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<P align="justify"> Earth spirits (g … <P align="justify"> Earth spirits (gnomes) were anthropomorphic creatures that constituted a very popular subject in beliefs and legends. They appear not only throughout the Saami lands but also among neighbouring peoples. They were not supernatural creatures, and they can best be described as semi-human fellow creatures (cf. [[Stállu (engl. ver.)|<i>Stállu</i>]]). The western Saami called them [[Gufihtar (an underground being)|<i>gufihtar]], ulda</i> and <i>kadnihah</i>. The first two of these names are Scandinavian loan words: <i>gufihtar</i> < <i>gud vätte</i> good creature from below the earth . Etymologically, <i>Ulda</i> is derived from the Norwegian word <i>huldra</i> meaning a female forest spirit. Kadnihah is a Saami name for which no etymology has been found ([[Čahkalakkis (engl. ver.)|<i>Čáhkalakkis</i>]]). </P>
<P align="justify"> In the tradition there is a certain ambivalence surrounding the earth spirits. They are sometimes described as looking almost like humans but more beautiful, wealthier and happier. There was a reciprocal relationship between humans and earth spirits, and many people were said to have enjoyed the hospitality of earth spirits. Occasionally the earth spirits might also give people fine, meaty reindeer; it was sometimes also possible to get cattle for oneself by throwing an object that possessed mana ([[Force|väki]]) over the reindeer. According to the writer Johan [[Turi, Johan (engl. ver.)|Turi]], earth spirits could advise people about day-to-day matters and predict the future; they were helpers, advisors and protectors who were recompensed for their services with sacrifices. The earth spirits were also good at [[Joik - traditional song|chanting]], they wore the Saami traditional dress and they esteemed order and good behaviour. The tradition describes the earth spirits as some kind of ideal Saamis: they represented a model of what life could be like in a perfect world. They were thus very similar in character to the inhabitants of the [[Sáiva (engl. ver.)|<i>sáiva</i>]].</P>
<P align="justify"> However, the earth spirits also had a dark side: they tended to kidnap human babies and replace them with their own decrepit parents. This was used to explain mental or other handicaps in children. This exchange could be prevented by putting something silver, a knife or a steel darning needle, a flint steel or some other talismanic object in the baby's cradle. Earth spirits could also pester people they did not like for some reason or another those who were rowdy, cursed or otherwise behaved improperly. An earth spirit would also get angry if a lodge was erected above his abode. Then they usually visited the people when they were sleeping and told them about the situation and asked them to remove their lodge, but sometimes, according to Turi, they might also begin to harass the human intruders without any warning. However, in the older tradition, the earth spirit is predominantly a beneficent being.</P>
<P align="justify"> According to Edgar [[Reuterskiöld, Edgar (engl. ver.)|Reuterskiöld]]'s interpretation, the earth spirits came into being in the later tradition when beliefs about the sáiva changed under western and Christian influence, and the <i>sáiva</i>'s (presumably) original significance relating to the world of the dead began to fade. The belief in earth spirits would thus represent a degeneration of the sáiva tradition. On the other hand, it reflects the great flexibility of Saami culture; this latter aspect has been emphasized by Nilla Outakoski. Despite their originally Scandinavian name, the actual concept of the earth spirits was probably in any case an original Saami one; the Scandinavian underground creatures (gnomes) that resembled the Saami earth spirits had not tutelary function.</P>
<P align="justify"> The late tradition emphasizes the dangerous and demonic nature of the earth spirits. This demonising was probably above all a consequence of the preaching of the revivalist religious leader Lars Levi [[Laestadius, L.L. (engl. ver.)|Laestadius]]. In his book, <i>Lappalaisen mytologian katkelmia</i> ([[Fragments of Lappish Mythology|Fragments of Lappish Mythology]]), Laestadius equates the earth spirits with the creatures of the <i>sáiva</i> and says that according to the tradition they were mainly benevolent creatures. However, the earth spirit that appeared in his sermons was very different; it was a demonic creature which he used as a symbol of an unconverted person who was a Christian merely in form. The evil underground creatures resembling the earth spirits found in Laestadius Postiller Sermons also appear in his mythology, but he considers them a separate, secondary phenomenon imported from Scandinavia. He also uses a different name for them (underboninga the underground dwellers), and he deals with them under the topic of changelings. A changeling corresponded to the above-mentioned earth spirit that had been exchanged for a human baby; the underground dwellers might also exchange their own child for an unbaptized human one if the latter did not have some Christian symbol to protect it. In his mythology, [[Laestadius, L.L. (engl. ver.)|Laestadius]] thus continued the somewhat ambivalent folklore tradition of the earth spirit by distinguishing a benevolent sáiva earth spirit and a demonic underground dweller . Despite this ambivalence of the Saami earth spirit in his mythology, the image of it in Laestadius sermons is clearly dictated by theological and homiletic expediency. </P>gical and homiletic expediency. </P> +
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