En relación a la Hipótesis:

FactsaboutGamvik’slife

Gamvik (Lars Pedersen) was born in 1873 in Gamvik on the island of Sørøy. His parents were Coastal Sami. His father, born 1822 in Skjervøy, an island in Troms, married Aigael Kristensdatter, born in1828 in Talvik near Alta. Lars was their youngest son. He was often called Lars from Gamvik or simply Gamvik, which was also the name of their farm, “Gamvik søndre” (Jacobsen 1983, 378). According to Nanna, Lars married a woman from Kjøllefjord, which is close to Gamvik. They had three boys and one girl, plus foster children. At some point they left Kjøllefjord and moved to Hammerfest. According to the Norwegian digital archive (Folketeljinga fra 1900 for Sørøysund) Gamvik’s wife’s name was Lisa Karlsen, and her background was Finnish. However, according to Jacobsen, her name was Henrikke. Further they should have lived some time in Revsholmen before moving to Hammerfest. All sources agree that he lived in Hammerfest from approximately1920 until his death in 1942 (Jacobsen 1983, 381). Gamvik frequently traveled, and on these travels people would ask for his help. Nanna’s father often accompanied Gamvik on these travels selling meat, fish and handcrafts. Nanna said that Gamvik was her teacher and that he chose her as the inheritor of his gift. She related that he did so after first asking her father for permission. She remembers that her parents wondered why Gamvik did not teach one of his own three children. Gamvik explained to them that his children were not strong enough, and therefore it would make no sense to teach them. Nanna related:

Gamvik often went to Karasjok. He came from Hammerfest and would come straight to our place [Sandvik] and stay a couple of days with us. Then one time Gamvik asked my father if he could talk with his youngest daughter. Father asked me if I would accept what Gamvik offered. I answered, “No, you should ask my older sister, Sofia.” And Gamvik was looking at both children. We could not understand anything of this. In Nanna’s view Gamvik’s activities were activities intending ‘good’. She emphasized this intention by saying that when Gamvik visited her parents he always first said to the children that they should be good to each other.

Gamvikashealer

There are people in Hammerfest who still can remember Gamvik. Sigvald related a telephone conversation with a genealogist from Hammerfest. He told Sigvald

that Gamvik had helped at the hospital. During the conversation the genealogist wondered to whom Gamvik had passed his knowledge because he knew that Gamvik’s children had not been the recipients. Typically, Sigvald gave no answer to this query. He told me:

I spoke to a man in Hammerfest asking him about Gamvik. He said that Gamvik was well known in Hammerfest and used to help at the hospital when they had problems. For example, when they could not stop bleeding, it was enough that Gamvik walked by in the corridor past the room to stop the bleeding. Gamvik was respected in the hospital and even had his own closet for his clothes when he visited the hospital. Also he told that Gamvik has a son living south in Norway but he didn’t know exactly where he lived. Then he said, “None of his children got his knowledge and I’m not sure where it went.”

In Nanna’s opinion, Gamvik was a respected doctor, that even the Hospital appreciated because he was a good doctor. However Gamvik was not a ‘medical’ doctor and she said that he used ‘other’ methods when he was doctoring. She told that one time he was accused because of this: “Some people said what he is doing is against the law and said to the police, ‘Look what he is doing.’ Gamvik could say, for example, ‘Take a piece of earth, put it in your coffee plate and then after you have been drinking, hide it somewhere’.”Another story Nanna told demonstrates that in some circles there was a strong resistance to consult Gamvik. A medical doctor, Just Broch in Hammerfest, had a son who was ill:

The family had tried everything they could and they were considering sending the boy to Germany for further help. The doctor’s wife suggested that they try the help of Gamvik. Doctor Broch said, “Absolutely not.” His wife, though, decided that she would try Gamvik’s help. She did, and the boy recovered.

Sigvald meant that this Hammerfest doctor knew that Gamvik sometimes prescribed medicine that could be viewed with suspicion, for example, to place earth beside one’s tea cup. Furthermore Sigvald attributed the Doctor’s resistance towards Gamvik’s methods as due to a religious element: “The attitude of the Hammerfest Doctor? Because it was known that as a doctor Gamvik was not using the good Latin, and it is not easy for everyone to accept that one moves into a part that is religious.”

Gamvik was consulted for a variety of problems. Nanna related that once she visited an emotionally disturbed girl together with Gamvik:

Once Gamvik and I visited a family and in this family was a young girl. She was ill. We came in and were served coffee. Gamvik asked where the ill girl was, and her mother said upstairs. After a while we heard her there. She came downstairs and ran straight to Gamvik – she did not know him. Gamvik said, “Oh, you know me?” The girl started to cry and said, “No, I don’t know you.” He spoke a short time with the girl, and then she went outside. Gamvik asked her brother to go out and look for her. They came in again and she said to Gamvik, “I want to speak with you.” They went into the living room and closed the door. They came out and she, Ingrid, went upstairs. Gamvik asked her brother to find a scarf that was hers. Gamvik took the scarf and went outside, walked 30 meters away and tied it to a pole there. He came in again and said to the brother, “You have to watch your sister tomorrow. When she wakes up, she is going to dress up in other kinds of clothing than she usually wears. You have to watch when she runs out, she must not pass the pole with the scarf.” Then I asked if Ingrid knew about this and Gamvik said that she didn’t. The morning came and the brother was prepared. Ingrid woke up, dressed herself with nice clothes and then she ran out. Gamvik had told her brother not to let her pass the pole. Ingrid ran out, but her brother did nothing, staying in the house. Ingrid took the scarf and ran into the river. She did not drown. She came out of the water and ran up into the mountains. People saw her far up in the mountains. When she came down, it was to Billefjord, and she was totally not in her right mind. Her brother was thinking, “Why should I run after a crazy girl?” But he was later feeling very bad, for years, that he had not done anything.

Gamvik was said by Nanna to have provided ‘peace’ to a location. He dealt with a haunting of a path between Kolvik and Sandvik by an eahpáraš (a dead child being, see Chapter Three). Gamvik ‘cleared’ the path haunted by the eahpáraš. Sigvald related, “To do this, Gamvik spoke to the eahpáraš saying that it was known what had happened and that there could now be peace.”

Prophecy

Gamvik was expected by my informants to give accurate predictions. Nanna recalled a time when the Spanish influenza was spreading in Finnmark. Gamvik said to her that she would be able to see who would be infected by the influenza. She would see the coming and going of the illness by observing the light that would circle the house and then enter the house and then enter some of her brothers and sisters. She said that she saw

where and when the disease attacked, and it happened the way he said it would. During Nanna’s adult life Gamvik continued to occasionally visit Stabbursnes. She remembered one time sitting with him on a hill and viewing the farms in Stabbursnes. Gamvik told her what would happen to the families. She said that it has happened as he told it would. Concerning one farm, Snekkernes, she remembers particularly what was said, because the farmer asked Gamvik if he would be rich. Gamvik answered, “You are searching to be rich, no one will find it.” For Sigvald and Nanna, this was a correct prediction, because the farm at Snekkernes is no longer occupied. Gamvik also helped reindeer herders. Karen told a story about four draught reindeer that were lost. Draught reindeer are tamed and trained with great effort, so for a herder they have particular value. The story not only relates a prediction, so that the herders waited for the animals to return, but also suggests that Gamvik was instrumental in their return.

My father lost four draught reindeer. He went to Gamvik and asked him if the reindeer were still alive. The answer he received was, “The reindeer are okay and they are coming. You just have to wait.” And they did return. My brother and I were about to move the whole flock and then I see the draught reindeer coming. They were running to us, in a manner as if someone was chasing them.

Per asked Karen, “Could anyone see what was behind them?” Karen answered, “We could not see anything. They were sent back.”

Rendering Immobile

Stories are told of Gamvik’s capacity to render people and vehicles immobile. Nanna related how a patient of Gamvik contested the payment and then could not move:

One time when Gamvik and father were travelling to Finland, Gamvik treated a man named Eniken. Eniken accused Gamvik of charging too much money for his treatment. Later Eniken asked if he could travel with them to Karasjok. This request was granted and an appointment was made when and where to meet. Gamvik and father waited but Eniken did not arrive. Father went to his home to see what the trouble was. Eniken was sitting at the kitchen table and could not walk. Finally he said, “Send this devil!”

Saying “Send this devil” is understood to mean, “I give up, have Gamvik come to release me, I am sorry I accused him of thievery.” Nanna commented, “Gamvik only ‘did’ when it was needed.” And Sigvald explained, “Gamvik was probably Kaaven’s size. But, not so

visible so he was not so widely known. He ‘did’ a different way; people did not see what he was working with.”

Referring to Gamvik as “Kaaven’s size,” Sigvald speaks of the strength he would assign to Gamvik. Gamvik had the ability to render immobile, which confirms to Sigvald that Gamvik had special powers.