Pajala () is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

and the seat of

Pajala Municipality Pajala Municipality (; Meänkieli and Finnish: ''Pajalan kunta'') is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its seat is located in the locality of Pajala. In 1884 Tärendö was detached from Pajala Municipalit ...

Norrbotten County Norrbotten County (, Meänkieli/, ) is the northernmost county or '' län'' of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares borders with Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, with 1,958 inhabitants in 2010. It is located in Swedish Lapland. Pajala is in part of the

Meänmaa , or sometimes Torne Valley or Torne River Valley (; ) lies at the border of Sweden and Finland. It is named after the Torne River flowing through the valley and into the Gulf of Bothnia. Geographically the townships and municipalities that mak ...

(Torne valley) region and was in past times unilingually

Meänkieli (literally 'our language'), or Tornedalian is a Finnic language or a group of distinct Finnish dialects spoken in the northernmost part of Sweden, particularly along the Torne River Valley. It is officially recognized in Sweden as one of the ...

-speaking. While it is still spoken by many, after the

Swedification Swedification refers to the spread and/or imposition of the Swedish language, Swedes, people and Culture of Sweden, culture or policies which introduced these changes. In the context of Swedish expansion within Scandinavia, ''Swedification'' can r ...

policies of the 18- and 1900s Swedish has become the dominant language.

History

Lars Levi Laestadius Lars Levi Laestadius (; 10 January 1800 – 21 February 1861) was a Swedish Sami writer, ecologist, mythologist, and ethnographer as well as a pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadi ...

, a botanist, Lutheran minister, and founder of the revivalist movement

Laestadianism Laestadianism (; ; ; ), also known as Laestadian Lutheranism and Apostolic Lutheranism, is a Pietism, pietistic Lutheranism, Lutheran revival movement started in Sápmi in the middle of the 19th century. Named after Church of Sweden, Swedish Lu ...

, lived and worked in Pajala municipality in the mid-19th century. He lived in

Kengis Kengis (; ) is a small rural community in Pajala Municipality in northernmost Sweden, located very near the Finnish border. History In 1644, two Swedish noblemen, later called ''Renstierna'' ("Reindeer star"), set up a forge in the Swedish vill ...

, but in 1869 his house and grave and the whole church of Kengis were moved to Pajala. The town was mistakenly bombed by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

airplanes during the Finnish/Soviet

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

, in spring 1940. Seven Soviet planes dropped 134 bombs, a mix of explosive and firebombs, which destroyed six buildings, badly damaging telephone wires, and making the streets impossible to drive on due to 43 big craters. No human deaths were recorded, although two persons were slightly injured. Soviet officers later inspected the destruction and the Soviet Union paid damages to Sweden in 1940.

Literature about Pajala

The events in

Mikael Niemi Mikael Niemi (born 13 August 1959) is a Swedish author. He wrote the novel ''Populärmusik från Vittula'' (in English as ''Popular music from Vittula''). It is the story of a young boy, Matti, growing up in Pajala in the 1960s and is recounted in ...

's book ''"Populärmusik från Vittula"'' ('' Popular Music from Vittula'') occur mainly in Pajala. Vittula, or more properly '' Vittulajänkkä'', is a colloquial name (vulgar in its Finnish-Sami etymology, roughly translating to "The

pussy ''Pussy'' () is an English noun, adjective, and—in rare instances—verb. It has several meanings, as slang, as euphemism, and as vulgarity. Most commonly, it is used as a noun with the meaning "cat", or "coward" or " weakling". In slang, ...

swamp") for a certain garden suburb in Pajala. The book was also adapted into a film in 2004. In another portrait of Pajala by Niemi, the crime novel ''"Mannen som dog som en lax"'' (''"The Man who Died like a Salmon"''), the author discusses the state of the minority language Meänkieli in Pajala today.

Climate

Pajala has a harsh

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

that is somewhat moderated by the influence of the North Atlantic. Its inland position and lower elevation cause warmer summers, and winters are a bit less cold than most areas on similar latitudes.

References

Populated places in Pajala Municipality Norrbotten Municipal seats of Norrbotten County Swedish municipal seats Populated places in Arctic Sweden {{Norrbotten-geo-stub