| Laestadian Faith In Northern Finland |
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| By Yve Thorn | ||||||
| Monday, 24 October 2005 | ||||||
 I was asked to do a little research into the
Laestadian faith found in this part of Finland. So, I will endeavor to
give you an overview of what I’ve managed to find, with a few personal
observations thrown in for good measure!It stems as an off-shoot of the Lutheran faith, of which about 95% of Finns would claim to be their family faith. Lars Levi Laestadius
was born in 1800 to a Lutheran family in a remote region of
Swedish Lapland, and his history reads as the stuff of legends! He
actually sounds too good to be true – visions in his childhood,
melancholy due to “this inner calling”, and a father who liked his
drink but worked hard at many jobs to support the family, even “
by selling glue, which he obtained by boiling reindeer antlers”. But
even with such a hard life young Lars managed to study, was persuaded
to be ordained as a priest after his theological studies (his first
interest was in botany) and went on to minister to northern
communities. Eventually, he decided he wanted a wife and apparently
looked for a female who was “gentle, humble and had experienced grace”
and also “from a spiritual standpoint, was marked by mild
fanaticism.” Wow! Several of these traits he seemed to find
in a lady named Brita. He then got to work to converting and preaching
to the Lapps. There were ups and downs, but the couple managed to have
12 children! At this
time in Sweden, it was against the law for laity (non- ordained
persons) to preach, so a sect was formed of people who would sit
together and ‘read’ their Bibles; they became known as the ‘readers’.
Some of these took things just a little far, and their attitude was that ‘belief in God was all that was needed’, and the ‘only sins are smoking and drinking’! More
time went by…more visions, more adventures, and then around 1850 Lars
and some followers produced a book entitled, “The Kingdom of God is not
Meat and Drink; Even Less is it Jumping and Shouting.” The
rest of the Lars story contains words such as revival, spiritual
enlightenment, and persecution. After an illness he died February 21,
1861. So, as far as
I can tell Laestadius was responsible for a revival in Lapland,
and his thoughts and ways live on through the people who follow
him. The main followers of Laestadius are in the northern parts
of Finland and Sweden, although some can be found in other areas of the
country. Day to day they live much as the rest of us, but
seem to me to be inclined to a more ‘Amish’ way of life – the women
staying home to raise large families, devoting themselves to
housekeeping. Most believers avoid alcohol; and others will strive to
avoid "worldly" practices, such as dancing, card-playing, cinema,
television, high-school sports, popular music, and the performing arts.
However, caffeine is widely consumed and tobacco is generally
tolerated. I heard recently that when a Laestadian business- man
was asked why there were no women in managerial positions in his
company, his answer (in Swedish) was something like “that’s because the
women are to be at home cleaning and looking after the children”. They
are not the first group of Christians who feel the need to ‘remove’
themselves from others in the general community, but there is always a
danger of cultism when this happens, particularly when the community
believes their own group to be correct and all others to be wrong. Due
to various kinds of disagreements in the congregation, the
movement split into several different factions, with the main
bodies of the faith in Finland, Sweden, Norway and North America. I
have nothing more to add, so if there are people of this faith who can
cast a better light on the subject, please do!
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