Sami people

The Sámi people are indigenous people living in the north of Europe. Sámi communities exist in northern Norway (60,000-100,000), Sweden (15,000-25,000), Finland (6,400) and on Russian Kola peninsula (2,000).

Sámi people are often called Lapps or Laplanders. But, they do not like it at all. They find it pejorative. Sámi call themselves Sámit (the Sámis) or Sápmelaš (of Sámi kin).

Sápmi region - homeland of the Sámi people

Sámi call the region they live in Sápmi. The Sápmi region has an area of 388,350 square kilometers. Sápmi includes the following counties and provinces. Finnmark, Nord-Trøndelag, Nordland and Troms county in Norway. Dalarnas Län, Jämtlands Län, Norrbottens Län and Västerbottens Län county in Sweden. Lapland province in Finland and Murmansk oblast in Russia.

It has to be mentioned that many Sámi people nowadays live in big cities outside of Sápmi. Also there are about 30,000 people who are Sámi or have Sámi ancestors living in North America.

Most Sámi people do not speak Sámi language (Sàmigiella) or any of its several dialects. The Northern Sámi is the dialect with some 15,000 speakers. Other dialects are Lule Sámi, Kildin Sámi, Inari Sámi, Skolt Sámi, Southern Sámi, Ter Sámi, Ume Sámi and Pite Sámi.

Large majority of Sámi people are Christians – Lutherans in Norway, Sweden and Finland or Orthodox Christians in parts of Finland and in Russia. Shamanism in its traditional form does not exist anymore.

The national anthem of Sápmi is "Sámi soga lávlla" (Song of the Sàmi people). This poem written in 1906 by Sámi teacher and politician Isak Saba (1875-1921). It got the status of national anthem in 1986.

Sámi flag

The national holiday of Sámi people is the Sámi National Day. It is celebrated on the 6th February. On this day in 1917 the first Sámi congress was organized in Norwegian city of Trondheim. Norwegian and Swedish Sámi people got united in trying to find the solution for their common problems.

Today there is not single Sámi governing body, parliament. There are Sámi parliaments in Finland (1973), Norway (1989) and Sweden (1993).

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus)

The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) is very important for the Sámi people. They are raised for their meat, hides, antlers, milk and transportation. The animal skin was used for making traditional coneshaped tents called laitok (lavvu). Today most tents are made of fabric bought in shops. Shoes and clothes are still traditionally made of reindeer skin. Reindeers are not kept in captivity. They usually roam free on pasture grounds. Reindeer herders migrate with their animals.

Laitok

Sámi people have their own handicrafts or Duodji, as they call them. They made knives, cases, bags, wooden cups, pieces of clothes. Different materials were used. Men used wood, antlers and other Reindeer bones. Women used leather and roots.

One example of Duodji handicrafts is Kuksa. It is a drinking cup made of carved birch burl (bur or burr). The burl is kind of deformation that appears on some trees.

Like so many other nations, Sámi people have their own colours. They are red, green, blue and yellow.

Gákti or kolt

The traditional costume worn by Sámis is called gákti or kolt. It is worn on weddings, funerals, religious festivities and but also during everyday work. To make a gákti people use leather, sinews, and wool. These are the most common materials but sometimes silk and velvet are used too.

Gáktis differ from community to community. Let's take for example the length of gákti. In southern parts of Sápmi is longer than the one in the north of the region.