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

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

and ethnologist. Vaalgamaa was born in

Košrags Košrags ( Livonian: ''Kuoštrõg'') is a small village in Kolka Parish, Talsi Municipality, Latvia. It sits on the shore of the Irbe Strait of the Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries ...

on the northern coast of Courland. 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 (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

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

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Edgar stayed in Finland and volunteered in the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

. After the war, he worked as a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

pastor in several different churches. At the same time, he translated the Latvian epic poem " Lāčplēsis" 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 Ventspils county Ethnic Livonians Latvian Lutheran clergy Latvian emigrants to Finland University of Helsinki alumni Finnish military personnel of World War II {{Latvia-bio-stub