Population of Finland. Ancient Finnish religion Religious composition of Finland

The population of all of Finland is 5.3 million people. For 93.5% of residents, the native language is Finnish, for 5.9% - Swedish, for less than 1% - the Sami language. Several thousand gypsies (Romals) also live in Finland. Finnish and Swedish are equal official languages. Finnish serves as the language of communication for 5 million people, so knowledge of foreign languages ​​is very important for a Finnish citizen. From employees government agencies knowledge of Swedish, Finnish and English languages. Those working in the service and tourism sectors - hotels, shops, restaurants, bars, taxis, etc. — often also speak German and French. 68% of Finns speak at least one foreign language. You shouldn’t be surprised at the large number of Russian-speaking Finns.

Finns are very welcoming, friendly and sympathetic, no matter what language you speak to them. Responsiveness and mercy in society have been elevated to the rank public policy. Suffice it to remember how much attention is paid to services for the disabled (ramps for wheelchairs on the streets, in shops, public buildings, sound signals of traffic lights, special toilets, etc.) or care for lonely elderly people, who, for example, are given “save bracelets” , working as intercoms connecting with medical staff.

With regard to animals, a law has been adopted that prohibits working people from leaving cats or dogs at home unattended, which alone will, firstly, suffer, and secondly, bother their neighbors by barking or meowing.

A typical Finnish family consists of 4 people, living in their own house or apartment with total area about 70 sq.m. with one or two bedrooms, has a cottage-dacha on the shore of the sea, lake or river. It can be hundreds of kilometers from home and, being suitable for living all year round, used mainly in the summer during the holiday period. If the cottage is not too far from home, the owners, as a rule, go there for the weekend.

Every Finn has four weeks of vacation in summer and one in winter. The period of mass summer holidays falls on June-July; many try to coincide with the winter week school holidays(in different regions of the country this is different time in February or March). Finns travel abroad little, preferring trips around their own country and holidays at their own resorts.

An integral part of the Finnish way of life is the sauna. So don’t be surprised if a protracted business meeting is interrupted by the phrase: “Sorry, I’m late for the sauna.” Please be understanding - this is a very valid reason. For Finns, a sauna is, first of all, about taking care of your health.

Women's emancipation has reached unprecedented heights in Finland. Suffice it to say that 11 of the country’s 18 government ministers are women, including the Minister of Defense. Ladies hold the positions of: President of the Republic, Chairman of Parliament, and head of the only state-owned bank in Finland. Even the theological faculty of the university accepts women to study, and today they make up the majority of students. The first woman was ordained to the episcopate a few years ago.

Women visiting restaurants, cafes or pubs alone is a common and normal phenomenon. At dance parties, they are given the right to choose a partner on an equal basis with men. Many restaurants on a certain day of the week organize ladies' night - evenings when only women are invited. At the same time, a man's refusal to dance is considered the height of indecency.

The official religion in the country is Lutheranism, the main state church is located in Turku, the former capital of Finland. 88% of the population are members of the Lutheran Church, 1% belongs to the Orthodox Church, which has also existed as an official church since 1919. Every Lutheran parishioner regularly pays a church tax of 1% of his annual income. Churches of other faiths exist on voluntary donations. At the same time, Finns cannot be called very religious; rather, on the contrary, at least in everyday life, in everyday life it is difficult to detect this commitment. Among the religious holidays, Easter, Christmas, and Midsummer's Day are widely celebrated.

Finns are people of their word. They make their decisions very thoughtfully and do not change them. They take themselves seriously, so you should be very careful with both jokes and compliments when communicating.

The national heroes of Finland are Marshal Gustav Mannerheim, composer Jean Sibelius, and architect Alvaro Aalto.

The Finns became Christians quite early. They received their first Christian influence from the east, from the Orthodox world. This is evidenced by some Old Slavonic borrowings associated with Christianity, for example pappy (pop), risti (cross), etc. Finland officially became a Christian country at the beginning of the 2nd millennium. The Finns were Catholics, but at the same time they retained their old beliefs and customs for a long time.
As early as 1551, Mikael Agricola, in the introduction of his translation of part of the Bible into Finnish, was able to describe the Finnish gods quite consistently. This suggests that the Finns at that time were well aware of the ancient national religion. Agricola was an opponent of “paganism,” but from his description of Finnish “paganism” we learn a lot about what it was like. Finland accepted the Lutheran Reformation and the Finns became Lutherans. This is probably one of the reasons that “pagan” customs are poorly preserved in Finland. Under Catholicism, services were conducted in Latin. There was no Bible in Finnish. Lutherans held services in their native language, which was understandable to the Finns.
Membership in the Lutheran Church was mandatory. During the independence of Finland, the Lutheran Church became the state church. This means that the church performs some functions of the state, such as a census of the population (of church members) and the right to collect taxes from its members. Currently, about 85% of Finland's residents are members of the Lutheran Church.
The ancient Finnish religion as a whole has not survived. It is difficult to reconstruct. But in family traditions Some “pagan” elements have been preserved. There are people in Finland who consider themselves Finnish “pagans”. They have a society, but many feel that they have little in common with the true Finnish religion as it really was.
We still know something about the Finnish religion. It was naturally connected with what was important to the life of the ancient Finns. Important were the deities associated with the forest and hunting, with water and fishing. Tapio And Hiisi meant the forest and the god of the forest. The Finns believed that Tapio often visited people spending the night around the fire. Tapio is now a male name. Nyrckes and Hittavainen gave people game. Just how important squirrel skins were to the ancient Finns is evidenced by the fact that the Finnish word raha (money) originally meant “squirrel skin.” Finnish mothers associated with Hittavainen: hitto, hittolainen, hitsi. Ahti- deity of water. How many fish a fisherman catches depends on him. In folk songs, Ahti is often used as the name of a person or the owner of a region or property. To this day, Ahti is used as a male name in Finland. Veden Ema (Mother of Water)- female deity of water. It is often found in the folklore of South Karelians. Vainamoinen / Ainemoinen, perhaps also originally a water deity. The word vaina means strait or river. Used in folklore as a variant of words denoting various places of water. In the Finnish national epic, the main character is Väinämöinen. Popular Finnish male name Vaino.
The Finns were not only hunters and fishermen, but also farmers. The most important plants that were grown had their own deities. Rongoteus was the deity of rye. In the 16th century, Rongotheus was used as a surname. Vironkannos, probably the deity of oats, but in folklore he is also found as a god along with the most important god Ukko in the sky. Pellonpekko- deity of barley and beer. Akras- the deity of many vegetables, such as peas and cabbage. He made the land fertile. Kynnos means a spring field after plowing. May 25 was a day of fortune telling, people wanted to know what the harvest would be like this year. Kekri big holiday in autumn, usually November 1st. Then in the barn they ate a special soup for the happiness of the cattle. After this, the cattle were no longer allowed to graze. They were only allowed in again in the spring, usually on May 1st.
The main god was Ukko. This is the personification of a thunderstorm. Thunderstorm in Finnish ukkonen, literally a little Ukko. The Finns respected the thunderstorm so much that they sometimes used euphemisms instead of the word “thunderstorm.” When Ukko drives along the stone road in the sky, there will be a thunderstorm. This imagination is common to many peoples. The hunters asked him for protection. They asked him to protect the cattle. They also asked him to treat illnesses; when there was a lot of blood loss, they asked him to stop the bleeding. The Finns also knew the thunder god of their neighbors, the Balts. Perkele now the name of the devil, but etymologically related to the name of the thunder god of the Baltic and Slavic peoples (for example, in the Lithuanian language Perkūnas and Russian Perun). Rauni- a female deity, possibly the wife of Ukko. Her tree is rowan. She was a holy tree. Rowan berries still often grow in the yard. When there was a thunderstorm, Ukko and Rauni were arguing... Ilmarinen in folklore, the blacksmith who made the sky and the wonderful Sampo apparatus (we still don’t know exactly what Sampo is).
Besides the gods there were other creatures. Rahko in the folklore of northern Finland, a thief who was disturbed by the light of the moon in his work. So he took a bucket of resin and a broom, and climbed the ladder to the moon to paint it. Rahko was also the name of the disease and the evil brownie. Kapeet there was a creature that ate the moon during a lunar eclipse... Tonttu was a brownie or bannik. This is a Swedish loanword (tomte). He had a gray suit and a red hat. Today tonttu is associated with Christmas. They are helpers Joulupukki(Santa Claus). In general, in the most important holiday of the year, the Nativity of Christ on December 24-26, a lot of “pagan” elements have been preserved. sons Kalevalas (Kalevanpojat) were unusually strong creatures, giants. Explain what they seemed to be doing high mountains or other prominent natural locations. Tursas was a water monster or the power of water during a storm... Sometimes some unusual places in nature, the stars or the moon were revered as deities.
Liekkio God underworld or the spirit of the dead. Sometimes this was the name given to a dead child. He was also a terrible creature who frightened people in the forest with all sorts of strange sounds. Kratti- a screaming creature that lay on a treasure in the ground or on a chest. The word is related to the Swedish word skratt(laughter). The Finns, under “paganism,” brought food and drinks to the graves of the dead. Now there is no such tradition at all. It is customary to decorate the grave only with flowers.
In Finland, pre-Christian religion has not survived. Of the Finno-Ugric peoples, the Mari, Udmurts and Khanty retained their religion. The Erzyans were able to reconstruct their ancient religion quite well. In Europe, there is an opinion that if a people accepts Christianity, it survives, but a people who does not accept it disappears. Representatives of small Finno-Ugric peoples also have the opposite opinion that if they preserve their religion, they will survive.

Despite the fact that churches in Finland are built even in a small locality, the inhabitants of this country cannot be called particularly religious. And only for the sake of a big holiday, Finns go to the temple. Although it should be noted that religion in Finland continues to play an important role in the life of society. By their mentality, Finns are very strongly attached to nature. And this country would have remained pagan if not for its neighbors, who at different times had serious influence here. We mean Russia and Sweden. If we talk about Orthodoxy, it came from our country, of which Finland was an autonomous principality for 100 years.

The ancient Finns were pagans and knew that hunting was patronized by “Hittavainen”, and water element tames "Ahti". People have always worshiped the forces of nature, because at that time man had not yet declared himself its master, but, on the contrary, was completely dependent on it. The beliefs of the ancient Finns are vividly conveyed in the greatest literary monument - the Kalevala epic. In the second century AD, Christianity came to these lands, at that time already the most powerful religion in Europe. In the 14th century, during the era of the Reformation, the teachings of Martin Luther received significant support among all segments of the population and since that time, religion in Finland has moved from Catholicism to Protestantism.

Most of the population considers themselves adherents of the Lutheran faith. Finnish Lutherans are the largest congregation of this Christian denomination in the country. The unofficial capital of Finnish Lutherans is the city of Turku. Orthodox Christians make up the second largest group of believers. Orthodoxy is traditionally practiced by Russians and Karelians. is Orthodox Cathedral and the bishop's residence. Until 1889, Finns had the right to choose only between these two faiths. Residents were allowed to practice either Orthodoxy or one of the Protestant religions.

Finns received complete freedom of choice or the opportunity to live outside their faith in 1923. Unfortunately, now, with each new population census, the percentage of agnostics and atheists is growing. Religion in Finland receives almost no support from the state. Moreover, the process of secularization is especially noticeable here. The policy is largely aimed at completely moving from a society regulated by religious traditions to a secular model of the state. Although in fairness it must be said that Lutheran and Orthodox communities occupy a special role here. They are recognized as state-owned and are allowed to withdraw taxes.

At one time, the Lutheran Church sought to obtain absolute independence from the state. But she failed. Although, formally, it has this freedom more than any other denomination. Thanks to taxes imposed by the state, the church receives serious income. Moreover, the tax is collected together with other municipal fees. In turn, the church helps the state perform some of its functions. For example, it maintains a register of citizens and also organizes funerals for the poor.

The Orthodox Church, in which services are held in Finnish, Slavic and Russian, also asked the Patriarch for autocephaly, but it was not granted. The Church is autonomous and reports directly to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Until 1918, Finnish Orthodox Christians were under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. Biggest Orthodox monastery New Valaam. It was founded by the monks of the Russian Valaam Monastery. When their home found itself in a war zone before the outbreak of World War II, many fled to Finland. Here they bought a plot of land and began to develop the monastic economy.

Other faiths and beliefs

Religion in Finland is also represented by other beliefs. There are almost no Catholic parishes in this country, but this denomination is represented by 8,000 people. Only in 1929 did Catholics build their first church. It must be said that there are many branches of Protestant movements in the country. The most significant is the Pentecostal movement. There are also Baptists, Adventists and Methodists. Despite the fact that there have never been more than a thousand representatives of the Jewish faith, the Jewish community has been successfully functioning here for more than 150 years. Turku even has several synagogues.

Children's choice

In Finland, more than 85% of children are baptized in infancy. Which religion a child chooses depends on the will of his parents. If disagreements arise between parents on this matter, the prevailing right of choice remains with the mother. At the age of 18, a citizen has the right to choose his own religion. In 2003, a serious debate broke out over the abolition of religious lessons at school. Moreover, public opinion was clearly divided in half. One part believed that they should not be abolished; the other categorically demanded their abolition. A compromise was found in the quality of the lesson concept.

That is, they teach the basics of the faith that most students in the class profess. If in the class, in addition to the main part of the students, there are three or more who want to study another religion, then an additional group will be organized for them. During the lessons, children are introduced to the basics of their native faith and told about other religions, fostering religious tolerance.

Children learn about the role of the church in history and its significance for modern society, and they also try to explain ethnic issues in a way that is understandable for their age. If children do not want to attend such lessons, they will be offered to study philosophy. This is such a diverse religion in Finland. Actually, its condition does not differ from that in other European countries. After all, a united Europe strives to create a moral, secular society where man, not God, is the main value. But for people who are Russian in spirit, this is not entirely clear. In our next article we will tell you about a unique one, where you will find out its address and opening hours.

The population of Finland is about 5.5 million people. Finland has a very low population density. The bulk of the population is concentrated primarily in major cities And populated areas. More than a million people live in the capital region.

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Population of FinlandFinnish | Swedish | English

Finnish and Swedish are the official languages ​​of Finland. Finnish is spoken by just under 4.9 million people as their mother tongue, and Swedish by just under 300,000 people. The next most frequently used languages ​​are Russian, Estonian, English, Somali and Arabic.

Finland is home to various national minorities that have their own language, culture or faith that is different from the language, culture and faith of the majority of Finns. Traditional national minorities in Finland are Finnish Swedes, Sami, Gypsies, Jews and Tatars. Also moved to Finland a large number of immigrants, for example, from Russia, Estonia, the Balkan countries, Somalia and Iraq.

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Maahanmuuttajat väestössä Finnish | English

Religion in Finland

Most Finns are Christians. The largest religious association is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church (Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko), which includes about 70% of the population. Finnish Orthodox Church is the second largest religious association. Just over 1% of the population belongs to the Orthodox Church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Orthodox Church occupy a special position in Finland. They, for example, have the right to levy taxes.

Tens of thousands of Muslims live in Finland. But only some of them belong to Islamic societies. Also, about two thousand Jews live in Finland. There are two synagogues in the country - in Helsinki and Turku.

Other religious affiliations include, for example, the Catholic Church of Finland, the Pentecostal Church, the Free Church of Finland, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as well as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.

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Religious societiesFinnish | Swedish | English

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Religious societiesFinnish | English

Freedom of religion and the right to practice one's own religion in Finland

There is freedom of religion in Finland. Everyone living in Finland has the right to choose their own religion and practice it. If you do not wish, you are not required to choose any religion. No person is obliged to profess a particular religion against his will.

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Freedom of religionFinnish | Swedish | English

In order to found a religious community, it is necessary to have 20 adult members. A religious group does not need to register as a community; the group can exist without registration.

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Registration of a religious societyFinnish | Swedish | English

Religion of children

The decision about a child’s religious choice is made by his parents. If parents have different points of view, then the mother can independently decide on the choice of religion for a child under the age of one year.

The child has the right to study his religion at school. Additional Information is listed on the InfoFinland website in the section Basic general education.

A child who has turned 18 years old is an adult and independently chooses his or her religion.

Until the end of the 19th century, Finns could profess only one of the state religions - either Lutheranism or Orthodoxy. It was only the law of 1889 that allowed Finns to practice another form of Christianity. However, even then they were left with a narrow choice - the Finns were allowed to profess Orthodoxy and any of the Protestant churches. The Finns received much greater religious freedom already in 1923, when citizens were officially allowed to freely establish various religious communities, or even live outside of any of them.

And now religion in Finland plays a significant role in the life of Finns. However, each new population census reveals more and more atheists. According to the latest census, 12.3% of the Finnish population considers themselves atheists. This figure is getting bigger and bigger every time. In reality, the religiosity of Finns is much less than they themselves admit. Thus, in 2000, a representative of the left forces, known for her anti-clericalism, won the presidential elections. She also spoke out in defense of the rights of sexual minorities, which the Finnish church is not very happy about.

Currently, Lutheranism here is professed by 84.2 to 88% of the population (we selected two extreme points, which are published in the open press, although there are also reports of 85.6%). The second place is occupied by the Finnish Orthodox Church - 1.1% (professed by those living here Russian population– 20.4 thousand and Karelians – 35 thousand people). Pentecostals live here - 0.7%, and Jehovah's Witnesses - 0.25%. This is the religious picture of modern Finland.

Finland, however, remains a secular state. Current legislation guarantees equal rights to all citizens, regardless of religion. The state also refused to impose Lutheranism on its citizens. The process of secularization is especially fast in large cities, and there are two leaders in this - Helsinki and Tempere. However, the process of secularization did not begin in Finland today, but after the Second World War it gained a truly gigantic scope.

In fact, faith in God in Finland is a fickle thing. Today we are talking about a decrease in the number of believers, but in the 90s of the last century the trend was the opposite. According to a survey conducted in 1999, more than half of respondents considered themselves believers in the Christian God (in the early 90s, only a third of respondents gave a similar answer). Approximately 25% of the population believed in God, but not as taught. official church. 17% did not express any predilections for one church or another, but were confident in the existence of God. And only 6% (half as many as today) admitted themselves to be atheists.

The state religion of Finland, as one might think, is not only the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, but also the Orthodox Church. Yes, yes, Orthodoxy is the same state religion of Finland, like the much more widespread Lutheranism. With an eighty-fold difference, this state of affairs can be called absurd. But there are factors that prevent such a conclusion. Firstly, Finland is an unusual country in many ways, for example, it has two state languages– Finnish, spoken by 95% of the population and Swedish – by 5.5% of the population. The analogy is obvious.

Secondly, the recognition of two religions as state religions, as well as the bilingualism of the country, is explained by historical features. It’s not difficult to guess that the country that for a long time(namely from 1809 - when Finland became dependent on Russia, actually becoming part of it, albeit with broad autonomous rights - until 1917, when the country gained independence from Soviet Russia) was under the patronage of the Orthodox empire, and where the policy of Russification was carried out (though not for long, only 17 years, from 1900 to 1917), it must have something in common with the metropolis. The Lutheran Church also took root here mainly thanks to another country - Sweden.

At the same time, the Lutheran Church in Finland provides greatest influence in the western, central and northern regions of the country. However, at present it is not very active within the country - it practically does not interfere in state affairs, and looks at individual dissents (as they would say in the Middle Ages - heresies) very indifferently. But outside the country, the Lutheran Church of Finland is very active. For example, Finnish missionaries can be found in different corners Asia and Africa.

True, in Finland itself there are religious associations that try to educate young people and influence public opinion. For example, Young People's Christian Association, Women's Christian Youth Association, Finnish Free Church. And if the first two conduct missionary activities among young people, then the latter is more focused on adults.

There is even a Christian political party called the Christian Union. True, this party does not have significant influence - the number of its members is just over 18 thousand people (in total, more than 5.5 million people live in Finland, of which about 4.9 million consider themselves believers - the orders of numbers are not comparable).

The modern Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church has eight dioceses, with 9 bishops and 600 parishes. On average, there are (pardon the pun) 7 thousand people per parish, but this figure is not constant. The smallest parish has only a few hundred parishioners, while the largest has tens of thousands.

The Lutheran Church in Finland was unable to achieve absolute independence from the state (although it is more independent than any other Scandinavian church, as evidenced by both the Constitution of Finland and a special church law). Financially, it depends entirely on the state. This is understandable - the times of the Middle Ages are irrevocably gone. There is even a church tax that is levied along with council taxes. This tax forms 78% of the budget of the Lutheran Church. In 2000, more than 700 million euros were collected in this simple way. The capital of the Lutheran Church is Turku, which is also the old capital of Finland.

It should be especially noted that the church in Finland, despite its isolation from the state, still performs some functions that the state itself or local administration could take on. For example, church parishes maintain a demographic register of the population. And the Lutheran Church organizes funerals in its cemeteries, including those of citizens who profess a different religion. There are also prison and army chaplains.

Orthodoxy in Finland is widespread mainly in the eastern regions of the country - closer to Russia. The capital of Finnish Orthodoxy is the city of Kuopio, where the Cathedral of St. Nicholas is located, as well as Orthodox Museum. The residence of the archbishop is also located here. Services are sent in Finnish, Russian and Church Slavonic. The most common religious holidays are Easter, Christmas and Midsummer. It is on these holidays that you can find a Finn in church.

The Finnish Orthodox Church is an autonomous church (the Ecumenical Patriarchate did not grant it autocephaly, despite an appeal to it in 1980) and reports directly to the Patriarch of Constantinople. The head of the Finnish Orthodox Church is the archbishop. The history of the Orthodox Church in Finland is interesting. It began, as I already mentioned, in 1809. It is noteworthy that, starting from this time, church books actively began to be translated into Finnish. The service was also held in Finnish.

The Finnish Orthodox Church became autonomous only in 1918. But then it still remained part of the Russian Orthodox Church. And already in 1923, the Finnish Church came under the authority of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople. In 1940, the Eastern Finns again had to come under Russian rule. True, most of the priests hastily evacuated to Finland (by the way, this is how the New Valaam monastery appeared). However, then the Orthodox Church of Finland lost up to 90% of its possessions. Currently, the Orthodox Church in Finland has 25 parishes, 50 churches and 100 chapels.

Finnish religiosity (without regard to which religion) is not very different from what we can observe in any other developed country. Thus, approximately 55% of the population prefers to express their faith in the form of prayers. Moreover, Finns do not bother themselves with frequent prayers - they consider praying once a month to be quite sufficient. Only 8% of the population participates in organized worship. However, not more often. More than half of the Finnish population reads religious magazines at least several times a year. 89% of babies are baptized, 98% of the deceased are buried, 80% of marriages take place within the walls of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Are any more numbers needed?

In addition to the two state religions - Lutheranism and Orthodoxy - in Finland you can also meet representatives of other faiths. For example, Catholicism in Finland has about 8,000 followers. Most of them live in Helsinki and the south of the country. Interestingly, there was no Catholic Church in Finland for a long time; it was officially established only in 1929.

Protestants also found their place in the religious system of Finland: Baptists, Methodists and Adventists. True, the largest Protestant organization in Finland remains the Pentecostal organization established here at the beginning of the 20th century, the number of members of which reaches 50 thousand people.

Judaism, brought here in the 19th century by merchants and soldiers of the Russian army, is much less widespread. The number of Jewish believers in Finland has never exceeded a thousand people. However, this does not interfere with the functioning of synagogues in Helsinki and Turku (at the beginning of the last century there was also a synagogue in Vyborg).

Islam has approximately the same number of believers as Judaism. It was also brought to Finland by the Russian army, but in Lately filled with refugees from Muslim countries. The Islamic community in Finland has existed since 1925.

The system of religious education in Finland is interesting. It is interesting because it is both there and at the same time it is not there. Schools teach the religion that most students in the class follow. If there are at least three students of another religion in one class, then their parents have the right to demand that their religion be introduced into the school curriculum and lessons. Students who do not profess any religion study philosophy. The decision about this is left to their parents.