How an Ancient Singing Tradition Helps People Cope With Trauma in the Modern World [YesMagazine.org]

Samantha Sangenito 5/18/174:00 AM

Riitta Excell wore a pair of homemade wool socks: white with red floral patterns and rounded blue toes. Around her were women sipping tea and enjoying plum pastries and chicken feta pie. They wore homemade wool socks, as well.

It was nearly 3 o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon, and Pirkko Fihlman’s living room on the outskirts of Helsinki was filled with black-and-white family photos, porcelain figurines of angels and birds, and embroidered rococo chairs. The clink of tea cups fell silent, and then Excell squeezed her eyes closed, clenched her fists, and began to sing a lament in Finnish.

[For more of this story, written by Tristan Ahtone, go to http://www.yesmagazine.org/peo...odern-world-20170516]

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