20 - The religion
A LOT OF DIFFERENT RELIGIONS
The population is overwhelmingly Protestant Lutheran. Lutherans: 73%.
Orthodox: 1.1%
Other Christians: 1.1%
Practitioners of various religions: 1.6%
No religion or unknown: 24.3%
CHAMANISM
The Arctic peoples, whose economic base was based on hunting, fishing, fartisanat and barter, adhered to a belief system that European ethnologists have grouped together under the term shamanism. Characterized by the cult of nature, ancestors and spirits, shamanism will survive in Lapland until the beginning of the 20th century. The shaman, a wise sorcerer, provided the link between the world of the living and the world of the spirits. Thanks to his knowledge and to certain techniques, qualified by the western world as magical, he enjoyed a real authority among the Ural-Altaic peoples. In this universe, gnomes and elves played an important role, as did certain deities such as the god of Thunder, Ukko, the god of Winds and Storms, llmarinen Ahti, and the god of Forests, Tapio. Vainämöinen, the hero of the Kalevala, is inspired by this mythology. The spirits of the dead were treated with respect and worshipped. The kalmisto (graveyard) was a place of offerings. Trees and rocks with singular shapes or animals such as bears were the object of local cults. Shamanism was gradually eradicated with the arrival of Protestantism and seems today very little practiced and followed.
LUTHERANISM
Finland's conversion to Catholicism, then belonging to the Kingdom of Sweden, was followed three centuries later by a conversion to Lutheranism. In the middle of the 16th century, King Vasa er decided to adopt the principles laid down by Luther in Germany. The Reformation was imposed throughout the kingdom of Sweden, including Finland. Emphasis was placed on catechism and literacy. The intransigence of Protestant theological currents, however, led to the destruction of most of the superb wall paintings in the old Catholic churches. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, whose head is the President of the Republic, is divided into eight dioceses, and the Bishop of Turku has the title of Archbishop. The bishops are appointed by the President of the Republic. In the course of the 20th century, Anglo-Saxon Protestantism developed: Baptists, Methodists, Adventists and especially Pentecostals (2% of the population). Summer camps for 15-year-olds (the equivalent of the Second Communion in France) are very popular: almost 95% of an age group take part in them. Even if not all of them, far from it, are practicing.
ORTHODOXIE
During the Russian domination (1809-1917), Orthodox churches multiplied. Today, the Greek Orthodox Church retains a certain influence in the eastern provinces and Karelia. Small chapels, the tsasuna, are still accessible in the communes and villages of the east, where a large number of Karelian refugees arrived after the annexation of part of Karelia by the USSR between 1940 and 1945. See in particular the superb collections of ancient icons in Kuopio. Although freedom of worship was recognised by the Republic of Finland in 1923, the state and the church were not separated. The President of the Republic, unlike in France, is thus the head of the Lutheran Church. 84% of Finns are Lutherans, with Orthodox and Pentecostals each accounting for only 1% of the population. The country is divided into eight dioceses with the Bishop of Turku as archbishop. The Orthodox Church depends on the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. The faithful are divided between the Diocese of Helsinki (to which the Orthodox Sames are attached) and the Diocese of Kuopio, whose Archbishop is the Archbishop of the Finnish Orthodox Church.
The population is overwhelmingly Protestant Lutheran. Lutherans: 73%.
Orthodox: 1.1%
Other Christians: 1.1%
Practitioners of various religions: 1.6%
No religion or unknown: 24.3%
CHAMANISM
The Arctic peoples, whose economic base was based on hunting, fishing, fartisanat and barter, adhered to a belief system that European ethnologists have grouped together under the term shamanism. Characterized by the cult of nature, ancestors and spirits, shamanism will survive in Lapland until the beginning of the 20th century. The shaman, a wise sorcerer, provided the link between the world of the living and the world of the spirits. Thanks to his knowledge and to certain techniques, qualified by the western world as magical, he enjoyed a real authority among the Ural-Altaic peoples. In this universe, gnomes and elves played an important role, as did certain deities such as the god of Thunder, Ukko, the god of Winds and Storms, llmarinen Ahti, and the god of Forests, Tapio. Vainämöinen, the hero of the Kalevala, is inspired by this mythology. The spirits of the dead were treated with respect and worshipped. The kalmisto (graveyard) was a place of offerings. Trees and rocks with singular shapes or animals such as bears were the object of local cults. Shamanism was gradually eradicated with the arrival of Protestantism and seems today very little practiced and followed.
LUTHERANISM
Finland's conversion to Catholicism, then belonging to the Kingdom of Sweden, was followed three centuries later by a conversion to Lutheranism. In the middle of the 16th century, King Vasa er decided to adopt the principles laid down by Luther in Germany. The Reformation was imposed throughout the kingdom of Sweden, including Finland. Emphasis was placed on catechism and literacy. The intransigence of Protestant theological currents, however, led to the destruction of most of the superb wall paintings in the old Catholic churches. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, whose head is the President of the Republic, is divided into eight dioceses, and the Bishop of Turku has the title of Archbishop. The bishops are appointed by the President of the Republic. In the course of the 20th century, Anglo-Saxon Protestantism developed: Baptists, Methodists, Adventists and especially Pentecostals (2% of the population). Summer camps for 15-year-olds (the equivalent of the Second Communion in France) are very popular: almost 95% of an age group take part in them. Even if not all of them, far from it, are practicing.
ORTHODOXIE
During the Russian domination (1809-1917), Orthodox churches multiplied. Today, the Greek Orthodox Church retains a certain influence in the eastern provinces and Karelia. Small chapels, the tsasuna, are still accessible in the communes and villages of the east, where a large number of Karelian refugees arrived after the annexation of part of Karelia by the USSR between 1940 and 1945. See in particular the superb collections of ancient icons in Kuopio. Although freedom of worship was recognised by the Republic of Finland in 1923, the state and the church were not separated. The President of the Republic, unlike in France, is thus the head of the Lutheran Church. 84% of Finns are Lutherans, with Orthodox and Pentecostals each accounting for only 1% of the population. The country is divided into eight dioceses with the Bishop of Turku as archbishop. The Orthodox Church depends on the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. The faithful are divided between the Diocese of Helsinki (to which the Orthodox Sames are attached) and the Diocese of Kuopio, whose Archbishop is the Archbishop of the Finnish Orthodox Church.
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