Sami people facts for kids
The Sami people (also called Lapps or spelled as Saami) are an ethnic group of people living in Lapland. Lapland is an area in the far north of Europe. Lapland is a part of the countries of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Sami people live in all of these countries. The number of Sami people in the world is between 80,000 to 135,000.
There are 10 different spoken Sami languages. Six of these can be written.
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Lapps
The best known of the Sami people were the Lapp nomads who raised reindeer. The Lapps lived in their cold environment by domesticating the reindeer. The Lapps were able to get everything they needed from the deer. They ate mostly meat, milk, and cheese. Their clothing was made from reindeer skins and wool. Their tents were also made from raindeer skins. The wool clothes were beautifully decorated.
The Lapps protected the herds, moving with them as they migrated from summer to winter pastures. They used reindeer to pull sleds carrying their supplies. During the winter, the herds moved south of where the trees grew. The Lapps lived nearby in homes made of logs or sod. The Lapps were careful not to waste anything they got from the reindeer. Milk was taken from the reindeer to drink or make cheese. Meat was taken for food. The blood was frozen and then used for soup and pancakes. Knives and belt buckles were carved from the bones and antlers. The sinews (tendons) were used as sewing thread. Cleaned-out stomachs were used to carry milk or cheese. Every part of a dead reindeer was used.
Winter clothing was made from layers of reindeer skin. The inside layer would be worn with the fur facing in toward the person's skin. The second layer was worn with the fur facing out. Boots were also made of fur and lined with grass that had been gathered during the short summer. Every evening the grass would be taken out and dried by the fire, so it would be ready to use again the next day. This way, a Lapp could be warm and comfortable in even the coldest weather.
Today only a few of the Lapp people still follow the herds. Those few use modern tools on their ancient migration. They use snowmobiles to herd the reindeer and rifles to kill the wolves that chase them. Even helicopters and radios are used to locate and move the reindeer. Most of the Lapp people now live on small farms in one of the four nations of Lapland. They raise crops and animals, including a few reindeer, to meet their needs. The sale of reindeer meat is an important source of income for the Lapp people.
Culture
To make up for past suppression, the authorities of Norway, Sweden and Finland now make an effort to build up Sámi cultural institutions and promote Sámi culture and language.
Duodji (craft)
Duodji, the Sámi handicraft, originates from the time when the Sámis were self-supporting nomads, believing therefore that an object should first and foremost serve a purpose rather than being primarily decorative. Men mostly use wood, bone, and antlers to make items such as antler-handled scrimshawed Sámi knives, drums, and guksi (burl cups). Women used leather and roots to make items such as gákti (clothing), and birch- and spruce-root woven baskets.
Clothing
Gákti are the traditional clothing worn by the Sámi people. The gákti is worn both in ceremonial contexts and while working, particularly when herding reindeer.
Traditionally, the gákti was made from reindeer leather and sinews, but nowadays, it is more common to use wool, cotton, or silk. Women's gákti typically consist of a dress, a fringed shawl that is fastened with 1–3 silver brooches, and boots/shoes made of reindeer fur or leather. Sámi boots (or nutukas) can have pointed or curled toes and often have band-woven ankle wraps. Eastern Sámi boots have a rounded toe on reindeer-fur boots, lined with felt and with beaded details. There are different gákti for women and men; men's gákti have a shorter "jacket-skirt" than a women's long dress. Traditional gákti are most commonly in variations of red, blue, green, white, medium-brown tanned leather, or reindeer fur. In winter, there is the addition of a reindeer fur coat and leggings, and sometimes a poncho (luhkka) and rope/lasso.
The colours, patterns and the jewellery of the gákti indicate where a person is from, if a person is single or married, and sometimes can even be specific to their family. The collar, sleeves and hem usually have appliqués in the form of geometric shapes. Some regions have ribbonwork, others have tin embroidery, and some Eastern Sámi have beading on clothing or collar. Hats vary by sex, season, and region. They can be wool, leather, or fur. They can be embroidered, or in the East, they are more like a beaded cloth crown with a shawl. Some traditional shamanic headgear had animal hides, plaits, and feathers, particularly in East Sápmi.
The gákti can be worn with a belt; these are sometimes band-woven belts, woven, or beaded. Leather belts can have scrimshawed antler buttons, silver concho-like buttons, tassels, or brass/copper details such as rings. Belts can also have beaded leather pouches, antler needle cases, accessories for a fire, copper rings, amulets, and often a carved and/or scrimshawed antler-handled knife. Some Eastern Sámi also have a hooded jumper (малиц) from reindeer skins with wool inside and above the knee boots.
Media and literature
- There are short daily news bulletins in Northern Sámi on national TV in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Children's television shows in Sámi are also frequently made. There is also a radio station for Northern Sámi, which has some news programs in the other Sámi languages.
- A single daily newspaper is published in Northern Sámi, Ávvir, along with a few magazines.
- There is a Sámi theatre, Beaivvaš, in Kautokeino on the Norwegian side, as well as in Kiruna on the Swedish side. Both tour the entire Sámi area with drama written by Sámi authors or international translations.
- A number of novels and poetry collections are published every year in Northern Sámi, and sometimes in the other Sámi languages as well. The largest Sámi publishing house is Davvi Girji.
- The first secular book published in a Sámi language was Johan Turi's Muitalus sámiid birra (An Account of the Sámi), released in 1910 with text in Northern Sámi and Danish.
- In 2023 Sámi author Ann-Helén Laestadius wrote "Stolen" a novel of the Sámi in Sweden.
Music
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A characteristic feature of Sámi musical tradition is the singing of joik. Joiks are song-chants and are traditionally sung a cappella, usually sung slowly and deep in the throat with apparent emotional content of sorrow or anger. Joiks can be dedicated to animals and birds in nature, special people or special occasions, and they can be joyous, sad or melancholic. They often are based on syllablic improvisation. In recent years, musical instruments frequently accompany joiks. The only traditional Sámi instruments that were sometimes used to accompany joik are the "fadno" flute (made from reed-like Angelica archangelica stems) and hand drums (frame drums and bowl drums).
Education
- Education with Sámi as the first language is available in all four countries, and also outside the Sámi area.
- Sámi University College is located in Kautokeino. Sámi language is studied in several universities in all countries, most notably the University of Tromsø, which considers Sámi a mother tongue, not a foreign language.
Festivals
- Numerous Sámi festivals throughout the Sápmi area celebrate different aspects of the Sámi culture. The best known on the Norwegian side is Riddu Riđđu, though there are others, such as Ijahis Idja in Inari. Among the most festive are the Easter festivals taking place in Kautokeino and Karasjok before the springtime reindeer migration to the coast. These festivals combine traditional culture with modern phenomena such as snowmobile races. They celebrated the new year known as Ođđajagemánnu. Shamanic culture is celebrated at the Isogaisa Festival in Tennevoll, Norway.
Visual arts
In addition to Duodji (Sámi handicraft), there is a developing area of contemporary Sámi visual art. Galleries such as Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (Sami Center for Contemporary Art) are being established.
Dance
Unlike many other Indigenous peoples, traditional dance is generally not a visible manifestation of Sámi identity. This has led to a common misconception that Sámi, at least in western Sápmi, have no traditional dance culture.
The Sámi modern dance company Kompani Nomad looked to old descriptions of shamanistic rituals and behaviors to identify "lost" Sámi dances and reimagine them through contemporary dance. An example is the lihkadus described in sources from the 16th and 17th centuries, but which was adapted by Swedish–Sámi priest Lars Levi Laestadius, who brought it and other Sámi traditions into the Church of Sweden as part of the Laestadianism movement.
Partner and group dancing have been a part of Skolt Sámi culture and among Sámi on the Kola Peninsula since at least the second half of the 1800s. These square dances, couple dances, circle dances, and singing games are influenced by Karelian and Northern Russian dance cultures, likely under the influence of Russian traders, military service under the tsar, and the Russian Orthodox Church. This eastern Sápmi dance tradition has been more continuous and has been adapted by modern Sámi dance companies such as Johtti Kompani.
Reindeer husbandry
Reindeer husbandry has been and still is an important aspect of Sámi culture. Traditionally the Sámi lived and worked in reindeer herding groups called siidat, which consist of several families and their herds. Members of the siida helped each other with the management and husbandry of the herds. During the years of forced assimilation, the areas in which reindeer herding was an important livelihood were among the few where the Sámi culture and language survived.
Today in Norway and Sweden, reindeer husbandry is legally protected as an exclusive Sámi livelihood, such that only persons of Sámi descent with a linkage to a reindeer herding family can own, and hence make a living off, reindeer. Presently, about 2,800 people are engaged in reindeer herding in Norway. In Finland, reindeer husbandry is not exclusive and is also practiced to a limited degree by ethnic Finns. Legally, it is restricted to EU/EEA nationals resident in the area. In the north (Lapland), it plays a major role in the local economy, while its economic impact is lesser in the southern parts of the area (Province of Oulu).
Among the reindeer herders in Sámi villages, the women usually have a higher level of formal education in the area.
Games
The Sámi have traditionally played both card games and board games, but few Sámi games have survived, because Christian missionaries and Laestadianists considered such games sinful. Only the rules of three Sámi board games have been preserved into modern times. Sáhkku is a running-fight board game where each player controls a set of soldiers (referred to as "women" and "men") that race across a board in a loop, attempting to eliminate the other player's soldiers. The game is related to South Scandinavian daldøs, Arabian tâb and Indian tablan. Sáhkku differs from these games in several respects, most notably the addition of a piece – "the king" – that changes gameplay radically. Tablut is a pure strategy game in the tafl family. The game features "Swedes" and a "Swedish king" whose goal is to escape, and an army of "Muscovites" whose goal is to capture the king. Tablut is the only tafl game where a relatively intact set of rules have survived into our time. Hence, all modern versions of tafl (commonly called "Hnefatafl" and marketed exclusively as "Norse" or "Viking" games) are based on the Sámi game of tablut. Dablot Prejjesne is a game related to alquerque which differs from most such games (e.g. draughts) by having pieces of three different ranks. The game's two sides are referred to as "Sámi" (king, prince, warriors) and "Finlenders" (landowners, landowner's son, farmers).
Important Sámi towns
The following towns and villages have a significant Sámi population or host Sámi institutions (Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish or Russian name in parentheses):
- Aanaar, Anár, or Aanar (Inari), is the location of the Finnish Sámi Parliament, Sajos Sámi Cultural Centre, SAKK – Saamelaisalueen koulutuskeskus (Sámi Education Institute), Anarâškielâ servi (Inari Sámi Language Association), and the Inari Sámi Siida Museum.
- Aarborte (Hattfjelldal) is a southern Sámi center with a Southern Sámi-language school and a Sámi culture center.
- Árjepluovve (Arjeplog) is the Pite Saami center in Sweden.
- Deatnu (Tana) has a significant Sámi population.
- Divtasvuodna (Tysfjord) is a center for the Lule-Sámi population. The Árran Lule-Sámi center is located here.
- Gáivuotna (Kåfjord, Troms) is an important center for the Sea-Sámi culture. Each summer the Riddu Riđđu festival is held in Gáivuotna. The municipality has a Sámi-language center and hosts the Ája Sámi Center. The opposition against Sámi language and culture revitalization in Gáivuotna was infamous in the late 1990s and included Sámi-language road signs being shot to pieces repeatedly.
- Giron (Kiruna), proposed seat of the Swedish Sámi Parliament.
- Guovdageaidnu (Kautokeino) is perhaps the cultural capital of the Sámi. About 90% of the population speaks Sámi. Several Sámi institutions are located in Kautokeino including: Beaivváš Sámi Theatre, a Sámi secondary school and reindeer-herding School, the Sámi University College, the Nordic Sámi Research Institute, the Sámi Language Board, the Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous People, and the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry. In addition, several Sámi media are located in Kautokeino including the Sámi-language Áššu newspaper, and the DAT Sámi publishing house and record company. Kautokeino also hosts the, which includes the Sámi Grand Prix 2010 (Sámi Musicfestival) and the Reindeer Racing World Cup. The Kautokeino rebellion in 1852 is one of the few Sámi rebellions against the Norwegian government's oppression against the Sámi.
- Iänudâh, or Eanodat (Enontekiö).
- Jiellevárri, or Váhčir (Gällivare)
- Jåhkåmåhkke (Jokkmokk) holds a Sámi market on the first weekend of every February and has a Sámi school for language and traditional knowledge called Samij Åhpadusguovdásj.
- Kárášjohka (Karasjok) is the seat of the Norwegian Sámi Parliament. Other important Sámi institutions are located in Kárášjohka, including NRK Sámi Radio, the Sámi Collections museum, the Sámi Art Centre, the Sámi Specialist Library, the Mid-Finnmark legal office, a child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinic – one of few on a national level approved for providing full specialist training. Other significant institutions include a Sámi Specialist Medical Centre, and the Sámi Health Research Institute. In addition, the Sápmi cultural park is in the township, and the Sámi-language Min Áigi newspaper is published here.
- Leavdnja (Lakselv) in Porsáŋgu (Porsanger) municipality is the location of the Finnmark Estate and the Ságat Sámi newspaper. The Finnmarkseiendommen organization owns and manages about 95% of the land in Finnmark, and 50% of its board members are elected by the Norwegian Sámi Parliament.
- Луя̄ввьр (Lovozero)
- Staare (Östersund) is the center for the Southern Sámi people living in Sweden. It is the site for Gaaltije – centre for South Sámi culture – a living source of knowledge for South Sámi culture, history and business. Staare also hosts the Sámi Information Centre and one of the offices to the Sámi Parliament in Sweden.
- Njauddâm is the center for the Skolt Sámi of Norway, which have their own museum Äʹvv in the town.
- Ohcejohka (Utsjoki).
- Snåase (Snåsa) is a center for the Southern Sámi language and the only municipality in Norway where Southern Sámi is an official language. The Saemien Sijte Southern Sámi museum is located in Snåase.
- Unjárga (Nesseby) is an important center for the Sea Sámi culture. It is also the site for the Várjjat Sámi Museum and the Norwegian Sámi Parliament's department of culture and environment. The first Sámi to be elected into the Norwegian Parliament, Isak Saba, was born there.
- Árviesjávrrie (Arvidsjaur). New settlers from the south of Sweden did not arrive until the second half of the 18th century. Because of that, Sámi tradition and culture has been well preserved. Sámi people living in the south of Norrbotten, Sweden, use the city for Reindeer herding during the summer. During winter they move the Reindeers to the coast, to Piteå.
Demographics
In the geographical area of Sápmi, the Sámi are a small population. According to some, the estimated total Sámi population is about 70,000. One problem when attempting to count the population of the Sámi is that there are few common criteria of what "being a Sámi" constitutes. In addition, there are several Sámi languages and additional dialects, and there are several areas in Sapmi where few of the Sámi speak their native language due to the forced cultural assimilation, but still consider themselves Sámi. Other identity markers are kinship (which can be said to, at some level or other, be of high importance for all Sámi), the geographical region of Sápmi where their family came from, and/or protecting or preserving certain aspects of Sámi culture.
All the Nordic Sámi Parliaments have included as the "core" criterion for registering as a Sámi the identity in itself—one must declare that one truly considers oneself a Sámi. Objective criteria vary, but are generally related to kinship and/or language.
Still, due to the cultural assimilation of the Sámi people that had occurred in the four countries over the centuries, population estimates are difficult to measure precisely. The population has been estimated to be between 80,000 and 135,000 across the whole Nordic region, including urban areas such as Oslo, Norway, traditionally considered outside Sápmi. The Norwegian state recognizes any Norwegian as Sámi if he or she has one great-grandparent whose home language was Sámi, but there is not, and has never been, any registration of the home language spoken by Norwegian people.
Roughly half of all Sámi live in Norway, but many live in Sweden, with smaller groups living in the far north of Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. The Sámi in Russia were forced by the Soviet authorities to relocate to a collective called Lovozero/Lujávri, in the central part of the Kola Peninsula.
Sámi identity symbols
Although the Sámi have considered themselves to be one people throughout history, the idea of Sápmi, a Sámi nation, first gained acceptance among the Sámi in the 1970s, and even later among the majority population. During the 1980s and 1990s, a Sámi flag was created, a Sámi anthem was written, and the date of a national day was established.
The Sámi Flag
The Sámi flag was inaugurated during the Sámi Conference in Åre, Sweden, on 15 August 1986. It was the result of a competition for which many suggestions were entered. The winning design was submitted by the artist Astrid Båhl from Skibotn, Norway.
The motif (shown right) was derived from the shaman's drum and the poem "Päiven Pārne'" ("Sons of the Sun") by the South Sámi Anders Fjellner describing the Sámi as sons and daughters of the sun. The flag has the Sámi colours, red, green, yellow and blue, and the circle represents the sun (red) and the moon (blue).
The Sámi People's Day
The Sámi National Day falls on 6 February as this date was when the first Sámi congress was held in 1917 in Trondheim, Norway. This congress was the first time that Norwegian and Swedish Sámi came together across their national borders to work together to find solutions for common problems. The resolution for celebrating on 6 February was passed in 1992 at the 15th Sámi congress in Helsinki. Since 1993, Norway, Sweden and Finland have recognized 6 February as Sámi National Day.
"Song of the Sámi People"
"Sámi soga lávlla" ("Song of the Sámi People", lit. Song of the Sámi Family) was originally a poem written by Isak Saba that was published in the newspaper Saǥai Muittalægje for the first time on 1 April 1906. In August 1986, it became the Sámi anthem. Arne Sørli set the poem to music, which was then approved at the 15th Sámi Conference in Helsinki in 1992. "Sámi soga lávlla" has been translated into all of the Sámi languages.
Religion and spirituality
Sami shamanism is the main religion of the Sami people. These beliefs are connected to the land, animalism, and the supernatural. There is some practice of bear worship. Sami shamanism is a polytheistic religion. It believes there are many gods. The Sami shaman are called the 'Noadi'. There are some 'wise men' and 'wise women' who try to heal people who are sick. They use rituals and herbal medicine. Some Sami people have changed their beliefs to Christianity. They join either the Russian Orthodox Church or the Lutheran.
Other pages
Images for kids
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A Sámi depicted in art, painting by François-Auguste Biard
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Aleksander Lauréus's painting of the Sámi by the fire
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Homeland of the Sámi people at present
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A Sámi man and child in Finnmark, Norway, circa 1900
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Three Sámi women
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Sámi people in Norway, 1928
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A Sea Sámi man from Norway by Prince Roland Bonaparte in 1884
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A Sea Sámi man from Norway by Prince Roland Bonaparte in 1884
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Sámi family in 1936
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Vindelfjällen
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Suorvajaure near Piteå
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Sámi man from Norway
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Sámi Parliament of Norway
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Mountain landscape in Kvalsund near Hammerfest
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Sámi Parliament in Sweden
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Land near Ylläs
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Kildin Sami Map (green). СААМИ is "Sámi" in Cyrillic
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National Culture Centre in Lovozero
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The port of Murmansk in the Kola Bay
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Krasnoshchelye village on the Ponoi River
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Sámi people in Härjedalen (1790–1800), far south in the Sápmi area
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Laponian area in Sápmi, UNESCO World Heritage Site
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E.W. Borg alphabet book, published in 1859 in Finnish-Inari Sámi
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This map shows the geographic distribution of Sámi languages and offers some additional information, such as number of native Sámi speakers and locations of the Sámi parliaments.
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Sámi traditional presentation in Lovozero, Kola Peninsula, Russia
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Reindeer in Alaska
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Sven-Roald Nystø, Aili Keskitalo and Ole Henrik Magga, the three first presidents of the Sámi Parliament of Norway
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Land rights for grazing reindeer
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Copper etching (1767) by O.H. von Lode showing a noaidi with his meavrresgárri drum
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Noaidi drum
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Sámi mother with her children
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Ad for an 1893/1894 ethnological exposition of Sámi in Hamburg-Saint Paul
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Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, a Sámi writer, musician and artist from Finland
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Agnete Johnsen
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Nils Gaup, a Sámi film director from Norway
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Anja Pärson a Sámi skier from Sweden
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Börje Salming, a retired ice hockey defenceman
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See also
In Spanish: Samis para niños
