LEMBI: THE CONCEPT AND LEXICAL COMBINATIONS IN THE KALEVALA

Abstract

The concept of lembi (or lempi in North Karelian) and the related myth-based set of rituals is a phenomenon specific to the Karelian traditional culture. Over the past century, lembi has most often been associated exclusively with love magic and maiden audiences. The study of folklore-ethnographic sources and Karelian epic songs based on which E. Lönnrot wrote The Kalevala epic has shown, however, that originally the functional, gender and age framework of this concept used to be much broader. Lembi is not only a sexual attraction, first and foremost, of young people, not only a special magical power, an ability to charm numerous members of the opposite sex. This is both the external and internal beauty of a person, a synthesis of moral and physical qualities, that is, what creates a positive image. This is a very capacious concept, which includes honor, and charm, and the ability to farm, and hard work, and happiness, and good fame, and good luck, what is nowadays meant by the words and “charisma” and “sex appeal”. The purpose of pre-wedding love rituals was to raise lembi to an unattainable height for others, and after the wedding, too high lembi was considered a disease and the cause of adultery.

The article relies on archival materials, as well as records the author was taking during folklore-ethnographic expeditions to Karelians in the last decades of the 20^th century and first decades of the 21^stcentury. Traditional methods of folklore studies were employed: typological, descriptive, comparative-historical, and structural-typological.

The aim was to provide an extended definition of the lembi concept and, proceeding from the vocabulary, to define the functional, age and gender scope of use of this term, including its use in The Kalevala. One of the tasks was to identify the transformation pathways of the lembi concept.

The article has been necessitated by the lack of knowledge on the subject and the growing interest in folk culture, including ritualization and the mythological dimension of love magic, not only among specialists but also among wider audiences.

Acknowledgements: the study was financed from the federal budget through allocations to state order to KarRC RAS (project № АААА-А18-118030190094-6).

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