The healer witches of Punkalaidun
From the 16th century all the way to the early 18th, the Taikayöntie region experienced a period of healers and witch hunts. The story begins in Liitsola village (part of present-day Punkalaidun) where Mr. Esko Kentee (or Kyni, Kinnilä) was born in 1540. His family was persecuted for witchcraft and he was sentenced to death as a witch, despite his skills as a healer, in Stockholm in the year 1600. Esko’s daughter, Maria Ericsdotter Kynders, born in 1577, was also a professional healer used by the typically superstitious people of the time. Her methods included collecting plants to make medicine that healed both livestock and people. She also dyed fabrics and was not afraid of stitching wounds or setting bones in place. Despite her skills, Maria was burned as a witch in the Tyrvää witchcraft trials in 1632.
Valpuri Kyni or Wallburg Mariansdotter Kynders was Maria’s daughter who was born in the early 17th century and was one of Finland’s best-known witches. Valpuri, who spoke several languages, had a lot knowledge about medicinal plants. Like her mother, Valpuri used them to create medicine for treating ailments of both people and farm animals. People regarded her as a healer and a seer. Valpuri was also skilled in dying textiles. She was brought to witchcraft trials at least five times. Around the year 1650, she was sentenced to be burned to death for offences such as putting a spell on livestock. However, the sentence was reduced to being caned and having both of her ears cut off. Valpuri was helped by the healer Mr. Markku Kouvo from Punkalaidun to treat having her ears cut off and she secretly lived with him, passing on her knowledge as a healer in return for his help. In the end, the accusations and suspicions of witchcraft started to accumulate and Valpuri was beheaded and burned in Hämeenlinna in 1665.
Markku Kouvo, who had helped Valpuri, was a professional witch and healer who sold his services for money. He did not hide his skills, but would heal livestock and people using salt, for example. Markku and his wife Maisa were also sentenced to death as witches in the Huittinen winter trial in 1665. Nonetheless, the death sentences were never carried out. It is likely nobody knows whether the couple went into exile or died of some infectious disease.
The Punkalaidun mayor, Tuija Ojala has studied the history of witches and sums up the situation as follows: “They were the influencers and healers of their time and the superstitious public experienced them as a threat and the clergy saw them as rebels. They were victims of circumstances. In a different atmosphere, they would have developed into valued healers.”