The Genre of Trolls - Doria

in Russia is said to presage the outbreak of war (SLS 290, 17: 493). A widespread
folk tradition has also attributed hymn 359 in the old hymnal, “Wake
up, my soul, give praise” to a boy or girl delivered from the clutches of the
Devil, to whom he or she has been promised as an unborn foetus (SLS
228: 89–93; R II 291; SLS 33: 201–207; R II 151; Bygdeminnen 1909: 33–34).
But let us return to the parish of Vörå. By the turn of the century, Vörå
was firmly established as an Evangelical centre. Evangelical festivals were
arranged nearly every year, and sewing circles for the benefit of the Association’s
mission in Japan were set up in four villages between 1901 and 1910.
Vörå’s position as an Evangelical area was further strengthened by the
acquisition of a chapel in Koskeby in 1904, which was part of an incipient
organization on the local level. Two years later a branch of the Evangelical
Youth Organization was founded on the initiative of the new vicar, Alfred
Johannes Bäck, the son of one of the early leaders of the movement. Bäck
supported the building of three other chapels, two in the parish of Vörå, in
Bertby and Murto, and the remaining one in Keskis in the parish of
Oravais. The latter was also frequented by the inhabitants of Vörå. These
chapels were used for catechetical meetings, Bible studies and meetings,
not to mention the debates hosted by the Youth Organization (Dahlbacka
1987: 175–206, 215, 218, 223, 231, 233–234, 240, 242–243; Näsman 1979: 100;
Åkerblom 1963: 160–162).
The parishioners were influenced by various Free Church movements as
well. A Baptist community was founded in the village of Kovik in 1873 with
Mats Barkar as its first leader. Before this, the preachers Anders Niss and
Erik Nygård had familiarized the parishioners with the Baptist faith. The
community was very small at first, its membership amounting to a mere
four persons. In 1880, Frans Oskar Durchman sent his son and three members
of the church council to inspect a Baptist meeting where Mårten
Mårtensson Granberg was engaged as speaker. After a longer stay in Sweden
Granberg had converted to Baptism and begun preaching in several of
the villages in Vörå, to the dismay of the vicar. The inspectors demanded
that Granberg cease preaching, but he refused. A chapel was built in the
village of Kovik in 1903 (Dahlbacka 1987: 134; Näsman 1979: 86; Åkerblom
1963: 158–159). The Free Church proper similarly formed a community in
the parish; the chapel is located in the village of Bergby. The movement
was not as successful in Vörå as it has been in many other Ostrobothnian
parishes during this period, a fact attributed to the prejudices of the inhabi-
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Material and Context