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NORSE RELGION
The Germanic pagan religion has left its mark on customs
and festivals; celebrations with bonfires and maypoles mark
the Finnish and Swedish midsummer, and the Nordic Christmas
bears many similarities to the midwinter feast of the Vikings,
starting with the word for Christmas (sw. Jul, fin. Joulu)
which comes from the Old Germanic word "hjul", meaning the
wheel of the year. Trolls and gnomes still inhabit Nordic
households, although the once revered and feared mythical
beings have been reduced to the lowly caste of soft toys.
The Finns and the Sámi ought to have a common set of
folklore and old relicts of religious traditions, but it is
rather hard to find a common denominator for Fenno-Ugric
traditions. For instance are the Sámi the only Fenno-Ugrians
where shamans are known. Probably the Finns and the northern
Germanians have made impressions in both directions. In any
case: Bears had a central role in myths and rites, and beings
ruling the nature, Haltia in Finnish, are more
central in the Finnish and Sámi tradition than among other
Nordeners.
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The Nordic peoples were converted to Catholicism in the 10th to
12th centuries, but the Lutheran reformation embraced in all Nordic
countries wiped out most of the Catholic customs and memories in the
course of the 16th century. Having become a stronghold of
protestantism against Catholics in the south and Greek Orthodox in
the east had some unifying effect on Scandinavia even though wars
between the countries kept raging on; religion was, after all, the
most important basis of one's identity well into the 18th century.
The Lutheran ideal was to require the common people to be able to
read the Bible on their own, which had a enormous educating effect
on the Nordic peoples. This, along with the protestant work ethic,
had a significant role in the forming of the Scandinavian societies,
enabling their economic and cultural growth and the pioneering work
that the Nordics have played in decreasing social inequality. No
doubt it also shaped the national character of each country to a
similar direction (a common complaint in Norden: we're such joyless,
grey and angst-ridden people; it's all the Lutheran
Church's fault! Even today, all five Nordic countries have a
Lutheran state church to which a vast majority of the population
belongs (there is of course full freedom of religion granted by the
constitutions of the five countries). Paradoxically, this is
probably the reason why Scandinavians are among the most secular
peoples on the face of the earth. Despite its seemingly
all-pervasive presence in various state institutions and the
ceremonies guiding the life of the average Scandinavian, Lutheranism
has in most parts of Scandinavia retreated to the fringes of culture
and has little meaning to the average person. Church attendance is
record-low, the liberal morals hardly reflect specifically Lutheran
ideals, religion is no major issue in politics, etc. The official,
institutionalized religion offered by the state churches has to a
large extent vaccinated the Nordics against Christian fundamentalism
of the American kind.
Within this wondrous
volume lies
The mystery of mysteries;
Happiest they of human race
To whom their God has given grace
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,
To lift the latch, to find the way;
And better had they ne'er been born
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn.
Sir Walter Scott
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