Roald Amundsen and the Shaman
Roald Amundsen, polar explorer and hero. |
One of Norway’s
relatively unknown heros is Roald Amundsen. ”Who?” You probably think, and
that’s my point.
Just so you all know, I’ll briefly introduce my childhood hero. On
december 14 1911, Amundsen and his team were the first men to reach 90 degrees
south - the geographic Southpole! To make the story even more exciting the
quest for the Southpole had been a race against an English man called Captain
Robert Falcon Scott. So if he won why don’t we know his name?
Captain Scott was quite a hopeless case. He brought horses and tractors
to take him to the pole. The tractors never started and the horses died of
exposure before the expedition set off towards the pole and Captain Scott’s
team reached the pole finding a tent with a swaying Norwegian flag. In the tent
was a guest book, with Roald Amundsen’s name first. With broken spirits Scott
began the return journey but succumbed to fatigue, partly brought on by scurvy.
The tragedy of Captain Scott ecclipsed Roald Amundsens acheivement.
Reaching the Southpole was not Amundsens first polar triumph. A few
years earlier in 1903, and this brings me to the point I am making, Roald
Amundsen set out on an expedition hoping to find the North West Passage. Which
had been sought by the English for four hundred years. They sailed to Gjøahavn
on King William Island and spent twenty three months there. During this time
Amundsen studied Inuit way of life and collected etnographic material.
I found this quote on a blog about Amundsen’s encounter with an Inuit
Shaman. This will be a perfect introduction to my thoughts and ramblings on
shamans.
Amundsen and his men at the Southpole |
”Roald
Amundson passed the winter in the Arctic Circle among the Inuits. He lived with the tribe’s shaman. After months of watching the many
sleights of hand and minor tricks the shaman used to hold the tribe’s attention
with his magical power, Amundsen finally asked him: Didn’t it bother him that
all his ‘magic powers’ were nothing but
cheap parlor games? The
shaman smiled. He replied, ‘My magic power is not in my tricks. My real power
is that I have gone out on the ice and lived there alone for many months until
I could finally hear the voice of the Universe. And the voice of the Universe
is that of a mother calling after her beloved children. That is my real magic.”
Inuit Shaman. Look at those sweet hands. |
This brings
us to shamans and my interests in them as proto Showmen. Roald Amundsen
experienced a shaman performing slight of hand. To his tribe the shaman was a
powerful healer and communicator of secret understandings. What did the tribe
see in their shaman’s prestidigitation? What can we learn about the Showman
from studying the Shaman? What can we learn about his craft and the deep
meaning presented in his performances that will benefit our own shows? How did
it all start?
Whether
because of his understanding of ice and polar knowledge taught to him by
shamans or not, the expedition found and sailed through the North West Passage
in 1906. Becoming the first ship in history to travel successfully through it.
Adding another feather to my polar hero, Roald Amundsen’s hat.
(Read part 2 here)
(Read part 2 here)
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