Healing in the Sámi North

Abstract

There is a special emphasis today on integrating traditional healing within health services. However, most areas in which there is a system of traditional healing have undergone colonization and a number of pressures suppressing tradition for hundreds of years. The question arises as to how one can understand today’s tradition in light of earlier traditions. This article is based on material collected in Sámi areas of Finnmark and Nord-Troms Norway; it compares local healing traditions with what is known of earlier shamanic traditions in the area. The study is based on 27 interviews among healers and their patients. The findings suggest that although local healing traditions among the Sámi in northern Norway have undergone major transformations during the last several hundred years, they may be considered an extension of a long-standing tradition with deep roots in the region. Of special interest are also the new forms tradition may take in today’s changing global society.

“The prayer circles in the air”: a qualitative study about traditional healer profiles and practice in Northern Norway

“…This power may be defined as God. However, sometimes this power is undefined [19]. According to the literature, they used inherited abilities (such as clairvoyance and warm hands) [14,15,19,20].…”

“…Furthermore, she claimed that the healers should not boast of their own abilities according to biblical norms about boastfulness and abuse of the «sacred». In recent years, several studies among traditional healers in Northern Norway have been conducted [6,13,15,19,20]. In his study, Sexton [19] found that there was a big difference between the younger and older traditional healers.…”

“…In recent years, several studies among traditional healers in Northern Norway have been conducted [6,13,15,19,20]. In his study, Sexton [19] found that there was a big difference between the younger and older traditional healers. The younger healers more often combined traditional knowledge with modern healing when practising traditional medicine.…”

“…Various words are used for different diseases [25]. However, the exact wording is only shared between the apprentice and the master and within the healing municipality [19]. …”

“There are more things in heaven and earth!” How knowledge about traditional healing affects clinical practice: interviews with conventional health personnel

“…Other studies show that Sami patients who suffer from anxiety and depression seek help from traditional healers more often than Norwegian patients. This fact is being under-communicated to the health personnel according to Sexton and Soerlie [32], Sexton and Stabbursvik [33] and Kiil [34]. In her research, Kiil found that health and illness were perceived differently by psychiatric patients in a mixed ethnic population in Northern Troms (Norwegian county) thanby health personnel [34].…”