Everyday meals as the place of children’s religious education in Finland during the first decades of the 20th century

Authors

• Maarit Knuuttila Jyväskylän yliopisto

Abstract

My article focuses on children’s table manners in ordinary Finnish households. I examine how the religious beliefs were inbuilt in meal rituals and how the children were guided to learn and accept them. My main data consist of narratives and childhood memories of 210 subjects, so the findings of this article are built on interpretations and multiple perspectives to everyday life and ways of living. According to my data the everyday meal had four different religious phases: ablution before and during the meal; blessing the meal; silenced eating and, thanksgiving. The bodily ablution included the washing of the hands, keeping the face and mouth as clean as possible and eating neatly. The blessings were represented in the beginning of the meal and they were often very short. Usually the elders intoned them, sometimes the children. Often the “intoning” was wordless, done by each diner inwardly. In low income families and in countryside households only few words were spoken while eating and the most important lesson for the children was to learn how to be quiet. On the contrary in well-to-do families the children were taught how to have a decent dining conversation during the meal. However, silence was also appreciated. After the meal one had to give thanks often addressed to God or the parents. Teaching of (religious) manners was done by the parents, mostly by the father. Sometimes corporal punishment was used but the main learning method for children was to follow the parents’ or elders’ examples.