“The Narrative Is Ambiguous and That Location Isn’t the Right Location”: Presenting and Interpreting Medieval Saints Today in Canterbury, Durham and York

Drawing on research for the Pilgrimage and England’s Cathedrals, Past and Present project, this article explores how the project’s medieval case study cathedrals – Canterbury, Durham and York – present their saints and shrines, and how visitors react to and interpret them. While looking at various narratives – predominantly about saints in historical and contemporary contexts – attached to these cathedrals, I also aim to offer some glimpses into how people interact with and relate to space. I argue that beliefs and narratives about saints play a significant role in the pilgrimage culture of the cathedral. I will also explore how the lack of a clear central narrative about the saint leaves a vacancy that will be filled with various other narratives

Glastonbury Holy Thorn: Much more than the ‘biography of a symbol’

Review of Adam Stout's Glastonbury Holy Thorn: Story of a Legend (Glastonbury: Green & Pleasant Publishing, 2020)

Pilgrimage and Pilgrim Hierarchies in Vernacular Discourse: Comparative Notes from the Camino de Santiago and Glastonbury

This article is based on my fieldwork conducted in two important destinations in the spiritual landscape of European vernacular religion – the Camino de Santiago (pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela) in northern Spain, and Glastonbury in southwest England. In this comparison between modern expressions of pilgrimage, I look into the power relationships that exist on the pilgrimage, describe how hierarchies of pilgrims are created and maintained, and reflect on the meaning of the words pilgrim and pilgrimage. The co-existence of the different belief systems of Christianity and New Age and the conflicts and tension between them will be explored. I will also examine discourse around competing male and female energies.&nbsp

Journey in a Life Story and Pilgrimage: Exploring the Connection between Humans and Place in a First-Person Narrative

This paper will explore the relationship between humans and place mediated in first-person narratives. By focusing on episodes that reveal the change in the ordinary role of the person, we examine how they describe the place and how they perceive the environment in their changed role. Drawing on interviews with a man who has walked a pilgrimage/hiking trail as well as a written life story from the collections of the Estonian Cultural History Archives, we analyse the description of modern journeys and the journeys that took place in the vortex of events during World War II. We suggest that the descriptions of place-making under consideration are related not only to subjective experiences and storytelling skills, but also to more general contexts, such as historical-political, economic, or religious frames. Comparing various kinds of place-making description we attempt to find the universal and context-sensitive aspects of journey descriptions. Finally, based on studies of oral history and cultural borders on the one hand, and pilgrimage studies on the other, a methodological question is asked: how should one apply these research methods and results to place-making research? Combining these research methods has turned out to be fruitful in creating a dialogue between experiences that have been formed in different circumstances, and through this to understand better the factors determining one’s sense of place

Palverändurite usundilised arusaamad Santiago de Compostela ja Glastonbury palverännakust: välitööpõhiseid käsitlusi

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.Väitekiri käsitleb tänapäevase Euroopa rahvausundi ja nüüdisaegse palverännaku erinevaid aspekte Põhja-Hispaanias kulgeva Camino de Santiago (püha Jaakobuse tee) ja Edela-Inglismaal asuva Glastonbury näitel. Palverändu vaadeldakse kui jutustatud teekonda, kus juhtuvad imed ja toimuvad kohtumised üleloomulike olenditega: erineva religioosse taustaga palverändurid räägivad endaga juhtunud lugusid, muistendeid ja legende. Tähelepanu all on ka palverännakul valitsevad võimusuhted ja palverändurite hierarhia. Üks lugude läbivaid teemasid on autentse palveränduri identiteedi konstrueerimine; otsitakse vastust küsimusele, kellel on õigus otsustada selle üle, kes on tõeline palverändur, ning milliste põhjenduste kaudu otsus tehakse. Autori eesmärgiks ei ole mõisteid „palverännak“ ja „palverändur“ defineerida, vaid vaadelda nende tähendusvälja muutumist nii akadeemilises kui ka rahvapärases diskursuses. Uurimus kajastab ka erinevate uskumissüsteemide, eriti katoliikluse ja New Age’i kokkupõrkeid. Uurija tähelepanu all on inimesed ja nende usundilised praktikad, mitte „religioon“ ja „usk“ kui abstraktsioonid. Uuritakse seda, kuidas religiooni kogetakse ja praktiseeritakse nii üksikisiku kui ka kogukonna tasandil. Käsitletakse ka välitööde metodoloogia probleeme, eriti uurija rolli dialoogilises tööprotsessis. Töö põhiliseks allikaks on välitööd Camino de Santiagol ja Glastonburys. Väitekirja moodustavad sissejuhatus ja neli artiklit, mis on ilmunud rahvusvahelise levikuga publikatsioonides (Journal of Indian Folkloristics, Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics) ja kirjastuse Equinox kogumikus Vernacular Religion in Everyday Life. Lisaks väitekirja aluseks olevatele artiklitele on Tiina avaldanud kaks raamatut, kus käsitleb oma välitööde kogemusi: „Peregrina päevik“ ilmus 2007. aastal Loomingu Raamatukogus; selle järjena ilmus 2009. aastal „Kas jääte ööseks? Hospitalera päevik“.This dissertation is based on the author’s extensive fieldwork conducted in two important destinations in the spiritual landscape of European vernacular religion – the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain and Glastonbury in southwest England. One of the aims of this dissertation is to provide insight into the phenomenon of contemporary pilgrimage while reflecting upon fieldwork experiences. One of the recurrent themes is the construction of the image of the ‘authentic’ pilgrim. The research has been carried out in the broad framework of vernacular religion, i.e. religion as it is experienced and practiced rather than as it is prescribed. By looking at the wide range of belief narratives expressed by pilgrims, Tiina Sepp studies pilgrimage as a narrated journey, including miracles and supernatural encounters. The co-existence of the different belief systems of Christianity and New Age and the conflicts and tension between them are explored. Throughout her fieldwork Tiina Sepp has observed people’s attitudes towards pilgrimage and their fellow pilgrims. By looking at different, competing narratives about the Camino de Santiago and Glastonbury, she looks into the power relationships that exist on the pilgrimage, describes how hierarchies of pilgrims are created and maintained, and reflects on the meaning of the words pilgrim and pilgrimage. With her markedly self-reflexive methodology, the author attempts to give voice to as many different people as possible: many primary narratives have been reproduced. The dissertation consists of an introduction and four articles that have been published in the international publications the Journal of Indian Folkloristics and the Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, as well as in Vernacular Religion in Everyday Life (a collection of articles published by Equinox). In addition to these four articles, Tiina Sepp has published two books in Estonian that deal with her fieldwork experiences

Catchment land cover and soil as predictors of organic carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus levels in temperate lakes : [presentation]

The presentation took place at the 10th International Conference on Shallow Lakes in 2021.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951963. This study was funded by the Estonian Research Council grants PUTJD954, PRG705, and PRG709, and by the European Regional Development Fund through Estonian University of Life Sciences ASTRA project “Value-chain based bio-economy”. The Estonian Ministry of Environment and the Estonian Environment Agency supported data collection in the national monitoring program.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951963. This study was funded by the Estonian Research Council grants PUTJD954, PRG705, and PRG709, and by the European Regional Development Fund through Estonian University of Life Sciences ASTRA project “Value-chain based bio-economy”. The Estonian Ministry of Environment and the Estonian Environment Agency supported data collection in the national monitoring program

A Future Tale of Two Winters? Sediment-water interface nitrogen dynamics in Lake Võrtsjärv (Estonia) during the ice-free winter 2019/2020 : [presentation]

The presentation took place at the Lahti Lakes 2021 Symposium.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 95196. Estonian University of Life Sciences ASTRA project “Value-chain based bio-economy”.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 95196. Estonian University of Life Sciences ASTRA project “Value-chain based bio-economy”

The Influence of Different Maternal Microbial Communities on the Development of Infant Gut and Oral Microbiota

Very few studies have analyzed how the composition of mother's microbiota affects the development of infant's gut and oral microbiota during the first months of life. Here, microbiota present in the mothers' gut, vagina, breast milk, oral cavity, and mammary areola were compared with the gut and oral microbiota of their infants over the first six months following birth. Samples were collected from the aforementioned body sites from seven mothers and nine infants at three different time points over a 6-month period. Each sample was analyzed with 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The gut microbiota of the infants harbored distinct microbial communities that had low similarity with the various maternal microbiota communities. In contrast, the oral microbiota of the infants exhibited high similarity with the microbiota of the mothers' breast milk, mammary areola and mouth. These results demonstrate that constant contact between microbial communities increases their similarity. A majority of the operational taxonomic units in infant gut and oral microbiota were also shared with the mothers' gut and oral communities, respectively. The disparity between the similarity and the proportion of the OTUs shared between infants' and mothers' gut microbiota might be related to lower diversity and therefore competition in infants' gut microbiota.Peer reviewe

The Cardiomyopathy Registry of the EURObservational Research Programme of the European Society of Cardiology: Baseline data and contemporary management of adult patients with cardiomyopathies

Aims The Cardiomyopathy Registry of the EURObservational Research Programme is a prospective, observational, and multinational registry of consecutive patients with four cardiomyopathy subtypes: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), and restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM). We report the baseline characteristics and management of adults enrolled in the registry. Methods and results A total of 3208 patients were enrolled by 69 centres in 18 countries [HCM (n = 1739); DCM (n = 1260); ARVC (n = 143); and RCM (n = 66)]. Differences between cardiomyopathy subtypes (P < 0.001) were observed for age at diagnosis, history of familial disease, history of sustained ventricular arrhythmia, use of magnetic resonance imaging or genetic testing, and implantation of defibrillators. When compared with probands, relatives had a lower age at diagnosis (P < 0.001), but a similar rate of symptoms and defibrillators. When compared with the Long-Term phase, patients of the Pilot phase (enrolled in more expert centres) had a more frequent rate of familial disease (P < 0.001), were more frequently diagnosed with a rare underlying disease (P < 0.001), and more frequently implanted with a defibrillator (P = 0.023). Comparing four geographical areas, patients from Southern Europe had a familial disease more frequently (P < 0.001), were more frequently diagnosed in the context of a family screening (P < 0.001), and more frequently diagnosed with a rare underlying disease (P < 0.001). Conclusion By providing contemporary observational data on characteristics and management of patients with cardiomyopathies, the registry provides a platform for the evaluation of guideline implementation. Potential gaps with existing recommendations are discussed as well as some suggestions for improvement of health care provision in Europe. © The Author 2017