In Estonian vernacular religion the Lord’s Prayer has several divergent functions. The first historical records of using the Lord’s Prayer as a charm can be found in 17th-century witchcraft reports. According to M. J. Eisen’s folklore collection it is a universal charm that can be used in protective magic, healing procedures, erotic seduction and divination, and occasionally also for harming other people. The Lord’s Prayer may be repeated several times (usually thrice) and the order of the words or letters might be reversed to achieve a stronger effect on the supernatural. The Lord’s Prayer can be read as a separate text, but often it is intertextually combined with other charms. The process of incantation is usually accompanied by different ritual acts that might be homological (e.g. making a sign of the cross) or heterological (reading the spell over a liquid or food etc). Sometimes the time and place of incantation is also specified, and the mode of enunciation is precisely determined (reading in a low voice, without breath-taking etc). However, it is quite significant that the Lord’s Prayer does not hold a hegemonic position in the magical repertoire and it does not exclude non-Christian practices that were usually condemned by the church. As a charm, it supports and confirms other charms and ritual acts, amplifying their effect and serving as an additional guarantee of their expected success.
References
Braekman, Willy Louis 1963. Middelnederlandse zegeningen, bezweringsformulieren en toverplanten. – Verslagen en Mededelingen van de Koninklikje Academie voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde.
Faraone, Christopher A. 1988. Hermes but No Marrow: Another Look at a Puzzling Magical Spell. – Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, nr 72, lk 279–286.
Frankfurter, David 1995. Narrating Power: The Theory and Practice of the Magical Historiola in Ritual Spells. – Ancient Magic and Ritual Power. Toim M. Meyer, P. Mirecki. Leiden: Brill, lk 457–476.
Harmening, Dieter 2005. „Contra Paganos” = „Maarahva vastu”? Etnoloogiliste mõistete teoloogilisest taustast. – Mäetagused, nr 28, lk 165–190.
https://doi.org/10.7592/MT2004.28.harmening
Hiiemäe, Reet 2012. Kaitsemaagia eesti rahvausundis. Tallinn: Pegasus.
Kõiva, Mare 1999. Numeraalid. Ühest loitsude alaliigist. – Eesti Rahva Muuseumi aastaraamat. Toim Art Leete. Tartu: Eesti Rahva Muuseum, lk 115–132.
Kõiva, Mare 2007. Miniatuursed dialoogid loitsutekstides. – Mäetagused, nr 36, lk 129–160.
https://doi.org/10.7592/MT2007.36.koiva
Loorits, Oskar 1990. Eesti rahvausundi maailmavaade. Tallinn: Perioodika.
Loorits, Oskar 2000. Liivi rahva usundIV–V. Tartu: Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum.
Lotman, Juri 1999. Semiosfäärist. Tallinn: Vagabund.
Paulson, Ivar 1966. Vana eesti rahvausk. Stockholm: Vaba Eesti.
Pihelgas, Carolina 2010. Meieisapalve kasutamisest tõrjemaagias. – Vahetatud laps. Pro Folkloristica XV. Toim Ave Tupits, Kanni Labi. Tartu: Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi teaduskirjastus, lk 68–80.
Roper, Jonathan 2003. Towards a Poetics, Rhetorics and Proxemics of Verbal Charms. Electronic Journal of Folklore, kd 24.
https://doi.org/10.7592/FEJF2003.24.verbcharm
Roper, Jonathan 2005. English Verbal Charms. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
Sanders, Seth L. 2001. A Historiography of Demons: Preterit-Thema, Para-Myth, and Historiola in the Morphology of Genres. – Historiography in the Cuneiform World. Toim Tzvi Abusch, Paul-Alain Beaulieu, John Huehnergard, Peter Machinist, Piotr Steinkeller. Maryland: CDL Press, lk 429–440.
Siirak, Erna 1965. Eesti kirjasõna esimesed alged, käsikirjad ja raamatud (XIII saj. – 1629). – Eesti kirjanduse ajalugu. I kd. Toim A. Vinkel. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, lk 107–124.
Stark, Laura 2006. The Magical Self. Body, Society and the Supernatural in Early Modern Rural Finland. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
Tedre, Ülo 1995. Järelsõna. – Matthias Johann Eisen, Eesti mütoloogia. Tallinn: Mats, lk 163–172.
Uuspuu, Villem 1938. Eesti nõiasõnade usulisest iseloomust. – Usuteadusline ajakiri. Tartu. Nr 1, lk 15–24.
Vaitkevičienė, Daiva 2008. Lietuvių Užkalbėjimai: gydymo formulės. Lithuanian Verbal Healing Charms. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas.
Vana kirjakeele korpus 2007. http://www.murre.ut.ee/vakkur/Korpused/Tekstid/1524-Kullamaa.htm (22. XI 2012).
Velmezova, Ekaterina 2011. On Correlation on Charms and Prayers in Czech and Russian Folklore Traditions: An Attempt at Textual Analysis. – Oral Charms in Structural and Comparative Light. T. A. Mikhailova, J. Roper, A. L. Toporkov, D. S. Nikolayev (toim). Moscow: PROBEL-2000, lk 55–60.
Wolf-Knuts, Ulrika 2009. Charms as a Means of Coping. – Charms, Charmers and Charming. International Research on Verbal Magic. Toim Jonathan Roper. New York: Palgrave and Macmillian, lk 62–70.
https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230583535_5
