Galten

Service in Galten
by Reidun Irene Aasebø
translated into English by Anne Olsen-Ryum

On Sunday July 21. 2002 in rain and wind, we went by bus over the mountain to Dønnesfjord. We were going to service in Galten.

The rescue boat "Lars Christensen" came from Sørvær and so did Petter Fagerheim with his boat. We were fetched by Petter Fagerheim in Dønnesfjord, and he took us to Galten in his boat. The rescue boat had anchored in The Jektefjord and took us ashore by their fastgoing small boat. The weather could have been better, but with help from good and "steady" seamen we came safely ashore. The service was arranged in the old church site where the walls still are visible. The parson Paul Skuland and the bishop Ola Steinholdt were standing upright in contrary wind wearing boots and gowns. They officiated the words of God in speech and prayers like it was done when the church was standing here, and Galten was a big and active fishingvillage.

The soloist voice of Sissel Irene Sødal sounded loud and clear between the mountains when she sang the old hymns. It was strange, even mighty, to sit in the church ruins between high and steep mountains, hearing the howling of the wind and the roaring from the ocean. It was very special when the profession of faith was read: "I beleive in God Almighty..." We were sitting there, 18 persons, in the middle of the Creation, wild and mighty, on an abandoned place where many people with as many fates once lived. Imagine how much faith in God it was among the people who were subsisting here. Imagine the hard work building the church. - But the church was a must, because Gud had to be in on it -.

Strange that people could live like this, - on a stripe with gras and stones between the sea and the steep mountain. The sea was the main reason why they were living here - the sea that gave, but also took....

After the service, we sat in the cellar ruins of what once was the main house. Here we drank coffee and ate our packets of sandwiches. Ulf Jacobsen told us about Galten like it once was. In the 18th century it was one of the biggest fishing villages on the coast of Finnmark, and there could be many ships from Russia. One of the relatives of Schumacher was also in Galten this day. Her 90 years old grandfather should have taken over the fishing village. She showed us pictures from Galten both before and after the burning in 1944. When everything was burned, only the church was left. A fire was lit, but it didn't burn.

Coffee after service in Galten

Galten was not rebuilt after the war, and the church was moved to Dønnesfjord in 1952. Unfortunately we don't know when the last service was kept in Galten, and whether it was any services between 1944 and 1952. But we do know that the service on Sunday July 21. 2002 will be remembered for a long time by those who took part in it.