Lauri Honko

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A disciple of Martti Haavio whose thesis, Krankheitsprojektile (1959) developed a typology for the analysis of ethnographic data in folk medicine. He put the Finnish folk tradition explanation of illness and healing into global perspective and found distinct features and differences in geographical regions. Honko’s seminal work, Geisterglaube in Ingermanland is very influential for Finnish folklorists because it set apart the old and new science of religion. He used new insights from social anthropology, phenomenology of religion, social psychology and sociology. He interpreted the experience of guardian spirits in Ingrian peasant society by developing a genre-analytic and role-model theory.

He classifies rituals into three main categories, rites of passage, calendrical rites and crisis rates. He stresses the importance of analyzing rituals within cultural context and the need to differentiate between small-scale and complex systems of belief. During the 1980’s and 1970’s, Honko compared popular traditions and developed a research methodology.

[edit] References

1. Anttonen, Veikko. "Comparative Religion At the University of Turku and the University of Helsinki: a Brief Survey." Department of Comparative Religion. University of Turku. [1]