Seal hunt on Gotland
The seal hunt on Gotland was an important part of the livelihood on the Swedish island; this is evidenced by bone finds from the Charles Islands ( Lilla Karlsö and Stora Karlsö ).
The long tradition of hunting the formerly rich seal populations of the Baltic Sea meant that archaic fishing methods remained on Gotland and Fårö until modern times. The seal hunters developed techniques and rituals that did not exist elsewhere. The seal hunters' guild (which existed until 1865) on the Näs peninsula in southern Gothenburg had an ancient custom: the kutbuss (seal guy; from Gotland. Kuta = seal), which had killed its first animal, was rubbed with its blood and thus ennobled into the guild. An important form of locomotion when hunting seals was stangstikel (pole jumping ). A three meter long pole was placed on the ground at full speed in order to jump as far as possible. With this technique, it was possible to move from ice floe to ice floe in winter when drift ice covered the Baltic Sea.
The votive tablets
On the island of Gotska Sandön there were also fights for hunting rights with the seal hunters of the mainland; some are said to have lost their lives in the process. The dangers of seal hunting are also documented by two painted wooden plaques in Fårö Church . The larger of the two, the Stora Kutatavlan (Large Seal Table), reports on the adventurous journey of 15 seal hunters who ventured too far out into the Baltic Sea in 1603. The ice broke behind them, so that they floated across the sea on an ice floe. The 14-day odyssey, on which they fed on the seals and snow they had killed, ended on the Swedish archipelago ; all seal hunters were rescued. In gratitude they had the Stora Kutatavlan painted in 1618. It is important as a historical document, as it shows the contemporary ships, costumes and tools of the sealers as well as the oldest view of Visborg Fortress . The small plaque (Lilla Kutatavlan) depicts a similar rescue of the seal hunter Jens Långhamar and his son Lars in 1767.
See also
Web links
- Jägarna på Kutatavlan (Swedish)