Page:The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893.djvu/89

 Rh initials, the year of his birth and that of his death, and sometimes, also, the dates are cut. But not all the "karsikkos," are made of growing trees. The end of a board, in which they have carved the above-mentioned marks and then fastened it on to the wall of a cold house, is also called "karsikko." In the same manner, they cut the defunct's initials, the year of his birth and that of his death, in a large stone that happens to be near the court-yard, or also in a slab of stone that is put against the wall of a house, and this is then also called "karsikko."

To the worship of the dead belongs also "karsikko," which the persons who follow the dead to his grave, make on the way. They lop a tree, cut in it the usual marks, and take a dram to the memory of the dead. In the " karsikko " thus made they leave one branch like an arm, generally pointing towards the church. During a passage by boat, the "karsikko" is made at some place where they stop, the oarsmen relieving each other. If in that case there should not be found any fir trees, but only birches, they carve the end of a board, which then is nailed to a tree. Sometimes the "karsikko "is made in a rock. In the parish of Kristine, at the shore of Louhivesi, there is a steep mountain, called the Graphic Mountain. On the side of it, which is five fathoms high and two fathoms wide, the dead persons, initials are cut, which their followers have done. Beneath some of them are also the year of their death and a cross.

Still another kind of "karsikko" there is, viz.: those erected to the memory of some misfortune or some remarkable event. They are made by lopping a tree and carving in it the year, or by erecting a stone with similar marks on the spot. Between the parishes of Nurmes and Sotkamo at the eastern frontier of Finland, a traveller saw, in 1893, by the road, a fir, in which they had with an axe cut through the bark the image of a man, and beneath it some marks, probably the year. From the post-boy he learned that near the place, on the other side of the road, a mad woman had a few years ago hung herself. In the parish of Kijanta in northern Finland the "karsikko" was made on account of a successful fishing; such a one was also to be found on the shore of the parish-clerk! Along the torrents of Kijanta and below