Laine, Tuija Vappu HilleviSalmi-Niklander, Kirsti AnneliRabinowitz, Paula2020-03-122020-03-122018Laine, T V H & Salmi-Niklander, K A 2018, Book Culture from Below in Finland. in P Rabinowitz (ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature. Oxford University Press, Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.286ORCID: /0000-0001-8530-0579/work/43226299ORCID: /0000-0003-0552-1801/work/43227065http://hdl.handle.net/10138/313209Common literacy had its start in Finland as a result of the Reformation. Michael Agricola, the first Finnish reformer, studied in Wittenberg, and, after returning to Finland, translated the first books into Finnish. The books were originally intended for priests, but at the middle of the seventeenth century a literacy campaign was conducted throughout the Swedish realm, one which was quite effective in expanding the reading audience. A number of bishops in the diocese of Turku were also active in writing basic religious material for the common people, including primers, catechisms and hymnals. The church also examined its parishioners reading skills. People could not acquire the status of godparent, attend the Eucharist or marry, without proper reading skills and a knowledge of basic Christian doctrine. In the first phase of the campaign, reading was only learning by roterote, but already in the last decades of the seventeenth century reading from books and understanding their content were being emphasised by bishops and priests. Literacy progressed further in the eighteenth century, and literature published in Finnish became more varied. During the nineteenth century Finland’s literacy rate continued to gradually rise. However, for the vast majority of the rural population, “literacy” meant only the very basic reading skills required and examined by the Lutheran Church. The statute for primary schools was laid down in 1866, but the law on compulsory primary education was not enacted until 1921. The Russian government began to promote the Finnish language in the 1860s. The consequent growth of Finnish-language literature and the expansion of the press allowed for reading by large groups of the population The popular movements that were being established during the final decades of the nineteenth century (the temperance movement, agrarian youth movement and labour movement, for example) provided further opportunities for literary training. Among the lower classes in rural Finland, many self-educated writers submitted manuscripts to the Finnish Literature Society and sent news of their home parishes to newspapers. Some of these persons became professional writers or journalists.25enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessTheologyKirjahistoriaBook historyVernacular literacyHistory and ArchaeologyChapteropenAccess424cf14b-56d2-4cfe-b487-54ba6c2d10b0