Finnic incantations

[1]: 82  Such incantations were in widespread use from the first extensive documentation of Finnic-language cultures around the late eighteenth century through to the advance of modernisation in the early twentieth; one marker of this popularity is that more than 30,000 verse spells were collected from Finland and Karelia and published in the series Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot.

[1]: 82 In western Finland, as widely in European charm traditions, the utterance of an invocation was considered to work mechanically, with the charmer's main goal being to repeat the spell verses correctly.

The most frequent purposes for incantations in this region were the healing and prevention of both external injuries and internal pains, infectious diseases, rashes and mental disorders (accounting for 1989 texts in the SKVR).

[1]: 83 Key scholars who collected charms in the first half of the nineteenth century included Elias Lönnrot, K. A. Gottlund, D. E. D. Europaeus, A. Ahlqvist, R. Polén, A. Sjögren and H. A. Reinholm, who generally focused on Ilomantsi, Pielisjärvi, Kesälahti and Kitee.

Around the beginning of the twentieth century, key researchers included S. Paulaharju, O. Lönnbohm, J. Lukkarinen, U. Holmberg and F. Kärki, who expanded their collecting to Juua, Kontiolahti, Polvijärvi and Liperi.