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Merili Metsvahi. The Legend of Saint Xenia in the Mental Universe of a Seto Woman named Ksenia Müürsepp |
2007, nr. 10 |
The article is focused on a saint legend told
to the author of the article and her colleagues, who were taking
folklore interviews with Setos, by Ksenia Müürsepp
(1911–2004)
on her own initiative. The legend represents an idiosyncratic
fusion of the story of the Forty Martyrs of Sebastia and an image
of Saint Xenia. The main character is St. Xenia as a champion
of (Orthodox) Christianity.
The legend is compared to other folk narrative genres and a survey
is given of the other legends told by the same person. Also, the
narrative strategies used are compared with those of other genres.
As the legend was about a female saint playing an active role
the author became inspired to study a woman's general position
in the Seto community, as well as the extant abstractions of types
of women occurring in folk tales.
The conclusion reads that the legend of St. Xenia enabled deviation
from the local gender stereotypes, because the events were placed
in a distant time and place. At the same time, Ksenia's believing
the legend to be a true story enabled her subconscious identification
with the central character –
her namesake – to a greater extent than would have done a
tale of any other genre or with a male main character. For Ksenia
Müürsepp the sex of the main character was less important
than her fight for Christianity.
Keywords: legend, folklore, identity,
narrative, Seto culture, story-telling.
Merili Metsvahi (b. 1973) MA, PhD Student,
University of Tartu, Institute of Cultural Research and Fine Arts,
researcher
merili.metsvahi[at]ut.ee
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