Folks in Ethno-Medicine and Music et Musicology - Lääketiedettä, kansanlääkintää, musiikkia

Roku Jumpe     Roku :  Jump e !  Mikä vikana ? Olet surkean näköinen ! Sinun kannattaisi mennä ...                                          hierojalle tai kupparille ! /  Jumpe ! What's wrong ? You look miserable ... You should go ... to a masseur or a cupper ! Jumpe : Mitä kuppaus on ?     /  What's cupping for something ?  Roku : Sitä että tehdään pieniä haavoja ihoon ja sitten imetään niistä kohdista verta /   It means that a cupper makes little wounds in the skin and then sucks blood through those places Jumpe : Verta ! Imetään ! Tekeekö se kipeää ?     /   Blood ! Sucks ! Does it hurt ? Roku : Eipä juuri Siitä tulee rento olo Voit paremmin ! /  No not much You'll become relaxed You'll feel better ! Drawings Text Copyright...

Drawing and Copyright A. Hernesniemi These drawings present Mr. Väinö Kinnunen during our visit  - me and my photographer  Engineer Mr. Anders Nordström from Nykarleby  - to meet Mr. Väinö and his wife  Mrs. Vieno Kinnunen (born Saarikoski)  in Kannus, Polvikoski Village, in summer 1981. Their house is built near the Lestijoki River. In that house and in their sauna we tape recorded and filmed  his massage and cupping  on S-8-film.  Nämä piirrokset esittävät Väinö Kinnusta kesällä 1981, kun kävimme - minä ja kuvaajani insinööri Anders Nordström Uudestakaarlepyystä - tapaamassa häntä ja hänen vaimoaan Vienoa (o.s. Saarikoski)  Kannuksessa Polvikosken kylässä. Heidän talonsa on Lestijoen varressa. Siellä ja talon saunassa äänitimme ja kuvasimme S-8-filmille Väinön hierontaa ja kuppausta. 

Drawing and Copyright A. Hernesniemi

Bonesetter Ina Känsälä's (born Nygren)  hands presented at a phase of a  manoeuvre on a sick man's right shoulder. She performs an arm rotating movement to relieve his pain. Drawing and Copyright A. Hernesniemi (See m edical thesis of developing a pictorial method to describe working of a bonesetter :  Hernesniemi A. Presentation of bonesetter-patient collaboration through positiographical cinemanalysis. Oulu 1999). Jäsenkorjaaja Ina Känsälän (o.s. Nygren) kädet piirrettyina toimenpiteessä  hoidettavan miehen oikean olkanivelen seudussa. Jäsenkorjaaja suorittaa käsivartta pyörittävän liikkeen lievittääksen miehen kipuja.  Piirros ja Copyright A. Hernesniemi (Kts. väitöskirja jäsenkorjaajan hoidon kuvallisesta esittämisestä : Hernesniemi A. Presentation of bonesetter-patient collaboration through positiographical cinemanalysis. Oulu 1999).

Karl-Johan Nyström. Drawing and Copyright A. Hernesniemi Mörkret vek undan en ny dag var nära själv hade jag  inga sorger att bära ... Blacksmith  Karl-Johan Nyström lived in Pensala with his family in a farming house, near which he had a little forgery. I was privileged to listen and to record on tape recorder and  S-8-camera  a few of his colorful and country people addressing recitations.  Poem "Mörkret ved undan" - "Darkness disappeared" - is one of them. It tells about a man's days during his wife's sickness. It begins like this (my translation) : Darkness gave place a new day was near feeling okay no sorrows to bear ...  Seppä Karl-Johan Nyström asui Pensalassa maatalossa, jonka lähellä hänellä oli oma pieni paja. Olin etuoikeutettu kuuntelemaan, kun hän lausui v. 1982  nauhalle ja filmille joitakin eloisista ja maaseudun ja  ihmiset  tavoittavista runoistaan. "Mörkret vek undan", "Pimeys väi...

Copyright A. Hernesniemi In this photo masseur and cupper Mr. Väinö Kinnunen is giving massage to the ethno- and photographer at Väinö's  home in Kannus, near the Polvikoski village. Väinö's hands are determined and tight. (Photo AH).   AH : Why does massage help one ?  Mr Väinö : It of course makes muscles more loose, makes cartilage places disappear, it makes the circulation better. You should be that clever that you would let yourself be massaged when you're healthy ... before you're  ruined...  ... being twenty you should take massage every year. It would be very nice to give massage to a healthy man ... since being child it would be good ... if you have growing pains.  Tässä ottamassani kuvassa hieroja ja kuppari Väinö Kinnunen hieroo tutkijaa kotonaan Kannuksessa Polvikosken kylän lähellä. Hänen otteensa ovat määrätietoiset     ja lujat.   AH : Minkä takia hierominen auttaa ?    Väinö : Se tietenkin löyhytt...

There's a blog with my drawings, paintings and texts  : http://www.nousevatmetst.blogspot.com My music can be ordered through :  http://www.fuga.fi/detail.php?id=S%C3%84VE1 and: ttp://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Antti-Samuli-Hernesniemi/Composer/244700-1

Copyright A. Hernesniemi Resin has been commonly used in the treatment of small  wounds of children and adults.   Mr. Aleksi told about a pine he had  near their house in Evijärvi. Here he demonstrates the way to cut with an axe a hole in the pine bark to make the tree produce resin.  It has been laid on a plaster made of cloth  to cover a wound.  (Photo AH). Mr Aleksi presents his crooked pine to the investigator  in a wood near the Kultalahti main house in Evijärvi on 7th of August,  1982. AH : Could you tell me about that pine ?     Mr Aleksi :  The old Finnish proverb says that if sauna, spirits   and tar don't help, so the disease will lead to death ; but when threre's   lack of tar ...  one cannot use a common tar but it must be home burnt tar  that has come really directly from wood And in the lack of it I've begun to use resin from which tar is   made ... Using this resin i...

Copyright A. Hernesniemi I met farmer Mr. Aleksi Kultalahti Senior in Evijärvi altogether 16 times in 1981-1983. He is the most important person in my studies during the first years of the approach. He could tell detailed and colorful stories about the people and their habits in Evijärvi and elsewhere in Lake District (Järviseutu) in South-Ostrobothnia of old times and today (Photo AH).   Tapasin maanviljelijä Aleksi Kultalahti vanhemman Evijärvellä hänen kotonaan ja  kylän ympäristössä kaikkiaan 16 kertaa vuosina 1981-1983. Hän on merkittävin kansanlääkintä- ja muun perinteen tutkimusteni työkumppani ensimmäisten tutkimusvuosien ajalta. Hän kertoi vuolaasti ja värikkäästi entisistä ja nykyisistä,  tavallisista ja erikoisista tavoista ja ihmisistä Evijärvellä ja muualla Järviseudulla (Valokuva AH).   Aleksi, tuolloin 80-vuotias,  kertoo minulle elokuussa 1982 "käkkärämännystä" talonsa lähellä: "... noin kolmekymmentä vuotta (sitten) minä tuost...

Copyright A. Hernesniemi Mrs. Aili Vintturi, a traditional midwife at her home in Vintturi village, Kaustinen, in 1981. I had the privilege to sit two times a couple of interesting hours with her.  I then made her quite detailed obstetric questions concerning her midwifery. She answered me with issues which one could not have found with the help of hundreds of indirect queries sent to local officials. There have been many others like her - common country side women who have been able to take care of home deliveries. (Photo : AH).  We discussed her training; places of delivery; her hand positions during delivery; her medicines; instruments; hygiene; how did she investigate a pregnant woman; how did she take care of presentatio clunium ("feet downwards"); of twin pregnancy; taking care of the newborn and many other detailed obstetric items.   Rouva Aili Vintturi, paikallisperinteestä oppinsa saanut kyläkätilö kotonaan Vintturin kylässä Kaustisella vuonna 1981. ...

Some central co-working persons in my studies d uring the first years 1981-1983 / Tutkimukseni alkuvuosien eräitä keskeisiä asiantuntijoita   ovat  : Mrs., Emäntä Ina Känsälä , Nedervetil (Alaveteli) - Kaustinen (os. Nygren), jäsenkorjaaja; bonesetter Farmer; Maanviljelijä Mr.  Elo Polvikoski , Polvikoski, Kannus, jäsenkorjaaja, bonesetter Lady of the house; Emäntä Edith Endtbacka ,  Ähtävä (Esse),  paikallisten lääkekasvihoitojen tuntija; specialist in local herbal treatments Farmer; Maanviljelijä Mr. Aleksi Kultalahti vanhempi / senior, Evijärvi, paikallisperinteen tuntija; specialist in local traditions Road works foreman; Työnjohtaja Mr. Eero Antti Hautala ,  Evijärvi - Seinäjoki,  paikallisperinteen tuntija, kansanmuusikko, Dir. Musices ; specialist in local music and other traditions Truck driver; Nosturinkuljettaja Mr. Vilho Viljanmaa , Sykäräinen, hieroja ja käsilläparantaja; masseur and energy healer Mrs.;...

Dear Reader :  I am a scholar in ethno-medicine. In this blog I want to present the ethno-medical field material which I collected during twenty years in Ostrobothnia and in some other areas in Finland. This blog focuses in the years 1981-1983  -  the time before the years of my systematic co-work as a medical doctor with the traditional healers in Ostrobothnia, years 1984 -1990.  A little glimpse on this co-work is presented in my article Co-work between a medical doctor and a traditional healer  (In book : Studies in Alternative Therapies. Ed. Johannessen, H. and others. Odense University Press. Odense 1994). More of it is presented in my medical thesis : Hernesniemi, A;   Presentation of bonesetter-patient collaboration through positiographical cinemanalysis (Acta Universitatis Ouluensis. Oulu University Press. Oulu  1999).  Much of the theory, history, literature and my field work results is presented in my text book in Finnish ethno-medici...

"No ja sku nu berätt he di åkerhumle !"  "No minä kerron nyt siitä niittyhumalasta!" Lady of the house / Husmor / Emäntä Edith Endtbacka  (Photo AH 1981; Copyright A. Hernesniemi) This is one of the photos I took on my visit to the Endtbackas'  place in Nedervetil in Ostrobothnia, Finland in 1981.   Lady of the house, Edith, she began her story about a herb like this :   "Well, now I tell you about that self-heal flower!"

                                                                                  Copyright A. Hernesniemi. I met Farmer Edith Endtbacka and her brothers at their home near Lappfors in Esse (Ähtävä) in Finland on June 1st, 1981; on the first summer of my ethno-medicine studies in Ostrobothnia. I sat in their main room three hours and discussed with them about their treatment methods in the case of various ailments, pains, accidents, fever etc. Living in their old stock house in the middle of large forests and near some small lakes they collected and prepared a few plants from the surrounding woods and fields for their treatments. Certain marsh herbs (e.g.  Ledúm palustre)  were used.  A  curing bath  was made of little flowers, " åkerhumla" ( Prunélla v...

In this drawing (2) Mr Arvi Louko continues his description about the ways the human body functions.   It goes like that... I have always said that you should complain now - not on the next week.  -  Tässä piirroksessa (2) herra Arvi Louko jatkaa kuvailuaan kehon nivelten toiminnasta. "Nuan se menöö...   minoon aina sanonu että pitää porata nyt eikä kaharen viikon päästä".   Copyright A. Hernesniemi.