Estonian folk speech names dozens of kinds of ghosts

Estonian folk speech has dozens of words for spirits and apparitions, ERR reported in a Vikerraadio language segment presented by Mari-Liis Kalvik. The most common are vaim, hing and viirastus, while regional words include kummitus, mardus, haldjas, näidis and näitus.

The full moon in August marked the beginning of White Lady season in Haapsalu, a cultural programme featuring song, dance and outdoor performances. The programme grew out of the town’s famous apparition.

According to legend, the White Lady is the image of a young woman in white who was once sealed inside a wall. She appears in a high window of the baptismal chapel in Haapsalu Cathedral. Similar apparitions of white women, associated with unhappy lives or tragic deaths, are known elsewhere as well.

The most widespread Estonian words for such beings are vaim, meaning spirit, hing, meaning soul or spirit, and viirastus, meaning apparition. Spirits were believed to be either good or bad. In the Püha dialect, people said that spirits whisked themselves when the sun was shining and rain was falling. In the Vastseliina dialect, a saying described a spirit as moving in a white garment.

Souls, or spirit beings, were often imagined as moving in groups. In the Karksi dialect, foggy weather was described as the time when souls came down from the sky. In Kambja, people believed that souls made the weather bad when they howled.

A viirastus was often described as something moving quickly before one’s eyes. In the Kodavere dialect, one was described as a grey, strong woman who came in through the door. In Karksi, people believed that an apparition could be found in a cemetery at the time of the second stroke of the clock. In Järva-Jaani, people joked that men with drink in their heads saw apparitions and mermaids. In Põltsamaa, the phenomenon was also described as a phosphorescent figure rising above a grave.

Kummitus, another word for a ghost, was used regionally, particularly in Virumaa. In Haljala, people could ask which ghost or mardajus something was. The coastal Virumaa word mardajus referred to a mardus, which could mean a dead person, a spirit of death or an omen of death. In Kuusalu, people joked by asking what kind of mardajus someone was playing with in a dark room.

Mardus was also known in western and eastern dialects, with margus used as a variant in eastern Harju County. In Kadrina, people said that mardus came before death and knocked, calling out to those who went to see who was there.

Another northern Estonian word, haldjas, was used mainly for a spirit of the forest or water. In Viru-Nigula, people believed there was a haldjas near the stones that sometimes took children. In Järva-Madise, they said that stepping on a haldjas’s tracks in the forest would make a person lose their way. In Vigala, aljas referred to a nocturnal magical being that came and went.

The islands had their own words. In Pöide and Muhu, a ghost was called mäherdus; in Kihelkonna, näidine; in western Saaremaa, näidis; and in the Reigi dialect, näitus. In Anseküla, people wondered what kind of näidis someone had seen when they were in such pain.

On the mainland, the Martna dialect used näävästus for an apparition. People said that such apparitions had often been seen at crossroads. The Hiiumaa word was õudasi. In Pühalepa, people described seeing an õudasi as being like a dream.