The Genre of Trolls - Doria

started giving Bible classes in the villages, and laymen organized edifying
meetings (Åkerblom 1963: 158).
The knowledge of religious matters exhibited by the parishioners, both
young and old, was praised by the ecclesiastical inspector in 1804. His protocol
states that the catechetical meetings arranged in the parish had attracted
many visitors, children and youths in particular. The reading skills of
the parishioners were likewise deemed good and admirable in general, and
the dean expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the youth had begun
studying Svebilius’ exposition of the catechism. By the 1850s the population
increase turned the holding of catechetical meetings into a burden for the
clergy, and in 1877 the dean found the situation untenable. Literacy had
declined drastically, and he proposed an introduction of elementary schools,
but the parishioners rejected the idea.
Confirmation classes were organized annually in the autumn and in the
spring, and only those who had attended it during both terms were admitted
to the Communion, the protocol of 1804 reports. In 1856 the terms
were specified as two weeks in the autumn and two weeks in the spring.
The vicar and the curate alternated with the assistant vicar so that both
boys and girls received instruction from them in turn. In addition, the
parish clerk taught them hymns one hour each day. The same year the
dean put forward the idea of creating Sunday schools, and the parishioners
accepted his suggestion. In the summer months the children tended to
forget what they had learned during the winter, and the autumn was mostly
spent recovering the knowledge lost. The dean also thought the youth
idled the Sundays away by practising indecency, and considered Sunday
school a more edifying pastime. He exhorted the teachers to base their instruction
in reading on correct spelling and to ensure that no additions,
omissions or transpositions were made when reading by rote, and that the
children understood what they had read. The best way of examining their
apprehension of the meaning of a text was to ask them to render it in their
own words (Åkerblom 1963: 262–266). To what extent his injunction was
heeded, and if it was, how well it worked is difficult to tell.
Notwithstanding, the authority of the church dwindled in the 19th century,
and the church was no longer capable of supervising the celebration of
Communion and participation in catechetical meetings (Raittila 1969: 106).
Simultaneously the clergy lost much of its worldly power in the separation
of ecclesiastical and municipal administration ordained in 1865 and effected
78
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