ABSTRACT
Thousands of early modern coins have been found in churches in Finland. All are copper coins of the lowest possible economic value. In the medieval church, coin offerings were a central part of the official rituals. During the Reformation some of the old ecclesiastical rituals were abandoned, but soon the same old habits reappeared, only slightly altered. When the church no longer offered a strong sense of the numinous or mystical to its parishioners, a new need for folk religion and its related security emerged. For centuries, small copper coins continued in use as an intermediary when asking God for health, good harvests and peace.
