Page:Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen 12 042.jpg

42 What I should especially like to draw attention to are the three marks which the Lapp makes on his breast when he wants to consecrate himself to the Jabmi, the dead. We see, moreover, that the action consists of two parts: 1st the consecration to the god of thunder and to the dead with the subsequent pouring out of the beer; and 2nd the drinking from the glass with the declaration that that is Sarakka's cup. The latter appears to be a distinct counterpart of the Christian communion; the words of consecration correspond to the words used at the administration of the sacrament in the Lutheran church. On the other hand the first part with its consecration & pouring out into the fire-place is purely pagan. The signing with the god of thunder's crosshammer before the offering corresponds to the account of the participation of Haakon, Athelstan's foster-son, in the sacrifice of the people of Trondheim which Snorre Sturleson gives. It seems strange that after the two consecrations heerbeer [sic] should be poured four times on the ground; the first must certainly apply to the god of thunder, called up by the sign of the hammer. Perhaps the three others refer to the Jabmi, or the dead, summoned by the three marks. I shall come back to this point later.

That a so strongly marked individual cult as this consecration with the three marks was not created by the Lapps themselves is clear; and it can only have been borrowed from one source — the Scandinavians. A religious symbol consisting of three marks in a triangle is not infrequently met with in northern antiquities. This is especially the case in monuments of the time of the Migration, on bracteates and on