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ABSTRACT
In Northern Norway, traditional healing has been preserved by passing down the knowledge through generations. Religious prayers of healing (reading) and Sami rituals (curing) are examples of methods that are used. We have examined traditional healers’ understanding of traditional healing, the healing process and their own practice, as well as what characteristics healers should have. Semi-structured individual interviews and focus group interviews were conducted among 15 traditional healers in two coastal Sami municipalities in Norway. The traditional healers understood traditional healing as the initiation of the patient’s self-healing power. This power was initiated through healing rituals and explained as the power of God and placebo effect. During the healing ritual, the doctor’s medical diagnoses, the patient’s personal data and a prayer in the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit were used in combination with steel and elements from the nature. The traditional healers stated that they had to be trustworthy, calm and mentally strong. Healers who claimed that they had supernatural abilities (clairvoyant or warm hands) were regarded as extra powerful. According to the participants in this study, the healers must be trustworthy, calm and mentally strong. Moreover, these traditional healers drew on information from conventional medicine when performing their rituals.
Acknowledgements
We want to thank all participating traditional healers and the municipalities for sharing their thoughts and experience with us. We are grateful to Nina Foss, Torunn Hamran and Bjørg Evjen who contributed substantially in the process of developing this project. We are also thankful to Jane Ekelund for technical support.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 A few of the younger healers in the area held perspectives that were more global or composite. This also included obvious influences from sources, such as the Indian Chakra system, Native American Medicine or even modern knowledge of vitamins and minerals (understood as modern healing). Although these perspectives might be thought to be more alternative, they were held by people who were in a family line of healers and, also, practised healing as had been done by their parents or grandparents.
