In the Borderlands of Trade and Activity

IN THE BORDERLANDS OF TRADE AND ACTIVITY

Autumn has arrived, and with it, harvest time. Everyone who has bothered to grow something during the summer gets to collect more or less of the earth's bounty for themselves. A home garden or small-scale farming can even lead to selling, if there's a surplus. Professionals also sell according to the season.

Market life and fairs offer many kinds of experiences at their best. Of course, vegetables, mushrooms, baked goods, and meat and fish products, not to mention handicrafts, are in themselves what people come to outdoor sales for, unlike ordinary shops.

But half the meal, in this case, is something else. The atmosphere, the freedom to come, go, or stop on a whim, to meet acquaintances and catch up. To enjoy the weather, if there's enough of it.

Even though visitors may not always realize it, meeting at markets and lingering at fairs is simultaneously an act and a stance in support of centuries-old traditions and continuity. As trade as a broad societal phenomenon has long taken place elsewhere, this is all the more important. On the other hand, traveling merchants also need sales, so it's always worth buying something. Famous markets, when viewed from the northern part of South Karelia, once included, for example, the cross-border Kurkijoen and Hiitolan markets. Classical market trade was originally the trade of live animals, and for instance, horse sales were significant. A special profession, the parissikat, acted as animal intermediaries, and this has long traditions widely in the Parikkala region as well.

The horse market has also been ingrained in stories. Maironiemen piru, one of Karelia's most famous poltergeists, clung to the master from various market fields after he cheated a victim in horse trading – and did not settle until the deception was compensated to the trade-gang.

The story has undoubtedly been popular among traveling merchants and can be seen to have a warning value. Less supernatural noisy spirits were, of course, abundant at these festivities: for example, the Kurkijoen markets in 1934 were described in a newspaper article as peaceful, apart from one homicide, although 50 people, including one woman, ended up in jail. So, market hustle is not an empty concept at all!

So, what is a market event and market atmosphere locally these days? In Rautjärvi, at least, there's still the courage to advertise Simpeleen tori as the