The Sámi
Sons of the Sun
DID YOU KNOW...
Europe has millions of 'white'' indigenous peoples who have been colonization-oppressed since ancient times just like other native cultures around in the world?
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ENDANGERED LANGUAGES
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.
MAPPING SAMI LANGUAGES
"The idea behind this map is to make people aware of Indigenous people and their living spaces located within national borders and sometimes crossing these as it is the case of the Sámi people. It is important to know about contemporary societies and different cultures. Only with this knowledge, we can respect other ways of living."
~Nele Peschel
TU Wien 2021
ArcGIS Pro and Affinity Designer
The Sámi are the oldest and largest group of nomadic indigenous people of Northern Europe, and have coped with the extreme environment of the Arctic polar circle for thousands of years. Today, they number around less than 80,000 in population, half of which are in Norway.
Though the revival of their culture has been experiencing a renaissance in the last decade, the The Sámi are considered an ENDANGERED CULTURE.
Sámi languages are each unique and intricately tied to their way of life. There are of each group. Some scholars say that Sámi is a close relative of Finnish and other Uralic languages spoken by Russians and Siberians. There is also a slight connection with Hungarian. But the origin of this ancient people is still the subject of research by experts.
The Sámi languages range from relatively widely spoken North Sámi, estimated to have more than 20,000 speakers, to the exceedingly rare Ume Sámi, spoken by only 25 people. Ten years ago, there was one older couple remaining that spoke Ter Sámi (in Russia). Now, it is considered exticketBut those overall figures don't capture just how important these highly specialised languages are to traditional Sámi activities such as fishing and reindeer herding, as well as observing and describing Arctic weather patterns. In the Sámi languages, for example, there are more than 300 words for snow, eight words for different seasons, and six different words to describe reindeer wandering by themselves. There are also several words for "frightened reindeer", depending on their sex and age.
READ Inger Marie Gaup Eira's Doctorate Dissertation
The Silent Language of Snow - Sámi traditional knowledge of snow in a time of climate change
DISCOVER
communities, organizations and programs that are incorporating what they concur is centuries of valuable information found within
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"In addition to the four Sami parliaments, the Skolt Sami people are the only Sami group (about 300 people) in the Nordic countries that have managed to preserve their traditional decision-making body, known as “siidsååbbar” or village assembly, as part of their living culture."
Young girl, in the national winter clothes of the northern inhabitants of the tundra, the Arctic circle
![Jon Henrik Fjällgren - The Way You Make Me Feel (feat. Elin Oskal) [Official Video]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EF1s5XSOFDQ/sddefault.jpg)
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The Siida
A siida is an organization of humans traditionally present in Sámi societies consisting of several families of reindeer herders whose reindeer graze together. Siidas are governed like stock companies, where the reindeer-holders elect a board of directors and a chief executive officer (poroisäntä, 'reindeer master') every three years, voting with as many votes as they have reindeer.
Nomadic Reindeer Husbandry
Traditionally, the Saámi living in Saámiland have gotten their livelihood from nature: through reindeer husbandry, making and selling traditional Duodji handcrafts, or through tourism. Not all Saámi own reindeer though: historically the Sámi have had a very rich hunting, gathering, and fishing culture as well.
The Sámi World (Routledge Worlds) 1st Edition
Sámi perspectives, concepts and ways of knowing are foregrounded throughout the volume. The material connects with wider discussions within Indigenous studies and engages with current concerns relating to globalization, environmental and cultural change
THE SCIENCE
Understanding Sámi Reindeer Herders' Knowledge Systems of Snow and Ice
by Inger Marie Gaup Eira
Sámi University of Applied Sciences
REINDEER are an Endangered
SPECIES
Heiðr believes in helping Indigenous to have a meaningful voice in ENVIRONMENTAL and SPECIES protection, education, legislation, and sustainability programs.
Sámi Spotlight
Jon Henrick
Jon Henrik is a native-born Columbian who was adopted into Mittådalen´s Sami village in Härjedalen, Sweden.
Jon He won Swedish Got Tallent in 2014 where he touched many with his song Daniels Jojk. He won Dancing with Stars and is loved by viewers and fans from all over the world.
Yoik
The Primordial Voice
The Saami Yoik and Siberian throat singing come from the “same source," “primordial” (urmenneskelig) and its connection to nature. This quality can be heard in vocal traditions, it is the way one uses the voice. Whereas “Western” vocal traditions are descriptive and are removed from and outside of what they are singing about, the “primal voice” (urstemmen) is the very thing it sings. ~Hilder
Shamanism
Sacred
Geometry
Sacred Geometry can be traced back to the ancient wisdom of universal patterns that have existed since the beginning of time. Geometry plays a significant role in Shamanism, where the concepts of symmetry and balance are incorporated into ceremonies and rituals. The integration of Sacred Geometry in Shamanic practices allows for a deeper connection with the universe and nature.
Sámi Spirituality
Animism
The Saámi people of northern Scandinavia believed in a world populated by spirits and deities that were an organic part of nature itself. Every creature had a spirit and significance. The Saámi felt that everything in their world was connected through these spirits, and that their people themselves were descended from the Sun. According to the Saámi Creation Story, the world was created by the god Jubmel and his son Bejve from a reindeer. Alternatively, a creation story related by Risten Lango, a Sami reindeer herder, tells of a white reindeer creating the world.
Traditional Sámi religion is generally considered to be Animism. The Sámi belief that all significant natural objects (such as animals, plants, rocks, etc.) possess a soul, and from a polytheistic perspective, traditional Sámi beliefs include a multitude of spirits. Sámi traditional beliefs and practices commonly emphasizes veneration of the ancestors and of animal spirits.
Shamanism
The Noaidi
A Noaidi is a mediator between the human world and saivo, the underworld, on the behalf of the community, usually using a Sámi drum and a domestic flute called a fadno in ceremonies.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW for more information.
 Alley of Majestic IdolsAlley of majestic idols at Sami Village, Murmansk, Russia, the four idola of elements (fire, earth, water, air ) and five majestic idols of love, happiness, luck, fate and health. |  The Creation StoryThe Sámi myths represent a far different idea of the world and creation. The two major epics that are accessible are “The Death of Sun’s Daughter” (which lamentably is just a fragment of a longer poem) and “The Son of the Sun’s Courting in the Land of the Giants.” Just as Genesis, they explain the origin of the people involved and the structure of the world. These two poems, however, bring out the facets of a culture that believes in animism and polytheism. |  NoaidiWisewoman, practitioner of seidr. |  AnimismSpiritual ways of being in harmony with all of nature. |  Seidr"...we should not draw conclusions about the shamanic nature of seiðr based only on the state it was in at the time of our written sources, as seiðr is much older. Much evidence links the seiðr practice or its origin to the cult of the Vanir, the older Nordic group of gods and spirits concerned with fertility, nature, peace, and magic (Davidson 1964 and Ström 1954)." |
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 SieidisUsually a rock with unusual shape. Sieidis are found in nature in certain sacred places, for example at the sea or river beaches or on the mountain. They serve as a symbol of the divine power ruling over the natural resources that humans needed for their survival. Samis sacrificed parts of their catch at sea to get a successful hunting or fishing in the future. |
First Sámi graphic novel translated to Norwegian
During the extraordinary year 2020, Sunna Kitti finished her nearly six-year long project of crafting her graphic novel, Jiehtanasa Iđit (Morning of the Giants). Delayed slightly by studies and work, the North Sámi illustrator’s first full length novel has been welcomed in the community with open arms.
Skábma - Snowfall is voice-acted in the most spoken: Northern Sámi (davvisámegiella). As long as there is one who remembers the stories, one who speaks the language, one who remembers, there is hope.