Kivijärvi (; literally "stone(y) lake") is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It is located in the

Central Finland Central Finland (; ) is a Regions of Finland, region ( / ) in Finland. It borders the regions of Päijät-Häme, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Northern Savonia, North Savo, and Southern Savonia, South S ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

is . Neighbouring municipalities are

Kannonkoski Kannonkoski is a Finnish municipality located in the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which , or 19%, is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Karstula, Kivi ...

Karstula Karstula is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland founded in 1867. It is located in the Central Finland regions of Finland, region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population ...

Kinnula Kinnula is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Kivijärvi, Le ...

Kyyjärvi Kyyjärvi (; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Central Finland region, about northwest of Jyväskylä. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municip ...

Perho Perho is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. The distance between Perho and the regional c ...

and

Viitasaari Viitasaari is a Finnish town and municipality located in the Central Finland region. It is located between the neighbouring municipalities of Pihtipudas to the north and Äänekoski to the south. The town has a population of () and covers an are ...

. The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of Kivijärvi is inspired by a

folktale Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used va ...

related to Kivijärvi's church. According to the story, the construction work of the first

church building A church, church building, church house, or chapel is a building used for Christian worship services and Christian activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 AD and 256 AD. ''Church'' is also ...

did not progress when all the work done during the day was mysteriously destroyed during the night. In that case, it was decided that the site of the church would be chosen by putting a

rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

on the back of the lake to drift on top of the bottom log of the church, and where the rooster would land, the church of parish would be erected there. The coat of arms was designed by

Gustaf von Numers Gustaf von Numers (31 July 1912 – 21 May 1978) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish civil servant and leading heraldic artist. Life Gustaf von Numers studied heraldry in the 1930s under Arvid Berghman and was considered one of the leading Fin ...

and was approved for use on April 18, 1963.

Nature

There are all together 89 lakes in Kivijärvi. The biggest lakes are

Kivijärvi Kivijärvi (; literally "stone(y) lake") is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the Central Finland regions of Finland, region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water ...

, Heitjärvi and Heikinjärvi. Salamajärvi National Park is partly located in Kivijärvi.

History

The toponym was first mentioned in 1554 as ''Kijuijerffuj ärmarch'', referring to hunting grounds held by

Tavastians The Tavastians (; ) were an ancient Finnish tribes, Finnish tribe that inhabited the historical province of Tavastia (historical province), Tavastia (). In Russian sources, they are called ''Yem'' (Емь) or ''Yam'' (Ямь), but the term later ...

. The village of Kivijärvi has existed at least since 1571, when it was a part of the large

Rautalampi Rautalampi () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the Northern Savonia regions of Finland, region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is ...

parish. It was transferred to the

parish after its establishment in 1628. Kivijärvi became a chapel community in 1750 and fully independent from Viitasaari in 1864.

was separated from Kivijärvi in 1904, though it had had its own church since 1867. In 1934, parts of Kivijärvi and Viitasaari were separated in order to form the

municipality.

Suomenselkä municipality

Kannonkoski, Karstula, Kivijärvi and Kyyjärvi planned to merge into the from January 1, 2022. Karstula, Kivijärvi and Kyyjärvi accepted the merger proposal, but Kannonkoski did not. After Kannonkoski left the planned merger, Kivijärvi also left it. Later, the merger project of the remaining Karstula and Kyyjärvi also failed at the Kyyjärvi municipal council meeting held on May 17, 2021, and the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

does not propose a forced merger either.

Surnames

Most common surnames and their frequencies in Kivijärvi as of 2014:Most Common Surnames in Kivijärvi
/ref> # Kinnunen (1:18) # Kotilainen (1:24) # Hakkarainen (1:26) # Leppänen (1:26) # Kainulainen (1:29) # Piispanen (1:33) # Paananen (1:38) # Hytönen (1:42) #

Holm Holm may refer to: Places * Holm (island), the name of several islands * Holm, Nordfriesland, Germany * Holm, Pinneberg, Germany * Holm (Flensburg), Flensburg, Germany * Holm, Nordland, a village in Bindal Municipality in Nordland county ...

(1:44) # Puranen (1:46)

Notable people

* Jalmari Haapanen (1882–1961) * Vihtori Vesterinen (1885–1958) * Jussi Raatikainen (1898–1978) *

Jukka Sipilä Jukka Sipilä (12 May 1936, Kivijärvi – 7 August 2004, Helsinki, Finland) was a prolific Finnish actor and television director. He began acting in film in the 1960s and took up TV directing shortly in the early 1970s before concentrating on a ...

(1936–2004) * Anna-Liisa Kasurinen (born 1940) * Zaida Bergroth (born 1977)

References

External links

Municipality of Kivijärvi
– Official website Municipalities of Central Finland Populated places established in 1868 1868 establishments in Finland {{WesternFinland-geo-stub