Edgar Vaalgamaa ( lv, Edgars Vālgamā; 1912 – December 20, 2003) was a Livonian

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

and ethnologist. Vaalgamaa was born in Košrags on the northern coast of

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

. Like many other Livonians, his family made their living from fishing. Edgar Vaalgamaa, however, didn't want to be a fisherman but went to study theology at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

in 1934. He graduated in 1939 but was unable to return because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Edgar stayed in Finland and volunteered in the Continuation War. After the war, he worked as a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

pastor in several different churches. At the same time, he translated the Latvian epic poem "

Lāčplēsis ''Lāčplēsis'' ("The Bear-Slayer") is an epic poem by Andrejs Pumpurs, a Latvian poet, who wrote it between 1872 and 1887 based on local legends. It's set during the Livonian Crusades telling the story of the mythical hero Lāčplēsis "th ...

" into Finnish. Later he wrote the book ''Valkoisen hiekan kansa'', which is one of the largest books about the Livonian people's history and culture. Edgar Vaalgamaa died in 2003, but the Vaalgamaa family still lives in Finland.

References

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Livones.lv: Edgars Vālgamā
(Latvian) 1912 births 2003 deaths People from Talsi Municipality People from Courland Governorate Livonian people Latvian Lutheran clergy University of Helsinki alumni Latvian emigrants to Finland Finnish military personnel of World War II {{Latvia-bio-stub