"We live near Finland's Bible Belt, and my husband knows some Lestadiolaisia. From what I can gather, they tend to be considerably wealthy, presumably because they receive a lot of government aid (mostly in child support I guess), and live frugally; as mentioned no TV's, no booze, a diet of porridge and bread, and apparently they usually buy cheap merchandise and use a lot of hand-me-downs. The father of the family is usually the breadwinner; most Lestadion wives are stay-at-home mothers, but there are some who work. From what I've heard, Lestadions own at least 2 major "bargain basement" retail chains here."
"They're big into house building. As they no real hobbies, they have lots of time to do something productive. Build a house, with cheap labour (relatives) then sell it two years later for hansome profit."
Comments?
Wow, that does seem familiar. One thing I am grateful for from my Laestadian upbrining is that it hurts to spend money. :)
ReplyDeleteMy in-laws are ex-Laestadian, now more mainstream evangelicals. They still have that Laestadian "lack of hobbies." Their only "hobbies" relate to ministries in their church. Seems in keeping with the picture painted in your post.
I don't know. It seemed I grew up with puuroa (porridge) and leippa (bread).
ReplyDeleteCarpentry seems like a decent enough hobby as any,
The government aid probably comes in the form of child payments. To encourage more children, as Finland and all Nordic Countries have a declining population, and many adults neither marry nor have children, their population cannot sustain itself. Therefore, the government offers an incentive per child. I believe it is somewhere in the $250-$400 dollar per minor child per month.
ReplyDeleteAs to the OALC, my observations were that some people (more prevalent in some localities than others) made government assistance a habit. They would even go so far as to joke about it, and look forward to being off work certain times of the year. They'd have a pile of kids, but I doubt many of them gave back to the community after so freely taking handouts. This is not right. If there's no work, then it behooves people to pack up and find work. I could never understand why this kind of lifestyle wasn't preached against, at least not nearly enough if it was much at all. That's my rant for now.
ReplyDeleteLaestadian Hobbies would be a good name for a (blues) band, doncha think? Here are some among my extended OALC family:
ReplyDeletescrapbooking
sewing and needlework of all kinds
woodworking
calligraphy
snowmobiling
hunting
geneaology
baking
gardening
horses
4-wheeling
archery
scuba-diving
camping
canning
crafts
skiing
>> Laestadian Hobbies would be a good name for a band. <<
ReplyDeleteAlmost as good as Laestadian Hubbies. :-)
Just a comment about Laestadians and their businesses in the north of Finland. There seems to be a big resentment that many Laestadians have grown so rich, and built these discount store businesses. They've spread throughout Finland now and that means more Laestadians are settling further south than their original homelands. The resentment seems to be that if you're in their employ, they tend to promote from within, and since they've so many relatives and family alliances, they practice an extreme form of nepotism. I have been in one of their stores and there were several single young girls working in their who dressed plainly compared to other Finnish girls.
ReplyDeleteUhhuh, you guys are really talking about things you don't know. In Finland, you're getting a child benefit from the government which is about $120 per child (not $400!), which is actually very little taken the fact that you are easily paying 40 or 60% of your income in taxes. What comes to the discount stores - none of them are owned by Laestadians as far as I know. One chain is owned by a former Conservative Laestadian, though. Another chain is owned by a helluntailainen (Pentecostal). Lacking "normal" hobbies doesn't really sound familiar to me (a conservative Laestadian). Nor does a porridge and bread diet.
ReplyDeleteA finnish conservative laestadian
Uhhuh, you guys are really talking about things you don't know. In Finland, you're getting a child benefit from the government which is about $120 per child (not $400!), which is actually very little taken the fact that you are easily paying 40 or 60% of your income in taxes. What comes to the discount stores - none of them are owned by Laestadians as far as I know. One chain is owned by a former Conservative Laestadian, though. Another chain is owned by a helluntailainen (Pentecostal). Lacking "normal" hobbies doesn't really sound familiar to me (a conservative Laestadian). Nor does a porridge and bread diet.
ReplyDeleteA finnish conservative laestadian
Uhhuh, you guys are really talking about things you don't know. In Finland, you're getting a child benefit from the government which is about $120 per child (not $400!), which is actually very little taken the fact that you are easily paying 40 or 60% of your income in taxes. What comes to the discount stores - none of them are owned by Laestadians as far as I know. One chain is owned by a former Conservative Laestadian, though. Another chain is owned by a helluntailainen (Pentecostal). Lacking "normal" hobbies doesn't really sound familiar to me (a conservative Laestadian). Nor does a porridge and bread diet.
ReplyDeleteA finnish conservative laestadian
Uhhuh, you guys are really talking about things you don't know. In Finland, you're getting a child benefit from the government which is about $120 per child (not $400!), which is actually very little taken the fact that you are easily paying 40 or 60% of your income in taxes. What comes to the discount stores - none of them are owned by Laestadians as far as I know. One chain is owned by a former Conservative Laestadian, though. Another chain is owned by a helluntailainen (Pentecostal). Lacking "normal" hobbies doesn't really sound familiar to me (a conservative Laestadian). Nor does a porridge and bread diet.
ReplyDeletea finnish conservative laestadian