Sami peoples

   

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The Sami People (there are other names and spellings including Sámi, Saami and the obsolete Lapp) are an indigenous people of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia, covering a total area in the Nordic countries corresponding to the size of Sweden. The Sami people is one of the largest groups of indigenous peoples in Europe. Their languages are the Sami languages, which are classified as Finno-Ugric.

They call their ancestral lands Sápmi. Traditional occupations are hunting, fishing, reindeer herding and farming, but today only a minority of the Sami making a living from these things alone. The population is about 85,000, of which roughly half live in Norway, although Sweden also has a significant group. Finland and Russia only have smaller groups located in the far north, including the Russian Kola peninsula.

History

Main article: Sami history

Lapponia, a large, 35-chapter book written by the rhetorican Johannes Schefferus (1621 - 1679) is the oldest source of detailed information on Sami culture. It was written due to "ill-natured" foreign propaganda (in particular from Germany) claiming that Sweden had won victories on the battlefield by means of 'Sami magic'. In attempts to correct the picture of Sami culture amongst the Europeans, Magnus de la Gardie started an early 'ethnological' research project to document Sami groups, conducted by Schefferus. The book was publicized in late 1673 and quickly translated to French, German, English, and other languages (though not to Swedish until 1956). However, an adapted and abridged version was quickly publicized in the Netherlands and Germany, where chapters on their difficult living conditions, topography, and the environment had been replaced by made-up stories of magic, sorcery, drums and heathenism.

Organisation

Main article: Sami organisation

Sami inhabitants have in Sweden, Norway and Finland (but not Russia) a vote, besides the regular country democratic election length, in their special designed authority, the Sami Parliament (SP). The SP has a democratically elected parliament and acts as a governmental authority. An individual has a Sami vote if any of the following applies:

  • s/he considers himself to be culturally or ethnically Sami (valid in Sweden, Norway, or Finland) because:
    • s/he speaks a Sami language
    • s/he had or has a parent, or grandparent, that speaks or spoke a Sami language
  • s/he simply considers her/himself to be Sami (valid in Finland only)

For the Swedish case, the term 'Sami' have been defined by the government, and included only peoples herding reindeers. This was contrary to how the Sami themselves wanted to be defined.

Religion

Main article: Sami religion

The term Sami religion is usually referring to the pre-Christian religion, practiced till about 18th century. Christianity started already in the 11th century but the Lutheran Bible was first translated in much later time. In the 16th century, priests had tried to convert them, sometimes by cruel means such as burning runedrums (and peoples) on the stake, but it was not until the bible was translated that major parts converted.

Sami religion shared many common elements to the Norse mythology and the latter's spiritual parts are often considered to be derived from an aboriginal life style. By mainly a French initiative, from J.P Gaimard, Lars Levi Laestadius started to do research in the Sami mythology. His work resulted in four bands or fragments, since it in his own word only contained only a few percents of what had existed. The fragments were termed Theory of Gods, Theory of Sacrifice, Theory of Prophecy, or short reports about rumorous Sami magic and Sami sagas. Generally, he filtered out the Norse influence and derive common elements between the South, North and Eastern Sami groups. The mythology have also common elements with other Circumpolar religions -- such as those in Siberia and North America.

Language

Main article:Sami language.

The Sami language is divided into nine dialects, of which several have their own written languages (orthography). Southern Sami cannot understand Northern Sami. Most dialects are spoken in several countries, as linguistic borders do not correspond to national borders. The Sami language is part of the Finno-Ugric family, related to Finnish and Hungarian but not to Norwegian and kin, however due to prolonged contact with the Scandinavians, there is a large number of Germanic words in Sami.

Music

Main article: Sami music

One very interesting Sami tradition is the singing of joik (not to be confused with the call yoicks used in fox hunting). Joiks are traditionally sung a capella, usually sung slowly and deep in the throat with apparent emotional content of sorrow or anger. Christian missionaries and priests regarded these as "songs of the Devil". In recent years, musical instruments frequently accompany joiks.

Related articles

External links



sv:Samer de:Saami eo:Sameoj fr:Saami fi:Saamelaiset nl:Saami

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