Lars Nilsson (Shaman)

Lars Nilsson, (d.1693), was a Sami shaman burned at the stake for being a follower of the old Sami religion in Arjeplog in Sweden during the time of the Christianization of the Sami.

Background

In 1691, the authorities of the church and state sent a couple of Christian samis to investigate a case of suspicious sorcery of the sami Lars Nilsson. When they returned, they reported to the priest Pehr Noraeus.

They reported, that they had seen Lars singing and drumming on his knees in front of the wooden icons of the Sami gods outside his tent about his grandson, who the same day had drown in a well, in the purpose of giving him his life back. The Christian samis had told him to stop with his "Devilish" activity and took the drum away from him with force. Lars then attacked them with a knife for interrupting his attempt to bring his grandson back to life. When they returned, Lars had placed out three icons of gods and a symbol of the god T [h] or, where he sacrificed bones and blood from animals. When the Christians vandalized his altar, Lars cried out a prayer to Tor that he may cut them down with thunder. He then sent his son to the village to get help, but the Christina Samis then took the god-icons and the drum with them and escaped to the priests Erich Noraeus and his son Pehr Noraeus.

The trial

During the trial the icons of the gods and the Tor-symbol are placed before the court, and the court asked Lars if they had done him any good. He answers that they had, especially three years ago; when a great plague had affected his cattle, he had asked the Christian god for help, but when it did not arrive, he asked the old Sami gods instead. The court asked him if they had helped him, and he said that they had.

Lars told them, that the Christian priests had told him to fear the Christian god, who made the cattle, above all else both publicly and privately, but the old gods had done him much better than they ever had.

Verdict and execution

Lars where sentenced for his "long lived and stubborn paganistic superstition" to be executed according to the law of the church after the words of the second book of Moses, chapter 22 and 5 book of Moses chapter 13 in the bible, and the secular law from 1527. The sentence was confirmed by the royal court in 26 April 1692.

One year later, in 1693, Lars was made to mount a stake in Arjeplog with his drum and the icons of his gods and was burned to death. He was said to have climbed up the stake "with a strange curriage". According to some sources, he was decapitated before he was burned, which was the normal way to conduct an execution of burning in Sweden.

This is the only known case of a Sami burned at the stake for his religion in Sweden. Witch trials against the Sami were more common in Norway, were at least 26 samis were put on trial for witch craft. They were often hired by local non-samis, who thought they could affect the weather; in 1627, Quiwe Baarsen were burnt at the stake in Norway accused of having sunk ships by summoning a storm. In Sweden, they were only two cases of witch trials against the sami; in 1671, Aike Aikesson were sentenced to death accused by a missionary of having killed a farmer with magic, but he died before the execution. The trial of Nilsson can also be seen as a witch trial, but it is no doubt that this was a trial against paganism from the Lutheran Church, which had been established in Lapland just before this, during a time when the Sami had recently been made to convert to Christianity. The sami were since the middle ages pagans amongst themselwes, and Christian in the presence of non-samis, and in the end of the 17th century, the Lutheran Curch became very eager to expose all secret paganism. In 1687, Erik Eskilsson and Amund Thorsson were put on trial for blasphemy for being pagans, but were freed after they converted to christianity. Between 1665 and 1708, eleven people in Lapland were sentenced to death for blasphemy because they were followers of the old sami religion, and five of the executions were conducted.

See also

* Eric Clauesson

References

* http://www.glimten.net/gg/nr_8.htm#Sida%202
* Kajsa Larsen, "Blad ur samernas historia" (Pages from the history of the Sami) (In Swedish)
* http://ansatte.uit.no/rha003/shaman.html