Religious participation in the local communities of 17th-century Eastern Finland
Kuha, M. (2022). Religious participation in the local communities of 17th-century Eastern Finland. Scandia, 88(2). https://doi.org/10.47868/scandia.v88i2.24799
Published in
ScandiaAuthors
Date
2022Copyright
© 2022 Lund University
In recent years, the perspective of lived religion has drawn attention toward the everyday religious practices of the laity. In early-modern Europe, the realm of the sacred could be approached in different ways from within the mundane world, and religious practices were tightly intertwined with social life. In local communities, religious ideas and practices taught by the church in varying ways intermingled with traits from local religious traditions. This article examines the different ways of religious participation available to the rural inhabitants of late 17th century Eastern Finland, a part of the kingdom of Sweden during the early modern era. Applying the concept and approach of lived religion, the article analyses how Eastern Finnish peasants adjusted their religious practices to their individual circumstances. The article also examines different kinds of interaction and influences affecting the choices of the laity in the sphere of religion. The article is based on surviving court and visitation records from the province of Savo, a rural area where distances between households were often large and many people had to travel a long way to reach the nearest church. It is in the article emphasized that while physical distances and other factors such as infirmity could restrict one’s ability to participate in religious activities at the parish church, the laity had different kinds of practices to choose from and they even created ways of religious participation for themselves. Religious practices could include participating in household feasts on holy days or bringing offerings to a devotional site near the household or in the forest. It is argued that while there were many traditional elements in the sphere of religion passed on to following generations, people also adopted and adapted new ideas in their everyday religious lives.
...
Publisher
Scandia: Tidskrift for historisk forskning, Lund UniversityISSN Search the Publication Forum
0036-5483Keywords
Publication in research information system
https://converis.jyu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/164644812
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
Related funder(s)
Research Council of FinlandFunding program(s)
Postdoctoral Researcher, AoFLicense
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
Extended Families as Communities of Religious Experience in Late Seventeenth-Century Eastern Finland
Kuha, Miia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)This chapter offers an interpretation of extended families as communities of experience in a rural area close to the eastern border of the Swedish realm. Through a case study of lower court records, Kuha examines the social ... -
The Long History of Lutheranism in Scandinavia. From State Religion to the People’s Church
Markkola, Pirjo (Emanuel University, 2015)As the main religion of Finland, but also of entire Scandinavia, Lutheranism has a centuries-long history. Until 1809 Finland formed the eastern part of the Swedish Kingdom, from 1809 to 1917 it was a Grand Duchy within ... -
"Paavikirkon vaara" : sanomalehtikeskustelu roomalaiskatolisesta kirkosta ja uskonnonvapaudesta Suomessa 1906-1922
Tuovila, Leena (2023)Tutkielmani otsikon sitaatti on lainaus vuoden 1920 tammikuun Kotimaa-lehden artikkelista, jossa käytiin läpi roomalaiskatolisen kirkon asemaa Suomessa. Lainaus on sikäli hyvin kuvaava tutkielmani aiheelle, sillä termit ... -
Purity rules in Pentecostal Uganda : Towards an analysis of relational rulework
Alava, Henni; Gusman, Alessandro (Suomen antropologinen seura, 2022)Rules concerning romantic relationships and sex—what we term ‘purity rules’—are central to Pentecostalism in Uganda. In public church arenas, the born-again variant of the rules laid down during Uganda’s ‘ABC’ response ... -
”Don’t cry, my darling” : Married and Parental Love in the Funeral Sermons of 17th-century Lutheran Clergymen’s Wives
Kuha, Miia (International Institute of Social History, 2023)