selitystarinat
Selitystarinat, literally meaning “explanation stories,” is a term used in Finnish folklore and ethnographic scholarship to describe a type of traditional narrative whose primary function is to explain why something is the way it is. They are a subset of etiological myths found in many cultures and are especially noted in Finnish oral literature. The core aim of selitystarinat is to provide a cause or justification for natural phenomena, customs, place features, or social practices.
Characteristics include a causal mechanism embedded in a story, often featuring agents such as gods, spirits,
Functions of selitystarinat include explanation, memory, social cohesion, and moral instruction. They help people understand and
Relation to other genres: selitystarinat are distinguished from purely mythic or heroic narratives by their explicit
Examples: traditional stories explaining the existence of a river’s course, a mountain’s shape, the origin of
Scholarly relevance: researchers study selitystarinat to understand how cultures rationalize the world, how narratives encode social