ABSTRACT
The contemporary mentality of Estonians seems to be materialistic and rational. The diverse world of folk demonology and beliefs about devils, revenants, spirits, ghosts, fairies and other supernatural entities started to vanish together with the modernization of society soon after the boom in folklore collection in the late nineteenth century. At the same time the Lutheran church and educational system supported enlightened rationalism and the persistent fight against ‘ignorant’ superstitions, preparing the ground for the spread of the scientific worldview. In the course of the Second World War the country was annexed by the Soviet Union, whose far-reaching social experiments to eradicate religion and belief in the supernatural had a strong effect on the majority of the people, who distanced themselves from the church. The New Age movement has nowadays invigorated vernacular religion in Estonia, although it is difficult to judge how many people believe in supernatural powers outside the fictitious genres of art, film, literature and the cyberworld. UFOs, haunted houses, healers and psychics sometimes reach the front pages of Estonian tabloid newspapers, although these articles are flooded with ironic and mocking comments in the digital media. However, the dominant rhetoric of disbelief in the public sphere does not mean that supernatural beliefs are waning in Estonia. On the contrary, expressions of scepticism and scientific rationalism form a part of the versatile and vital discursive web that surrounds and generates supernatural beliefs. This article explores how beliefs are maintained and constructed in a seemingly secular and rationally oriented society within the context of the Internet as a ‘contested terrain, a battleground of discourses’ (Warf and Grimes 1997: 270).
