''Libahunt'' (the

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n name for a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

) is the name of a 1912 play (a

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

) by

August Kitzberg August Kitzberg ( in Laatre Parish, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire – 10 October 1927 in Tartu) was an Estonian writer. Life Until 1863, August Kitzberg was known as August Kits. He grew up in Niitsaadu farmstead in Penuja village, A ...

, and a

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

film of the same name based on the play. A triangular love story evolves in a peasant family in southwestern Estonian countryside around

Halliste Halliste () is a small borough () in Mulgi Parish, Viljandi County, in southern Estonia, located about 6 km northeast of the town of Abja-Paluoja. Until 2017, Halliste was the administrative centre of Halliste Parish. As of the 2011 cens ...

in the beginning of 1800s over a time span of 15 years.

Synopsis

The play starts on a stormy winter night: the men of the family return from a compulsory church service, where a woman, accused of witchcraft, was whipped to death in front of the church. The characters describe their fears and prejudice. The first act ends with the young daughter of the dead woman, appearing alone and frozen from a snowstorm. She is being adopted into a family, which already has a son, Margus, 14 and one adopted girl, Mari,

In the next 3 scenes, 10 years later, all three are adolescents at the age of confirmation. Margus is obviously in love with Tiina, who, with her dark hair, love to nature's creatures and defiance towards "being ordered around", represents the free spirit of idealistic Romanticism. In a bout of jealousy, Mari, blond and the embodiment of obedience to the church and their landlord, accuses Tiina of being a werewolf, first in private, then spreading the gossip, and finally in public. The insulted girl escapes into the forest and reappears only 4 days later. This makes the head of the family repeat the accusation, which results in the girl escaping again. The play ends 5 more years later, when Margus and Mari are already married. In a snowstorm on his way back from the pub, Margus shoots a gun to scare away wolves. Arriving home they can hear wolves howling quite near to the house. Opening the door, he catches a collapsing Tiina, dying of the bullet-wound.

Analysis

In folklore the werewolves represent the cycle of legends of essentially

shamanistic Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

content—a man turning into animal and reverse—that were modified by the

xenophobic Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

in-group/out-group hatred and the witch-hunt of the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

era church's

inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

, fighting against the loss of power after the scientific progress in

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

. The heroine Tiina has come to be known as a symbol of freedom.

Musical

For the play's 100th anniversary, the Estonian State Puppet Theatre has turned it into a musical.

References

External links

* * (Text of original play) 1968 films Estonian-language films Soviet romantic drama films Soviet horror drama films Soviet-era Estonian films Soviet films based on plays 1968 romantic drama films Estonian drama films 1960s Soviet films {{Estonia-film-stub