Great Famine of 1695–1697
The Great Famine of 1695-1697 is one of the worst famines in the history of humankind. During this time the climate cooled so that for two consecutive years crops suffered remarkable losses causing massive starvation. The famine has been compared to the St Petersburg siege 1941-1944. During the siege the starvation was so bad that after all the rats, mice, cats, dogs and such were eaten, people would eat glue out of the backs of the books and boil leather belts for soup. Families would freeze their dead children and cut little pieces of them just to cook at least something for the supper.
Climate scientists call the years 1675-1715 with a term borrowed from astronomy “The Late Maunder Minimum”. The average winter temperature in England was at that time 1 °C lower than the latter part of the 20th century. The springs of Central and Eastern Europe were even colder. Growing season in 1680-1730 England was five weeks shorter than the warmest years of the 20th century. In areas where usually there is snow only for a couple of days in a year, could see snow for 3-4 weeks.
The coldest period of this time was 1690’s. Dendrochronological dating show that especially the summers of 1695, 1698 and 1699 were exceptionally cold in the northern hemisphere. The 1695 was the sixth coldest year in 600 years. The annual rings of trees from northern Scandinavian forests show that in 1695 and 1696 the growth rate of the trees collapsed.
There isn’t a clear answer as to what caused this cold period. The Late Maunder Minimum in astronomy means the period from 1645-1715 when there were exceptionally few sunspots. The low number of sunspots tend to be associated with global cooling. A single volcanic eruption can’t cool the climate as much as to explain the coldness of 1695-1697. The climate is a complex system and still our advanced climate science can’t explain this terrible cold period. A similar kind of period of cold and famine happened in Finland in 1866-1868 and also previously in the 16th century.
But what happened in Finland during that time? Maybe the most devastating event was that the summers were short. 1695 started ok, but at the end of the summer in August Finland would see beautiful clear summer nights when the temperature would plunge exceptionally to freezing temperatures. These night frosts aren’t that unusual in Finland but what was exceptional was the fact that the night frosts started very early in August. The cold would kill the ripening seeds of grain in the husks. Large amounts of Finland's annual crops were lost during the last cold weeks of August. That fall the king would send emergency grains from Estonia and Sweden before the Baltic Sea freezes and Finland is isolated from the rest of the world for half a year. The first year this emergency food arrived quite ok. The winter is terribly cold: apple, plum and cherry trees split in half as they freeze in the gardens of southern Finland's manor houses - this is a terrible setback for the Finnish gardening culture. Next summer of 1696 is terrible - cold and rain - nothing grows yet again. Terribly bad crops. The king struggles to send help. The little grain reserves in Finland are depleted. Nobody knows what to eat the following winter. People make bread out of the blackened remains of poor quality grains: the bread is black and doesn’t hold its shape after baking and it falls apart.
At the same time the livelihoods of the Sámi in Kuusamo have suffered substantially because of the Finnish settlers burning down the hunting grounds for farming and over fishing. The cold season might not have been that terrible for them as they had better capabilities to handle changing situations and they weren’t so dependent on growing crops that couldn’t survive in those latitudes without the care of humans. They could have hunted for reindeer and wild geese and fished, but as the Finns farmers crops were suffering from the cold, the Finns also started to hunt and fish in order to get food on the table. So after already causing the diminishing the reindeer and fish stock, now the Finnish settlers were competing for the same food.
In Kuusamo the failure of crops was total. None of the king's emergency grains ever reached this part of the outskirts of the Swedish kingdom. The worsening situation increases the amount of slash and burn of the forests as people try to make better crops.
As there isn’t enough game and fish for the Sámi they do what they have always done in the past when faced hard times: they travel to seek help from other Sámi living in the Karelian areas next to the White Sea in what is now part of Russia. Two of the sons of my Sámi ancestor Antti (the son of the aforementioned Antti who was a good hunter of the martens) survived this famine staying with a Sámi called Mihkail Petrikov living in the Karelian areas. Two other sons of Antti aren’t that lucky and die in 1697 while begging in Russia.
The Finns too try begging on the Russian side but quickly leave the country as they are expected to convert to Orthodox religion in order to get food. For those who accept to change the Lutheran church for the Orthodox the “baptisms” of these converted Finns is said to been violent.
Throughout Finland this time is labeled with great famine. People have always baked bread using part flour and part pettu which is part of the bark of a pine tree that is roasted and ground up into powder. The amount of flour in the bread slowly decreases and eventually there is only pettu left. People slaughter all animals: sheep, pigs, cats and dogs before slaughtering the cows. Cows are kept alive as long as possible because they could produce milk. But after awhile it is time to eat the cow too.
They start eating “un-natural foods” collecting plants but the church sees this as witchcraft. People try to make the poisonous roots of Menyanthes trifoliata (Raate in Finnish) edible by soaking, drying and grinding it to powder. But as the church keeps pressuring the people to give up the ways of the satan and stop eating the plants from the forests, they turn to new sources of food: leather and straws, stillborn babies, and other dead people.
As food runs out of the small farms of people, the only thing left is to abandon home and start begging. Herds of beggars wander the country, many gathering at the crowns warehouses in cities where they store the emergency grains that are still being sold but not distributed to the poor. The king wanted to keep on making money even in the middle of a great famine.
The masses of begging people spread diseases like common colds and typhoid fever. People don’t necessarily die of starvation but people will become so weak after starving for months that even a mild flu can kill you.
The people living at the time didn’t know much about climate. The Finnish historian Mirkka Lappalainen has named her book about the Great Famine as “Jumalan vihan ruoska” which translates as “whip of God's wrath” which perfectly discribes the belief of people of the time: the famine was caused by god in order to punish them for their sins. People would keep praying for god to lift his anger and redeem his people.
During the great famine one third of Finland’s population died. In North Finland the number is even higher and it is estimated that about half of the population died in that part. The death rate is even higher among the Sámi of the area. Many of the farms of the Finnish settlers in Kuusamo are deserted after the famine. The recovery from this period lasts well into the 18th century in Kuusamo.
1701 Version
Listen to the 1701 version here:
http://koraali.fi/mp3/N412.mp3
XI. Kaikkinaisissa tarpeissa.
4. Suvi-virsi
v. k. N:o 412.
318.Jo joutuu armas aika Ja suvi suloinen,
Joll' kauniist' kaiken paikan Kaunistaa
kukkainen; Nyt armas aurink' meitä Taas lähtee lähemmäks', Hän kuolleet hautoo, heitä Jäll' tekee eläväks'.
2. Ne niitun kukat koriat, Ja laiho laaksossa, Niin
ylpiät yrttitarhat, Puut vehriät verassa, Ne meillen
muistuttavat Suurt' hyvyytt' Jumalan, Jonk' kaikk'
ain' nähdä saavat, Juur' ympär' vuoden ain'.
3. Nyt lintu äänell' koriall' Taas laulaa taitavast'
Enk' me siis mahtais' Luojall' Tääll' veisat' iloisest'?
Mun sielun' Herraa kiitä Nyt riemu-laululla, Kuin
iloittaa ja täyttää Meit' laupiaill' lahjoilla.
4. O Jesu Kriste jalo! Sä kirkas paistehem', Ain'
kylmää luontoom' haudo, Ja asu tykönäm'! Sun rakkautes tuli Ann' palaa sydämmess'! Luo meihin uusi
mieli, Pois murheet poista myös.
5. Sä Saaronin kaunis kukka, Kukoistus laaksossa,
Mun sielun' avuill' kruunaa, Tee taitavaks' tavoissa,
Sun kastees hänt' Siionist' Ain' kauniist' kastakoon,
Sitt' kuin ruusu Libanonist' Hajuns' hyvän antakoon.
6. Ann' maan tääll' kasvons' kantaa, Vakons' myös
liota; Meill' tarpeet tahtoisit antaa, Maan, meren siunata,
Ann' askelees tiukkuu rasvast', Meit' ruoki sanallas, Suo
maistam' sit' ain' makiast', Niin sielu on autuas.
Den blomstertid nu kommer (literally: Now the time of blossoming arrives, Suvivirsi in Finnish) is a Swedish summertime hymn, traditionally credited to Israel Kolmodin after walking at Hångers källa outside Visby, Sweden. It was first published in the 1695 Swedish Hymnal. The hymn describes a beautiful summer and how God has given again the growing crops in the valley (for Finnish readers the old sounding term “laiho laaksossa” means that the field is growing a crop) – something we were missing during the famine – the god has forgiven us our sins – praise the beauty of nature created by god! The hymn was written at the eve of the catastrophe and it became popular in Finland after the famine when it was published in the Finnish Hymnal in 1701 only a few years after the Great Famine. It is still a popular hymn as every school kid sings the hymn at the spring celebrations at the end of the school year. Today most people don’t connect the hymn with the Great Famine. It is considered sweet, innocent and clean.
Following are the three different Finnish translations of the hymn from three different eras and a english translation. Finnish speaking readers can obviously see the very different language of these translations. Available also are as links the different music versions of the hymn, which all have distinct differences (I’m sorry for the bad quality of the first two versions, but these are the versions that I had available which are provided by the Lutheran Church of Finland).
First is the 1701 version that remotely resembles the melody of today. And then the 1886 version that is closer to the contemporary version. And finally a link to the pandemic era performance of the school kids summertime hymn.
Would the people in the early 18th century Kuusamo understand the translation of that time? The Finnish is not the Finnish that the settlers speak, it is the Finnish that the church decided to use – Finnish that is based on the south-western dialects of Finnish and not on the northern and east-northern dialects of Finnish that the settlers spoke. So the Finnish settlers could have had difficulties understanding the words. As would have the Sámi.
I wanted to include these translations as to show how this common hymn has changed through out the centuries. Similarly as people and places have evolved. Perfect way to trace change that happens during centuries.
1886 version
The 1886 version available here:
http://koraali.fi/mp3/F215.mp3
V. Virret erinäisissä säädyissä ja tiloissa.
15. Suvivirsi
472.Jo joutui armas aika Ja suvi suloinen;
Kauniisti joka paikkaa Koristaa kukkanen.
Aurinko maamme puoleen Lähestyy lähemmäks, Vir-
voittaa luonnon kuolleen, Sen tekee eläväks.
2. Nyt niityn kukat korjat, Ja laiho laaksossa,
Myös yrttitarhat sorjat, Puut lehtiverhossa Taas
meille muistuttavat Hyvyyttä Jumalan, Jonk' kaikki
nähdä saavat Vuos' vuodelt' ainian.
3. Taas linnut laulujansa Visertää kauniisti;
Myös eikö Herran kansa Luojaansa kiittäisi? Siis,
sielun', Herraa kiitä Nyt riemulauluilla! Hän iloittaa
ja täyttää Meit' armons' lahjoilla.
4. O Jesus Kristus, jalo Ja kirkas paisteemme,
Sä sydämemme valo, Ain' asu luonamme! Sun rakkau-
tes liekki Sytytä rintaamme, Luo meihin uusi mieli,
Pois poista murheemme!
5. Sä kaunis kukoistava Saronin kukkanen, Sieluni
armaast' avaa Sun armos avuillen! Suo että se
Sionin Kaunoisen kasteen saa, Kuin ruusu Libanonin
Hyvälle hajahtaa!
6. Maan, meren anna kantaa Runsaasti lahjojas,
Tarpeemme meillen antaa Sun siunauksestas! Suo
suloisuutta maistaa Myös sielun' sanassas, Ain' ar-
mos sille paistaa, niin on se autuas!
1986 version
The 1986 version performed in 2020 by a virtual childrens choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sQzI9WcXW0
571. Jo joutui armas aika
Jo joutui armas aika
Ja suvi suloinen
Kauniisti joka paikkaa
Koristaa kukkanen
Nyt siunaustaan suopi
Taas lämpö auringon
Se luonnon uudeks' luopi
Sen kutsuu elohon
Taas niityt vihannoivat
Ja laiho laaksossa
Puut metsän huminoivat
Taas lehtiverhossa
Se meille muistuttaapi
Hyvyyttäs', Jumala
Ihmeitäs' julistaapi
Se vuosi vuodelta
Taas linnut laulujansa
Visertää kauniisti
Myös eikö Herran kansa
Luojaansa kiittäisi
Mun sieluni sä liitä
Sun äänes' kuorohon
Ja armon Herraa kiitä
Kun laupias hän on
English translation
Our summer is arriving
and gentle winds will blow.
We see our world reviving
as grass and bushes grow.
For Heaven always brings us
both sun and soothing rain,
eternal hymns it sings us
and all is born again!
The fields and every flower,
each lake and all the trees,
the snow, the summer shower,
the storm, the evening breeze
they always will remind us
of God’s almightyness,
his grace will always find us,
each moment he will bless.
We hear how birds are singing
With joy in every phrase.
Our humble songs are ringing
as Christ, our Lord, we praise.
He always walks besides us,
in all we hear his voice.
With love he wants to guide us
and make our souls rejoice!
Israel Kolmodin, (Sweden) 1643 - 1709.
Translation B. Helsingius
I am walking on a sand road next to a field at Lake Kitkajärvi. On the right side of the road there is a field and on the left side there are piles of rocks now covered in moss and plants. A rowan tree and huge black head shaped rock. I feel the burning of sour dark rye bread in my stomach (even though I haven’t eaten it). A field for growing rye. Them eating the bread that was previously the food of the others. Feeling sad I see something shining on the piles of rocks just under the rowan tree. I walk closer on top of the pile. The shiny object is a rock whose surface is covered in black small crystals. I pick it up and for a fraction of a second I hear someone singing a yoik by the lake shore behind the birch trees. I’m startled and the moment and the singing vanishes. I’m standing there on the pile of rocks holding a black shiny rock in my hand as the leaves of the rowan tree brush my shoulder. I get back on the road. I start to walk back to our car and look at the field and the house next to it. Another wave of bottomless sadness. Then words come to my mind: “But we were happy!” And I realize that changing to farming was for them the only way to survive: it gave them a somewhat stable source of food. Surviving made them happy. Having food and a place to live made them happy. Having some kind of a future made them happy. For too long they had seen violence and persecution: it was easier to try to adapt and become one of the oppressors and try hide the bad shameful past. It was better to blend in and try to pass as one of the others.
After the Great Famine
The 4th vicar of Kuusamo and my ancestral father Sigfridus Bonelius serves in Kuusamo from 1699 until his death in 1716. Sigfridus’ wife and my ancestral mother Anna Bonelius née Tawast was the granddaughter of Henrik Mattson Tawast who was mentioned previously in this text when discussing the book Lapponia. Anna’s mother Anna Sursill was a member of the famous and large Sursill (trans. surströmming, fermented herring dish) family originating from Westrobothnia in Sweden. The offspring of this family is widespread in Finland and it is maybe the most geneologically studied family in Finland. Anna Bonelius’ father and the husband of Anna Sursill was the vicar of Pyhäjoki Johan Henriksson Tawast. He was involved in the court case against an alleged witch Lussi Matsdotter, who was accused of borrowing the vicar’s horse to ride to blåkulla to meet the devil.
Brita Sirma who was also mentioned previously died childless in 1710, leaving behind her husband Henrik Johansson Tornberg, the vicar of Alatornio. After Brita’s death Henrik marries Brita Bonelius the daughter of the previously mentioned 4th vicar of Kuusamo Sigfridus Bonelius. After a couple of generations their offspring married to the originally Sámi Pitkä-Korva-Kallunki family.
In the beginning of the 18th century there were only a few Sámi families left in Kuusamo. As their livelihoods have been robbed from them by the Finnish settlers, the only way to feed their families is to become a settler on their ancestral lands. To become a Finn and build a house and leave the Sámi way of life behind.
A man named Heikki Tuomaanpoika Korva settled in 1720’s a farm that was named “Korva”. The farm was established in 1689 in Virranniemi in Kuusamo, it is unclear how Heikki came to own the farm in 1720’s. Maybe it was one of the farms built by settlers and then abandoned during the Great Famine? Who knows. Heikki married Kaisa, the mother of Olli Korva (formerly Pitkä), both Kaisa and Olli are my ancestors. Olli’s father Antti Pitkä was the grandson of the Marttinin Antti, you know, the one who could hunt martens real good. Antti died in 1725 when Olli was 14 years old. After Antti’s death Olli’s mother married Heikki and Olli went to live with his mother at Heikki’s house. The Korva farm was located at Lake Kitkajärvi’s Ala-Kitka area which used to be the summer camp areas of the Pitkä family who were part of the Kitka Siida. This marriage was a good deal for both the widow and the new husband: the widow got shelter and food for her family and the husband could claim the lands as his wife's and stepchildren’s inheritance. Stepdad Heikki died in 1741 and Olli inherited the farm. The farm was quite prosperous during the 18th century.
Olli had a daughter called Magdaleena who married Isak Tornberg. Isak was the grandson of previously mentioned Brita Bonelius and Henrik Tornberg. Magdaleena and Isak had a son Olof who married Elisabeth Kallunki.
The family Kallunki originates from Antti Antinpoika Pitkä the brother of previously mentioned Olli Korva (previously Pitkä). The Kallunki family lived on their farm at the Lake Kallunkijärvi – also in the area of the former Kitka Siida. Because the farm has been owned by the family since the Sámi times, it is difficult to define a specific year of establishment but it could be either 1680, 1707 or 1717.
In the start of the 18th century many spoke Sámi in secret among family and publicly Finnish with a Sámi accent. Little by litte the Kitka and Maanselkä Sámi Siida communities break. The Sámi were forced to pray The Lords Prayer in the fear of the vicars' whip. During the following centuries the population would mix – like my vicar ancestors' offspring marrying to the Pitkä family. Very likely the hidden habits and customs mix as families are now made of different ethnic backgrounds. This mixture becoming the customs of the area.
The 1707 Kitka and Maanselkä court records is the last time when the court records show a ruling that some unnamed Finnish settlers should stop slash and burn, hunting and fishing on the “private taxable lands” of individual Sámi people. No longer the court speaks of the Sámi as a community, nor does it mention the Siidas (eventhough the court is named after the Siidas…), but rather the court records now talk about few private Sámis who still try to practice their old livelihoods. According to Kuusamo historian Seppo Ervasti, this can be seen as a clear sign that at this time the Sámi communities have totally collapsed. Ervasti also states that there is not any more mention in the court records of Sámi complaining about the invading Finns or any mention of the old Sámi rights.
It took 33 years from 1674-1707 of violent invasion of settlers and a Great Famine to destroy the communities of Sámi Siidas in Kuusamo. After the communities had collapsed, how long did it take for the individual people to lose the language, habits and the whole culture? Did the individual Sámi offspring keep something from their past? It seems impossible for a whole culture to be wiped out in mere few decades.
It is said that wars still affect people after 3 generations,and that the 4th generation could deal with the trauma. How long does it take to get over an invasion and the following destruction of a culture and lineage of people that is possibly many millenia old? There are about 5 or 6 generations in a decade. I have Sámi ancestors that still lived in undisturbed Sámi communities 8-10 generations ago, and still the fate of these people still knocks around my body, mind and soul.
Did Olli Korva feel Finnish and was he accepted as a Finn when he died in 1795? Did his daughter Magdalena pass as a Finn in her lifetime? Was there some rumours about her past? Did Magdalena still remember Sámi language or other traditions when she died in 1832? Maybe she sang a song to her son Olof that she had learned from her grandmother? Did Olof sing to the his daughter Loviisa? Loviisa to her daughter Kaisa? Kaisa to her daughter Loviisa? And then what did Loviisa pass to my grandmother?
Jacob Fellman (who also has the same last name as some of my other ancestors) visits Kuolajärvi Siida (present day Salla, the northern neighbor of Kuusamo) and Sompio Siida (northern part of present day Sodankylä) in the early 19th century. The both were part of the larger Kemi Sámi areas and Kemi Lappmark – like I previously mentioned the Kemi Sámi inhabited areas from Kuusamo until Inari. In 1829 he published a short vocabulary of Kemi Sámi. The language is generally thought to die during the 1800’s. There are some people living in the area who still claim that their grandparents spoke the language still in the 20th century, but their claims are disputed.
When did the ancestral mother wear a dress for the first time? How did it feel to put on the costume of a Finnish woman on for the first time? How did the new seams in her new clothes feel on her skin? Did she struggle with different kind of shoes? Did she have jewellery? How was the costume different from the clothes she had worn since birth? Much more linen and wool? And less furs and definitely not fancy furs like martens or beaver, but the skins of sheep?