Grave yard2/4/2023 ![]() The timber grave structures rose above ground level in Kurjenpolvi. Special permission was granted for this because the journey was long and difficult from the villages to the chapels in Kemijärvi and Sodankylä, not to mention the mother church of the parish in Kuusamo. The people of the Lapp villages of Kittilä and Sompio were permitted to bury their dead in the local graveyard, Kurjenpolvi. The Church did not approve of this practice but instructed people to bury their dead in consecrated, fenced graveyards. Both the Sámi people and migrants from the south lived in the area at a time when the Church was just beginning to have an influence.Īccording to Sámi tradition, the dead were buried close to their place of death rather than being transported to a church for burial. The centre of the parish was located in Kuusamo and the parish belonged to the Diocese of Turku. In the late 1600s, Kittilä was part of the vast church parish of Kemi in Lapland. ![]() ![]() An ancient Sámi cemetery may have stood on the same site, but there is no proof of this. The Kurjenpolvi graveyard by the River Ounasjoki introduces visitors to Christian burial traditions. ![]()
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