Wednesday 12 June 2024

12:00-12:30. Registration and welcome words

12:30-12:45. Opening words

12:45-13:45.  Session I. Ancient Incantations and New Technologies

Chair: Siria Kohonen

Lisa Donovan: Speaking to the New Gods

Mare Kõiva: Do online incantations resemble previous texts?

13:45-14:15. Coffee break

14:15-15:45. Session II. Charm Ideologies and Politics of Traditions

Chair: Emanuela Timotin

Aigars Lielbārdis: Revitalization of healing traditions as part of the Latvian folk revival

Karina Lukin: Conflicting regimes of openness and prohibition in a 1928 shamanic song

Katherine Hindley: How to Win Friends and Influence People: Interpersonal Charms in Medieval England

18:00-20:30. Reception

Snacks and drinks at the Laterna Magica bookshop (Rauhankatu 7, 00170 Helsinki).

Thursday 13 June 2024

9:00-10:30. Session III. Monsoon and Thunderstorms: Charms and the Environment

Chair: Tuukka Karlsson

Eleonora Cianci: Medieval German charms against wind and storms

Mir Masudul Hoque: Singing to the Trees: Baul’s Revival of Barsha Mangal to Cope with Environmental Crises

Frog: Temporal Ideologies and Positioning: Charming Encounters and Outcomes

10:30-11:00. Coffee break

11:00-12:30. Session IV. Culture and Community: The Context of Charming

Chair: Ilona Tuomi

Karolina Kouvola: Healing of a mental health crisis

Fionnán Mac Gabhann: An Irish Priest’s Charming Amid Conflict

Nicholas Wolf: Irish Charms in Transatlantic Print, 1800-1920

12:30-14:00. Lunch

14:00-15:30. Session V. Charms and Sacred Prayers to the Saints

Chair: Aleksi Moine

Haralampos Passalis: Production and reproduction of religious legends and words of power in our modern, globalized and digitized era. The case of the healing prayer to Saint Judas Thaddeus

Edina Eszenyi: Shifting Hagiographies: St. Michael the Archangel in Supplication and Exorcism Formulas

Lili Di Puppo: Preserving the harmony between humans and the environment by caring for Muslim saints in Russia’s Urals

18:00-20:30. Conference dinner

Royal Line Dinner Cruise. Departure at 18:00 from the Market Square (Kauppatori).

Friday 14 June 2024

10:00-10:30. Finnish Literature Society Archives

10:30-12:30. Session VI. Evil Spirits, Malefic Agents, and Hostile Charmers

Chair: Katherine Hindley

Emanuela Timotin: A Stereotyped Enemy: Describing Malefic Agents in Romanian Charms

Daiva Vaitkevičienė: Wise men or sorcerers? The demonisation of charmers in Lithuanian legends

Fiorella Di Fonte: Outsider antagonism and cursing dynamics in Old Norse Sagas

Karuna Kanta Kakati: Beliefs and superstitions associated with the terrestrial spirits of Assam

12:30-14:00. Lunch

14:00-15:30. Session VII. Vernacular Knowledge and Charms Scholarship

Chair: Frog

Shantanu Chakraborty and Kishore Kumar Bhattacharjee: Traditional Herbal Medicine Practices of the Himalayan: A Case Study of the nomadic sellers

Davor Nikolić, Evelina Rudan and Josipa Tomašić Jurić: Where There is Strife, There is Pride: Conflicts Among Scholars of Charms

Nidhi Mathur: Kedarnath: A Personification of Charms in Indian society

15:30-15:45. Closing words

16:00-18:00. Meeting of the Committee

Saturday 15 June 2024

10:00-11:30. Excursion: Restless Spirits of Helsinki

Join us on this walking tour to seek out the restless spirits of Helsinki. Discover how historical events have shaped ghost narratives and encounter the personalities haunting the streets of Helsinki at night. Learn about the rumoured headquarters of ghosts and those who cannot seem to stop caring for their workplace even centuries after their passing.

We will stroll through the narrow streets of Kruununhaka as well as the spacious Esplanadi. The tour will commence at Topelia (Unioninkatu 38) and conclude at restaurant Kappeli (Eteläesplanadi 1).