Death and punishment in Finnish nature

You may be surprised to learn how ingrained nature and specific sites outdoors are to judicial corporal punishments that were given to offenders in Finland. Gruesome as it is, it’s important to be aware of how nature was intertwined with crime and punishment in Finland. Capital punishment was only used in Finland for a few hundred years. Yet, nature has always been intrinsically tied to punishments.

Crime and corporal punishment in historical Finland

Earlier, crimes and punishments were viewed from a societal perspective because when a crime was committed, societal balance was destabilised. Public punishments also acted as a deterrent for the rest of the society. This is also why people from children to the elderly were often ordered to watch the punishments. However, sometimes they were also considered as a spectator sport where communal shame was pinned onto the criminal by the spectators. Shaming criminals was seen important for the perpetrator, surrounding individuals, as well as the society as a whole. One commonly used device for non-lethal shaming were the stocks (jalkapuu in Finnish) where an individual’s foot was placed for a period of time (see main image; image credits).

Punishments for crimes became more severe in the 16th century. This is when the ruling Swedish king Eric XIV gave a decree in 1563 comparing crime to sin. In essence, the Judeo-Christian God became the injured party of a crime. So, a crime (= a sin) had to be atoned by the perpetrator according to holy teachings. An unpunished crime was seen as a violation against God and could lead to the downfall of the entire country.¹ Later in 1608, Swedish king Charles IX attached the Books of Moses into the effectual Kristofers landslag (“The Country Law of Christopher”), which was a code of law passed under Christopher of Bavaria (as king of Sweden) in 1442.

Punishments and nature in Finland

Many rural municipalities in Finland had specific whipping trees next to village meeting halls where local county gatherings called käräjät were held. Hanging trees were located outside town or city limits but close enough for public to attend them. Executions by decapitation were also conducted in places where locals could have access to. These käräjät often gave very severe sentences to perpetrators. However, especially when the sentence was death, the court of appeals in Turku (Turun hovioikeus) often lessened the sentence to whipping.²

Whipping trees

Public whippings or floggings (piiskarangaistus in Finnish) have been long been one of the most used punishments in societies across the globe. Excruciatingly painful, lasting up to several hours, this horrific sentence was used in Finland as well. According to Sveriges Rikes Lag from 1734 (NB. Finland was still under Swedish rule), one form of corporal punishment were whippings and lashings. The amounts were derived from religious text, most commonly from the Book of Moses: the maximum amount for women was 30 lash pairs, 40 pairs for men.³ One pair of lashings meant three strikes with a wooden switch for women, three strikes with a leather whip for men.⁴

Whippings were often reserved for the poorest of the society who were unable to pay fines for their crime. They remained in the Finnish punishment catalog until the end of the 19th century. Still, their use decreased steadily through the century. Whippings were removed entirely from Finnish law as a means of punishment in the law of 1889.⁵

Knife-fighters (puukkojunkkarit or häjyt in Finnish) Antti Rannanjärvi and Antti Isotalo (see image) were serious troublemakers in the Southern Ostrobothnia region in the mid 1800s. They terrorised weddings, stabbed people to death, and stole horses among other things. They were finally caught and sentenced to be whipped, pay fines, lose their honour, and spend time at the pillory. However, Rannanjärvi was able to commute his service entirely by paying a heavy fine (which he was surprisingly able to afford).

One of these whipping trees called Piiskoomänty can be found at Kuortane, at the village of Salmi at Southern Ostrobothnia. Read more here about the history of Piiskoomänty by Tarja.

Hanging and beheading hills

Hanging (hirttäminen in Finnish) as a method of punishment was reserved especially for thieves. Women were first not hanged at all for moral reasons (as someone might sneak up under their skirt even after death). Later on, women ended up on the gallows, too.⁶ Beheadings (mestaus in Finnish) were done according to your status in life: noble people were beheaded with a sword, lower class with an executioner’s ax.

In cities, there is little evidence of old hanging or beheading places. However, if you’re walking in the very centre of Helsinki next to Tennispalatsi movie theatre, stop for a while. Why? You are walking at the place where the last peace time execution in Helsinki took place in 1819. A 54-year-old maid was convicted and executed by beheading for murdering her mistress, stealing her belongings, and setting fire to her house.

Other place of execution is Lestimäki at Suutarila in Helsinki. A commemorative stone has been placed there as a reminder of what took place there. There is also a hanging hill nearby called Töyrynummi. In Turku, beheadings took place at the city hall for murderous men and child-murdering women.⁷

Death at the stake

As until the end of the 1800s, the law relating to Finland was derived from the Old Testament, death by burning was also one nature-related punishment. Death at the stake (rovio in Finnish) was an extreme punishment reserved for the worst crimes such as bestiality⁸ and adultery (but only where both parties were married).⁹ Suspected witches were also sentenced to burn at the stake or be hanged until the 1700s. Interestingly, in the beginning of witch hunts in Finland, most witches were men. One of the more famous ones was a man Antti Lieroinen who was burned at the stake at Ruovesi in 1643. Many convicted witches at Ruovesi were men. Only later on more women in Finland began to be accused and sentenced for witchcraft.¹⁰

Because the law was derived from the Old Testament, same-sex sexual relations was also considered a serious crime. In 1665, two male church farmhands were sentenced to decapitation and burning at the stake at Taivassalo.¹¹ Learn more about their sad story from Jenni’s blog post.

Forest burials

Burials were usually done onto church yards but this was not for those who had committed grave sins. One of these sins was taking one’s own life. Until 1734, the law stated that the bodies of suicide victims were to be burned and buried in a forest.¹² Between 1734-1869, the executioner simply buried suicide victims in the forest or in a swamp or other remote place. These forest burials are often unmarked.

Commemorations for the dead

Pruned forests (karsikko in Finnish) are a traditional Finnish way of remembering the dead. Those left behind would remove a piece of the bark of a tree and carve the names or initials as well as their dates of birth and death on it.

One of these pruned forests is Pyhäkankaan karsikko, which has over 200 initialed trees for the dead. It also has a dedicated corpse road (ruumistie in Finnish) leading from the church to the cemetery from nearby settlements. Make sure you read the whole story of the pruned forest at Pyhäkangas.

Tomb stones had been erected in the nature for murder victims as well as for those who have died under other sad circumstances. You can read more about murder victim called Mariana and her tomb stone at Vaskio here.

Poor people and some criminals have been buried at special graveyards such as Kerttulin hautausmaa (graveyard) near Turku cathedral.¹³ Even though the thought is ghastly, the body parts of criminals were considered powerful magical objects, so these body parts were often buried elsewhere so that they were not taken by those conducting magic.¹⁴

Move from corporal punishments to humanism

The arrival of humanist ideals led to the formation of the prison system, and punishments were transformed into communal service such as public works around the country or perhaps they were banished to Siberia (Finland became a part of Russia in 1809).

Even when Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire in 1809, the old Swedish form of government and legislation were retained. Finally, after the relatively liberal Czar Alexander II gave permission to renew the legal system in the late 1800s, the new Penal Code of Finland was eventually adopted in 1889.¹⁵

The last peacetime execution in Finland took place at Pieksämäki in 1825. In general, imprisonment became the method of punishment starting from the 1800s, which led to a sharp decrease in death penalties.¹⁶ For example, for Juhani Aataminpoika (see image), who had murdered 12 people in Southern Finland in 1849, his original sentence of execution was commuted to life imprisonment.

Sources

1. Maaseudun tulevaisuus, Monilla paikkakunnilla on vanhoja mäntyjä, joita kutsutaan piiskauspetäjiksi – Millaisesta historiasta ne kertovat? (26.11.2020) ↩︎
2. Keskisarja, T. “Secoituxesta järjettömäin luondocappalden canssa” (17.11.2006) ↩︎
3. Maaseudun tulevaisuus, Monilla paikkakunnilla on vanhoja mäntyjä, joita kutsutaan piiskauspetäjiksi – Millaisesta historiasta ne kertovat? (26.11.2020) ↩︎
4. Reinboth, S. Rangaistuksista raaimmat, Helsingin sanomat (26.7.2024) ↩︎
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6. Niilola, M. Peevelin pelätty pyöveli, Yle (27.6.2014) ↩︎
7. Juusela, P. Pääkaupunkiseudulta löytyy vanhoja, merkitsemättömiä mestauspaikkoja – papeilla oli kuolemanrangaistuksissa monta roolia , Kirkko ja kaupunki (16.07.2021) ↩︎
8. Keskisarja, T. “Secoituxesta järjettömäin luondocappalden canssa” (17.11.2006) ↩︎
9. Kivipelto, A. Piikojen historia löytyy käräjiltä – avioton lapsi vei aina raastupaan, Helsingin sanomat 4.9.2015 ↩︎
10. Viljanen, H. Kuolemantuomiot ja niihin liittyvät hautapaikat 1600- ja 1700-luvun Suomessa (2011) ↩︎
11. Mustola, M. Finland 1889-1999: A Turbulent Past (pages 215-251), in J. Rydström & K. Mustola (eds.) Criminally Queer, Homosexuality and Criminal Law in Scandinavia 1842–1999 ↩︎
12. Maaseudun tulevaisuus, Suomessa viimeinen rauhanajan teloitus oli vuonna 1825 – itsemurhaa pidettiin syntinä jo 400-luvulla (20.4.2019) ↩︎
13. Toropainen, V.P. Osattomien ja rikollisten ruumiiden käsitteleminen ja hautaaminen 1600-luvun Turussa (24.6.2021) ↩︎
14. Tittonen, E. ”Nouse ylös vanha väki, lastujen perään!” Hautausmaiden taikuus 1700-luvun lopulla. J@RGONIA 14/2008 ↩︎
15. Mustola, M. Finland 1889-1999: A Turbulent Past (pages 215-251), in J. Rydström & K. Mustola (eds.) Criminally Queer, Homosexuality and Criminal Law in Scandinavia 1842–1999 ↩︎
16. Helsingin kaupunki, Teloituspaikat (31.10.2023) ↩︎