Folkloor ja eluloolisus Venemaa eestlaste mälestustes
Folklore and aspects of life history in the memories of Estonians living in Russia

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the extent to which Estonians born and grown up in Estonian settlements in Russia have used folklore in transmitting their personal life history. The sources used in the article are memories collected in the first decades of the 21st century from the Estonians who repatriated from Russia to Estonia in the Soviet period. The memories were collected as responses to an appeal to collect village and family history. I came to collecting life histories and personal memories through folkloric research after having collected folklore (songs, tales, rituals and traditions, etc.) in Estonian settlements in Siberia and elsewhere in Russia for more than ten years. In the recollections of Estonians born and grown up in Russia I focused on analysing the origin stories of their ancestors and names, narratives about settling in the new homeland, the impact of dramatic historical events in the lives of their families and communities, and major life cycle events. The time of the narrated event, the time of narrating, and the temporal space between the two interplays are creating memories of life history, as cultural memory mediates the transference of the past experience to the present day. In collective life, folkloric environment is closely embedded in the life history environment. The collected memories contain authentic folktales, popular interpretations of history, spells, descriptions of rituals, belief reports, etc. The knowledge, experience and traditions that are passed on from one generation to another, but also stories heard, have a significant influence on an individual and are reflected also in personal history. Narratives shape the local tradition, and a fact of personal life can turn into social experience. The life history of Estonians in Russia is highly collective, bound by folklore, because this is how the community communicated. Approaching personal experiences of individuals from a more general (economic or political) perspective helps to better understand also the general processes. The life history memories of Estonians born and raised in Estonian settlements in Russia could be viewed as oral narrative history based on the group’s interpretation of the past. This allows us to observe also the regional differences in the rituals and customs of Estonians as well as changes in their mentality.

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