Fibula, Fabula, Fact - The Viking Age in Finland

"The chapters of Fibula, Fabula, Fact – The Viking Age in Finland are intended to provide essential foundations for approaching the important topic of the Viking Age in Finland. These chapters are oriented to provide introductions to the sources, methods and perspectives of diverse disciplines so that these resources and the history of discourse from which they emerge are accessible to specialists from other fields, specialists from outside Finland, and also to non-specialist readers and students who may be more generally interested in the topic. Rather than detailed case studies of specific aspects of the Viking Age in Finland, the contributors have sought to negotiate definitions of the Viking Age as a historical period in the cultural areas associated with modern-day Finland, and in areas associated with Finns, Karelians and other North Finnic linguistic-cultural groups more generally. Within the incredible diversity of data and disciplines represented here, attention tends to center on the identification of the Viking Age through differentiating it from earlier and later periods, and on contextualizing it geographically in an era long before the construction of modern nations with their fenced and guarded borders. Most significantly, the contributions lay emphasis on contextualizing the Viking Age within the complexities of defining cultural identities in the past through traces of cultural, linguistic or genetic features."

The full preface for this peer reviewed publication from the Finnish Literatue Society of Helsinki, edited by Joonas Ahola and Frog with Clive Tolley, may be read and also downloaded at Academia.edu.

"Europe's last Pagans": The Mari

"The republic of Mari El is situated 800 kilometers east of Moscow. People of Finno-Ugric origin live there, divided into two main groups — lowlanders and highlanders. They speak different languages and live in different regions of the republic. But there is one thing that unites Mari El people – faith." A twenty-five minute documentary on the Mari people and their religious practices can be viewed at RT.com.

Finnish folk metal band Turisas begins tour of Spain

Century Media

"The Finns landed in Spain to present their new album 'Stand Up and Fight', a very ambitious work which hearkens back to high drama and epic themes. Turisas are a band that has achieved great popularityTurisas are a band that has achieved great popularity in a very short time thanks to its blend of folk and heavy metal." Full article, in Spanish, may be found at Suite 101.