"They call it Christmas" - An Ethnological Analysis of Alienation in Tove Jansson's Short Story "The Fir Tree"
Keywords:
alienation, heterotopia, Christamas, rituals, traditions, Tove Jansson, MoominsAbstract
Mamma, wake up, said Moomin anxiously.
Something's on. They call it Christmas. (Jansson
1963, 163.)
When I was little, my mother often read aloud to
my brother and me. Amongst our favourite stories
were the Moornin books written by Tove Jansson
and Midsummer Madness, Moominland Midwinter,
Comet in Moominland, Finn Family Moomintroll
and Tales from Moomin Valley were read
over and over again. As a child, I was only aware
of the stories as tales about the Moornins who
lived in a somewhat strange and exciting, but at
the same time very secure world. When as an adult
I returned to the Moomin books, several other
levels and meanings opened themselves up to me. I
now find myself appreciating, among other things,
the anarchistic, freedom loving, and liberal aspects
of the stories. Consequently with the knowledge
and experience gained over the years my position
as a reader has gradually changed.
