Pühkijät

Pühkijät is a Finnish term that translates to "sweepers" or "scrapers." In a historical context, particularly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Finland, the term "pühkijät" referred to a group of itinerant workers, often of lower social standing, who traveled from farm to farm offering their services. Their work was typically manual labor, including tasks such as sweeping yards, clearing snow, mucking out stables, and performing other basic maintenance and cleaning duties. These individuals were often poor and lacked a permanent home, relying on the goodwill and need of rural communities for their livelihood. The pühkijät played a role in the rural economy, providing an essential, albeit often unglamorous, service. Their existence highlights the social stratification and economic conditions prevalent in Finnish society during that period. While the term itself is straightforward, its connotations often carry a sense of the marginalized and the transient. The practice of pühkijät has largely disappeared with modernization and changes in rural labor dynamics.