Summer services (Finnish:
Suviseurat) is a large gathering of Laestadians in
Finland. The event occurs every year at the end of June. It is organized and hosted by a Finnish
Conservative Laestadianism association known as the Suomen rauhanyhdistysten keskusyhdistys (SRK). Summer services are among the most visited Finnish summer festivals and the largest spiritual meeting. Summer services are attended by tens of thousands of visitors from Finland, Russia,
Estonia, Sweden, Norway, United States, Canada and many other countries. The number of visitors reaches its peak usually on Saturday night, when the services have 80,000 simultaneous visitors. Summer services take place over the course of four days, usually a Friday through Monday. The program consist mainly of sermons and hymns and songs of Zion. The Summer services areas is about 100 hectares (270 acres). The size of the event requires the need for loudspeakers to carry sermons to all of the listeners. On Saturday
Holy Communion is offered and in the evening there is a presentation which is mainly for younger listeners. A gathering for pastors is also held during the Summer services. The Summer Services take place in a different location every year. 2020 summer services in
Reisjärvi will be 112th in order. Services were held in for the first time in 1906 with
Oulu being the host city. Recently, sermons have been broadcast via the Internet into many languages.
Host cities in Finland • (†) 1915 summer services in
Alakainuu, Sweden were cancelled due to
typhoid fever epidemic. • (††) 1941 summer services in
Haapajärvi were cancelled due to
Continuation War. • (†††) 1944 summer services in
Nivala were officially cancelled due to Continuation War. Nevertheless, the cancellation message did not reach everyone and thousands of guests and speakers arrived. Services were held unofficially. • Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 summer services in Reisjärvi were conducted solely via radio broadcast and were accessible online. ==Summer services in North America==