A Shared Pre-Christian Past? Contemporary Finnish Baptism in Light of Greenlandic Naming Rituals

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Greenland; greenlandic; inuit
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.483.6665; http://www.anpere.net/2007/13.pdf

This article will employ examinations of baptism ritual in Finland and Greenland to argue that it may be fruitful to orient discussions of Finnish religiosity, and possibly even culture more broadly, towards the Greenlandic Inuit rather than Finland’s Scandinavian neighbours, as often occurs. The article will demonstrate that the pre-Christian world-view of both cultures was shamanistic and that this was not shared to the same extent in the Scandinavian countries. The article will show that this comparable shamanistic world-view can be observed in contemporary attitudes to Lutheran baptism in both countries which, as life changing rituals or Rites of Passage, would be most likely to preserve traditional perspectives. The article will examine the possible consequences of this for future anthropological discussion of Finnish religion and cultural dynamics and suggest that comparison to Greenland may be helpful in furthering our understanding of Finnish religiosity.