Religion
Related: About this forumNorway’s ‘We’re Sorry’ Monument to 91 Dead Witches
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/03/norway-s-we-re-sorry-monument-to-91-dead-witches.html?source=TDB&via=FB_PageThe site of one of Europes most brutal witch hunts has been transformed into a modernist memorial monument, perched above the Arctic Circle on the rugged coast of Norways most northeastern tip.
As Europe killed more than 40,000 people accused of sorcery in the 17th and 18th centuries, there were vicious witch trials taking place at the edge of the earth, in Norways tiny fishing villages.
Right off the crashing waves of the Barents Sea is the remote town of Vardø, known as the witch capital of Norway.
tl;dr killed a bunch of people for being accused of having proscribed imaginary powers according to the Abrahamic faith. Witches are real, biblical depictions of 'magic' are not. 'mistakes were made'.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Also from the link:
"At least 91 people, both men and women, were found guilty of sorcery and burned at the stake or tortured to death.
The number may not be as large as elsewhere in Europe, but in northern Norways sparsely populated landscape it touched a disproportionately large chunk of the population.
About a third of these trials were specifically targeting Norways indigenous Sami population who arose suspicion by practicing traditional healing rituals."
Sounds like another example of Christianity driving out religious "competitors" so to speak, who were possibly practicing a pre-existing folk religion. Interesting also about the ethnic difference between the colonizers and the indigenous.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)The photo in the article isn't great.
and then the long piece outside
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)The reflected flame is also interesting. Thanks for this also.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Last edited Wed May 6, 2015, 02:17 AM - Edit history (1)
Bit of a language barrier on the other article I read, but yes, I think that's what it is.
I liked the mirrors and the fire/chair in the center.
Chair has a 'you don't want to be this poor bastard' vibe to it.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)that was a necessary component of the "inquisition" into the matter of witchcraft. Great art piece on multiple levels.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)very interesting story.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)The radically conservative catholic clergy of africa have managed to rekindle witch killings in regions where it was dying out. As the growth of the RCC is being driven in large part by africa these days, Rome just plays along.
At a time when the UN and the international community are exploring ways of tackling horrific abuses related to belief in witchcraft, the papal recognition of the Association of Exorcists (comprising 250 priests in 30 countries) is a huge setback. It dims the prospects of making witch-hunting history in Africa. In fact, Vaticans approval of exorcism will end up legitimizing this abusive process. Going by the current trend in witch persecution, the region is going to experience more witch-hunts not fewer.
Witch-hunting is believed to be a form of exorcism
This is because millions of Africans are Catholic, 177 million of the global total of 1.2 billion, according to the World Christian Database. They look to the Vatican for guidance in the practice of their faith. So the decision by the pope to recognise exorcism sends very disturbing signals. Many will interpret this development to mean an endorsement of witch-hunting because witch-hunting is believed to be a form of exorcism.
http://thisisafrica.me/vatican-exorcism-witch-hunting-africa/
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)in Africa as well.
I doubt we'll ever see one in the Holy See.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)No shit. Hard to believe we have a few vocal DUers who think there's nothing wrong with exorcisms.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)The witch trials at Vardø in Finnmark, northern Norway, during the winter of 1662 - 1663, was one of the largest in Scandinavia. Thirty people were put on trial, accused of sorcery and of making pacts with the Devil. Eighteen were burned alive at the stake, two were tortured to death and one was sentenced to the workhouse. Much of the evidence came from accused children, and there was a complicated trail of accusations and implications ...
Arctic witch hunt at the 'gates of hell'
Even though less than one percent of Norway's population lived in Finnmark during the time of the witch hunts, 31 percent of all of the country's witch hunt executions took place there ...
The root of the Finfolk myth
... Norway was, and still is, home to two distinctly different people - the Norwegians, and the indigenous inhabitants of Northern Scandinavia, the Saami ... The Saami led a nomadic life, with a completely different culture and society to that of their Norwegian neighbours ...
Sápmi and the Sami
The land of the Sami, called Sápmi in their own language (parts of it also known as Lapland), spans Arctic Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia.
Sweden's Saami Policy 1550
... Prior to 1550, only parts of Swedish Sapmi were subjugated by the Swedish Crown. Gustav Vasa, King of Sweden from 1523 until 1560, placed Sapmi under royal administration in 1550 and this was the start of royal taxes on fur, fish, and other products ... Settlers moved north to Sapmi, were exempt from taxes for fifteen years, and did not even have to consult the Saami when choosing what land to settle ... In 1611, after the death of Karl IX, the Swedish Crown lost interest in Sapmi and focused its attention on the Baltic area, at least until the discovery of silver ore at Nasafjäll in Swedish Sapmi ... According to the Lappmark Edict of 1673, the Saami are lazy and useless in war ...
Important years in Sami history
1542: The Swedish King Gustav Vasa declares that 'All unused lands belongs to God, us and the Swedish Crown' ...
1635: The mine in Nasafjäll is opened ... This slavemine is perhaps the worst atrocity committed by the Swedish government. Many Sami's flee from the the area, so a large part of the provinces previously used by Pite and Lule Sami is depopulated. The government sends troops to prevent the Sami's from fleeing ...
The Witchcraft Trials in Finnmark, Northern Norway A Survey
Norwegians and Samis lived side by side in seventeenth-century Finnmark ... The worst hit group during the witch-hunt was that of Norwegian women ... When looking at women as a group, most of those sentenced to the stake in Finnmark were Norwegian. A different picture applies to men: Out of 24 accused men, 16 were Samis, and as many as 13 of them lost their lives ...
Lars Nilsson
... in Norway ... at least 26 Samis were put on trial for witchcraft. They were often hired by local non-Sami, who thought they could affect the weather ...
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Imaginary friends. Imaginary enemies. I'm seeing a common thread.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)in the seventeenth century, more than 500 years after the Christianization of the country. Natural scientific curiosity should lead us to searching for explanations of these time and place particularities
Barons, witch hunts and miscarriage of justice in 17th Century Finnmark
By Ole Lindhartsen
... If residence is deemed the cause of the distribution of witch accusations in Vardø and Kiberg alone, we find that of 137 cases in the county in total, there were as many as 39 cases spread amongst panics and single processes in this area. If you add villages like Store and Lille Ekkerøy, Vadsø, Syltevik, Makkaur, Hamningberg and Andersby, the combined number of cases in this area was 98, of which 57 were panics. These locations are, as I see it, in the vicinity of Vardø, despite the distances being great in a European context. The greatest distance is found between Vardø and Andersby, namely 80 km. So the Finnmark Cases show a great concentration of cases in the geographical vicinity of the central powers administrative centre, Vardø. In other words, living in or around Vardø was dangerous ... The district system was made so that the barons could live off their lands, and it can be roughly stated that a district with a poor returns on all levels also meant poor income for the baron ... The barons in the worse districts could have used the witch processes to show the central powers in Copenhagen their brilliant administrative abilities and right-mindedness in the universal battle against evil. They could in other words have displayed themselves as the elaborate long arm of theology. Then they could hope for an allocation to districts in nicer parts of the twin kingdoms, and thus an increased income. Such speculations have a relatively solid foundation in actual conditions. There is absolutely no doubt that every time a new baron was instated in Finnmark in the period 1619-1665, there was a new wave of persecution. This couldnt possibly be a coincidence ... Immediately after the hiring of John Cunningham (Hans Kønig) in 1619, the first witchcraft panic commenced in 1621, probably with preliminary studies in 1620. This included charges against 10 women. The name of the next baron was Jørgen Friis, who was appointed in 1651. He debuted with charges against 17 women. The third baron during the witch persecution period was Christopher Orning, who ruled in the period 1661-1665. The greatest witchcraft panic lasted from 1661 to 1663, with 28 women being targeted, whereof 6 were little girls ... In Finnmark we have the following ranking of lower count material: 1) shipwrecks, 2) death of people, 3) human illness. In the Finnmark processes, theres also a very particular category, namely that of injury to the baron, which here arrives at a split fourth place together with death of cattle ...
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)What's your point? That this is a geographic peculiarity?
Please. The Abrahamic faith insists that demons and witches are real in the sense of actual supernatural powers. Small surprise some gullible people somewhere and at times will either embrace it, or use it as a weapon against other people.
The Abrahamic tradition provided the weapon.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)he has no point.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)In England, for example, executions for witchcraft are very largely a seventeenth century phenomenon -- but England was christianized a thousand years earlier
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Prior various church/state combinations variously offered opinions that it wasn't real, wasn't reliable, torture was prohibited, etc. Opinions shifted.
Various individuals found it politically expedient to leverage claims of witchcraft and sorcery, like this crazy asshole: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardino_of_Siena
niyad
(113,613 posts)Iggo
(47,577 posts)Hmm...
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)I wouldn't want to sit on that chair. And that's not even the full horror of how they did it.