FUNCTION OF NAME IN ORAL AND WRITTEN CHARM'S TRADITION

The present paper has the further aim of developing a universal model of the functioning and pragmatics of 'magic texts', both inside a local culture and in general. The definition of 'incantation' or 'charm' given by different scholars will also be discussed. With regard to the traditional culture of charms, we propose to distinguish between two different uses of name: the 'back-ground name'(BN) and the 'subject name' (SN). By BN we mean the use of the names of Christian saints as well as personages of pagan beliefs. BN demonstrates the orientation and the religious identity of the compiler and of the user of a charm. Examples of so called neo-paganic charms of modern Russia will also be demonstrated. By the SN we understand any proper name in the text of a charm which transforms a 'receipt' of a magical text in potential into a real magical performance. Cf. Russian traditional formula - 'the slave of God N'. We observe that SN can be omitted in protective charms (SN = 'me'), but is necessary in curses (cf. Old Irish satires, Antic lead tablets etc). As oral ~ written charms is concern, we propose to distinguish so called 'receipts' (for example - Greek magical papyri, copy-books with charms of Russian tradition, charms in modern Internet etc) and 'amulets' (including curse tablets). The problem of the relations between 'user' - 'performer' - 'addressee' of a charm will be proposed as an object of discussion.

14. LARISSA NAIDITCH (SENIOR LECTURER, RESEARCH PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS, THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES, THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM, MOUNT SCOPUS, 91905, JERUSALEM, ISRAEL)
ENUMERATIONS AND REPETITIONS IN GERMAN CHARMS

The paper deals with compositional and grammatical peculiarities of German charms. Repetitions, listing, variations are considered in the texts of different periods (9th - 20th c.). Different kinds of repetitions are one of the crucial peculiarities of folklore. Repetitions in the plot and in the grammatical structure interrelate and have several typical patterns, e.g. parallelism, listing, synonymic paraphrases, etc. The chief principle of the charm - the analogy - forms itself a kind of repetition. Repetitions can be observed in compositional, as well as in syntactic structures of charms in different national traditions.
In the plot of the story the doubling or increase of the characters sometimes occurs. In historiola not one, but several helpers can act: Christ unde Jôhan / Giengen zuo der Jordân; Es gingen drei Heilige Männer übers Land; Es gingen drei Jungfrauen / Uralt in unser Herr Jesus Garten. The behavior of these characters demonstrate parallelism, often with amplification typical of different folklore genres: Die eine sprach: Es ist heiß (heisch, husch), / Die andre sprach: Es ist nicht/ Die dritte sprach: Es ist dann nicht. There can be also several harming persons, sometimes as alliterating twin formulas: Gicht und Gesicht, Hisch un Hasch.
Often the harming characters, the deseases and their sources are enumerated: Vor die Augenblatter, vor die roten Blattern, / vor die gelben Blattern, / Vor die schwarzen Blattern, / Vor die Blutballern, vor die Reißblattern, / Vor die Fleischblattern, vor die siebenundviezigerlei Blattern. In the expelling formulas the way of going out is described by a chain of elements. Felix Genzmer (1950/51) wrote: “Dem Befehl “Geh hinaus!” ist eine Reihe von Gliedern angehängt, deren jedes den Wurm aus dem Körper einen Schritt weiter nach außen treibt”.
The enumeration can be based on a taxonomic principle (Tolstaja, 2005) that was called by Ort (1935/36:1588) das Herrechnen. Synonymy of the listed elements occurs as well: Da sollst du baden, / Da sollst du waten (Schröder, 1999).
In enumerations different parts of speech occur: nouns, adjectives, verbs. The verb with negation prohibits the harming, and expresses the expected result of the charming: Wunde, du sollst nicht hitzen, / Du sollst nicht schwitzen, / Du sollst nicht gähren, / Du sollst nicht schwären.

The goal of the listing can be described from several points of view:
  1. 1. Common poetics of such folklore genres, as songs, epics, charms, etc., where the principle of variation described by Parry and Lord is at work. This peculiarity is partially related to the storage of poetic texts in the memory of the performer, but its aesthetic function is important as well (Roper, 2003, 1997).
  2. 2. The rhythmic organization of the text. The parallelism and the repetitions of lexemes and of syntactic structures, as well as alliterations and rhymes provide a rhythm typical of magic texts in different national traditions.
  3. 3. The boundness of text. Repetitions bind parts of text and provide their inner organization.
  4. 4. Pragmatics of text. One of the principles behind the repetition “is that repeating an idea or a word strengthens it” (Roper 2003). This can be seen, e.g., in the prohibitive formula. Another aspect of pragmatics consists in listing all the possible cases to prevent all possible harm. From this point of view the charm likes such pragmatic speech genres, as catalogue, and especially as instructions.
Thus, different sides of the charm can be revealed through the analysis of enumerations: the poetic, the magic, as well the pragmatic.
Genzmer, Felix. 1950/51. “Germanische Zaubersprüche”. Germanisch-romanische Monatsschrift, N.F. Bd.1, 32: 21-35.
Jacobson, Roman. 1966. “Grammatical Parallelism and its Russian Facet“. Language, v.42, 2: 399-429.
Ohrt [Ferdinand]. 1935/36. Segen. Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens. Hrsg.von Bächtold-Stäubli, Hanns und Hoffmann-Krayer, Eduard. Berlin und Leipzig: Verlag Walter De Gruyter. Bd.7: Sp.1582-1620.
Roper, Jonathan. 1998. “Charms, Change and Memory: Some Principles Underlying Variation”. Folklore, vol.9, December: 51-70.
Roper, Jonathan. 2003. “Towards a Poetics, Rhetorics and Proxemics of Verbal Charms”. Folklore, vol 24.
Schröder, Ingrid, 1999. “Niederdeutsche Zaubersprüche. Konstanz und Variation”. Sprachformen. Deutsch und Niederdeutsch in Europäischen Bezügen. Festschrift für Dieter Stellmacher zum 60.Geburtstag. Hrsg.von Peter Wagener. Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik. Beihefte, 105.. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 81-92.
Tolstaja, S.M. (2005). “Ritm i inercija v strukture zagovornogo tekst”. In: Zagovornyj tekst. Genezis i struktura. Moskva. Indrik. 292-308.

15. LEA T. OLSAN (CAMBRIDGE)
THE 'THREE GOOD BROTHERS' CHARM: SOME HISTORICAL POINTS

'The Three Good Brothers' charm for wounds may well originate in an apocryphal Gospel recorded in a fragment of Greek papyrus dating from the fifth century. It is recorded in Latin and begins to appear in European vernaculars in the twelfth century, usually extended to include the Longinus motif to stanch bleeding. A feature that is evidently unique to this charm is a stipulation that the no money be charged for it and that it not be performed in secret. The circulation of the Dreigu in Germany has been well documented, beginning with Ohrt's essay ending with Braekman and, recently, Schulz. Vernacular versions also occur in French (Hunt), Irish,(McBride) Middle Dutch and English (Braekman). Users of the Three Brothers charm were strongly condemned by the Franciscan preacher Bernadino in the Campo at Siena, Italy, in 1427. On the other hand, it was one of a few charms openly favoured academic physicians in the twelfth century as well as in being used as a popular treatment for wounds and bleeding in England in fifteenth century and later (Roper).
In this paper, I aim to reconsider the ultimate origins of the Three Good Brothers charm with special interest in its connection to contexts of religious healing and the Longinus motif. Second, I seek to locate the historical contexts for the peculiar stipulation not to perform it in secret or take money for it and the grounds for its rejection by the fifteenth century Franciscan. Finally, if time allows, I would give an account of its circulation in England from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries in Latin, French, and English.

16. ANTOANETA OLTEANU (BUCHAREST UNIVERSITY, FACULTATEA DE LIMBI SI LITERATURI STRAINE, BUCURESTI)
LOVE AND FATE CHARMS

Since the domain of magic in Romania is very rich, this article treats exclusively the negative aspects of magical practices performed by specialists. The specialized performers (in Romanian they have various names which are often confusing - sorcerers [strigoi], dead sorcerers [strigoi morţi], magicians, witches), less frightening than their Western-European counterparts, have however clear demonism traits that are particular to black magic. The article aims to provide a brief summary of the negative magic practices using love and fate charms performed not only by the sorcerers, but also by amateurs who were interested in improving their condition or the reverse practices, meant to undo spells or charms performed by sorcerers. The article is discussing important concepts as fate, soulmate, foreordain and so on, analysing several specific Romanian charms: bringing the foreordained husband, manipulating the footprint, charms using the clay pot, the wax puppets, bonds, and eventually charms causing the death of the rival by symbolic stabbing, using wooden wedges, magical bones.

17. H. PASSALIS (INTERCULTURAL SCHOOL OF EVOSMOSTHESSALONIKI, GRECIA)
GENRES AND CATEGORIES OF VERBAL MAGIC: TOWARDS A HOLISTIC APPROACH

The term “verbal magic” defines a variety of phenomena such as verbal charms/incantations, exorcisms, written magical text, abracadabras etc., of which the main common characteristic is the considered “magical” efficiency attributed to the verbal part of a ritual act. This general term which is composed of the combination of two non clearly defined words, verbal and magic, is based on the attempt to discriminate the verbal part of a ritual act from the non verbal or the magic from other academically defined categories, as religion or science. On the other hand, the categorization of the genres and types of verbal magic that is based on morphological/structural or functional criteria is not only inadequate but, in some cases, misleading as well. The present paper constitutes an attempt in investigating the existence - or not - of the appropriate criteria of distinguishing the magical verbal genres and supports the idea of creating a European data base that would mainly include the folk terminology of different types of verbal magic with an english translation. The fore mentioned data base will take into consideration, apart from functional and morphological factors, contextual parameters as collective or private performance, written, oral or reading performance of the verbal part, restrictions on transmission or performance, accompanied ritual acts and uses of special objects and their relationship with the text, spacio-temporal parameters etc. The creation of such a data base will enable the holistic examination of the phenomenon of verbal magic, point out similarities and differences between different types, identify the mixture of genres and ultimately explore whether there are criteria or distinctive features which allow classification of any kind.

18. ÉVA PÓCS
HUNGARIAN RITE-BASED CHARMS: THE RELATION BETWEEN RITE AND TEXT

Within the large overall corpus of Hungarian charms we can clearly distinguish groups of texts which function purely as texts, those accompanied by symbolic gestures and yet others which are passed down as parts of complex rituals. My present paper shows a few characteristic types of Hungarian rite-based charms, among them text used to cure a sty, as well as certain types of epic charms which include a historiola. It is in the context of such texts that I examine the various ways in which charms may be connected to rites and the possible relations between text and action including the various semantic levels. I look at the differences between clerical textual types which were transmitted in writing and the types which were passed down by oral tradition and are more closely tied in with the everyday practice of popular magic - this latter type being referential, through subjective or improvised textual elements, to specific healing rites and situations. The analysis extends to the grammatical structures relevant to these types. All of this clearly outlines some of the general regularities of the relationship between rite and text. Surveying some of the Central and Eastern European parallels to the types described we can also point out some internationally relevant tendencies: there appear to be differences in the use of constant as opposed to changing or improvised textual elements and grammatical structures between East and Southeast European texts which reflect a living magical practice and those Central Western European texts which have been transmitted more commonly in writing (recipe books, books of magic) and have had little to do with specific magical practice.

19. IOANA REPCIUC (INSTITUTUL DE FILOLOGIE ROMANA “A. PHILIPPIDE”. DEPARTAMENTUL DE ETNOGRAFIE SI FOLCLOR - ACADEMIA ROMANA, IASI; CHERCHEUR, DOCTORANT)
FLUM JORDAN ET LE RITE BAPTISMAL DANS LES CHARMES ROUMAINS
Le travail se propose d'étudier les rôles symboliques du fleuve Jourdain présentes dans le scénario rituel des charmes roumains. Au début, on constate que, à la différence du lieu important occupé par le type «Flum Jordan» dans le corpus occidental de textes magiques, en ce qui concerne le folklore médical roumain, le rite pour guérir une hémorragie a été peu enregistré par les spécialistes. Le historiola spécifique (la narration biblique qui raconte l'arrêt des eaux au moment du Baptême) manque du tout de l'inventaire des textes roumains. On a trouvé cependant des textes qui utilisent la même juxtaposition de l'arrêt du sang et de l'arrêt de l'eau (charme de soroc et de zăpreală), mais seulement dans le contexte des rites sympathiques.
Ainsi, l'hypothèse défendue ici est celle d'une spécificité vétérotestamentaire et archaïque des occurrences du Jourdain dans les textes roumains. Le nom du fleuve apparaît en deux types de contextes : un contexte rituel (qui appartient à une phase historique antérieure à celle du Baptême, quoique similaire en plan profond) et un contexte cosmographique. Pour décrire le premier contexte, on part des syntagmes incantatoires comme «la fontaine / la source / la rivière du Jourdain» qui apparaissent en relation avec la scène d'une immersion purificatrice pour guérir la personne ensorcelée ; le baptême du malade renvoie à un ancestral culte de l'eau et spécialement à l'archétype de la fontaine ou de la source de la vie éternelle (fons vitae ou «la fontaine d'Adam», dans les textes roumains).
Pour le deuxième contexte, on rattache le hydronyme biblique aux autres présences des toponymes provenus de l'histoire sainte (le chemin de Jérusalem, les monts de Galilée, la Mer Rouge) d'où l'on arrive que ces endroits sont invoqués pour le fait qu'ils délimitent, dans l'imaginaire magique, les repères d'un espace ouvert à l'hiérophanie, espace situé là-bas, aux marges du monde, ou l'homme a ressenti la présence du numinous. Le Jourdain des charmes est compris dans le contexte de la géographie symbolique de l'Ancien Testament (et ses apocryphes), ou il délimite la Terre Promise et, à une niveau symbolique, le Jardin d'Éden.

20. DOMHNALL UILLEAM STIÙBHART (UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH)
ANALYSING CHARMS FROM THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

The past decade has been a particularly exciting time for international charms scholarship, above all because of the development of a range of detailed and sophisticated typologies of charm texts. Such approaches are already facilitating valuable cross-cultural comparisons of the burgeoning international charm corpus as well as promoting more nuanced intracultural analyses of the genre. Charm-type classifications can be broadly separated into semantic and syntactic categories, depending upon whether items are organised according to outward referents or internal structure. It is not the intention of this paper to espouse one particular classificatory approach over any others, but rather to employ a variety of models as heuristic tools, putting them to work on the Scottish Gaelic charms corpus of some five to six hundred items mainly recorded in the late nineteenth century. Using textual and elementary statistical analysis, I shall examine how different typological approaches might shed further light on variables such as the geographical location of charm informants, their age, origin, denominational leanings, not to mention the predilections of individual collectors. I hope that the findings for the relatively limited Scottish Gaelic charm corpus might be of value for scholars researching more extensive databases elsewhere.
In addition, I shall briefly examine the material culture of late nineteenth-century charming as preserved in transcriptions, observations, reminiscences, and artefacts in the collections of the important but controversial Gaelic folklorist, Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912), whose archive at the University of Edinburgh is presently being researched and catalogued by the Carmichael Watson Project (www.carmichaelwatson.lib.ed.ac.uk). Following the example of other charms scholars, I shall investigate the possibility of categorising extratextual (performative and artefactual) aspects of charming, appraising location, gesture, and objects in an attempt to attain a deeper sense of the original integrated performance of which the recorded text is so often the sole surviving residue.

21. ANDREI TOPORKOV ((INSTITUTUL DE LITERATURĂ MONDIALĂ “M. GORKI”, ACADEMIA DE ŞTIINŢE, RUSIA)
CHARMS AND APOCRYPHAL PRAYERS AMONG THE EASTERN SLAVS

The specific of Russian, and, in part, Ukrainian, verbal charms is their parallel existence in both the oral and manuscript traditions, and also the close interaction of charms and apochryphal prayers. Many uncanonical prayers and apochryphal texts became more like charms, and began to function as folk texts. For example, the charms 'On Power and Judges', widely distributed during the 17th-19th centuries, originate from uncanonical prayers. Several texts (for example, the 'Dream of the Mother of God' and charms against anxiety) existed in both the oral tradition as charms, and the manuscript tradition as apochryphal texts. Oral and manuscript charms were so frequently transformed in a like manner, that they came to resemble prayers. During the formation of the tradition of charms, and the elaboration of the special, sacred relationship to the word, texts like the 'Epistle on Sunday', and the 'Dream of the Mother of God', had a great influence. These texts were copied, distributed, and kept in the home as amulets.

22. SVETLANA TSONKOVA (CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY - BUDAPEST, PHD STUDENT)
PRACTICAL TEXTS IN PRACTICAL SITUATIONS? BULGARIAN MEDIEVAL CHARMS AS APOCRYPHA

The objects of my paper are numerous medieval Bulgarian texts written in Old Church Slavonic language and preserved in manuscripts, dated between fourteenth and seventeenth century. Bulgarian scholarship addresses these texts with different terms: apocryphal or untrue prayers, charms functioning as prayers or magical charms. In the my paper I refer to these texts as charms, and I am interested in two of their features.
Firstly, they are focused exclusively on daily life practical matters: health, good luck and protection against evil powers. These texts clearly belong to the practical, positive and apotropaic verbal magic.
Secondly, these charms are preserved between other texts (usually prayers), which are completely canonical. Furthermore, the manuscripts do not contain any notes concerning the canonical or non-canonical character of the texts inside. The scholars, however, always counted the charms among the apocrypha.
My paper is focused on the question: “How did the charms stand among the canonical texts?” Two important issues have to be addressed here: historical context and practicality. Created and copied in monastic environment during and after the Ottoman invasion (a period of destruction of Bulgarian Orthodox Church authorities), the examined manuscripts reflect both the lack of normative religious sanctions and the attempts of the local Christian priests to cope with the daily life problems of their congregation. But did the members of the clergy recognize the canonical of non-canonical character of the texts at all? And if so, did they deliberately write down and preserve unofficial and apocryphal texts, only because of their efficiency in quotidian practice? Was this how the charms became apocryphal texts?
My aim is to point out the connections between composition, content and application of the charms. They present an interesting example for an interaction between religious norms and remarkable magical texts.

23. DAIVA VAITKEVIČIENĖ (DEPARTMENT OF FOLK NARRATIVE, INSTITUTE OF LITHUANIAN LITERATURE AND FOLKLORE, ANTAKALNIO STR. 6, LT-10308 VILNIUS, LITUANIA)
SAYING THE WORDS IN A BREATH: THE CHARM TECHNIQUE IN LITHUANIA

A verbal charm becomes a magic or sacred formula only in the process of the charming then a healer or a charmer addresses subjects the charm is referred to - disease, spirit, the evil or sacred character, deity, nature subject (animal, plant, meteorological phenomenon, fire, water) etc. A special charm technique is needed in order to transform a charm formula to the magical words. Many requirements should be fulfill - a charmer must consider time, location, movement of the sun or the moon in the sky, he or she takes some actions simultaneous with the magic words. The extremely important thing used by charmers in Lithuania is a special way of uttering charms: series of breathing, uttering and blowing are combined in the process of the charming.
The presentation focuses on the details of the charm technique while uttering formulas. There are three very important aspects. Firstly, a charm must be repeated several times (most often the text has to be repeated 3, 9 or 3x9 times), as the power of the charm increases depending on the number of times it is repeated. Secondly, while saying a charm, a charmer may not take in a breath. This means that the formula must be said in one breath. Thirdly, holding one's breath is directly linked with the last stage of speaking the charm: after the formula is uttered, it is necessary to blow onto the patient or onto the charmed object. The special technique of breath is not required in case of the Christian prayers added to the charm formulas.
The uttering technique affects to both structural and stylistic peculiarities of the Lithuanian charms. Furthermore it limits the length of the text. The special breathing technique characteristic to the Lithuanian charms can be a reason why the narrative structure is not developed in the Lithuanian verbal charms.

24. MAARIT VILJAKAINEN, PHIL. LIC. DOCTORAL STUDENT, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF CULTURAL INTERPRETATIONS, UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND
This paper focusses on the charm repertoire of a single charmer. My case study is the well-known male tietäjä - the highest level of ritual specialist who possessed specialized knowledge and know-how that others did not - from Hietajärvi, Archangel Karelia, Miina Huovinen, who was interviewed by many visitors at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. He mastered a total of 115 charms of various purposes and functions. It should be noted that some charms have been recorded more than once. For example, his four charms for curing snake bites have been recorded in 1872, 1893, 1904, and 1910-11. The majority of Huovinen's charms are healing charms include charms for staunching blood, charms for curing wounds, snake bites and burns, and charms for curing diseases caused by the dead. Huovinen's charms have been published in the series of Ancient Poems of the Finnish People.
In this paper I will look at Huovinen's healing charms. I am interested in his themes and motifs especially those dealing with supernatural agents, common and rare features, opening and closing lines, and combinations of different elements. On the one hand, I intend my paper as an overview which points out general trends of Huovinen's repertoire. On the other hand, I will take a closer look at certain interesting motifs or features.

25. Stéphanie VLAVIANOS-TOMASZYK (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, PARIS ; Docteur en Histoire Byzantine)
LES CHARMES DE BYZANCE : QUELLE PAROLE POUR LA FIGURE DU MAGE? (VIIIE - FIN DU XIE S.)

Mon intervention se veut un état des lieux de la question des charmes, compris comme formules magiques, à Byzance pour la période qui s'étend du VIIIe à la fin du XIe siècle. Pour la période considérée, nous ne disposons pas de sources magiques à proprement parler et la voix des praticiens ne se fait entendre qu'à travers ce que j'appelle les sources normatives, chrétiennes, anti-magiques par principe. Ainsi, il est possible d'évoquer les charmes à travers ces sources qui décrivent le recours du mage à une parole efficace, magique. Ceci constituera un premier point de mon développement. Dans un deuxième temps, il sera question d'un grimoire particulier dont on sait qu'il a circulé à Byzance au cours de la période considérée, le Testament de Salomon. D'une tradition manuscrite complexe et tardive, il présente cependant un intérêt certain pour la question des charmes. Dans un troisième temps, je voudrais m'arrêter sur des recueils spécifiques, datés du Xe siècle, les Hippiatrika et les Geoponika, dont le caractère «magique» indéniable pour certains chercheurs, doit, selon moi, être remis en question.