Vörå

Parish History

• Prior to 1490, the Vora parish was divided between Pedersore, Storkyro and Korsholm.
• In 1490, Vöra became an independent parish

Parish Records

Because parish Communion records are listed by village and farm names and because farm names often were used as a part of a person’s name, it is interesting to note the following farms.   The 1880 – 1890 parish Communion Records were used to identify the following villages.

1. When one crop was harvested, it was time to prepare the soil for the next crop. Fields were plowed using horses.

2. Working the land continued in winter. Dung was moved from barns and piled in the fields. These piles were spread as fertilizer.

3. In the spring fields were plowed and then harrowed. Harrowing evened the plowed field before sowing. The second picture shows a harrowing machine used in the 1940s.

4. Seeds were sown by hand,
and later by machine.

5. When rye was ready to be harvested, hand sickles were
used to cut it.

6. Once cut, the rye was tied together into sheaves, and then
8 sheaves were stacked at right angles and another one on top
forming a hat.  This was called a ‘ragskyl’. 

7. The ‘ragskyl‘ were left in the field for initial drying.  Later the
sheaves were moved to barns called a ‘ria‘.   The buildings
below are examples of ‘ria’.   There was an oven in the ‘ria’ which
helped the drying process.

8. Dried sheaves were then placed on the barn floor and
thrashed by hand.

9. To utilize the grain, it was ground into flour using hand
grindstones (below) or those powered by windmills.