Sámi people
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The Sami People (there are other names and spellings including Sámi, Saami and Lapp) are an indigenous people of northernmost Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. The Sami are one of the largest groups of indigenous peoples in Europe. They are not a ethnic group but a people with a Finno-Ugric language.
They call their ancestral lands Sápmi. Traditional occupations are fishing, reindeer herding and farming, but today only a minority of the Saami live of this. 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.
Sami inhabitants have in Sweden, Norway and Finland (but not Russia) a voting length in their special designed authority, the Sami Parliament (SP). The SP has a democratic choosen parlament, but acts as a govermental authority.
History
Main article: Sami history
The Sami folk have inhabited northern regions of Scandinavia since far back into antiquity. The culture is inherited from the pre-historic "Sami people", a Finno-ugric people. See Lapland for antiquity history.
Lapponia, a 35 chapter large book written by Johannes Schefferus (1621 - 1679) is the most objective written information that cover Sami culture in early time. 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. Althought the great power position Sweden had in that time is today seen as an rather lucky coincident by historians, these rumors was seen as gross slander on the Swedish honor and the country's ability to conduct warfare and had to be condemed by a truthful story about the Samis. The book was publicated in late 1673 and quickly translated to France, Deutch, English, etc. (but not until 1956 to Swedish.) However, newer adapted and abridged version was also quickly publicated in Netherlands and Germany, where chapters on their hard living conditions, topography and the environment and been replaced by made up stories on magic, sorcery, drums and heathenism! (Source: Tromsø University Library [1])
Religion
Main article: Sami religion
Sami religion shared elements common to other circumlpolar religions across the northen degrees, e.g. bear cult, sacrifice, shamanism, etc. Females and males had their own gods. It was formally majority until medivael times, when it was replaces with christianity. "White" animals played an especially important role. The noaidi had strong influence in the "sijdda" (=village), both as an advisior, medicine man and a priest-like figure. The heathenry in Scandinavian is usually divided into Nordic religion and Sami religion, but the twos share commons together. Today many confess christianity, but a new heathenry is also visible.
Sami language
Main article:Sami language.
The Sami language is divided into nine dialects, of which several have their own written languages. 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 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, joiks are frequently accompanied by musical instruments.
Related articles
- Sami music
- Sami Parliament a Swedish Government Agency
- Sami School Board of Sweden
- Northern indigenous peoples of Russia
- Germania by Tacitus