Many Births of the Bears included episodes of the Baptism of the Bear and the Oath of the Bear. In a Birth of the Bear used to heal the wounds caused by a bruin, the bear was born in Pohjola but baptized elsewhere:
There, on the river Jordan by the whirl of the holy stream, John, the priest of the gods, aimed to do the christening.
What was the name given to you?
Lullokki, Lallokki.1126
The baptism could have multiple functions. For one, the singer should know the right names to call the bear. Lullokki and Lallokki were endearing names for it: the singer probably chose them to calm and please it. Being nameless was a dangerous and impure situation. A nameless human child who did not have a guardian spirit or protective saint was magically vulnerable.1127 A baptized and named bear acquired personhood and probably a connection with a guardian spirit, a forest spirit or a vernacular saint.
1123 SKVR I4/3598: 45–49.
1124 SKVR VI1/31–51: 3–4; VII5/3212: 10–11. On the incantation against envious people, see Section 4.8.
1125 SKVR IX4/1096: 37–40.
1126 Tuolla ohto ristittynä, / kas[tettuna karvajalka]: / Johannes, / jumalten p[appi, /ristiäksehen käkesi.
/ Mikäs on pantuna nimeksi? / Lullokiksi, lallokiksi. (SKVR VII5/3943: 24–31. Ilomantsi. Eur. H, n. 169. 1845).
1127 Ilomäki 2014: 112.
In this incantation, we have a real Christian baptism, performed by Saint John and on the same river where Jesus was baptized. This situation was quite different from the uncommon baptism in the song by Iivana Malinen, in which the bear was baptized by the non-Christian Crone of Pohjola in the otherworld.1128
In another Birth of the Bear to protect the cattle from bears, Jesus himself baptized the bear.1129 Jehkimä Putune from Lupasalmi sang that he was the bruin’s godfather.1130 Here baptism established a deep social and familiar relationship between the bear and the singer.
The Christianization of the bear was a way of making it more anthropomorphic and humanlike.1131 If the bear was baptized, it was more similar to the human community.
Karelians defined themselves as “people of the cross,”1132 an expression which could be considered as equivalent to “human being.”1133 The baptism of the bear was a way to personalize it and to transform it into an agent able to make choices. The bruin also shared the Christian moral code with humans.1134 Just after mentioning the baptism of the bear, a healer from Ilomantsi reminded the bear that it had pronounced an oath
“on the knees of the sacred God”1135 and had promised to avoid doing any harm.1136 After that, the healer declared that the bear was allowed go to hear the bell of the cattle three times in the summer, but the bear should not attack the cows1137 or “meddle in shameful things.”1138 The healer commanded the bruin to hide its claws in its fur and its teeth in its gums each time it heard the bell of the cattle.1139. He also accused the bear of perjury: “You, poor one, broke your oath, / you ate, wretched, your honor.”1140. The
1128 SKVR I4/1191: 14–27. See Section 5.6.
1129 Itse Ristus ristimässä (SKVR II/974: 25. 1845).
1130 Mie kummina olova (SKVR II 983: 23. Lupasalmi. 1871).
1131 Stark 2002: 126.
1132 Ristikansa.
1133 Stark 2002: 127.
1134 See Section 5.5.
1135 Polvilla pyhän Jumalan (SKVR VII5/3943: 33).
1136 SKVR VII5/3943: 32–36. Ilomantsi. Europaeus H, n. 169. 1845.
1137 SKVR VII5/3943: 50–54. Ilomantsi. Europaeus H, n. 169. 1845.
1138 Häpehih hämmentyä! (SKVR VII5/3943: 54).
1139 SKVR VII5 3943: 55–62.
1140 Petit, vaivanen, val[asi], / söit on, kurja, k[unniasi]. (SKVR VII5/3943: 63–64. Ilomantsi.
Europaeus H, n. 169. 1845).
bear was supposed to be ashamed by this revelation, thus becoming magically vulnerable.1141
At the end of the incantation, the healer asked the forest spirit Hongotar1142 to heal the wounds caused by her boy, the bear.1143
The bear hunters from Pielisjärvi sang a version of the Oath of the Bear, reminding the bruin: “there you swore steadily / on the famous rock of Sweden, / on the anvil of Karelia / not to do bad [things].”1144 The “rock of Sweden” could be a border stone, a powerful place, suitable for uttering oaths. Karhu argued that it was the border stone of Viertelä in Salmi.1145 However, the references to Sweden and Karelia could be considered a general remark that the bear was born somewhere far away, at the edge of the world. A reference to swearing on an anvil was present in the Oath of the Iron as part of some Births of the Iron.1146
In healing incantations, fire, iron, the nine illnesses and the rickets could also be baptized.1147 A tietäjä from Iisalmi uttered a Birth of the Fire in which Virgin Mary baptized the fire.1148 The motif of baptism was useful in making objects, animals, entities or illnesses more personal, in order to communicate with them and force them to undo “their work,” namely, damage caused to a human being. In a Birth of the Iron collected in Nilsiä, the metal was baptized on the Jordan River,1149 where it made an oath. The tietäjä lamented that the iron did not keep its promise to be harmless.1150 The bear and the iron, both considered extremely sacred and powerful, were often baptized with the pure waters of the Jordan River. By contrast, an illness like rickets was baptized with polluted water mixed with blood.1151
1141 By contrast, in the Mansi and Khanti tradition the bear is a guardian of human oaths. When the people uttered an oath, they asked the bear to punish and kill them if they perjured.
(Sirelius 1929: 193; Kannisto 1933: 170–171).
1142 On the ”Pine Lady,” see Section 5.4.
1143 SKVR VII5 3943: 65–69.
1144 Siellä vannoit vaikiasti, / ruotsin kuululla kivellä, / Karjalan alasimella, / tekemättäsi pahoa. (SKVR VII5/3403, 28–31: Pielisjärvi. Lönnrot Q, n. 136. 1838).
1145 Karhu 1947: 109–110.
1146 SKVR I4/202: 51–55.
1147 Karhu 1947: 91.
1148 SKVR VI1/3217: 14–17.
1149 SKVR VI1/3320: 34–40.
1150 SKVR VI1/3320:15.
1151 SKVR VI2/4429: 74–76; VI2/4434.
5.13 The complexity of the Births of the Bear