Harakointi - mitä vittua?!

Today´s topic is going to be a delicate one. It was brought to my attention by a friend of mine, who told he had come across a Wikipedia entry about an old Finnish ritual called harakointi. When he elaborated on the whole thing I couldn´t help myself but wonder what he had actually been searching for on the net.

Harakointi, so he said, dates back to the times people believed in witchcraft and could only be performed by women. Why? Because they showed their vaginas to their enemies in order to curse them, that´s why! Naturally, this raunchy bit of information induced pictures in our minds that had us in stitches! Just imagine the following scenario:

Witch: "Hey you, dickhead! Yeah, you! Look over here!" - lifts skirt - "GRRRRR!!"

Dickhead: "Fuck, I´m cursed! Aaaaargh!!"

Trying to do some research on harakointi I had to realize that www´s info on the matter is very sparse, to say the least. I only managed to find an English translation of the original Finnish Wikipedia entry and an excerpt from an essay by Sari Näre. She is an adjunct professor of sociology at the University of Helsinki and has published widely on gender and sexual cultures (among other subjects). However, both sources shed light on that ancient rite and show there´s apparently a bit more to it than my friend and me have conceived.  

First off, here´s what Wikipedia has to say:

"Harakointi means revealing a woman's genitals as a supernatural magic to protect or curse an item, cattle or person. The woman who does harakointi reveals her vulva, which depending on the purpose either curses or blesses the target. Cattle could be subjected to harakointi when they were let on the summer pastures by showing the lower parts to the passing animals. Farmland could be harakointi'd by doing the sowing or harvest with the genitals bared. Men, weapons and tools going to hunt or to war, as well as those traveling abroad and children left alone have also been harakoiti'd."

"Women have also needed to be careful with their magic powers, for some male items like fishermen's nets and horse harnesses may in some traditions have been considered ruined if a woman stepped over them. The female gender has apparently been considered a threat to male-dominated fields of life."

"Harakointi speaks of how the female genitals have been considered strong in magic power. This was based in the strong taboos, myths and fears related to the female sexual organs. A woman's ability to give birth has been considered supernatural. The magic known harakointi has only been practiced in Finland, but similar magics can be found from cultures around the globe."

Sari Näre mentions harakointi shortly like this:

"In pre-Christian Finland it was believed that women had magic powers to hurt and heal from their vulva. In pre-Christian folk tradition, sometimes women also used this magical power to protect their family members, intimate fellows and animals: the person or animal to be protected had to go under the woman’s naked bottom. This ritual called harakointi would take place, for example, in or outside saunas, especially when something new was happening, like someone going travelling or getting married. So, it was a kind of transformation ritual."

And that´s about it, nothing else surfaced on the net. Since Wikipedia claims that similar magic rituals can be found all over the world I tried my luck again. A word to the wise and you guessed it already: when you type the tags witch, ritual, spell, vagina, etc. into a search engine you will find all kinds of things but most will be off-topic. If you thought porn now, you´re wrong. Surprisingly the vast majority is about love spells or potions until Google starts listing pages about satanism or cannibalism.

This is a paper drawing from 1514 called Neujahrsgruß mit drei Hexen (=New Year´s wish with three witches) by German Renaissance artist Hans Baldung Grien (1485 - 1545) .

Especially shown in his later oeuvre, Grien had a thing going for witches, virgins and goddesses. He was fascinated by the beauty of the naked female body and some of his works have a surprisingly strong erotic, sometimes even sexual element (mind the times).

This particular artwork pops up quite often in the context of harakointi but I couldn´t find any sources that pin it down to that. Seems like an old sophisticated picture was needed to illustrate the ritual. What other could you possibly use and still appear scientific to some extent? Thought so.

The worldwide fascination with female genitalia through the ages is of course no rocket science at all and since the dawn of humanity men agree that pussy can be curse AND blessing. Yes, pussy! Why do I suddenly use this rather indecent term? Well, after my unsuccessful attempt to track down harakointi in other countries I´m returning to the native country of today´s subject matter - Finland.

Although I´m pretty damn sure harakointi has ceased to be executed in its original form over here, its main component is very well on everybody´s lips.

(Sorry, couldn´t resist - one pun has to be allowed.)

What is cunt or pussy in English is VITTU in Finnish and dear non-Finns, let me tell you, you hear it everywhere and everyday in Finland! Statistics claim that the word vittu and its seemingly endless variations are the premier swear words in Suomi. It feels as if there is a higher number of possible combinations than the decimal places of Pi. The word becomes so omnipotent because it can also be used as "fuck" as in "to fuck/mess with somebody". You want to add some force to your statement or expressed frustration?

One fits all:
"Mitä vittua?" = "What the fuck?", "Haista vittu!" = "Fuck you!" (literally: "smell pussy!"),
"Mua vituttaa!" = "I´m angry!", when you are angry you can even "olla naama norsun vitulla" = "have a face like an elephant´s cunt". Things can be "vittumainen" = "annoying" or become "vituiksi" = "fucked up", etc. pp. Used as a genitive it is combined with literally EVERYTHING. "Vitun hyvä, huono, iso, paska, juntti" = "fucking good, bad, big, shit, idiot" make sense but "vitun homo?"

Most unbelievable is that women use the word as often as men, absolute gender equality! Adults sometimes refer to it as "v-sana", the v-word, when children are present. Then they turn around to their friends and complain about "vitun" something...Still I´m surprised to find both ends of the life span joining the party. I don´t mind grumpy old geezers but sometimes you hear it from speakers so young that you wonder if they have a full concept of the word they´re using. Hopefully not!

In English and German spoken countries it´s more about ass (Arsch) and shit (Scheisse).
"You stupid asshole!" (Du dummes Arschloch!) will always make for a good insult. Someone told me that in southern European countries the male penis is used as main source of inspiration. And supposedly almost everywhere people swear with some form of "fuck".
I have no idea from where the fixation on dicks or asses originates in the rest of Europe but I am starting to get a hunch about the Finnish vittu.

It seems that the Finns have all but forgotten about harakointi and its magical powers to bless people or things. But they definitely have not forgotten how to curse with a vagina!

Make sure to check out:

Wikipedia on harakointi (Finnish only)
Sharing Waters - Sari Näre´s complete essay (English only)