Interacciones con énfasis en la vinculación:

Noaidiandshamaninlocalnewspapersoftoday

Articles in local newspapers collected between 2001- 2002 reflect current ideas on the noaidi. Instead of the Sami term noaidi the term shaman is sometimes employed. In the local Sami (Norwegian language) newspaper Sagat (24 November 2001, pages 8-9), the article “Samisk sjamaisme i Oslo Spektrum” (Sami shamanism in Oslo Spectrum) reported on the largest event in Europe concerning shamanism with expositions, exhibitions and lectures held in the Olso Spectrum. Special mention is given to two

shamans, Erik Myrhaug and Anita Biong. Erik Myrhaug is said to come from a line of shamans from Sør-Troms. His grandfather, Jerpe Nilas was a shaman. Myrhaug now lives in Oslo and advertises his capacity to heal in the whole of Norway. The article states that he concentrates on a person by praying and that he succeeds in stopping bleeding, healing pneumonia and heartbreak. Anita Biong is presented as a professional shamanistic advice giver, healer and therapist. She lives in Oslo since 1965 and comes from a family in Finnmark that for generations has kept the shamanic traditions.

The term noaidi is not employed in the article, only the term sjaman (shaman). This is not the choice of the reporter. He is using the language that is employed in the exposition in Olso itself.

The exposition presents the views that (1) the shaman receives his abilities through the family line (2) that he or she may practice outside of a Sami community, and (3) that shamans may earn their living through this practice and advertise for this purpose. However, as we will see, my informants presented exactly opposite opinions concerning local healers. First, the practice is not transferred through a family line, secondly, it is not a practice outside of the Sami community, and thirdly, the practice may not be advertised and be the source of income (see also Myrvoll, 2000). Therefore shamanism as presented by the exposition constitutes an example of phenomena familiar in other countries, a reinvention or revival (depending on the point of view) and popularization of shamanic tradition. It conforms to patterns of ‘urban-shamanism’ and as Rydving has discussed, demonstrates the use of the term shaman in a post-shamanistic frame of reference.

An article “River ned mytene om samisk folketro” (Exposing myths concerning Sami folk-belief) in the local Norwegian newspaper FinnmarkDagblad (25 September 2002, page 5) presents a research report by Berit Andreasdatter Bongo written for the Finnmark University College in Alta. She sought out individuals who had the reputation for sending gand, which was understood as sending evil. Her conclusion was that they were rather isolated individuals and through their isolation had aroused suspicion. This again led to the circulation of stories that were unfounded. She found, on the contrary, that those accused were kind and fine people. I note from Bongo’s conclusions that the so-called old thinking is given a sociological explanation and shown to be a misconception. The article includes a picture of a staged event of a man drumming and a woman praying. The caption under the picture states that Bongo has demythologized shamanic notions. However, in the text of the article we can note that she has only treated the reputations of individuals who have been considered in terms of sending gand. She did not employ the term shaman, nor does the picture of a man drumming and a woman praying relate to Bongo’s study. Therefore I conclude that when the term shaman is applied locally, it will have a variety of connotations, and in this case the local reporter adds the picture and the term for accent.

The way in which the terms shaman and noaidi are used in conjunction to each other can be illustrated by an interview of Ragnhild Vassvik Kalstad in the Finnmark Dagblad (10 November 2001, page 2). Kalstad is the director of the Center for Sami Healing Practices, a newly established department under the Institute for Community Medicine of the University of Tromsø. Kalstad states that the purpose of the Center is to explore the healing practices within the present Sami environment including shamanic practices, but she states that neither the noaidi with his runebomme (magic- drum), nor ecstasy, are present today. She thinks that although the shaman belonged to the traditional Sami culture of former days, there are still traits from that culture today. She suggests that much of the old culture will have been integrated within Laestadianism, and refers to a Laestadian category of healing in practice by lesere (readers) in which a text from the Bible is read to relieve the symptoms. The Center will explore healers who stop bleeding, remove warts, and in addition, a group who use products from nature, such as the use of herbs.

The title of the article is “Forsker på sjamaner” (Research on the shaman) and a third of the page is taken up by a picture of a man drumming and a woman praying (the very picture that later appears in the article of 25 September 2002, mentioned above). The caption under the picture states that the Center for Sami healing-research will research among other things the Sami noaidi art (“Nå skal Senter for samisk helseforskning forske på blant annet samisk noaidekunst.”). I conclude that the reporter has placed the picture, the caption, and created the title for accent. Kalstad, to a certain extend uses the term shaman and noaidi interchangeably. However, when considering present day traits from the traditional Sami culture, she writes shaman and not noaidi. Apparently ‘to explore the continuity of shamanic practice’ is not interchangeable with ‘to explore the continuity ofnoaidi practice’.

An example from the local Sami language newspaper Min Aigi (28 December 2001, pages 12-13) shows the ongoing tension around the term noaidi. In the article, “Bahpat cielahedje su noaideáhkkun” (Ministers called her a female noaidi) a Sami woman artist, Merja Aletta Anttila, is presented together with pictures of her work. The article describes the problems she got into in 1993 when her work was shown in an exposition. Lutheran ministers and Sami Laestadians visiting her exposition condemned her as a noaideáhkku (female noaidi) and a maker of noaidi art. Anttila said that she suffered from these accusations, but credits the support she received from the media that helped her to feel free again. She states that her pictures present a dream world in which devils and angels are fighting: “I had hoped that one day my work would be valued. I never imagined such condemnation. Ministers probably like to see angels but not devils. But is not the real world quite different? Wherever you look you can see devils and angels fighting. My pictures are maybe too hard and direct for some people” (translation by Sigvald and author). Anttila does not

comment on the accusation of being a female-noaidi but explains her worldview in which angels and devils are fighting. Anttila was born after World War II and her generation appears to be less troubled by references to pre-Christian Sami religion than the older generation. However, tensions are still high for those born prior to World War II and for those actively proselytizing Christianity.

Currentlocalviewsontheactivitiesassociatedwiththenoaidi

My interviewees differ in their interpretation of the appellation noaidi and in particular in their application of the epithet to Kaaven and Gamvik. With the exception of Nanna, my interviewees do not recount personal experiences with Kaaven but relate what they have heard about Kaaven from their parent’s generation. During their parent’s lifetime, some people referred to Kaaven and Gamvik as noaiddit. For those who consulted Kaaven and Gamvik for help, a noaidi was a ‘doctor’. He was given more credit than a modern medical-doctor, but even when viewed positively, a noaidi can do ‘bad things’. Karen related that her father would only accept treatment from a noaidi: “My father told about this doctor, Gamvik. My father would only have a noaidi healing him. He did not believe in these other [medical] doctors.” Per confirmed that people used to give more credit to noaiddit than to medical doctors: “Jovnnin Máhtte was of the same opinion. He had a bad cough and went to Gamvik and was healed. Gamvik was a doctor, but I don’t think he was the kind of noaidi who did bad things. These people believed more in a noaidi than in the other [medical] doctors.” Rávdna observed that they were very healthy and became quite old: “But these must have been healthy people because they lived to be almost a hundred years old. And so Gamvik must have been a very good noaidi.”

In present day Finnmark there are also Sami individuals for whom the term noaidi is a cause for consternation. Their definition of the noaidi is “the one who places an injurious spell” (bijat).35 In this case thenoaidi is negatively relegated to the past

and the employment of the term is avoided.36 For some people, to claim that Kaaven

was a noaidi is provocative because he is considered to be a healer. Nils (born 1926) emphasized the distinction between the two categories:

In books they can write that Kaaven is noaidi and some people may have called him noaidi just to cause fear. When it comes to be written that way, this causes people to believe that it is so. You can even hear

35 The dictionary gloss for bijat: “a spell which is put on someone” (Nielsen 1979, Vol I, 173).

36 An example of the type of material that could provoke a defensive attitude: In MinAigi (16-10-2002) an article was published entitled, “Bealli Norggas jáhkká Sámiid gonstošit birufámuiguin” (Half of the Norwegian Population believe that there are Sami who deal in black magic) (page 10). The national newspaper, Verdens Gang, placed a list of questions on their inter-net site. One of them concerned the Sami. The question was, “Do you believe that individual Sami practice black magic?” They logged 46.86% for a “Yes” response and 53.13% for a “No” response.

it on Sami radio, and they, those on the Sami radio, are the best in the world to talk. I believe very little about this talking. And to use the word noaidi just how it is written in books? I don’t agree. [The question of what is] bijat? Is not that the noaidi? I think so. Today there are only those who heal others and they don’t noaidut [verb]. It is not true that there are noaiddit, there is being scoffed at the Sami people. If there are any, they are not doing any good. Those who can heal these I know about, in Alta and Porsanger. People should not be so stupid that they would let noaiddit come into the world.

Ole (born 1921) expressed the opinion that those who consult a noaidi will not go to heaven:

A noaidi is one who could put bad things onto other people. Those who consult a noaidi, they will not enter heaven. Those who could not put ‘bad’ onto others – that could not do it themselves – consulted a noaidi and asked him to do it. I have heard that in this place it happened, they found a noaidi to do this, and had him put the bad onto another…. This bijat is nothing, but I have a clear answer about healing. Our savior Jesus said that it is given to some to heal (buorideaddji). Do you read the Bible? There you can see how much power God (Ibmil) has given to man. For example to the Apostles, he gave so much power that it once happened there was a man dead, and Peter the Apostle asked the dead man to wake up and he did. Jesus said that if your belief is strong enough this is possible. I have no doubt that there has been given power to some so that they can heal others. And we also had them around us, and it is certain that they could heal. Now about bijat, that is a different question. It is written somewhere in the Bible that these noaiddit – because in the Sami translation of the Bible noaidi was used – were those who could use bijat. It is written in the Bible that a noaidi and those who were using a noaidi would not enter into heaven.

Ole places the healer as well as the noaidi in a Christian context and condemns noaidi activity (noaidut).37 When asked directly, “Was Kaaven noaidi?” Ole answered, “He lived

37 Rydving studied the change of meaning Sami terms underwent between the 17th and 18th century and the later Christian period. Comparing the Sami translation from parts of the Old Testament in 1811 with the translation of the same parts from 1895, he found noaidi only in the 1811 translation. The terms used in the 1895 translation to replace noaidi were: einustaeg’gje (diviner); diet’tesolmai (a man good at knowing); guwlar (quack-doctor) (Rydving 1987, 191). Ole did not substantiate the use of noaidi in the Bible by showing his Bible, which, however, I doubt is from1811. Therefore, it is his understanding that noaidi is written in the Bible.

before my time, so it is hard to say. From what is told and written, he could do good, but also not good things. Could be that he was a noaidi, but of that I do not know so much about.”

Sigvald explained that how and when spirits are harnessed or released, will express whether they are being employed for harm or improvement. He explained that when it is said that a bijat has been placed, this does not say which powers have been harnessed: “An active spirit is something working for you, gáccit or ganihat. When I don’t visualize which power is working, I just say bijat. With bijat I am not naming the power. If someone said a devil was put, you can expect trouble.”

Both a noaidi and a healer are expected to be able to diagnose and deal with the powers that may be behind a problem. Nils and Anne explain that bad thoughts or devils placed on one can lead to an illness and that this is called having ganihat.38 The one who

can place ganihat is goansttaolmmái.39 Nils explained, “A noaidi is goansttaolmmái, or a

healer is goanstaolmmái – doing supernatural things. Goansttaolmmái means who could put ganihat on another person.” Anne gave an example:

“This person has ganihat,” means that it can be thought bad thoughts onto you, so that you can be really ill. You could think, “What has happened to me? Why am I behaving like this?” after a person thinks about you. So this person has put ganihat on, for example, put on a devil (biro).

In an interview conducted by Sigvald, he asked Nils, “What did they call people who put ganihat?” Nils answered, “They don’t name them specially.” But when Sigvald asked, “Is it a kind of noaidi?” he agreed to the connection when Sigvald suggested it, and Anne and Nils said, “Yes, for example, Kaaven.” We can see that initially Nils did not connect ganihat to a noaidi. The reticence to name Kaaven a noaidi is mitigated by calling him “a kind of noaidi”. Then Nils related how Kaaven placed ganihat:

Yes, and Kaaven could do a lot of this. Once a man was transporting on a lake and the horse just stopped. Kaaven had asked him if they could

38 Ganihat is used locally and understood as ‘witch’s helping spirits’ or ‘witch’s products’. Following local custom the plural form indicates spirits. The noun is derived from the noun ‘gani’, which means witch. Gani appears in local place names: Ganečohkka is the name of a mountain in the Stabbursdalen National Park. Dictionaries have no entry. Sigrid Drake’s 1918 collection of Sami terms for the district of Västerbotten in Sweden contains an entry for kitnihah or katnihah. For the Sami in Västerbotten, in addition to their understanding of sáivo beings, there were spirit beings (katnihah) that Drake considers could be confused with wood nymphs, spirits in the rocks or an echo. The trollbird was called keddner, which demonstrates a connection to kitnihah (Drake 1979, 355). 39 The dictionary gloss for goan’sta: art (something difficult to do); (magic) art; charm; magic potion (Nielsen

travel together, he had said no. Kaaven came by and said, “You have to move away from the road.” The man said, “Well, I can’t, the horse won’t move.” Kaaven said, “But you try now.” And then they drove away. That is ganihat.

The ganihat described by Nils is a short-term spell, temporarily immobilizing someone, in this case, a horse. It is often cited as a capacity of both a noaidi and a healer. We see that ganihat may also cause illness. The discourse demonstrates that the features (a short-term spell that renders immobile and an illness caused by bad thoughts) are not controversial but the termnoaidi is. The noaidi has been strongly associated with doing harm, so that when the speaker’s intent is to refer to ‘the one who does good’ the epithet noaidi is difficult to employ. While the same people who avoid its use apparently feel free to express many of the concepts involved in how a charm is accomplished or released.

Considering the nature of the discourse on the noaidi and the healer, the appellation noaidi has to be used with caution and can not be applied

indiscriminately to all healers. When noaidi activity is viewed as black magic, noaidi activity is separated from healing. However, features that pertain to the noaidi are persistent and can not be thoroughly distinguished from those of a healer. A healer and a noaidi are both considered to be dealing with the supernatural, which is understood as dealing with spirits.

The element of magic is not unrelated to people’s concerns. Nanna, commenting on earlier times in the Porsanger Fjord, said that Laestadianism was a blessing when it took hold in Porsanger (which was relatively late, around the turn of the 20th _century)

because then the black magic that had been so persistent retreated. Nanna is one of the exceptions from the pre-World War II generation in her definition and use of noaidi. She is also some ten years older than my other elderly interviewees. Nanna used the term, however sparingly. From her use, I have understood that she was aware of some people’s exclusively negative understanding of the noaidi, but she also had her own interpretation. Nanna’s definition of the noaidi and the definition employed by the reindeer herders with whom she had averdde relationship, are quite similar.