Jutud peidetud varandustest. Pärimus ja meedia
Narratives of hidden treasure. Heritage and media

Summary/Abstract: In the 1920s-1940s, Estonian press publish numerous descriptions of search for treasures and archaeological findings. Some published classical legends from the Estonian Folklore Archives. Media is one of the common channels for spreading folklore - is there some essential difference between the text published in the newspaper and archived in the archive. A newspaper story is expected to be on a hot topic, a legend becomes hot in context. In their narrative form, both press and oral narrative tradition satisfy the human need to experience varied emotions. The journalist's job in writing a message is akin to that of a legend narrator. A news story should be of interest for many, while with heritage, its collective character is emphasised, even though every single folk narrative has definite different ranges of distribution in time and space. In the case of treasure legends, there is cause to believe that part of the information belonged to a small group of users only. The typology of treasure legends published in press is limited to a dozen narrative types, probably those in active circulation at the time. The stories were presented as true; mythological legends were either avoided or were supplemented with comments and evaluations. Narratives of treasures were not invented media legends but used as a story to decorate local heritage or some event. The topic exhausted itself by the end of the 1930s.

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