Mare Kõiva
Biographic Data
| ID | 218734 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mare Kõiva |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mare |
| FAMILY NAME | Kõiva |
| SIGNATURE | KÕIVA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Estonian Literary Museum |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3769-3878 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 72 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 31 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 69 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Noppeid humanitaarteaduste aastakonverentsilt
Mare Kõiva writes about the Annual Conference of Estonian Humanities held in April 2026.
Urmas Sutrop 70
Mare Kõiva writes about the contribution to Estonian cultural history of the multi-faceted keeper of culture and language.
Magus lugemine, aga ka põnev arutlusteema erakordsest kohtumisest haldjarahvaga
John Clark. The Green Children of Woolpit. Cronicles, Fairies and Facts in Medieval England. Exeter: Exeter University Press. 2024. 260 p. For a book introduction by Mare Kõiva in English, see Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore 98: https://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol98/b01.pdf
Sweet Reading: An Exciting, Thought-provoking Book about an Extraordinary Encounter with the Fairy Folk
John Clark 2024. The Green Children of Woolpit. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. 260 pp
Socio-cultural motives drive free-range livestock farming in Estonia
Grazing in heritage grasslands supported by nature conservation subsidies is increasingly carried out by a new generation of livestock keepers who are establishing their own traditions. To effectively understand and communicate with livestock keepers, it is essential to consider their socio-cultural background and the motives underlying their decisions. We conclude that, when transitioning to an agroecological system, livestock keepers are strong…
The Longue Durée and Close Reading
In 2023 and 2024, the academic publishing house Indrik released two significant collections of charms: Charms from Archival Sources (18th Century – First Third of the 20th Century), Moscow: Indrik. Vol. 1, compiled by Tatiana A. Agapkina, 2023; Vol. 2, compiled by Alexandra B. Ippolitova and Andrey L. Toporkov, 2024
Forest Spirits and Their Functions in the Traditions of Estonians, Estonian Russians and Belarusians
This article gives a comparative analysis of data on forest spirits, including their names (terminology), functions, interactions with humans and how they protect people and animals. It examines the similarities and differences in the mythological narratives and practices of Finno-Ugric peoples (Estonians) and Slavic groups (the Russian minority in Estonia and Belarusians in Belarus). The available data reveals a wide variety of terminology and a…
From Windowsills to Rooftops: The Cultural History and Modern Uses of Domestic Plant Cultivation in Estonia
This study examines the historical development, cultural meanings, and contemporary practices of indoor, balcony, and rooftop gardening in Estonia. Combining historical sources, folkloric data, horticultural literature, and qualitative interviews, the research highlights how urban plant cultivation reflects broader social, environmental, and aesthetic transformations across the 19th–21st centuries. The study demonstrates that urban gardening in E…
Kontrastid olid tohutud
The Estonian Literary Museum’s photographer Alar Madisson (b. 17.03.1954) is an idea-photographer; from his ideas was born the first outdoor exhibition of University of Tartu professors. For years, in a completely different version, this idea has returned the gaze of the spectator with hundreds of eyes from the end wall of the oldest building of the Estonian Literary Museum. From the photo windows one can encounter the gaze of good-humoured write…
Enn Ernits 80
Mare Kõiva writes about Estonian doctor of veterinary medicine, linguist, and esperantist Enn Ernits, who, among other things, has studied folklore and rock paintings
Kummitused eestivenelaste folklooritekstides: Klassifikatsioon, Valgevene ja Eesti paralleelid
We examine materials related to ghosts from the Russian collection of the Estonian Literary Museum, drawing parallels with Belarusian and Estonian traditions. The thematic content is divided into five categories: (1) names and terminology; (2) appearance and attributes; (3) actions toward humans, acoustic and temporal characteristics; (4) places of manifestation; and (5) contemporary typological development of ghosts in media and the tourism indu…
Maailmade vahel: Ristteed, Dialoogid Ja Lood
From 29–31 October 2025 the seventh international research conference “Between the Worlds: crossroads, dialogues and stories” was held at the Ethnology and Folkloristics Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in conjunction with the Ethnographic Museum. An overview is provided by Mare Kõiva, Maris Kuperjanov and Andres Kuperjanov
Žanrid, loitsud ja sünkreetilised traditsioonid
Reflections on the ISFNR conference “Syncretic Elements in the Process of Charming” (24–26 September 2025) are shared by Mare Kõiva
Mis kaasneb kultuurilise rändega
Sergey Troitskiy and Mare Kõiva write about the international conference held in Krakow from 28-30 April, entitled “Cultraband: An Actor-Immigrant Is Changing the Environment. How Do We Investigate the Changes and Verify the Data
Healers: Who are They
The article discusses changes in healers’ healing tradition, explanatory models, use of written and published traditions. During the past century, healers used and integrated knowledge from different schools. Another significant trend rising to the fore highlights the importance of local folk medicine, which emphasises traditional values and creates novel cultural interpretations. To characterise the changes, the article introduces four healers, …
Muinastulede öö
The article focuses on the initiation, spread, and implementation of the tradition of the night of ancient bonfires, mapping the cultural environment and describing the internal and external socio-cultural factors, as well as connections to identity creation of celebrating the last Sunday in August on the seashore. Data were collected through interviews and observations, and qualitative approach was used to reconstruct the dynamic of private and …
Covid-19 in Saaremaa. Limited Resources and the Mechanisms for Healing and Prevention
COVID-19 challenged the entire population of the world, affected everyone, and all spheres of life, changing the content and ways of communication, cultural habits. The article investigates COVID-19 on Saaremaa island, looking at 1) how islanders with their limited territory and resources and therefore greater vulnerability copied during the pandemic; 2) the choices that individuals made in their everyday lives; 3) I present the mechanisms what p…
Bees in folk belief and practices before and now
The article traces changes in human cognitive and social development using the example of the domesticated insect, the bee. From the 13th to the 20th century, forest bee-keeping spread, using live trees as beehives, and later also log hives on the ground. The ways of keeping bees changed fundamentally in the 19th century with the introduction of new types of hives, and they also consolidated beliefs in relation to bees. Bees had numerous special …
Traditional Beliefs and Real Influence of Full Moon Days on the Behavior of Community Pharmacy Customers in Estonia
Traditional beliefs about the influence of the moon's phases on human well-being and health remain vague in Estonia. The study hypothesized that Estonian pharmacists have noticed a periodic increase in the number of problematic pharmacy visitors, which can be associated with full moon days (3 days before and after). The observational study was conducted in 22 community pharmacies in Estonia (11 in standard and 11 in blind group), a total of 76 ph…
Sõbrad elus ja surmas” valgevenelaste, venelaste ja eestlaste folklooris
Paljude rahvaste hulgas tuntud muinasjututüübi „Sõbrad elus ja surmas” (ATU/SUS 470) keskmes on motiiv aja kulgemisest kiiremini teispoolsuses kui maa peal ja tüüpi kuuluvad muinasjutud kirjeldavad teispoolsusse sattunud elava inimese värvikaid kogemusi. ATU/SUS 470 muinasjuttude levinuima süžee järgi lubavad kaks sõpra teineteise pulmas osaleda. Üks neist sureb, elav sõber kutsub surnud sõbra oma pulma ning [...]
Mesilased eesti usundilises folklooris
The article traces changes in human cognitive and social development using the example of the only domesticated insect, the bee. From the 13th to the 20th century, forest bee-keeping spread, using live trees as beehives, and later also log hives on the ground. The ways of keeping bees changed fundamentally in the 19th century with the introduction of new types of hives, and they also consolidated beliefs in relation to bees. Bees had numerous spe…
The Treasure-bearer in East Slavic and Finno-Ugric Contexts
The goal of this article is to conduct comparative and structural-semantic research into belief narratives concerning flying serpents and treasure-bearers in East Slavic (Belarusian, Estonian Russian, other Slavic traditions) and Finno-Ugric (Estonian, Votic, Livonian, Finnish, Vepsian) regions related to Baltic and Scandinavian beliefs. The source material was collected between the 19th and 21st centuries. Based on the available materials, a cha…
Loomade ja inimeste suhteid tähistavad loitsud – adresseerimine, eufemismid, düsfemismid
The use of euphemisms is a characteristic of everyday language use today. However, substitute names and euphemisms were widely used in incantations, where euphemisms were tightly interwoven with taboos. In incantations euphemisms are used in various situations: healing the sick, coping with animals and natural phenomena, creating social relationships; coping with core rituals of human life (primarily birth and death); retaliating for theft, murde…
Emily Lyle’s Jubilee
On December 19, Dr Emily Lyle, Honorary Fellow at the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, University of Edinburgh, celebrated her ninetieth birthday. Emily is a prominent folklorist, a researcher of ritual calendars, myths, astronomy, and cosmology, a semiotician and a typologist, a connoisseur of Scottish folklore and culture, just to mention a few of her fields of interest. To honour …
Estonian Teachers’ Day – October 5. From 1960s to Nowadays
Teachers’ Day is celebrated globally on various days of the year. The official celebration began either in 1965 or earlier. UNESCO established the World Teachers’ Day in 1994 to focus on work and achievements of teachers. Teachers’ Day has been celebrated at schools in Estonia since the 1960s. At that time, the best students became teachers, and lessons were given primarily to younger classes and at basic school. The newer rules in the 1990s beca…
Multi-functionality of the few: Current and past uses of wild plants for food and healing in Liubań region, Belarus
BACKGROUND: This study examined the use of wild plants in the food, medicinal and veterinary areas within a small territory limited to one village council in the Liubań district of Belarus. The objectives of the research were to document the current and past uses of wild plants in this region for food and human/animal medication; to analyse the food, medicinal and veterinary areas in the context of wild plants; and to qualitatively compare the re…
Vernacular Reactions to Covid-19 in Estonia: Crisis Folklore and Coping
The objective of the article is to give an overview of the vernacular reactions to the corona crisis in Estonia, based on COVID-19-related folklore collected from written, oral, and online sources from March to June 2020, i.e., during the emergency situation established due to the coronavirus. The methodological approach of the article was a context-dependent comparative content analysis studying the functioning of thematic texts in the wider tra…
Use of cultivated plants and non-plant remedies for human and animal home-medication in Liubań district, Belarus
BACKGROUND: To use any domestic remedy, specific knowledge and skills are required. Simple logic dictates that the use of wild plants in the context of limited interaction with nature requires prior identification, while in the case of non-plant remedies and cultivated plants this step can be omitted. This paper aims to document the current and past uses of non-plant remedies and cultivated plants in the study region for human/animal medication; …
Saatekirjaga rahvaarsti juures
aastate hte ravimisstrateegiat: ta nudis
Maailma esimesed inimesed – Valgevene ja Eesti etioloogiad
Belarusian and Estonian mythological and legendary narratives, especially aetiologies, share a number of similar motifs and characters, despite the fact that Estonian and Belarusian belong to different language families and share no common borders. However, some matches in the motifs are so complete and expressive that they, we believe, cannot be explained by typology or universals. Since the topic of ties between Estonian-Belarusian folklore is …
Loitsud ja rahvaarstid Virumaal
Teesid
Äksi nõid – nõukogude aja selgeltnägija
This article is about the constellations in which communities accept extraordinary personalities and the traditional clairvoyant/witchcraft narratives. The person under discussion is the witch of Äksi, Hermine Elisabeth Jürgens (1892–1976), one of the best known Estonian 20th-century clairvoyants. In Estonian, the word nõid (‘witch’) is still used by the general public (a witch is a person with extraordinary powers, a healer, a wise(wo)man). Duri…
Meie maakera viimased minutid
vad usuelu puudutava allikarea, mille abil saame vaadelda muutusi snumite retoorikas ja sotsiaalsetes thendustes, seda muutumatu invariantse phis
Miniatuursed dialoogid loitsutekstides
Teesid: Artiklis jlgitakse dialoogloitsude vahendusel toimuvat kommunikatsiooni
The transmission of knowledge among Estonian Witch Doctors
According to a recently developed legend, it so happened that seven of the most famous Estonian witches came together. They discussed various things, spoke about their experiences and finally started to argue who was the most powerful among them. They decided to find it out. A disciple was sent out to fetch anybody from the street. The disciple came back with a woman. According to the agreement, everybody was to try his or her best to say somethi…
The transmission of knowledge among Estonian Witch Doctors
According to a recently developed legend, it so happened that seven of the most famous Estonian witches came together. They discussed various things, spoke about their experiences and finally started to argue who was the most powerful among them. They decided to find it out. A disciple was sent out to fetch anybody from the street. The disciple came back with a woman. According to the agreement, everybody was to try his or her best to say somethi…
Palindromes and Letter Formulae: Some Reconsiderations
7) < Vil1895
Night Wailer and Night Mother in Estonian and Finno-Ugric Folk Tradition
Slovaki (ja natuke läti) folkloristikast konverentsikülalise pilguga
On October 23.-26, 2002 the international conference Traditional Culture as a Part of Cultural heritage of Europe. Presence and perspective of Folklore and Folkloristics, was held in Bratislava, Slovakia. Interdisciplinary questions on folklore and folklorism brought together folklorists from Slovakia, Norway, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Chekhia, Austria, etc
The Big Snowstorm I. The Spreading of Personal Experience stories about Soviet Estonia among Estonians in Sweden
Lugu suurest lumesajust I. Rootsieestlaste isikujutud Nõukogude Eestist
Aastail 1996-1999 intervjueerisin koos Andres Kuperjanoviga rootsieestlasi Luna-Rootsis
Folkloristics Online. The Estonian Experience
Estonians are a small nation on the borderline of middle Europe. Although we eagerly embraced Internet when it first started spreading here outside the circle of computer specialists in 1993, our position online is somewhat different from that of representatives of big nations, especially those speaking the English language as their mother tongue. We own the server with probably the greatest amount of digitised humanitarian science material, but …
Sloveenia folkloristika ja etnoloogia 2
varemetega, et iga pevaga mtilisem maius jbki proovimata. Rndame htuti vanalinnas, tuseme thetorni mele, kus jooksutatakse koeri ja ennast -see on linna serva roheline pgimetsamaastik
Sloveenia folkloristika ja etnoloogia I
The Institute for Slovenian Emigration Studies at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences is concerned with studying the emigration and immigration of Slovenians in the 19th and 20th century. The institute is carrying out several joint projects with research groups of other countries, and issues a periodical Dve Domovini. Razprave o izseljenstvu: Two Homelands. Migration Studies a newsletter, which introduces ongoing projects and events, and a series o…
Lepp: The database and portal of South-Estonian folklore
The article overviews the national database of South-Estonian folklore, the online version entitled LEPP (http//www.folklore.ee/lepp), its structure, content copyrights, access, metadata and typological issues. LEPP is a universal database, containing all folklore genres and cultural history (mainly oral history). The database is free for scientific and noncommercial use. A closer look is taken at possible citation and long-term maintenance. The …
Folkore Studies and Ethnology in Slovenia I
The article introduces the projects, researchers and institutions of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA), focusing on folklore studies and ethnology. In the first part we will give an overview of research topics and publications of the Institute of Migration of the SASA and the folklore anthologies and publications of the Institute of Ethnology. We will take a closer look at the recent publications and projects of the renowned folkl…
Rahuldava kultuuri loomine. Arheoastronoomia arengujooned nõukogude ajal
Archeoastronomical field work and research conincided in the 1960s-1990s with the national awakening movement and helped construct a satisfactory history and national identity within the Soviet system. Myths, folklore and mythological motifs were related by people to ancient sky picture and time reconing, the calendar, timekeeping system; holy sites, rock paintings were studied, the symbols and markings were decoded. Art and documentaries on the …
Fear, Honour and Shame. Horror Fictions of the 1950s and 1960s
The article analyses horror stories and legends about a sausage factories and about a woman who killed her children at her lover's insistence, told in a small Estonian town in the 1950s and 1960s. Presenting one's self and memories is often a strategy for altering data. Certain events or stereotypic stories of fear, dishonouring or shame can be told as first-person narratives on the condition that these do not damage the person's honour. Fear, ho…
Folklore Studies and Ethnology in Slovenia 2
Academy of Sciences. A closer look is taken to the principles of folklore collecting and publications by Karel trekelj, founder of Slovenian folkloristics. The article introduces the research topics of modern scholars
Võim ja kultuur 2
Lihavõtted Eestis 20. sajandil
Teesid: Artikkel vaatleb keskse kevad-ja ristiusu pha lihavtete thistamist sajandite vltel
The Search for a Satisfactory Culture. Trends in Archaeo-Astronomy during the Soviet Period in Estonia
Research and fieldwork in archaeo-astronomy from the 1960s to the 1990s in Estonia coincided with the national movement there, thus helping to create a satisfying perception of history and national identity during the Soviet period. Myths, folklore and mythological motifs were associated with the prehistoric sky and reckoning of time; the calendar, time reckoning, sacred sites, and rock drawings were studied, symbols and marks were decoded. The f…
Miniatuursed dialoogid loitsutekstides
Teesid: Artiklis jlgitakse dialoogloitsude vahendusel toimuvat kommunikatsiooni
Meditsiin on-line
Metagused 39 29
Meie maakera viimased minutid
vad usuelu puudutava allikarea, mille abil saame vaadelda muutusi snumite retoorikas ja sotsiaalsetes thendustes, seda muutumatu invariantse phis
Mis keeles me räägime loomadega
Teesid: Sotsiaalkultuurilise ja majandussri muutused kajastuvad folkloo
The Last Minutes of Our Earth
The article seeks to compare popular omens of the end of the world with the auguries of prophets. Both traditions reflect societal and cultural changes, the fears for doomsday tend to integrate new interpretations and causes for destruction. Astronomic celestial phenomena retain their relevance whereas the recent discoveries in astronomy, physics, genetics and other sciences have remarkably complemented the list omens for the end of the world. La…
Adaptation narratives on the example of Australian Estonians
Teesid: Käsitlen artiklis Teise
Druže Tito, Sveti Rilski. Insights into Contemporary Pilgrimage Tradition
Teesid: Eestis on hakatud
Äksi nõid – nõukogude aja selgeltnägija
This article is about the constellations in which communities accept extraordinary personalities and the traditional clairvoyant/witchcraft narratives. The person under discussion is the witch of Äksi, Hermine Elisabeth Jürgens (1892–1976), one of the best known Estonian 20th-century clairvoyants. In Estonian, the word nõid (‘witch’) is still used by the general public (a witch is a person with extraordinary powers, a healer, a wise(wo)man). Duri…
Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies (28 works) · History (25 works) · Art (22 works) · Philosophy (20 works) · Estonian (15 works) · Folklore (14 works) · Linguistics (14 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · History (12 works)