âIkke det bare vand!â Et kulturanalytisk perspektiv på vandets magiske dimension

Abstract

Departing from a historical perspective, the author discusses a dimension of everyday life that has received little attention in folkloristic literature. She bases her study on archive materials and raises a series of questions relating to folk beliefs concerning water and the meaning of magic water. She explores the question of what, according to folk views, gave water its âstrengthâ, and she looks at how the importance of water as carrier of magical power affected peopleâs relation to nature and their use of water in their various life situations. In her discussion, she considers views about âdangerous waterâ as represented by folk narratives about the river sprite âNøkkenâ and emphasises how magical water was used in the cure of illness. She discusses the water cult tied to holy spring water and to the Western European spa tradition and draws the line up to contemporary conceptions of the magic of water