| Another Look at Stallo While these stories are historical and involve known individuals, Sami scholar Odd Mathis Hætta writes the following (from The Ancient Religion and Folk-Beliefs of the Sami, Alta Museum 1994): The Stállo figure was perceived in different ways and may therefore appear in a variety of guises. ° In one context, Stállo is perceived as a legendary figure, a Norse tax collector or Viking. He is dressed in stylish black clothes or chain mail. In this case, the Stállo figure is being associated with Norse pillaging raids on the Sámi during the Viking Period (800-1050) and the Early Middle Ages (1050-1200). He challenges the Sámi to duels regulated by the rules followed by knights. Stállo is big and strong, and there are few Sámi who take up the challenge. If it comes to a wrestling match and the Sámi wins, Stállo has to have an honorable funeral, and the Sámi in return gets the silver treasure. ° Stállo was also looked upon as an itinerant forest troll corresponding to the Finnish Vuoren-Perkele. Stállo was pictured wearing a red jacket fastened with silver clasps, and he had a silver belt and knife with a silver shaft. In his left hand he held a pouch containing silver coins and in his right a staff. He had an angry black dog that protected him from being attacked when he was sleeping. If Stállo had a fight with the Sámi and lost, his dog brought him back to life by licking his blood. Hence, the dog also had to be killed. ° When Stállo challenges the Sámi to a fight, he goes around looking like a ghost, dressed in black and carrying a staff in one hand. I some of these legends where Stállo challenges the Sámi, he plays the role of a cannibal who enjoys eating human flesh. In several other legends, Stállo is depicted in a naturalistic way, being described as walking around in extremely cold weather suffering from hunger. ° Stállo also takes the form of a giant (jiehtanas), an evil, ugly giant who does not stop at kidnaping children by either putting them into a sack or taking them away in a boat. The Swedish researcher Castrén, writing in 1838, compared the Stállo figure of the Sámi to the giants of Swedish and Finnish legends. The Sámi children which Stállo had stuffed into his sack could outwit him by cutting a hole in the sack, creeping out and filling it with stones. If Stállo had taken children away in a boat, the children could grab a branch of a tree when they passed it and with its help jump ashore. Many Stállo legends incorporate elements of widespread migratory legends.  ° A shaman, or someone skilled in sorcery, can make a Stállo out of turf, which can then be used for black magic and be dispatched to fight enemies. ° In some contexts, Stállo is looked upon as coming from the Nether World. When the Sámi conquers Stállo in a duel, Stállo offers his own knife. But this knife is dangerous because it turns against the opponent, away from the Stállo. In the Nether World, everything is turned upside down. ° Stállo is known locally as a fertility symbol in parts of the Sámi region. According to tradition, in some places boys might go around the village during Christmas week, masked and dressed in fancy costume, demanding the “King’s tax.” The biggest of the boys was dressed up to represent Stállo. He had a staff which he poked up the skirts of girls when he demanded “tax” from them. The girls generally tried to overpower the boy who was dressed as Stállo and remove all his clothes. This Stállo has several features in common with the Stali figure of Old Norse. ° Stállo walks through the village on Christmas Eve and across the enclosed pasture carrying an axe and followed by a long file of mice and lemmings. The pasture and the space in front of the tents had to be tidy so that Stállo’s file did not get caught up. Inside the tent or house there had to be water so that Stállo drank that instead of sucking the blood or brains of the children. The children had to be quiet and well-behaved on Christmas Eve, otherwise Stállo would come and kill them. the Sámi looked upon Christmas Eve as the most dangerous night of the year. In the wealth of Sámi legends, Stállo is a key figure because he appears in a variety of forms and situations throughout the region where Sámi live, from the Kola Peninsula in the east to Røros and Idre in the south. |
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