First University Lecture Already as a Primary School Pupil
8-year-old Aura Ratilainen has a lot of questions. Can an elf go through a wall? If the elf becomes invisible, can you still touch it? Luckily, there is a person who has answers to these questions. University Lecturer Pasi Enges from the Department of Folkloristics is the lecturer of the Children’s University for a day.
Since 2008, the Children’s University has organised lectures in April and science camps during the summer, which have been incredibly popular. As the enrolment starts at noon on a specific day, the first camps are full within a minute. Fortunately, the lectures can accommodate a larger group.
There are nearly 150 primary school pupils in the lecture hall thirsting for information. The Heavens, World Tree and Gnomes – the Fantastical Beliefs of the Times Past lecture is about to begin.
Right at the beginning the Doctor of Philosophy Enges questions the children about the shape of the Earth. Nearly 150 children yell: round!
– So it is. However, before we had scientific knowledge, people thought that the Earth was shaped like this, says Enges and shows a picture of a pancake. The next photo has a dome above the pancake, just like the shape of the sky seems to be when you are standing in an open area.
– And here beneath the pancake the trees grow downward. In the past, people thought that there is a kind of a mirror image world beneath us where the goblins live and the trees grow upside down, says Enges and begins his lecture on old-time beliefs, the research subject of folklorists.
What Did People Believe in before Scientific Knowledge?
Seven-year-old Markku Robert Sandell is the first one to arrive at the lecture. It is his first time at the Children’s University and he decides to explore the Main Building from top to bottom, diving into the university world.
Aava Lilja, who is a year older, is already a veteran. She has attended several lectures and carries a notebook with her. Afterwards, she intends to amaze her mother with the knowledge gathered during the lecture, since adults are forbidden to attend.
The topic of the lecture brought a strange experience to Markku Robert’s mind:
– I was playing in the forest with a friend when we heard peculiar growling behind a rock, he remembers.
Before the lecture, the Coordinator of Children’s University, Eeva-Maria Soikkanen, asks Engles what do folklorists research: people’s thoughts and traditions, tales from the past and the present. Soikkanen reveals that she studies history, which was her favourite subject already in school.
– At the university, you can study a subject which you like more than anything else. You study the subject a lot, my timetable is almost completely filled with history. And then when you have studied enough, you can become a researcher, instructs Soikkanen.
Among other things, Enges has studied how people in the past imagined the world and what kind of creatures was believed to exist alongside with us. He talks about the heavens which were supported by the world tree. It was attached to the heavens at the point of the North Star. Stars were imagined to be holes through which an outside light shone on the world.
– In those times, researchers did not know much about the world. Therefore different beliefs sprang into existence, says Enges.
An Answer to Each Question
As the lecture is drawing towards the end, Eeva-Maria Soikkanen (in the middle of the picture) makes sure that the children get to asks questions from the lecturer for the last 10 minutes. And there are plenty: what colour are the shamans’ clothing, have there been shamans in Finland, how were trolls born, how could the gnomes have large cattle when they were small themselves, are Greek myths taught at the university, why did shaman Otsir Böök have a stick on his head, how did elves become Santa’s helpers, does the tooth fairy exist, where do the researchers get their knowledge.
– Do you believe in those stories, asks the critic of the group.
The Doctor of Philosophy admits that he doesn’t know if they are true but that he has met many people who say they have met a gnome.
The lecture ends. Some of the children go straight back to their parents but a few have a burning question in their minds. Eeva-Maria Soikkanen directs them to Enges.
– Each question will be answered, assures Soikkanen.
Markku Robert is the first to ask more questions. He wants to know about giants. The next one in the queue wants to know how shaman is spelled in order to google it. The third asks who owns the shaman’s drum shown during the lecture. The queue moves slowly forward. Last in turn is Aura Raitilainen.
– Can you run into an invisible elf on a path, asks Aura. The girl nods to Enges’s affirmative answer.
The lecture hall is empty. Enges sighs from relief. A demanding audience. A fantastic experience.
Text: Erja Hyytiäinen
Photos: Hanna Oksanen
Translation: Mari Ratia