The Genre of Trolls - Doria

ulation. The movement was still going strong in the 1870s, when Frans
Oskar Durchman held the office of vicar in the parish, in 1875–1880.
Durchman was a respected preacher renowned for his powerful and
fascinating sermons (Krook 1931, 1: 148–215; Krook 1931, 2: 42–63, 152–173,
334; Näsman 1979: 64–65; Dahlbacka 1987: 61, 63, 64–67, 83, 94–95; Talve
1997: 149; Åkerblom 1963: 156–158, 165). Incidentally, Durchman functioned
as Jacob Edvard Wefvar’s host while he was collecting folklore in Vörå for
J. O. I. Rancken (Wolf-Knuts 1991: 64).
The Evangelical movement, initiated by Fredrik Gabriel Hedberg,
gained ground in the 1870s. Hedberg emphasized the Word and the objective
aspect of Christianity, i.e., atonement in the blood of Christ, and
his message of grace was eventually well received even by former supporters
of Pietism; Hedbergianism was experienced as a liberation from the stern
moral preaching of the Pietists. Hedberg was also fond of Luther’s writings,
and these were translated and published by the Evangelicals. The adherence
to Luther became a prime characteristic of the movement, typical
of both official representatives and laymen. For the laymen, the sacraments,
especially the baptism, were crucial (Dahlbacka 1987: 86; Näsman
1979: 69; Raittila 1969: 103). Paradoxical though it may seem, reading of
Luther was not a self-evident activity, even if the country was Protestant
and the revivals remained within the church (Tiililä 1961: 15).
Evangelicalism secured a foothold in the parish in 1871, when Josef
Wilhelm Fontell was appointed assistant vicar, an office he held until his
death in 1880. Fontell is known to have distributed Sionsharpan, the
songbook of the movement, and Sändebudet (‘The Messenger’), its journal,
among the parishioners. Some inhabitants of Vörå also travelled to
Ylihärmä in order to hear the sermons of Karl Sanfrid Nyman, another
clergyman associated with the movement (Dahlbacka 1987: 94–95, 99, 130–
131; Näsman 1979: 100). The Lutheran Evangelical Association of Finland
was founded in 1873, and one of its most tangible contributions to the religious
life of the country was the introduction of colporteurs, who were responsible
for distributing religious literature to the masses. In the beginning
the colporteurs were chiefly active in the capital, but later on their
efforts were extended to Ostrobothnia too. They functioned as lay preachers
as well, a circumstance that did not always please the clergy (Dahlbacka
1987: 105–106, 112–122). The first colporteur to visit Ostrobothnia to any
greater extent was Gustaf Julin, appointed in 1879. He used to live in Vörå
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