the sami – an Indigenous People in Sweden

SámediggiSámedigge

SaemiedigkieSametinget

Sami Parliament Ministry of Agriculture

Photo: Frida Hedberg

Cultures are influenced, changed and sometimes merged.The Sami have lived alongside other peoples for many hundreds of years in what are

now Sweden, Finland, Norway and Russia. Despite, or perhaps because of, the influencesto which the Sami have been exposed, they and their culture have retained their distinc-tiveness.

This book tells the story of a people, a culture and a history that to many are new andstrange. It tells of an indigenous population that has been forced to change its way of lifeand has elected to adapt its culture and lifestyle to modern society.

The reader is introduced to various representatives of Sápmi – Samiland, i.e. the part ofEurope inhabited by the Sami – who talk about their lives and relationship with Sami cul-ture, society and history. The topics include small businesses, young artists, older well-known handicraftsmen, Sami politics, the Sami language, hunters and reindeer-owners anddifferent perspectives on Sami identity. The book is based on articles by researchers, writ-ers and other experts and also contains general reportage and informative articles on avariety of subjects.

Its purpose is to raise awareness about Sami culture, history and society. Hopefully, itwill stimulate readers to find out more. It does not claim to describe all the facets of some-thing as elusive as an ethnic group, a culture and an indigenous people, but it does give apicture of some aspects of Sami life.

The book was written in connection with the government’s national information cam-paign on the Sami and Sami culture that is being conducted by the Ministry of Agricul-ture. It was co-produced by the Ministry and the Sami Parliament.

Times change. Take the opportunity to learn about the indigenous Sami and what itmeans to be a Sami today, what it meant in the past and what it may mean in future.

Times change

Politics and societySince time immemorial the Sami have lived inan area that now extends across four countries.There are about 80,000 Sami altogether, some20,000 of whom live in Sweden. Indigenouspeoples have been oppressed throughout his-tory, and in many countries they are among thepoorest inhabitants.

HistoryWe know for certain that the inland part ofnorthernmost Sweden was inhabited some10,000 years ago by people who may have beenthe ancestors of the Sami. Nordic peoples are

mentioned as long ago as the 1st century AD. Intime, the rights of the Sami in Sweden were cur-tailed, and discrimination increased after 1800.Sami culture and language were suppresseduntil recently.

OccupationsReindeer husbandry is a core Sami occupation,but nowadays more and more Sami are involvedin tourism, food production and other sectors.Reindeer husbandry itself has been transformedby new technologies. However, tourism andother new industries are liable to encroach onthe land that is needed for reindeer grazing.

CultureSami arts and crafts originate from a time whenthe Sami, as nomads, needed light, practicalutensils. Traditional Sami handicrafts still exist,but interesting new handicraft forms are evolv-ing too.

Maria Vinka is adesigner at Ikeawith the wholeworld as her work-place.

page 48

The right to mother-tongueeducation cannot be takenfor granted. Meet the Kråikfamily, who are fighting fortheir rights.

page 54

At the end of the 19th

century racism raised itsugly head, and somealleged that the Sami “race”was inferior to the rest ofthe Swedish population.

page 14

page 44Function was moreimportant than artisticdecoration in traditionalSami handicrafts.

Mattias Eriksson is ahelicopter pilot andhelps to round up thereindeer herds fromthe air. He is a rein-deer herder as well asa pilot.

page 22

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Sápmi has its own“national” footballteam.

page 57

It has become a tradition to hold a two-week confirmationcamp in Sápmi for young Sami.

page 58

LanguageThe history of the Sami language is a mystery.But we do know that the language, which isactually three languages, has been spoken inNorthern Europe for thousands of years and isquite close to Finnish. In 2000 Sami wasdeclared one of Sweden’s minority languages.

ReligionToday religion is no more or less important to theSami than to other people in Sweden. But onceupon a time they believed in a cosmos dividedinto three spheres: the underworld, the realworld and the celestial world. Shamans foretoldthe future and communicate with the gods withthe help of a ceremonial drum. Towards the end

of the 17th century the state decided to christian-ize the Sami by force and the ceremonial drumswere burned.

The future for the Sami

A new Sami generation is looking for its place inSwedish and Sami society. But many historicalissues remain to be resolved. Should reindeer-herding Sami retain their grazing rights acrossthe border in Norway? Should the Sami havemore say in the use of resources in Sami areas?

The Sami language isextremely rich; forexample, it has over300 words for snowand ice.

page 56

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Since time immemorial the Sami have lived in an area that nowextends across four countries. It consists of the Kola Peninsula in Russia, northernmost Finland, the coastal and inland parts of northernNorway and parts of Sweden from Idre northwards. This region iscalled Sápmi (Samiland). The original Sami area of settlement waseven larger, but they have gradually been forced back.

One people in four countries

20,000 Sami in SwedenAlthough many Sami still live in Sápmi, many others live in other partsof Sweden and are not involved in reindeer herding. About 2,500 ofthe approximately 20,000 Sami who live in Sweden are involved inreindeer husbandry.

The total Sami population is an estimated 80,000. More than half –40,000 – live in Norway, 20,000 live in Sweden, 6,000 in Finland and2,000 in Russia. Almost 10,000 are involved in reindeer husbandry.

GLOSSARYSami words that occur in the text aregenerally translatedElk – the European elk, known in NorthAmerica as moose (Alces alces). TheNorth American elk (Cervus elaphus)is elsewhere known as red deer.Gákti – a traditional dress/outer gar-ment used mostly on ceremoniusoccasions.Sameby – a reindeerherding commu-nity; also the geographical area inwhich the community is entitled topursue reindeer husbandry.

Sami dwellings:Goahti – permanent, dome-shapedstructure consisting of a timber framesealed with birch-bark and coveredwith peat or turf.Lávvu – portable tent-like hut, similarto a tepee, with straight poles attachedto a cone-shaped frame or to two cen-tral curved poles. Covered with thickwoollen cloth, rugs or canvas depend-ing on the season.

Area: Sápmi consists of the Kola Peninsula in Russia, thenorthernmost part of Finland, the coastal and inland areasof northern Norway and the inland part of northern Sweden.

Sami population: 80,000 (about 20,000 in Sweden).

Area: 157,487 sq. km (35% of Sweden’s surface area).

Language: Sami.

Sami centres: Giron (Kiruna, Sweden), Guovdageaidnu(Kautokeino, Norway) and Anár (Inari, Finland).

Currency: Swedish and Norwegian krona, euro and roubles.

Self-government organs: Sami Parliaments (Sámediggi) inSweden, Norway and Finland.

Flag: The common flag adopted in 1986. The circle designrepresents a sun and moon symbol. The colour for the sunis red and blue for the moon, and these and the othercolours in the flag are the traditional Sami colours.

The Sami national day: 6 February.

Sami national song: Sámi soga lávlla (the Song of the SamiFamily). The tune and the lyrics were officially adopted in1986 and 1992, respectively.

Religion: Christianity.

Main occupations: Reindeer husbandry, handicrafts (duodji), hunting, fishing and tourism.

Exports: Reindeer products, handicrafts and music.

National dress: The gákti, a traditional outer garment.

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Sápmi in a nutshell

How do you define a Sami?There is no definition of a Sami. But the Sami Parliament Act,which says who is eligible to vote in elections to the Sami Parlia-ment, includes all those who regard themselves as Sami and use,or have used, Sami as a language in the home or have parents, orgrandparents, who use, or have used, the Sami language. Thosewho regard themselves as Sami and have a parent who is, or was,listed in the electoral rolls for the Sami Parliament are also Sami.

Another view of Sápmi. The area which has beenhome to the Sami since time immemorial is calledSápmi and extends across four countries. The worldlooks rather different if, instead of looking north-wards, we look at it from the North Pole.

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“I am very much aware,especially in internationalcooperation, of the senseof community betweenthe indigenous peoplesof the world.”

Photo: Glenn Røkeberg

His mother worked in Finland, so OleHenrik Magga grew up with his grandpar-ents in Guovdageaidnu (Kautokeino) innorthern Norway. Later his motherreturned to Norway and married a reindeerowner, and he had seven brothers and sis-ters. After officer training in Norway hewent to university, where he studied biolo-gy, chemistry and mathematics.

– Then I decided I must do somethingfor Sami culture, so I changed track andstarted studying Sami linguistics.

He took a PhD in Sami linguistics in 1986,was Professor of Finno-Ugric languages atOslo University in 1988–89 and since 1990Professor of Sami linguistics at the SamiUniversity College in Guovdageaidnu. Inter-nationally, he has worked for indigenouspeoples’ rights for more than 25 years. Hewas the first President of the NorwegianSami Parliament from 1990–1997.

But Ole Henrik Magga is best knownfor his international work. He was appoint-ed chairman of the UN Permanent Forumwhen it was set up in 2002. As a result, theMaya in Central America, Inuit in Green-land, aborigines in Australia, pygmies inCongo and all the other indigenous peoplesaround the world were represented by aSami from Norway.

– I am very much aware, especially ininternational cooperation, of the sense of

community between the indigenous peo-ples of the world. Especially on matters ofprinciple, says Magga.

Affected by the same mechanisms

Some say we Scandinavians should bequiet because we are so well-treated com-pared with other indigenous peoples.

– We do not risk being murdered, no, butthe same mechanisms affect us too, irrespec-tive of the standard of living. And it is sillyto say that we have nothing to complainabout because our standard of living is high-er, says Magga. It’s like saying that ourunions should not fight for better wagesbecause workers in Central America onlyearn 1% of what we earn. According toMagga, the situation of indigenous peoplesis getting dramatically worse every day.

– The world’s governments show littleinterest in improving the situation. For 10years we have been drafting a declaration –which isn’t as important as a convention –on the rights of indigenous peoples. Someprogress has been made, but we cannot sayif the declaration will ever be finished. Inthe end it is all about economic interests. Itis all very, very disheartening, says Magga.

He is well aware that the UN Forumcan do very little. Being an intergovern-mental organization, it is the governmentsof the member states that have the last

word – the same governments that oppressindigenous populations at home. All thesame, the Forum has given the indigenouspeoples a voice.

– The governments are not worriedabout an advisory assembly for indigenouspeoples as they are still in control political-ly. Our Forum is very fragile, but it is thelittle window that we have been given bythe UN. In spite of everything, I hope thatwe have the drive to achieve something.It’s our only hope.

Progress is slow

After more than 25 years of working forSami rights he says that progress has beenmade, although it is slow. Nowadays Nor-way is doing most to promote Sami rights,followed by Sweden, Finland and Russia.But it was not always like that. The Nor-wegian Sami were subjected to harsh dis-crimination at the start of the last century.Norway only recognized Sami culturemany years after the Second World War.

– Discrimination was a sign of the times.Social Darwinists spoke of superior andinferior peoples. Discrimination in Norwayalso had a security policy dimension inrelation to Russia and Finland. In addition,the dissolution of the union with Swedengave rise to an upsurge of nationalist feel-ing. Discrimination increased dramatically

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Ole Henrik Magga– gives the indigenous peoples a voiceMany look up to the Nordic countries, and they must set a good example in their relations withindigenous peoples too. So Ole Henrik Magga, who is from Norwegian Sápmi and former chair-man of the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, expects a great deal of the Nordicgovernments and their Sami policies.

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after 1905. As a result, reappraisal has beenmore thoroughgoing in Norway, and inrecent years Sami affairs have increasinglybeen integrated into other policy areas. Forexample, Ole Henrik Magga was appointedMember of the board of the CourtsAdministration by a unanimous Parliament.

– This is clearly proof of the integrationof Sami interests into other policy areas.

This trend is more marked in Norway thanin the other countries.

Struggles for basic principles

If the state can give the Sami rights, it can, bythe same token, take them away. So OleHenrik Magga continues the struggle to makesure that Sami rights are enshrined in law.

– This has been my goal all along. With-

out legal recognition we’re not part of soci-ety, we will be marginalized.

As President of the Norwegian Sami Par-liament, Magga pursued a moderate coursein order to keep everybody on board. Buthe has now adopted a more radical stancein the struggle for Sami rights.

– Today I am more radical and uncom-promising, at least here in Scandinavia. Inthe international arena you have to bemore cautious. We must always bear inmind that it is the indigenous people whowill have to pay for any mistakes made bythe Forum. All the same, I think we muststand up for basic principles. There mustbe a place where the indigenous peopleshave a voice and can speak their mind, saysOle Henrik Magga firmly.

The UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous IssuesIndigenous peoples are nearly always at oddswith their governments and meet with littlesympathy for their demands. They did notdraw the borders or create the countries weknow today. That is why they have turned tothe UN, which has supported them. The UNWorking Group on Indigenous Populations heldits first meeting on 9 August 1982, which isnow the International Day of the World’sIndigenous People. Since 2002 the Forum hasbeen an annual meeting-place for representa-tives of indigenous peoples.

The International Labour Organization (ILO)adopted Convention 169 concerning Indige-nous and Tribal Peoples in 1989. The conven-tion has been ratified by several countries inLatin America and by Norway. In preparationfor Sweden’s ratification the question of Samiland rights and hunting and fishing rights isbeing investigated.

The global population of indigenous peoplesis estimated at 300 million in 70 countries.They are usually in a minority, but in Bolivia,Guatemala and Peru they make up half thepopulation or more. The indigenous populationof the USA – Indians, Inuit (“Eskimos”) andHawaiians – is about 1.6 million people out ofa total population of 290 million.

“Unless their rights are enshrined in law, the Sami and other indigenous peoples will be marginalized,”says Ole Henrik Magga.

100,000

1.5 million

13 million

17.5 million1 million

8 million

250,000

100,000

6 million

80,0001 million

7 million

51 million67 million

30 million

1.5 million

250,000

350,000

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The Sami are one of the world’s indigenouspeoples around the world. The commondenominator for indigenous peoples is thatthey lived in the same place before the coun-try was invaded or colonized. They havetheir own culture, language and customs thatdiffer from those of the rest of society.

Indigenous peoples have been oppressedthroughout history. Their land has been con-fiscated, they have been displaced and theircultures have been suppressed. In some casesthey have been victims of genocide. Sincethe 15th century indigenous peoples’ land inLatin America, to mention one example, hasbeen occupied, first by conquistadors andmissionaries, then by settlers and agribusinessand in recent years by oil companies.

The survival of their cultures is proof ofthe resilience of these traditional societies.But oppression has made its mark; most ofthe world’s indigenous peoples live on thefringes of society. They are held together bytheir identity – their culture, language andtradition. This identity is always associated

with a geographical area and the historicallinks with the environment that they haveinhabited and used. But indigenous peoplesdo not necessarily live in rural areas andmake the same kind of living as their ances-tors. On the contrary, many of them live intowns just like other people. People who live

in towns do not saddle their horses whenthey go to work, and nor do indigenouspeoples. Times change and people adapt.Indigenous peoples keep up some tradi-tions, while others change in time, and theiridentities, like everyone else’s, are constant-ly changing too.

There are indigenous peoples in allcontinents. The Sami are an indigenouspeople in Europe. The map showswhere some of the world’s indigenouspeoples live.

Indigenous peoples of the world

The common struggle for rightsLast summer the Chilean radio reporter EugeniaCalquin, a member of the indigenous Mapuchepeople, visited Benny Jonsson, a Sami, in Idre. Theyfound they had a lot in common, including bothpeoples’ struggle for land rights. In an interview inLatinamerika magazine she said:

– We have a lot in common although our livesare so different. Basically it is the same struggle.Neither Sweden nor Chile has ratified ILO Conven-tion 169. But according to Eugenia Calquin thisissue seems to be much more important to theSami in their political struggle than it is to her ownpeople.

– Isn’t it sad that we are still fighting for thingslike this? That we haven’t moved on and foundsomething more important to do.

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Fo tnot : ILO:s onvention 169 Chile 15 septembero e 2009.onThe C entered into force in

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9000 BC The first traces ofStone Age people in Sápmi.Wild reindeer hunting andsalmon-fishing were their mainlivelihoods. They lived inportable hide tents. A settle-ment outside Arjeplog – theoldest found in Sweden so far– was recently dated byresearchers. pages 12–13

98 AD The Roman historian Tacituswrote about a Nordic peoplecalled Fenni. They did nottill the soil but lived off whatnature provided. They wereclothed in skins and slepton the ground.

1543King Gustav

Vasa states in a let-ter that the Sami areto enjoy certain rightson their side of the“Lapland border”.

8th centuryPaulus Diaconus wroteabout the “Skrid Finns”.He described skiing.They were called SkridFinns because theycaught up with wild ani-mals in the snow withthe help of pieces ofwood curved like bows.There were animals intheir country that lookedlike deer, and clotheswere sewn from theirskins.

1553 Gustav Vasa decidedthat in future the Sami wouldpay taxes directly to the Crownthrough the Lapp bailiffs.

1635 Queen Kristina’sgovernment decided tostart mining silver inNasafjäll. The Samiwere forced to transportthe ore to the coast withtheir reindeer. Theywere also forced to pro-vide transport for miningoperations in other partsof Sápmi at the end ofthe 17th century.

1673 Fromthe 1650sthe stateencouragedsettlement inLapland toexploit theriches of thenorth. Farmers who settled therewere granted land and tax exemptionfor 15 years. The Sami were alreadypaying tax on some of the land grant-ed to settlers. These areas wereknown as taxed Lapp lands. TheLappmark Proclamation of 1673allowed farmers to settle without evenconsulting the Sami. The exclusiverights of taxpaying Sami were limitedto reindeer grazing, hunting and fish-ing on their land for as long as theyneeded pasture for their reindeer.

1328 Birkarls are thought to befrom what is now Tampere, Finland.The Swedish Crown gave them theright to trade with and levy taxesfrom the Sami. Under an agreementconcluded in 1328, the Sami mustnot be prevented from hunting. TheBirkarls divided the Sami lands intotrade districts called Lappmarks.

10000–5000 BCThe inland ice recededin northern Scandinavia.

1800–900 BCThe climate changedand wild reindeer beganto graze on coastal grasspastures in summer andon lichen inland in win-ter. Wild reindeer werecaptured.

13th centuryThe Sami are mentioned inSnorri Sturluson’s sagas asa people who had dealingswith other Nordic peoples.

550 ADThe Byzantine historian

Prokopios wrote about thepeoples of Scandinavia, one ofwhom were the “Skrid Finns”

– hunters clad in skins.

890 AD The Norwegian chieftainOttar, who was from what is nowTromsø, told Alfred the Great abouthis trading journeys in the north.Ottar owned 600 tame reindeer, buthis main source of income was thetax he collected from the Sami in theform of hides and whale and sealskins.

17th centuryThe herding of domestic-ated reindeer, which hadbeen carried on alongsidehunting and fishing, be-came an increasingly common activity. page 38

1613 Russia and Denmark, aswell as Sweden, laid claim tothe Finnmark area and thenorthernmost part of the Norwe-gian coast. As a result, the Samihad to pay taxes to three coun-tries for many years. One causeof the Kalmar War (1611–1613)was the dispute about the Arcticcoast. Sweden lost both the warand the coast and the Sami inthe area became Norwegiansubjects.

1606 Charles IX, youngest son of Gustav Vasa, replacedvillages by parishes as the main administrative divisionand the Sami were more closely integrated into theSwedish tax system. The king claimed that Finnmarkand the Norwegian coast belonged to Sweden.

The history of

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1986 The Sami flag wasadopted. pages 4–5

1886 Thefirst Rein-deer Graz-ing Actwaspassed andrenewed in1928. Under thisAct, only reindeer-herdingSami were entitled to thehunting, fishing and reindeerhusbandry rights enjoyed bysamebys. pages 36–37

At the beginning of the 20th century inter-racial mixing was widely considered a threat tosociety. It was decided to test this theory bystudying the Sami, since they lived alongsideseveral other ethnic groups. The study waslaunched in 1922 by the National Racial Biol-ogy Institute. One of the methods used was tomeasure skulls. The results were reported 10years later in the form of a photo gallery of1,331 named Sami individuals. page 15

20th centuryRestrictions on Sami hunt-ing and fishing rightsresulted mainly from theestablishment of nationalparks. Mining, forestry,hydroelectric plants andthe introduction of smallgame hunting have alsohad an adverse effect onreindeer husbandry.

1920–39 Largegroups of Sami fromthe far north of Swe-den were forcibly re-

located furthersouth.

1977 The Swedish Parlia-ment recognized the Samias an indigenous people inSweden.

2000 Establishment ofthe Sami Parliamen-tary Council, a Nordiccooperation forum withthe Sami parliamentsin Norway and Finlandas members and theRussian Sami asobservers. TheSwedish Sami Parlia-ment joined in 2002.

1751The Swedish-Norwegianborder wasdrawn up. Swe-den renounced itsclaims to Finnmark. A codicil to the bordertreaty – the Lapp Codicil – is often called theSami Magna Carta. It allowed the Sami to usethe land and shore for themselves and theirreindeer, regardless of national borders, and to migrate with their reindeer in spring andautumn as they had always done.

pages 34–35

1685 The state decided to hold idolatrytrials in all Lappmarks (administrative“Sami districts”). The shamans’ drumswere to be burned. Disobedience wasto be punished by “flogging against thecourthouse wall” or running the gaunt-let. Cult images (sieidi) and sacrificialsites were destroyed, and sacred Samisites were desecrated. page 59

1993 The Sami Parliamentwas set up in Sweden. TheNorwegian and FinnishSami parliaments openedin 1989 and 1973, respec-tively. page 63

1751 The Lapland border, which stillexists, was fixed. Coastal farmerswere not allowed to fish and huntabove this boundary. The Sami andthe settlers were to share the huntingand fishing amongst themselves inthis area.

1868 and 1873 An “agricultureline” dividing the mountainregion from the forest areas inVästerbotten and Norrbotten wasfixed. Its purpose was to protectthe Sami and reindeer hus-bandry. The land above the linewas reserved for year-round useby the Sami and their reindeer.Grazing below the line was onlypermitted in October–April.

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Thanks to the archaeological investigationsrecently concluded by the Silver Museumin Arjeplog the first chapter of the prehis-tory of Sweden’s far north can now bewritten. The investigations were the resultof interdisciplinary research cooperationbetween archaeologists and ecologists. Thepurpose of the project was to find outwhen, how and why the earliest settlersmoved into the inland part of Norrland(the northern half of Sweden) after theinland ice melted. The development of thelandscape and vegetation after the meltingwas also investigated. One result of thiscooperation was the discovery of the oldestsettlement in Norrland so far, which hasimproved our understanding of people’slives almost 10,000 years ago.

A settlement 9,800 years old

The oldest settlement that has been datedwith certainty is located next to a smalllake called Dumpokjauratj, about 20 kmeast of Arjeplog, that was once a bay of amuch larger lake. Two fire pits and a smallrubbish pit were found at the top of a ridgebeside the north part of the lake and inves-tigated. Charred wood in the pits showsthat they were dug almost 9,800 years ago.Pieces of stone broken off during toolmak-ing were found next to the pits togetherwith scrapes, bone fragments, burned

stones and small grains of red ochre. A slateknife and a portable whetstone were alsofound. The stone tools were made fromlocal rocks, suggesting that the inhabitantshad already located important resources inthe area. The layout of the pits and otherfinds indicate that there were twodwellings on the site and that the settle-ment was short-lived. Bone fragments ofidentified species show that reindeer-hunt-ing contributed significantly to the foodsupply. Among the bones there were also afew fragments of fish and birds.

Hunters, fishers and gatherers

The landscape around Lake Dumpokjau-ratj was completely different in thosedays. The water that surrounded thesettlement is now replaced by swamp-land. The vegetation consisted mainlyof pine, birch, alder, sallow and rowan,which are also present in today’s for-est, as well as sea buckthorn, hops andpossibly larch too. Pollen analyses showthat species-rich plant communitieswere established early on and that thelandscape rapidly evolved into an environ-ment with sufficient resources to support apopulation of hunters, fishers and gatherers,although strong earthquakes and forest firesmodified the landscape. It was in such placesthat the first inhabitants, equipped with the

The oldest traces of Sami civilizationfound in Arjeplog

Traces ofcharcoal andburned stones are revealed asthe contours of the oldest fire pitby Lake Dumpokjauratj emerge.

Locales1. Vaikijaure2. Dumpokjauratj*3. Blomnäs *4. Ipmatis *5. Garaselet6. Vilhelmina7. Åsele8. Maksjön9. Vilhelmina* Settlements discovered and investigated by the Silver Museum.

There are plenty of remains of prehistoric settlements in the inland part of northernmost Swe-den. These remains tell us a great deal about the communities that existed in this part of theworld for thousands of years. We can see how the inhabitants gradually progressed from hunt-ing and fishing to reindeer husbandry and what sort of contacts they had with the outsideworld. But there are no traces of the period immediately after the melting of the inland ice.The almost complete absence of early settlements has baffled scientists for many years, andonly during the last few years has the picture become clear. Archaeologist Ingela Bergmandescribes the methods used to find the new settlements.

1.

Luleå

Umeå

Kiruna

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8.9.

7.

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The research project Man, Fire and Land-scape was financed by a grant from theBank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundationand ran from 1999 to 2003.

knowledge and experience needed to survive,found a place to live.

Migration from the north and west

When the inland ice receded it opened pathsfor migration from east and west, north andsouth. The archeological material is not suffi-cient to allow firm conclusions about the originof the first pioneers. But an analysis of the earli-est settlements in northern Norway, Swedenand Finland does indicate probable migrationpaths. The oldest settlements are locatedaround the north coast of Norway. Furthersouth, in northern Sweden and Finland, ayounger generation of settlements has beenfound. Those that have been dated suggestmigration to northern Norrland from the northand west. We know for certain that the peoplewho settled in areas from which the ice hadrecently receded had an understanding of thelandscape that was handed down from genera-tion to generation for many, many years. Thelong history of settlement in the far north, asconfirmed by the great age of the Norwegiansettlements, may well have been sufficient toprepare a people of hunters, fishers and gather-ers for life in inland Norrland.

Ingela BergmanPhD in archaeology,Director of the Silver Museum in Arjeplog

The settlement was uncovered carefully layer by layer.The exact location of each object was determined.

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Hundreds of years ago many people in Swe-den were treated much worse than today,and this also applies to the Sami. Yet it ishardly true to say that they were discriminat-ed against until around 1800 when newideas began to circulate, first about superiorand inferior cultures and then about superi-or and inferior races.

According to the first theory, nomads wereculturally inferior to farmers and musttherefore give way to the latter. As a result,the Sami were deprived of large land areasin Jämtland, Härjedalen, Norrbotten andVästerbotten provinces. The areas most seri-

ously affected were the reindeer’s wintergrazing lands in the forests.

Sami had to pay for their land

Reindeer herders often had to pay to useland that used to be theirs. Sometimes theywere also fined if reindeer knocked downhay-drying racks erected on previous rein-deer grazing land. And farmers sometimesstarted forest fires to burn away the rein-deer pasture around swamps where theygathered winter feed for their cattle.

Around the middle of the 19th centurymore and more people reacted to the ill-treatment of the Sami. Parliament tried to

curb the worst injustices. The transfer ofSami lands to farmers was suspended inJämtland and Härjedalen in 1841. In thelatter half of the century the state pur-chased land on behalf of the Sami. An agri-culture line from north to south was drawnthrough Lapland (see map on p. 33). Theland west of this boundary was supposed tobe reserved for Sami reindeer husbandry,but in fact there were many non-Sami settlements in the area from the very start.

In the 1870s the Sami in Norrbottenand Västerbotten were given winter grazingrights on private land free of charge. Thiswas confirmed by an Act, which alsobecame applicable to Jämtland and Här-jedalen in 1889. The Act permitted rein-deer grazing in “customary” grazing lands.This legislation is still applicable, but it isso vague and difficult to interpret that itsometimes causes conflicts.

An “inferior race”

Sweden’s Sami policy in the last decades ofthe 19th century was influenced by racialbiology. It was alleged that the Sami wereborn with certain “racial characteristics”that made them inferior to the rest of thepopulation. Therefore they could not livelike “civilized” people in proper housessince they would become lazy and neglecttheir reindeer. All the Sami would becomebeggars as a result, since herding reindeerwas the only thing they could do. In 1928Parliament decided that Sami who did notpursue reindeer husbandry were not en-titled to Sami rights. They no longer hadthe right to hunt and fish in areas wheretheir ancestors had lived, for example. Thegovernment thus drew a sharp linebetween reindeer-herding Sami and thosein other occupations.

This racist outlook was also applied toeducation. Under the Nomad Schools Actof 1913 teachers moved from place to placein the mountain areas during the summer.The youngest children were taught in the

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Sami policy in the shadow of racism

Representatives of the Swedish state rarely respected Sami interests.

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family’s tent (lávvu) for a few weeks eachyear for the first three school years. Theywere then taught for three months eachwinter in permanent school premises forthree more years. Few subjects were taught,and the educational level was to be such asto ensure that the children were not “civi-lized”. The children of nomadic Sami weredenied admission to public elementaryschools. Children who stayed away fromnomad school were to be fetched by thepolice. The Sami protested against this sys-tem and sometimes organized schoolstrikes.

Around the early 1930s public opinionbegan to demand that nomad schools meetthe same standards as other Swedishschools. The situation improved, especiallyafter the Second World War. A Sami wasappointed director of nomad schools in1944.

Many Sami had to give up reindeer hus-bandry in the 1920s and 30s. According toseveral studies they lived in dire poverty.At the same time the government spentsubstantial sums on settling crofters onCrown land in inland Norrland, but hardlyany of this aid was paid to the Sami.Although many Sami had already success-fully established smallholdings the authori-ties did not consider the Sami capable offarming. As late as 1941 the Board of Agri-culture declared that they were not suitedto farming for “reasons of racial biology”.

After the Second World War racist poli-cies were no longer acceptable. The prob-lems facing reindeer husbandry and theSami culture in the modern age were relat-ed to the advent of large-scale forestry,hydropower exploitation, mining, roads,railways and later large-scale tourism.These developments also benefited theSami, but there was less and less room fortheir way of life and their culture.

Lennart LundmarkAssociate Professor of History

In the early 20th century many peoplebelieved in the value of studying thecharacteristics of various “races”. Somescientists proposed establishing aSwedish Institute of Racial Biology. Par-liament unanimously adopted a resolu-tion to set up such an institute, whichopened in 1922. Herman Lundborg, aDoctor of Medicine, was appointeddirector of the Institute, whose objectwas to seek to safeguard the “high quali-ty of the Swedish race”. The Institutepublished long books in English and Ger-man, as well as Swedish Race Theory, aless theoretical work that sold 11,000copies in 1927.

Herman Lundborg was convincedthat it was a bad thing for people of dif-ferent “races” to have children together.He aimed to prove this by studying mis-

cegenation between “Swedes”, Sami andFinns in the north of Sweden. After afew years all the Institute’s resourceswere used to study the Sami, mainly bymeasuring their skulls.

These studies did not produce any-thing of scientific value. Scientists andpoliticians started protesting againstLundborg’s fixation with the Sami andinterracial mixing. The Institute’s budgetwas reduced, but Lundborg remained itsdirector until his retirement in 1935. Hissuccessor was strongly opposed to allforms of race research. The Institute sub-sequently concentrated on studyinghereditary diseases, but its name was notchanged until 1958, when it was mergedwith the Department of Medical Genet-ics at Uppsala University.Lennart Lundmark

The Swedish Institute of Racial Biology took part in the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition with a show-case displaying photographs of the country’s “races”.

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Policies based on racial biology

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Johannes Marainen tells of his journey fromSaarivuoma, a sameby in Kiruna municipali-ty, via nomad school to a life as a teacher ina Swedish school. He has devoted a greatdeal of his life to lecturing about Sami iden-tity and culture.

As a child I had the privilege ofgrowing up in an environmentthat was almost purely Sami.

Everyone in my sameby was involved inreindeer husbandry, and our way of life wasstill unaffected by the majority Swedishsociety. In terms of language and culturewe lived our own lives.

But we were in contact with anotherculture for two months of the year,

although it was not Swedish culture butthe Meänkieli (Torne Valley Finnish) cul-ture. We were, you might say, a minoritywithin another minority. In those days boththese minority cultures were pretty muchinsulated from the influence of the Swed-ish majority culture.

My first contact with Sweden was when Istarted going to school. I was not even awarethat I was a Swedish citizen because inthose days we did not live in Sweden all theyear. Reindeer-herding Sami also had accessto summer pastures in Norway, and myfamily therefore used to spend part of theyear on the Norwegian side of the border.

If you look at the parish records of thosedays you might get the impression thatSami parents are not very imaginativewhen it comes to naming their children.How could you otherwise explain the factthat there could be as many as five boyscalled Per or Nils or Lars in the same fami-ly? The reason was that the parish pastorsused one standard name for three or fourdifferent Sami names. From their first dayat school boys called Biera, Bera, Biete andBeahkka had to accept that in future theywould all have the same name – Per.

I found it just as strange and incompre-hensible to learn that my name wasJohannes Marainen the first time we had aroll-call in school as that day in 1993 whenI had flown to Sapporo, Japan for a confer-ence of indigenous peoples and was met byan Ainu at the airport and could notunderstand how the name written on theplacard could be mine. Johannes Marainenwas just as different from my Sami name,Lásbietheaihkajohánas, regardless of

whether it was written in Swedish orJapanese.

Our first years at school were on theface of it adapted to our way of life. Weattended school from June to August andfrom the beginning of January to April, i.e.during the months when we were notmoving around. And in the summer theschool itself was an ordinary Sami lávvulike our own summer homes. But that wasthe only part of our culture that they both-ered about.

School was therefore a shock for me interms of culture and language. “Mothertongue” lessons completely dominated thetimetable for the first few years, exceptthat it was not my mother tongue, butSwedish. I did not understand a singleword. Later on I was told that according tothe regulations for nomad schools Samichildren were to be punished if they usedtheir own language in school, and thatapplied to the breaks between lessons too.That rule was only abolished in 1956.

After the first three years I did not go tothe lávvu school in the summer any more.Instead, I had to leave my parents inAugust and go to the “nomad school”, aboarding school in a village near our wintergrounds. I did not meet the rest of my fam-ily again until they returned to the wintergrounds with the reindeer around Christ-mas.

Most of my first three school years werespent learning our “mother tongue”, and itseemed as if the next three years would bedevoted to making us feel, or at leastbehave, like Swedes, or like “civilized peo-ple”, as Gunnar Kieri with his Meänkielibackground put it.

How do children feel when their ownculture is not recognized as a culture, and

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Between two identities

When Lásbietheaihkajohánas started school hisname was changed to Johannes Marainen.

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everything that has to do with their way oflife is looked down upon? We had to learnto sleep like Swedes in our own beds andsometimes to wear dreadful, unfamiliaruniform-like Swedish clothes. At home wehad not learned to eat properly with aknife and fork, and we made the unforgiv-able mistake of putting a knife in ourmouths. That was about the worst thing aSwede could do, we learned. Obviously,our parents had taught us all wrong: to cutmeat and bread with a knife and then usethe knife to put the food in our mouths.

Although I was very relieved to leavethat school that I hated so much, I contin-ued my school education in Kiruna. There Isoon learned that the best thing to do wasto draw as little attention to my Sami back-ground as possible. But that did not stoppeople shouting “bloody Lapp” at me allthe time. I tried to pretend that I hadn’theard it and didn’t care. But every time itwas like a thorn in my flesh however muchI tried to ignore it.

More and more Sami moved to thetown over the years and naturally we hungout together even if we had never metbefore. We used the “mother tongue” intown and our own language at the “Lapphostel” (the only “hotel” that admittedSami in those days) where we lived and inthe “Lapp café”.

Sami like us who lived in the town soonlearned that the best and simplest thing todo was to adapt ourselves and become asSwedish as possible. Unfortunately, this ledto self-denial in certain situations. On oneoccasion it really hurt to see some Samiyouths in town deliberately avoiding theirparents so as not to betray their Sami ori-gin, and I was filled with shame. To be hon-est, I realized that it could just as well havebeen me.

I continued to study and accepted that Iwas more and more “Swedish”. In time Ibecame a “mother tongue” teacher in anupper secondary school in Gothenburg and

I was quite satisfied with my life. I hadnever been officially discriminated against,I had had the same educational opportuni-ties as other Swedes. I enjoyed my job.What did I have to complain about?

In Gothenburg I found out almostimmediately that I was no longer a “bloodylittle Lapp”, but an exotic Sami. Beforelong people wanted the exotic Sami to lec-ture about the exotic Sami people. I hesi-tated for a long time before I could face anaudience, because I really didn’t know any-thing about the Sami, at least not the sortof thing I thought they wanted to hear,apart from my own experiences. To remedymy ignorance about the Sami I went to thelibrary and borrowed The Lapps in Swedenby Israel Ruong. When I had read to theend I finally realized that we Sami have ahistory of our own.

As luck would have it, my father wasvisiting me when I gave my first lectureabout the Sami in Gothenburg. On the wayhome I asked him what he thought of it,and he answered: “In mon hal ipmirdan nu

ollu maid don dadjet, muht, spedjo han datgoit gie'aid, amal dat lei buorre”. (“I didn’tunderstand much of what you said but theyapplauded, so it was probably fine”.) Hisanswer did not surprise me. My father wentto school before the days of the assimilationpolicy, so I suggested telling him about thelecture in Sami instead.

Next day after school we sat down forsome coffee and started talking. Thisbecame a turning-point. I had the shock ofmy life! I discovered that the “mothertongue” had got the upper hand over eat-nángiela – my real mother tongue. I wasappalled to realize that I could no longertalk about ordinary everyday matters in myown language! For the first time as an adultI became aware of the disadvantages ofassimilation. I began to realize that theSwedish education policy in relation to theSami had deprived me of something pre-cious, indeed perhaps the most preciousthing of all, my language.

I thought that I could still speak Sami,but as I had not been in continuous contact

Johannes Marainen tells young people about his youth at an activity day outside the Museum of NaturalHistory in Stockholm.

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with a Sami environment and culture, Ihad been unable to develop my language ina natural way. I found that I spoke Samirather like a child. I could cope with every-day situations, but I couldn’t take part in adiscussion.

Seeing that I had not been able to devel-op my ability to use my native language onan everyday basis with other Sami speak-ers, the school should have filled the gap.But what had it done? It had forced me tolearn a new mother tongue. My own lan-guage, my own history and my own culturehad been taken away from me and re-placed by something initially alien to me,but which I mastered in time. And now myold identity had become alien.

I was ashamed and full of guilt, becauseI felt that I had let my people down and letmyself down too. It hurt to live through it

once again in my memory and above all totalk about it. But I did so all the same, infact I felt I had to, and perhaps it wouldhelp other Sami who were searching fortheir identity.

Nowadays I no longer feel ashamed andI wish other Sami would not feel ashamedeither, even if they have been driven toself-denial by external pressures.

And nowadays I don’t accuse those whohave hurt my feelings, whether deliberatelyor not, and gradually forced me to choosethe Swedish language and culture. But I doaccuse all those who are responsible for thecultural policy that has been pursuedagainst us Sami and that has made usdespise our own language, our own cultureand in the last analysis ourselves. Even atschool we were made to feel inferior. Ourlanguage was not good enough, it had to be

replaced by a new “mother tongue”, andour history was not worth studying.

How has this realization affected mylife? Well, outwardly there is no great dif-ference. I have not physically returned tomy roots, but nonetheless I feel that I amback there. I have found my identity and Inow know that I have my own valuableculture and history to fall back on.

I am a Sami among Swedes, but I do notfeel the same sense of a common identitywith them as I do together with other Samiamong Norwegians or among Finns. Nation-al boundaries criss-cross ourSápmi, but what do we care,they’re not on our “maps”.

Johannes Marainen,former headteacher and chairman of the Gothenburg Sami Association

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There was no concerted approach to the teachingof Sami children until the end of the 19th century.Various school systems were tried with varyingdegrees of success up to about 1880, when theSami school system started to resemble the non-Sami elementary school system.

From the early 20th century until the 1950sSami school education was organized aroundlávvu schools. According to the Swedish govern-ment, the Sami should live in a goahti or lávvu; if they lived in houses there was a risk that theymight become like Swedes. However, the lávvuschools were only for the children of reindeer-herding Sami, and about two-thirds of Sami children attended municipal schools.

The lávvu school system was graduallyphased out by 1952 and was replaced bynomad schools that were run as boardingschools. The Sami language was first introducedas a school subject in nomad schools on anexperimental basis in 1953/54.

In 1962 Parliament decided that all Samichildren should be allowed to attend nomadschools if they wished, and the length and con-tent of the education should be equivalent tothat provided in nine-year compulsory schools.

The period of compulsory school attendancefor Sami children, including the children ofreindeer-herding Sami, was therefore nineyears, as for other children. But the educa-tion provided by these schools was consid-ered substandard, and the number of pupilsgradually fell to a mere hundred or so by theend of the 1970s.

At present there are five Sami schools(1st to 6th forms) in Karesuando, Kiruna,Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Tärnaby, as well as“ordinary” schools that offer Sami-languageteaching. There are also several Sami pre-schools. There is, in addition, an uppersecondary school in Jokkmokk that offers aSami programme, including Sami-languageinstruction and specific Sami subjects. TheSami Education Centre in Jokkmokk, whichis Sami-run, offers special programmes inSami handicrafts, language and culture.

It is also possible to study Sami linguis-tics and culture at university. Much of thiseducation is provided with the help of com-puter- aided teleteaching techniques. Theteacher may be in Jokkmokk and the studentsin Malmö in the south. Apart from computer-

aided teleteaching, the ICT support that is pro-vided for Sami-language actitivites facilitatesdata communication between Sami in differentparts of Sápmi.

From lávvu school to teleteaching

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Everyone has to address the question ofidentity in youth when they relinquish theidentity given them by their parents andseek their own identity. At the same time,they seek a group to belong to.

– Our identity places us in a social con-text where we define our self-perception,says Christina Åhrén. This search is con-stantly repeated: Do I want to belong tothis group? Is this me? Do I believe in thisidentity and the symbols that are associat-ed with it? Our answers to these questionslead us to our true identity.

Difficulty dealing with the Sami legacy

Christina Åhrén, a Sami from Jämtland,became interested in this question whenyounger Sami she met at university men-tioned their difficulties in dealing withtheir Sami legacy. In her research she hasfollowed up a group of 30 Sami from theirteens to their late 20s who represent thewhole gamut of Sami attitudes, from thosewho play down their Saminess to thosewho embrace all things Sami.

Some of them have had to decidewhether to keep up the family’s reindeerhusbandry tradition or seek another future.Others, who are not members of a sameby,have had to decide to what extent theywant to be part of Sami culture.

– The older generation who went toSami schools were ashamed of their originsand did not teach their children Samibecause they did not want to create prob-lems for them. This shame has disappearedand young Sami take more pride in theirroots. Today, children want to learn the lan-

guage and traditions andoften influence their elderstoo.

Symbols help people tofeel part of a group and thewider community. But it isnot quite as simple as that,says Christina Åhrén, sincepeople do not always agreeabout the value of Sami symbols.Some Sami think that being a rein-deer herder is more important thanbeing able to speak Sami, and vice versa,and some also consider it better the moreSami symbols they have “collected”.

– These differences represent a sort ofcultural ladder, and people can argue forhours about what the most genuine ele-ments of the culture are. “You’re a reindeerherder, but you’re married to a Swede”.“You know how to sew leather, but you’renot a reindeer herder”. The result is thatyou will never find the “perfect” Sami.

Innate cultural competence

Some people are born with “cultural com-petence” – the ability to distinguishbetween true and false. Others need a cul-tural ladder to acquire this competence.

– Anyone can adopt the symbols, wear agákti (a traditional dress) or learn the lan-guage, but being brought up as a Sami con-fers a degree of cultural competence, a per-sonal Sami identity, without the need toacquire all the Sami symbols and show theworld that you are a Sami.

Some feel under pressure to affirm theirSami identity. Not the pressure of tradition

but the pressure to choose between all theconflicting influences in the modern world.However, in the group being studied byChristina Åhrén noone has opted to aban-don the Sami community, far from it. Anew generation is finding ways of reconcil-ing its Swedish and Sami interests and cul-tural competences.

– People take their interests with theminto the Sami world. Those who are inter-ested in music start yoiking. An environ-mental commitment in Swedish politicsbecomes a similar environmental commit-ment in Sami politics.

– Adoption of Sami culture is, at thesame time, an aspect of globalization, saysChristina Åhrén. Countries mean less andless, there is a general trend towards frag-mentation, and people are keen to repre-sent something unique.

– People feel comfortable belonging tosomething, such as an ethnic or sexualgroup.

Symbols strengthen identitySami symbols such as language, dress and handicrafts are overt expressions of ethnicidentity, and by adopting them people signal their affiliation with a group. But identityis much more complicated than that according to ethnologist Christina Åhrén, who completed a PhD on issues of Sami identity at Umeå University in 2008.

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Elle Márjá Nutti’s home and workplace areimmense. It is almost 300 km between theconifer forests east of Vuolle Sohppar in thefar north of Sweden and the snowclad Nor-wegian mountains. This is where she livesand works.

It is July and time to round up the reindeerherds and mark the year’s calves. Althoughshe has worked most of the night, shefound time to empty some nets in a smalllake nearby. Like everyone else in Saarivuo-ma sameby, she is spending a few weeks ona high plateau in the Norwegian mountains.Every evening some reindeer herders go outon their motorbikes to fetch a herd of rein-

deer that they gather in a corral. Each year-ling calf is marked in the ears to show whoits owner is.

Elle Márjá’s marking system is ratherunusual, however. As she feeds her rein-deer in the winter, she keeps the pregnantherd in large enclosed fields during thespring. The cows calve in mid-May. She letsthem grow for a few weeks before round-ing up all the animals, marking the calvesand turning the herd loose to graze. So shedoes not have much to do up here in Gái-cacahca village. She may find an unmarkedcalf or two, but even if she does not shewould not want to be anywhere else duringcalf-marking (“harvest time” as it is called).

– Nowadays reindeer no longer feedtheir owners, she says.

Many studies have been made of theeconomics of reindeer husbandry, and theyall show that motorization has led to anenormous increase in expenditure.

Many worries for a reindeer herder

It started in the mid-60s with the snowmo-biles. Today motorbikes, helicopters andlorries are used too. Only a fraction of salesrevenue stays in the reindeer herder’spocket. Expenses vary little, but incomecertainly does. In bad years some of theherd may die, and the number of calvescan vary considerably, which is one reasonwhy Elle Márjá started giving her reindeerwinter feed a few years ago. Another factoris the government’s decision to maintaincertain predator levels in Sweden.

– Wolverines, lynxes, eagles and bearscull some of the herd. It is mostly we rein-deer herders who feed these predators. Thecompensation paid by the state for theselosses is far from sufficient, according toElle Márjá. So the size of the herds fluctu-ates sharply, as it always has.

Elle Márjá’s life revolves around rein-deer all the same.

– I suppose I’m just hooked on reindeer,she says, laughing.

She not only makes her living from rein-deer, they are her chief company and alliestoo. Elle Márjá’s two daughters work withthe herd too. They’re both married to rein-deer herders and have other jobs too, butthey help out whenever the need arises.

– I married just before they startedusing snowmobiles in the forest. We stuckto reindeer husbandry when I realized wecould make a go of it and I gave up theidea of taking another job.

Elle Márjá (left) together with her daughter Moni-ka in the corral. Many reindeer remain to becaught before the day’s work is over.

Elle Márjá– reindeer herder in a world of men

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Her employers are the reindeer andnature. She hunts elk for a few weeks inthe autumn. In November when the rein-deer are gathered and split up into wintergroups she separates the ones that belongto her siida (group of sameby families) andtakes them to the winter grazing land.Nowadays she feeds the herd in the winter.Each reindeer eats 2 kg of feed a day, andsince she has the herd there until thebeginning of June the feed bill is expensive,she says.

– But my reward is the large number ofstrong calves that I get. After calf-markingshe goes to her house in Vuolle Sohppar,where she spends a good part of Augustpicking cloudberries. In good years shepicks enough to sell the surplus. Whenasked about her hobbies she laughs andsays that she has just one hobby: tamingreindeer bulls.

– Some of them are good at leading theherd, but I do it mostly because it is funworking with them. Not that I get any helpwhen I need it, she says. Since she is nei-ther large nor heavy, it can be quite a

struggle to catch a reindeer and get it to gowhere she leads it.

Hard for women to be members of a sameby

Elle Márjá is humorous and cheerful. Butwhen we start talking about her position asa woman in the sameby she turns serious.Her two daughters married some years ago.As unmarried working women they werefull members of the sameby, but they lostthis status when they married. The samebyboard suggested that their husbandsbecome full members instead. But after along struggle with the sameby the authori-ties decided in favour of the women.

Very few reindeer herders in Swedentoday are women. Much of the work is hard.The applicable legislation is an inferior copyof the rules relating to agriculture and theonly member of the reindeer-herding familywho can vote at sameby meetings is the“master of the household”. Although ElleMárjá spends all her time with the reindeerand does her best, she does not feel she hasthe same status as the men in the sameby.

Her sameby is one of the largest in the

country and has about 70 reindeer-herdingmembers. Only a few of these supportthemselves by reindeer husbandry alone. Todo so a reindeer herder must have at least400 reindeer, and not many reindeer herdershave that many. This is nothing new. Peoplehave always needed several sources ofincome in order to survive in Sápmi. Theusual combination has been reindeer hus-bandry, hunting, fishing and agriculture.Most reindeer herders therefore have side-lines or part-time jobs to support them-selves. In many cases the husband works inthe reindeer forest, while his wife has a paidjob. The herders have always had to adapt tonew conditions. In the beginning they onlyhad to adapt to nature. But when other peo-ple appeared on the scene the Sami adaptedonce again. Today, Elle Márjá’s life is notonly determined by the weather, it mayequally be affected by negotiations conduct-ed in Oslo or Stockholm. Today, however,she has her mind on other things. At themoment it is the weather that will decidewhether the gatherers bring in a reindeerherd tonight, and if so how big will it be?

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– I’m a speed freak!Mattias Eriksson from Arvidsjaur has

bought a roadracing bike. It is really power-ful and has a top speed of 280 kph. He hasdone well in the few races that he has takenpart in so far.

He has some trophies on a shelf. The prob-lem is that the nearest roadracing tracks arein northern Finland and central Norway, sohe has to travel halfway round Scandinaviato race.

– One reason why I started racing is thatit gives me the chance to meet other peo-ple as a change from reindeer herding.

Mattias Eriksson also works a good dealas a helicopter pilot. Although he is onlyjust over 30 he has been a pilot for 10years. One reason for this is that he wasinterested in flying, but he also realizedearly on how useful helicopters are in rein-deer herding. He was a boy when they

started using helicopters in his home dis-trict. When they rounded up the reindeerherds he was always close to the helicopter,helping and learning as much as he could.

Rounding up reindeer by helicopter

During the summer he works for an avia-tion company, flying out tourists and trans-porting material around the forest andmountain areas of Norrland. But he puts inmost of his flying hours gathering reindeer.This is a dangerous job as he has to fly justabove the treetops all the time, whichleaves no margin for error.

– It’s easier flying in the mountains. Inthe forest there are so many things in theway, like power lines and masts, so you haveto watch out all the time. Although helicop-ters move faster than reindeer, he says thatit is the reindeer who call the shots.

– If they want to go in a certain direc-tion there’s no way you can stop them.

He does not exaggerate the importanceof helicopters.

– It’s the people on the ground whogather the reindeer, helicopters help butcannot do any miracles on their own.

The summer of 2004 was a bad one forcalf-marking in all the forest samebys.Owing to the wet weather the herds nevergathered as they usually do in the earlysummer.

– But without helicopters it wouldprobably have been even worse, saysMattias Eriksson.

Time is money

– Nowadays time is much more importantin reindeer husbandry than it used to be. Afew days’ bad weather or gathering prob-lems can cause trouble. As all the samebysare doing the same things at the same time,it would be great if you could clone thehelicopters, abbatoirs and reindeer trans-

Driving reindeer from the airPhoto: Lulebild

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port trucks. Everyone needs them at thesame time.

Reindeer gathering does not always goaccording to plan, mostly due to theweather. Sometimes the autumn slaughtermay have to be postponed for a yearbecause it never stops raining.

Preserving traditions

After the elk hunt, the slaughter of the sarvs(bulls) and all the other things that have tobe done before the snow comes, MattiasEriksson’s life as a reindeer herder begins.With his father he moves the winter herd tothe coast near Piteå. If possible, they use themigration routes, but sometimes they loadthe animals on to trucks and trailers thattake them to the winter grazing lands muchfaster. Mattias Eriksson and his father keepup traditions wherever possible.

– It’s nice to see that dogs have made acomeback. Good reindeer dogs are worththeir weight in gold.

But motorbikes are what Mattias Eriks-son really wants to talk about.

– Dad’s not so keen on my hobby. Butif you relax while you’re driving, grip thebike tightly between your legs and keep arelaxed hold on the handlebars you can goreally fast.

There is no doubt that speed is whatmakes Mattias Eriksson tick.

Technological developments in reindeer husbandryUntil about 1950 the only means of transportused in reindeer husbandry was skis. With thehelp of herding dogs called reindeer dogs theherders could control and move the reindeerherd. More reindeer herders were needed thanis the case today when herds are moved fastwith the help of modern means of transport.

Snowmobiles and walkie-talkies started togain ground among reindeer herders towardsthe end of the 1960s. However, it was only atthe end of the 1970s that snowmobiles hadbeen improved to such an extent that theycould be used as a labour-saving vehicles inreindeer herding. The new technologies spreadrapidly in the 1980s, and reindeer dogs beganto be replaced by motorcycles and helicopters.

Nowadays, the old and new technologiesare used side by side. This is partly becausethe cost of modern technology can be prohibi-tive for the individual reindeer herder. A goodexample of the parallel use of new and oldtechnology is the frequent use of reindeer dogstogether with four wheelers and snowmobiles.The most up-to-date technologies are alsobeing tried out in reindeer herding. Satellitesand the Internet can now tell reindeer herderswhere good reindeer pasture is to be found andthey also make it possible to communicate insparsely populated areas where there are no

roads, cellphone networks or electricity. Nowa-days, satellite telephones are being used moreand more instead of walkie-talkies and NMTphones. Technological developments in generalare leading to new applications in reindeer hus-bandry and other Sami occupations too.

Technologies that have influenced reindeerhusbandry and life in Sápmi over the yearsTrainsRadioElectricityOutboard motorsCarsSnowmobilesWalkie talkiesSeaplanesHelicoptersWalkie-talkie telephonesNMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone– the predecessor of GSM)MotorcyclesGSM (Global System for Mobile communication)ComputersInternetATVsSatellite telephones

Mattias Eriksson is a helicopter pilot, but hismain interest in life is roadracing.

Even as a boy Mattias helped to round up thereindeer herds with a helicopter.

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– Not many Sami today can make a livingfrom selling reindeer meat alone, saysIngemar Blind.

Ingemar is chairman of Girjás samebyand a member of the board of the NationalUnion of the Swedish Sami. One of his toppriorities is the right for members of same-bys to have sidelines so that they can earnextra income. The average wage of reindeerherders today is very low.

The members of the sameby are tryingto establish small-scale tourism, but underthe Reindeer Husbandry Act a sameby can

only pursue reindeer husbandry. Smallgame and fishing resources have scarcelybeen exploited in connection with tourism.The same applies to elk hunting. Issuinghunting licences could be a good source ofincome, but it is not feasible at present.

– There is some doubt as to whether thesameby has the right to allow non-mem-bers to hunt elk, says Ingemar Blind.

Taxi-driving and cooking

But Ingemar has found ways of makingextra income. Reindeer husbandry tends tobe a seasonal occupation. At some times ofthe year there is time to do other kinds ofwork. Three years ago he and a friendbought a taxi. Last summer he and a part-

ner started a reindeer meat processingcompany. His theory is that people do notwant to spend a lot of time cooking, sothey have developed products that makecooking fast and simple. All of these arebased on reindeer meat. One of them isindividual portions of smoked reindeermeat, riced potatoes and vegetables. Theinitial target is to produce 500 portions aday.

– We can’t go on giving away good-quality reindeer meat for SEK 35 per kg,says Ingemar. You can’t make a profit thatway.

Less reindeer meat than elk meat

Reindeer meat is not an important item ofthe Swedish diet. About 1,500 tonnes ofreindeer meat are produced every year inSweden. This is less than the amount of elkmeat and only a fraction of beef produc-tion. Not many reindeer herders in Swedenprocess reindeer meat. The vast majoritysell the animals to buyers waiting by thecorral gate. Consequently, reindeer ownerssee very little of the money that is earnedby processing the meat into sausages, fastfood and dried meat.

Although it is difficult to make a profitfrom reindeer husbandry, Ingemar willnever give up. He grew up with reindeerand looking after them is what he is best at.

More varied industries

Not many other reindeer herders areinvolved in such projects. Most of them tryto make a living from reindeer husbandry,hunting and fishing.

– My businesses are far from risk-free. Ifthey are not successful I will have to payfor it. But I’ve got to give it a try.

A life full of sidelines

Like many other Sami, Ingemar Blind has tocombine various jobs to make both ends meet.

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Reindeer owner, taxi driver, food producer –Ingemar Blind can put many titles on hisbusiness card.

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To all appearances Marja Ek looks like atypical young Stockholm career girl. Shelives near the city centre, works in Stock-holm’s most fashionable district and travelsbetween Europe’s capitals in her job.

– Get back to me before Tuesday, becauseafter that I’ll be away in Paris for ten days.

Marja works with trade fairs and mar-keting at a Swedish-American company.That is one side of her.

The other side is that she spent all herspare time as a child in Mittådalen samebyin Härjedalen, and still spends her sum-mers there. That is where her roots are onher mother’s side.

– I’ve never made any a secret of mySami origin. And I’ve never regretted it. Inmy job it is often better to be a Sami thana Stockholmer ...

Sami lessons in the 4th form

Marja grew up in Sollentuna near Stock-holm. Her mother, Gudrun Thomasson Ek,is from Mittådalen sameby. Her cousins,who are active reindeer herders, and manyother family members are still there. Hergrandparents were Klara and TomasThomasson, and her mother’s grandfatherwas the well-known Sami photographerNils Thomasson.

– My Sami origin has always been a nat-ural part of me, mainly because I spent somuch time with my grandmother in Mittå-dalen when I was a girl.

Marja laughs as she tells how she suc-ceeded in getting mother-tongue educationin south Sami in the fourth form in Sollen-tuna near Stockholm.

– It was a project I and my mum had. Iremember how difficult it was to get holdof a teacher and text books. If I rememberright, the books were in Norwegian.

Marja never continued her studies. Sheneeds to know other languages in her job.But she has considered another kind of life.

– I have thought about “moving north”from time to time. But to be honest I thinkit would be difficult today. I have to admitthat I am a city person and enjoy livinghere. Perhaps the best thing would be tospend half the year in Mittådalen and halfthe year here.

A graduate of Grythyttan Restaurant Academy

As a child Marja used to take part in activi-ties arranged by the Stockholm Sami Asso-ciation and for a time she was also a mem-ber of Sáminuorra (Sami Youth organiza-tion). But Mittådalen is her real link withSami culture.

Marja studied at Grythyttan RestaurantAcademy. Her interest in food runs in thefamily. Her mother runs a shop and acatering services specializing in Norrlandand Sami foods and her father Bill Ekexports Norrland foods, including cow-berries, and used to export reindeer meattoo.

– My mother still runs a shop in agoahti in Mittådalen during the summer. Itwas started by my grandmother in the1960s. I used to work there in the summerholidays when I was a girl. Marja talks ofall the chance events in her life that are thereason why she now works with trade fairsand marketing. She had a job at the countyadministrative board giving advice about

small-scale food production and she tookpart in various projects to do with the mar-keting of Swedish food and raw materialsin Europe. She also worked in the familyfirm, selling food products in Mittådalenduring the summer and helping with cater-ing and sales in Sollentuna for the rest ofthe year.

– I have a typical small business back-ground and this helps me in my present job.I enjoy doing a bit of this and a bit of that.

And she intends to keep in touch withher roots in Mittådalen.

Dashing between

Paris and Mittådalen

Marja Ek lives near the city centre and works inStockholm’s most fashionable district, but her rootsare in Mittådalen.

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– Being reindeer owners ourselves makes iteasier for us to understand the potentialconflict of interest between reindeer herdingand tourism. As reindeer herders we knowall the pitfalls.

Anna Sarri manages a tourist enterprisecalled Nikkaluokta Sarri AB. Many Swedesknow Nikkaluokta as the gateway to Keb-nekaise, Sweden’s highest peak, where theroad from Kiruna ends and the mountainsstart. The village stands on the site of anold Sami settlement near the intersectionof three valleys and the source of theKalixälven river. It is home to the Sarrifamily’s tourist centre, with holiday cabins,a restaurant, a shop and conference roomsall facing the mountain tops.

The tourist centre is more than a moun-tain resort, it is living proof that it is possi-ble to combine Sami culture, reindeer hus-bandry and unspoiled nature with large-scale tourism. The centre has almost25,000 visitors a year in spite of being situ-ated between the Laevas and Girjás same-bys, which herd reindeer in the area. Everyspring and autumn the reindeer herds fromthe two samebys pass by Nikkaluokta. AndKebnekaise – the destination for manytourists – towers over reindeer pastures.

A tightrope

– It’s like a tightrope act, says Anna, whosucceeded her father Henrik Sarri as manag-ing director of the business in 1996. We are“selling” something that we share with the

rest of our people.If you can strikethe right balance, itworks, and it hasworked for us.

Anna says thatone reason whythere have notbeen any real con-flicts is that thefamily never gaveup reindeer hus-bandry. Both herbrother and her partner are reindeerherders, and her father made sure that thefamily’s interest in reindeer husbandry washanded down to the younger generations.

When we meet Henrik at the calf-mark-

A balancing act in the reindeer grazing lands

Anna Sarri is the Manag-ing Director of NikkaluoktaSarri AB.

Henrik Sarri still works as a guide in the family business at the age of 75. Photo: Nikkaluokta Sarri AB

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ing he is overjoyed because one of his grand-children has just phoned to tell him that hemanaged to mark two calves by himself.

– I have always regarded reindeer hus-bandry as our main livelihood, and even ifthere is a conflict of interest with tourismwe have always managed to combine thetwo, says Henrik Sarri, who still works as aguide at the age of 75.

Another reason why the family hasmanaged to avoid conflicts with the envi-ronment and their neighbours is that theyhave expanded the business very cautious-ly, say Anna and Henrik. The family willsoon be celebrating its 100th anniversary inNikkaluokta.

Immigrants from Norway

Henrik’s parents, reindeer herder Nils Ols-son Sarri and his wife Maria, settled by thebay back in 1910. They were one of fiveSami families from northern Norway whosettled in Nikkaluokta after several severewinters during which they lost a large partof their reindeer herds. They were lookingfor a sideline to reindeer husbandry.

Nils soon got a job as an inspector withthe Swedish Touring Club, which built itsfirst cabin at the foot of Kebnekaise in1908. Interest in mountain tourism wasgrowing in those days, and what could be abetter tourist draw than the highest peak inthe country?

The whole family were soon involved inthe business. Henrik and many of the other13 children worked in the tourist sector.The family set up their business in 1946. In1957 Henrik became managing director ofthe firm, which was then called NikkaluoktaTuristtrafik and mainly transported touristsby boat between the Kiruna area andNikkaluokta. When the Kiruna road was fin-ished in 1971 the number of visitorsincreased rapidly. The present large touristcentre, which was carefully designed to fitinto the surroundings, was opened in 1988.

– Our main asset is our location and we

have made the most of it. First we providedtransport, then other services, accommoda-tion and food, says Anna.

In the last few years we have also startedbriefing the tourists about the Sami andtheir culture. Not that anyone asked for it,but it seemed the natural thing to do.

New target groups

One way of finding new target groups is towork the international market. Anna hastaken part in an exhibition of Sami touristbusinesses from Kiruna held at the SwedishEmbassy in London. This is a new market,and it needs developing. Its very existence isproof of the growing interest in the uniqueculture and nature of northern Scandinavia.

– We are growing steadily and are seek-ing a new public. Pooling resources makesit possible for several small enterprises toposition themselves in new markets.

Modern means of transport, like helicop-ters, have paved the way for a new type ofvisitor to the Swedish mountains. Touristswho come to Nikkaluokta are no longer allhikers. There are frequent helicopter servic-es all the way up to the Touring Club’scentre at Kebnekaise and the nearby cabins.Nowadays you can arrange conferences in

the mountains without seeing a single hik-ing boot. A new challenge, and an opportu-nity, says Anna.

– More and more people want to explorethe countryside and see what we have tooffer. Tourism is a new chapter in the histo-ry of the Sami, and I believe we can contin-ue to expand without any adverse effects onour main livelihood.

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The new tourist centre in Nikkaluokta was opened in 1988.

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There are about 40 Sami tourist enterprises inSwedish Sápmi. Many of them are run bywomen, and about half the owners combinetourism with reindeer husbandry. The touristactivities include participation in everydaySami life, hiking with reindeer, yoik perform-ances, accommodation in goahtis, Sami food,story hours, lasso throwing and sled-driving.Museums, festivals and sales of Sami handi-crafts are also features of Sami tourism.

Some places worth visiting Ájtte – the Swedish Mountain and SamiMuseum in Jokkmokk, the Silver Museum inArjeplog, the county museums in northernSweden and the Laponia world heritage site.

Tourism in Sápmi

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Sami tourism has considerable developmentpotential. But according to researcherRobert Pettersson, success depends largelyon better adapting its content to tourists’expectations. There are about 40 Samitourist enterprises in Sweden, and most ofthese have operated for less than 10 years.

– There are various incentives for starting aSami tourist enterprise, says Robert Petters-son. It is one way of making money with-out having to leave the area, and it createsjobs. It is also a way of raising awarenessabout Sami culture. Tourism can thereforebe a learning meeting-place between Samiand non-Sami.

In his thesis Sami Tourism in NorthernSweden Robert Pettersson discusses therisks of “disneyfication” or over-commer-cialization of Sami tourism, as in the caseof tourist ventures linked to indigenouspeoples in Australia, New Zealand andNorth America, for example.

– We haven’t seen any examples in Swe-den yet of excessive commercialization,says Robert Pettersson. People in the indus-try are very much aware of the risks andthe need to know where to draw the line.

Apart from the social and culturalaspects of increased tourism, attentionmust be paid to economic and environ-mental issues. Tourism can make moneyand create jobs, although there are greatseasonal variations. It can also causeadverse effects on the physical environ-ment in the form of increased littering,wear and tear and noise.

– These risks are real, but when it comesto Sami tourism in Sweden the advantages

outweigh the disadvantages, says RobertPettersson.

On stage and backstage

The Sami entrepreneurs in the tourismsector that Robert Pettersson has met talkabout “on stage” and “backstage”, i.e. meet-ing tourists as representative of the Samipeople and culture and being off duty.

– It’s a thin line. We’re here to sell themour everyday lives, but these lives are thesame as other people’s lives. So there hasto be a touristification. Entrepreneurs mustdecide for themselves where to draw theline, but they must create a saleable andinteresting product.

Robert Pettersson has identified differ-ent categories of tourists. Some are inter-ested in the genuine, unspoiled, exotic art-icle. They are prepared to pay good moneyfor the experience. Others pass throughSami areas, but they are not particularlyinterested in Sami life and culture.Nonetheless, they may be willing to spenda little money on a Sami attraction. It’s aquestion of matching supply and demand.

One obvious disadvantage of tourism inSápmi is distance; Sápmi is far away for al-most everybody. But this is also itsstrength.

– It is the paradox of the periphery. Themore inaccessible something is, the moreinteresting it is. On paper, the JokkmokkWinter Fair seems to have nothing goingfor it. Very few people live there, the Fair isheld in the first week of February, and theweather is freezing. But this is precisely itsattraction. If tourism is to be developedfurther there must be greater awareness ofthe consumer point of view, says RobertPettersson. You can’t just put up a sign andexpect the tourists to come.

Networking

– More networking is needed to create asustainable tourism industry. Those whooffer adventure tourism should send thetourists on to a colleague who offers infor-mational tourism. Up to now, Sami tourismhas often operated on the opposite princi-ple: if you’ve got a good idea, don’t share itwith anybody.

Robert Pettersson considers that themost rational method is to plan a combina-tion of reindeer husbandry and tourism. Inthat way, reindeer herders would earnmoney from both activities.

– The tourists will come anyway, andthis way you could offer them a goodtourist product, while remaining in control.

Culture-orientedtourism

For tourism to be successful, the entrepreneurs must fulfil tourists’ expectations.

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Three Tops – a threat and an opportunity Northern Dalarna, in the middle of the mountain area in the photograph, is the sceneof a dispute between a sameby and the Three Tops tourism project. The plan is to linkup Idre Fjäll and Fjätervålen ski resorts by a large lift system. At the core of the disputeare Idre sameby’s interests and the prospect of increased tax revenue and new jobs ina depopulated municipality. The main players are the sameby, the Idre Fjäll touristcompany, state and private landowners, and Älvdalen municipality.

Photo: Benny Jonsson

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– The sameby is not opposed to developingtourism as long as it does not put us out ofbusiness, says Jörgen Jonsson, chairman ofIdre sameby.

The purpose of the project is to linkIdre Fjäll and Fjätervålen ski resorts bymeans of a ski tow, build new ski runs in a

nature reserve on the eastern and westernslopes of Mount Städjan and increase thenumber of tourist beds by about 6,000 andthe number of ski days by 178,000. Thenew facilities will be environment-friendlyand aesthetically attractive. The totalinvestment will be about SEK 1 billion.The sameby and other stakeholders havebeen consulted during project planning,which started in 1997.

– We said early on that the projectwould have a negative impact on reindeerhusbandry and we have suggested alterna-tives in a detailed impact assessment, saysJörgen Jonsson.

This is not the first threat to reindeerhusbandry in Idre sameby. Holiday homesand the many tourist facilities alreadyencroach on the sameby’s lands. Theincrease in tourists has led to heavier trafficand more snowmobile trails. A golf coursehas been built in the middle of the rein-deer grazing area.

– The worst part is that Three Topswould cut off the reindeer’s migrationroutes between summer and winter pas-tures. The pastures are crucial; no pasture,no reindeer husbandry, says Jörgen Jonsson.Disrupting the migration routes wouldseriously impact reindeer husbandry.

– Reindeer are creatures of habit and itwould take time to change their migrationroutes and involve a lot of work andexpense for the sameby, says Jörgen.

The sameby is also very critical of theplanned development of state-owned land,which up to now has been available foryear-round grazing. This land is situated inthe nature reserve around Mount Städjan,which is the subject of an unlimited agree-ment with the National Property Board.

All interests should be taken into account

About 80% of the population in the Idre-Särna-Grövelsjö area currently depend ontourism, directly or indirectly. Three Topswould increase the number of full-timejobs by about 300.

– Idre Fjäll supports the whole area, saysMayor Bengt Welin, who is in charge of therevision of the comprehensive plan pre-pared by Älvdalen municipality, of whichThree Tops is an important element.

The municipality has lost one-third ofits population in 40 years. This is the back-drop to the land use conflict in Idre.

– There is lot of toing and froing andIdre Fjäll is piling on the pressure, but theplanning process cannot be rushed. Wemust take all interests into account, saysleading councillor Herbert Halvarsson(Social Democratic Party).

– Reindeer husbandry is very importantfrom the point of view of our culture andas a livelihood. But we have no bargainingchips; it is up to the municipality to get adialogue going between the parties. And adialogue is already in progress between thereindeer owners and forest owners.

The Sami culture is exclusive

– The Sami culture is exclusive and makesthe area more attractive. I don’t mean thatthe Sami themselves should try to attracttourists, but they should carry on withdeveloping their reindeer husbandry. As Isee it, Three Tops could make it possiblefor the Sami to process and sell their prod-ucts, says Lars Axelsson, Managing Directorof Idre Fjäll.

– Everyone must accept responsibility –Idre Fjäll, the municipality and, not least,the landowners. We cannot cut off any ofthe reindeer migration routes. We are mak-ing efforts to find land to compensate theSami, says Lars Axelsson.

Jörgen Jonsson, president of the sameby, to-gether with his daughter Erica at a calf-marking.

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Conflict of interest in the mountainsOn the one side is the sameby with its 13reindeer owners, and on the other invest-ments worth more than SEK 1 billion and thepromise of 300 new full-time jobs. Idre isalready one of the five largest ski resorts inSweden and the leading year-round holidayresort in Scandinavia. But Idre Fjäll says thatIdre needs new attractions, more and longerslopes and purpose-built accommodation tomeet ever keener competition for tourists.

In the dawn of history the Sami were a peo-ple of hunters and fishers. They have lefttraces in the course of the centuries, forexample paths and tracks, hearths, goahtis,storage structures and fence poles.

Often it takes a trained eye to discoverSami remains. Many of them have beenreclaimed by nature. Most known remainsare to be found along the old migrationroutes and consist of encampments, with orwithout remains of buildings, basementpits and reindeer corrals. The vast expansethat extends across both sides of the Scan-dinavian mountain chain and far off intothe forest areas towards the coast is theSami cultural landscape. When touristbrochures talk of the wilderness, what theymean is the landscape managed by theSami, the mountain scenery shaped bygrazing reindeer. People met their need ofheat, food, rest and company in interactionwith nature and the landscape. Here theSami survived and thrived.

The Sami cultural heritage is also a land-scape of the mind, full of memories, myths

and oral traditions, sometimes with religiousovertones. The Sami names for terrains,places, mountains and lakes are also part ofthe Sami cultural environment, and the lat-est topographical maps, complete with theoriginal Sami names, now give a true pictureof the country shaped by the Sami.

More and more people have begun torealize in the last few decades how fragileand vulnerable the Sami cultural heritage is.Not only nature reclaims her own. There isa risk of Sami remains being swept away byintensive forestry, roadbuilding and com-munity development. The disruption andwear and tear caused by tourism are a fur-ther threat in sensitive areas. In view of thissituation it is high time to investigate, docu-ment and restore Sami cultural environ-ments, although sometimes old models aresimply rebuilt instead. But it is also impor-tant to listen to the diminishing number oftradition bearers and record their memoriesto help us understand the spiritual dimen-sions of the cultural heritage.

Various initiatives have now made itpossible to preserve hundreds, perhaps even

thousands, of Sami structures and environ-ments. The old handicraft skills have oncemore come into favour. All over Sápmi thiswork is now being carried out with enthusi-asm both by the Sami themselves and therelevant authorities and museums. Publicgrants have been provided, as they have forthe restoration of castles and stately homes.The value of the Sami cultural heritage forthat of Sweden as a whole is now recog-nized.

Nowadays, culture and cultural heritageare generally regarded as a resource foreconomic and social development. This isespecially apparent in the field of culturaltourism. A visit to a Sami cultural environ-ment, where many objects have immediateappeal, is a good way of training one’ssenses.

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The Laponia WorldHeritage SiteThe United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization (UNESCO) desig-nates world heritage sites. This is one way ofpreserving irreplaceable natural and culturalassets. World heritage sites are consideredimportant for all humankind and should there-fore be protected and preserved for futuregenerations. Laponia, the “Sami” world her-itage site, is one example. It was designated aworld heritage site on account of its rich bio-logical diversity, its historical value for Samiculture and its value as a Sami cultural land-scape. Sarek, Padjelanta, Stora Sjöfallet andMuddus national parks are located in thearea.

Few world heritage sites are inhabited byan indigenous people. Laponia is one ofthem. Seven samebys are located in Laponiaand pursue reindeer husbandry both insideand outside the boundaries of the site.Thanks to one of Sweden’s Agenda 21processes, the seven samebys have pro-duced a “Sameby Laponia Programme” onenvironment and industry development, cul-ture and information. It also includes propos-als for the management of Laponia by bodieswith a Sami majority.

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A landscape of myths,memories and traditionsmemories and traditions

The Sami have the right to pursue reindeerhusbandry in about a third of Sweden’s sur-face area. This includes the right to use theland and water to sustain themselves andtheir reindeer, which is an essential condi-tion for reindeer husbandry.

The right to reindeer husbandry includesthe right to use real property, i.e. the rightto use land and water without owningthem. Other examples of rights of use(usufructuary rights) are tenancies, huntingleases and easements, e.g. the right for theowner of a property to use a well onanother property. Under the present sys-tem the Sami do not own the reindeergrazing land itself; it is owned by the state,forest companies, farmers and others.

About 2,500 of the 20,000 or so Samiin Sweden are members of one of thecountry’s 51 samebys, which representboth geographical areas and economic asso-ciations. A person must be a member of asameby in order to exercise the right toreindeer husbandry. Sami members ofsamebys are thus entitled to use land andwater that they do not own.

Immemorial rights

A right of use is often laid down in an agree-ment. A person who leases land concludesan agreement with the owner of the land.No agreements are necessary in the case ofthe right to reindeer husbandry since this isan immemorial right, i.e. people have usedthe land for so long that they have earnedthe right to use it. The Sami have acquiredthis right by using land and water for thepurposes of reindeer husbandry, hunting andfishing for a very long period of time.

The ancestors of the Sami and other

people have lived in what is now Swedensince the Stone Age. From time to time theuse of the land by representatives of differ-ent cultures has led to conflicts. The firstofficial letter that refers to land rights isfrom 1584. In this letter the king declaredthat the Sami had an immemorial right tothe land north of Songamuotka and for-bade the Torne Valley farmers to trespasson these lands.

Recognition of Sami rights

During the following centuries the Crownissued a number of letters and proclama-tions claiming the right to all vacant land,although at the same time it recognizedthe immemorial right of the Sami to use“vast mountain expanses such that only theLapps and their reindeer can earn a liveli-hood there” (Government Bill 1886:2).

The boundaries of the year-round andwinter grazing lands of the Sami are speci-fied in the Reindeer Grazing Act of 1886and subsequent relevant legislation. Rein-deer husbandry rights are currently gov-

erned by the Reindeer Husbandry Act of1971. The Act does not precisely specifythe boundary of the winter grazing lands,and the courts still rule on these matters.Since immemorial rights must be proved,the burden of proof is on the reindeerowners.

Much-publicized judgments

The Sami have pursued reindeer hus-bandry in what are now Jämtland andDalarna counties for a long time. Theywere displaced by the more numerous newsettlements and smallholdings earlier herethan in the northernmost counties. Thingseven went so far that, starting in the mid-19th century, the state repurchased moun-tain areas and reserved them for reindeerhusbandry. This enlarged the “reindeergrazing mountains”, the year-round grazinglands in Jämtland.

The right to winter pasture outside thereindeer grazing mountains is a matter ofcontroversy. In 1990 almost 600 landown-ers in Härjedalen whose land was used for

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A sameby is both an economic association and aspecific geographical area. Its members havethe right to engage in reindeer husbandry in thisarea. In certain areas they also have fishing andhunting rights.

The areas where reindeer husbandry is per-mitted represent about one-third of Sweden’ssurface area from Idre in the south to Treriks-röset in the north, i.e. in the following six coun-ties: Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland, Väster-norrland, Dalarna and Gävleborg.

Mountain samebys move with their herds tothe mountains in the summer and east to the

forest areas in the winter, while forest samebysremain in the forest all the year round.

“Concessionary” reindeer husbandry is pur-sued in the Torne Valley. A unique feature of thisarrangement is that even non-Sami are permit-ted to own reindeer.

The area used by a sameby is divided intoyear-round grazing land and winter grazing land.The right to reindeer husbandry may be exer-cised on the year-round land throughout theyear. Reindeer can graze in the winter grazinglands, which are often located in forest areas,from 1 October to 30 April.

Reindeer husbandry areas in six counties

Sami land rights being decided in the

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courts

The agriculture line

The Lapland border

grazing sued five samebys. One of their mainarguments was that modern-day reindeerhusbandry differs so much from that of thepast that the concept “immemorial rights” isnot applicable. The views of the expertsretained by both sides differed, and SvegDistrict Court ruled that immemorial rightshad not been proved and the samebys werenot entitled to graze their reindeer on mostof the present winter grazing lands. Thelargest landowners, the church and theforestry companies, withdrew their claimsafter settling with the samebys in return fora promise to reduce the size of the herds.The samebys appealed against the judgment.In substance the court of appeal upheld thejudgment of the district court and theSupreme Court later rejected the samebys’application for leave to appeal.

The “Härjedalen case” has encouragedlandowners who feel that winter grazingrights are unclear in other areas to sue too.The samebys now face the option ofrelinquishing the rights to which theyfeel they are entitled or to fight forthem in higher courts with an immi-nent risk of bankruptcy. Cases canonly be tried by an internation-al court if all nationalremedies have beenexhausted, as theyhave in the Här-jedalen case.

In Norway theburden of proof isthe reverse: there,landowners mustprove that imme-morial rights donot exist.

KönkämäLainiovuoma

SaarivuomaTalmaGabna

Laevas

Girjas

BasteSörkaitum

SirgesJåhkågasska

TuorponLuokta-Mávas

Semisjaur-NjargSvaipa

GranRan

Ubmeje

Vapsten

Vilhelmina Norra

Vilhelmina Södra

Frostvikens Norra

OhredahkeRaedtievaerie

JiingevaerieJovnevaerieNjaarkeKall

HandölsdalenTåssåsenMittådalen

´RuvhtenIdre Nya

Vittangi

GällivareSerri

UdtjaStåkke

Maskaure

Östra Kikkejaure

Västra Kikkejaure

MausjaureMalå

Muonio

SattajärviTärendö

KorjuPirttijärvi

Ängeså

Kalix

Liehittäjä

There are 51 samebys altogether. Themembers of each sameby have the right toreindeer husbandry, fishing and huntingwithin its boundaries.

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The Swedish Sami were given the right tograze reindeer in both countries when theSwedish-Norwegian border was drawn in1751. Sweden and Norway have concludedseveral reindeer grazing conventions sincethen, the last one in 1972. But Norway hasdemanded that this right be restricted for over100 years, and the discussion continues.

The first such convention was concluded inconnection with the 1751 border treaty.The border also constituted the longestpart of the border between Norway and

Finland (then part of Sweden). A 30-para-graph codicil concerning the rights of theSami to cross the border with their herds –often called the Lapp Codicil – wasattached to the treaty. The purpose of theCodicil was to secure the future of theSami people, at least those who wereaffected by the fixing of the border.

As a result of the treaty the reindeer-herding Sami now had to cross a nationalborder when they moved with their herdsas they had always done. The reindeer graz-ing conventions were, and still are, legal

agreements on the reindeer herders’ use ofthe land on both sides of the border. TheLapp Codicil laid down the right of theSami to cross the Norwegian-Swedish bor-der in connection with reindeer husbandry.They also had the right, for a small fee, touse the land and water in the other countryon the same terms as the citizens of thatcountry. This applied both to pasture, hunt-ing and fishing in the seas and lakes. TheCodicil also provided for a measure of Samiself-government, Sami neutrality if warbroke out between the two countries and

Sweden and Norway have conducted negotiations on a new reindeer grazing convention for many years.

Cross-border reindeer husbandry in Sweden and Norway

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trading rights in Norway for the Sami wholived in the northernmost part of Sweden.

Finland ceased to be part of Sweden in1809 and became a Grand Duchy of Russiawith new borders. Norway was separatedfrom Denmark in 1814 and forced to enterinto a personal union with Sweden.Although this meant that Norway was sub-ordinate to the Swedish king, the LappCodicil remained in force and the reindeer-herding Sami continued to move their herdsacross the Swedish-Norwegian border.

A joint Swedish-Norwegian commissionwas appointed in the early 1840s to evalu-ate and propose amendments to the LappCodicil. Norway wanted to curtail the rightof the Swedish Sami to reindeer grazing asmuch as possible. It also wanted to applystrict rules on checks and compensation.The commission agreed in 1844 that therights provided by the Codicil should becurtailed, but in practice it took many yearsbefore the new rules were implemented.

“Savages”

The negative Norwegian attitude at thattime was closely linked to the ongoing agri-cultural colonization of parts of northernNorway and racist and colonialist views weregaining ground. Reindeer-herding Sami werereferred to in the 1840s as “savages”, forexample. According to a newspaper article,the Norwegian farming pioneers were treat-ed much worse by Swedish reindeer-herdingSami than colonialists in other parts of theworld were treated by “savage aborigines”.

The border between Norway and Fin-land was closed in 1852, which made itimpossible to cross over with a reindeerherd. This was a disaster for reindeer herd-ing in the North Calotte area as a whole.One result was the large-scale exodus ofreindeer-herding Sami from Kautokeino innorthern Norway to Karesuando in Swe-den during the 1850s. These Sami contin-ued to use the winter grazing lands in Fin-land, but now as Swedish subjects.

The Finnish authorities asked the Russ-ian government to close the border withSweden in order to put an end to the useof Finnish grazing land by Swedish Sami.The government did not comply with thisdemand at first, but in 1889 the borderbetween Sweden and Finland too wasclosed to cross-border migration with rein-deer herds and represented a further majorobstacle to intra-Sápmi reindeer herding.Consequently, many of the KautokeinoSami who had registered as residents ofKaresuando returned to Norway, eventhough many families remained.

Later, cross-border reindeer grazing wasone of the most intractable issues in con-nection with the dissolution of the unionbetween Sweden and Norway in 1905.Norway wanted to abolish the Lapp Codi-cil and reindeer grazing rights in Norwayfor Swedish Sami. But the Norwegiandemands were rejected and Norway wasobliged to accept the fact that the Codicilcould not be cancelled.

Bitter struggle

The bitter struggle about reindeer grazingcontinued. Only in 1919 did the partiesmanage to agree on a reindeer grazingconvention. This conventionseverely restricted the access of Swedish Sami to reindeergrazing in Norway. A precar-ious situation arose in thenorthernmost reindeer grazing lands in Sweden,and many reindeer-herding families

were forced to move south. The reindeergrazing convention was revised in 1949,although no major changes were made. Butthe 1972 reindeer grazing convention didcontain significant amendments which fur-ther restricted access.

Sweden and Norway have been negoti-ating a new convention for several years.As the negotiations have failed to lead toagreement, Sweden announced in thespring of 2005 that until further notice,cross-border reindeer husbandry would begoverned by the Lapp Codicil. Norwayannounced that national legislation appliedin addition to the Codicil, and a new con-vention will most likely be the final out-come of these negotiations.

Steinar PedersenCand. philol. (MA) Historian.

Footnote: Sweden and Norway have been negotiating a new convention for several years. In February 2009 the new draft reindeer grazingconvention was delivered to the Swedish and Norwegian governments.

Border 1751Border 1809Border 1826Border 1830Border 1920–44Border 1944

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A few houses are spread out around thelake, most of them empty holiday housesnowadays. Torsten’s house is situated on asmall hill close to the shore. Behind thehouse there are some outhouses, barns andembankments. For all his 70 years he is alively, talkative helmsman. He says he is alittle hard of hearing.

– So if I answer the wrong questionyou’ll know it’s because of my hearing.

– One of my ancestors lost all his rein-deer one winter and decided to settle downhere, says Torsten. When spring came, heborrowed a heargi (a tame castrated rein-deer) to transport his belongings. Andwhen he arrived here he let the heargiloose and settled here.

Lived by hunting

The ancestor and his descendants managedto make a living in these forests. They had a

few animals, fish in the lake and, best of all,a source of income – hunting. In thosedays, when there was a bounty on wolvesand wolverines, it was the settled Sami whohunted. The reindeer herders had no timefor it.

Small game – capercaillie, black grouse,ptarmigan, hares, squirrels, martens – werea source of food and income too. If theyshot an elk in the autumn, they had foodfor most of the winter. In time, the landand lakes around Vosträsk were registeredas homesteads. They led a good life by thelake.

But things took a turn for the worsemany years ago, according to Torsten. Thesettled Sami were abolished by legislation.They were neither farmers nor reindeerherders, and the 1928 Reindeer HusbandryAct said that the only Sami were reindeerherders. So those who had no reindeer

were no longer Sami. There were not manysettled Sami, and they were scattered fromHärjedalen to the far north. They hadnever organized themselves like the rein-deer-herding Sami in associations such asthe National Union of the Swedish Sami.

Bear-hunting at 13

– I was 13 the first time I borrowed mydad’s gun and went bear-hunting on myown. My mother was anxious but I wentanyway. I walked a long way and hadplanned to spend the night in the forest,but when the shadows lengthened I real-ized it would be better to sleep in my ownbed than under a spruce. So I hurried homein the twilight. When I got home my moth-er was relieved, but my father looked at mesternly and said he had waited a long timefor me to come home.

Torsten’s life as a youth consisted of hunt-ing and fishing. Sometimes they spent weekshunting away from home. Each animal hadits own season: elk and bear in the autumn,grouse and other birds in the winter.

– One day we shot more than 20 squir-rels and we got 5 krona for each skin.Those were real red-letter days for us! Andif there was no meat in the house we couldalways put out some nets.

Hunting as a livelihoodIf you are in northern Västerbotten and pass Sorsele you will be on the road to Ammarnäs.Where your cellphone goes dead you turn to the right and drive along a narrow forest roadfor a few kilometres. The road ends by a lake, and you will be met by silence and TorstenJonsson. He meets visitors and takes them to his home by boat across the Vosträsk, a smalllake full of fish.

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Torsten and his wife Elli alternatebetween Vosträsk and Sorsele. Sorsele haselectricity and running water, unlikeVosträsk. So they live in Sorsele for part ofthe winter. But as soon as the sun is warmin the spring and until the real winter coldarrives in November they live out here.

– We get along fine with wood, LPG andsolar cells.

Silent no longer

Torsten’s son is now involved in politics. Heand some other people have started a party– the Hunting and Fishing Sami – that gotinto the Sami Parliament. They represent agroup of Sami that hardly anyone knowsabout. Their demands for the same rights asreindeer-herding Sami have given politi-cians, public authorities and others some-thing to think about. And they refuse to besilent, says Torsten. But they have a longstruggle ahead to regain the right to thelands that their forefathers, who owned noreindeer, managed and lived off.

As I was just going Torsten said thatthere had been many hunters in his family.

– So if you ever find the book aboutKlomma the bear-hunter, please get me acopy. I would really like to read it. He wasmy great-grandfather.

There are about 300,000 active hunters inSweden who shoot about 100,000 elks, doublethat number of roe deer and large quantities ofother game every year. It is difficult to assessthe value of hunting. For Torsten Jonsson (seelast article) and other Sami who depend onhunting and fishing for their livelihood, thevalue of every elk they shoot is very significant.But the value can also be seen in a wider per-spective.

Hunting value is usually divided into thevalue of the meat and the recreational value ofhunting as a pastime, i.e. what hunters are pre-pared to pay for the pleasure of hunting.

One way of assessing the value in accor-dance with the above “formula” was presentedby the Swedish Association for Hunting andWildlife Management for the year 1997.

94,300 elks were shot in 1997. Given anaverage carcass weight of 135 kg and a pricefor the meat of SEK 35 per kg (paid by theabattoir), the total value of the meat would beabout SEK 445 million. According to earlierestimates made by Associate Professor LeifMattsson at the Swedish University of Agricul-tural Science in Umeå at the end of the 1980s,the recreational value in the case of elk is about60% of the total hunting value. This means thatthe total hunting value for elk could be estimat-ed at about SEK 1.1 billion. In addition to this,there is what might be called the “wellness

value” – for many people hunting is the mainreason for walking outdoors, and this benefitsthe individual and society as a whole.

This is not a comprehensive analysis of theeconomic effects of hunting, which would takeinto account the cost of damage to forests andcrops, accidents etc., as well as the effects ofhunting on employment, production and salesof goods and services. The value of wild ani-mals for biodiversity is another factor thatwould have to be taken into account.

Photo: John Erling Utsi

Difficult to assess the value of hunting

The gentle glow of the midnight sun has justdescended upon the snowclad mountaintops. Down below, thousands of bellows andthe odd shout are heard on a trampled hillin Dividalen national park. This is a calf-marking in Lainiovuoma sameby.

To the outsider the corral is chaos. Amidthe bellowing animals, shouting people andhurtling reindeer walks Tomas Marakatt.

His hands firmly holding a lasso and hiseyes glued to the cows’ ears, he walks incircles searching for a special mark: a rightear cut half away, with a V-shaped cut inthe middle; a left ear with a row of semi-

circular cuts – ears that Thomas would rec-ognize in his sleep.

Hundreds of reindeer dash over stonyground that has been trampled by tens ofthousands of black hooves over the years.High above the din you can hear the smallcalves’ pitiful cries and anxious motherscalling to their young. If you listen longenough to the clamouring reindeer youwill notice that they all have individualvoices, just like two-legged animals. Thesmell is a blend of dung and dogs, but tothe reindeer herders it is as familiar as thesmell of their own sweat after hours of las-soing. The lasso colour of the year seems to

be yellow, but Thomas’s is purple, with apiece of plastic on the end with two holesin it through which it is threaded to form aloop.

While the mothers look for their calves,Thomas looks for calves that have foundtheir mothers and are following them.

– Calf-marking is when you see theresult of your work in the autumn and win-ter. Although it’s no holiday, mind you, saysThomas, wiping the sweat from his brow.

200 metres away on the other side ofthe corral Per-Ola Blind shouts in Sami:

– Per-Anders, I can see it.A short middle-aged man lopes across

the corral, taking care not to slip on theround stones.

– What did you see? asks Per-AndersBlind.

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Finding the right mark

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– Your brown calf, the one we tried tocatch a few hours ago. And they continuetheir hunt.

Others are looking for calves elsewhere.Lassos whistle through the air. Some missand some are spot on, landing round thereindeer’s neck.

Suddenly Thomas catches sight of some-thing, his pace quickens, his breathing istense. His eyes are fixed on a brown calfwith a spot of white around the nose. Hismother has the right mark. Quick as light-ening, Thomas raises his right hand andmakes seven loops, his eyes never strayingfrom his target. His brown boots trampleon the reindeer dung and the loose stonewhile he raises his right arm slowly higher.No sudden movements now. Then sudden-ly, fast as a viper, the brown calf is caughtbefore he knows it. He tries to break freewith a roar, but in vain. The purple lasso isround his neck and Thomas draws the calftowards him with both hands.

– Practice makes perfect, says Thomas,smiling, and lifts the metre-tall calf and,much to the calf’s surprise, sits on him.

He gets his knife out of his jacket pock-et. With a few fast turns of the knife thecalf’s ears are transformed and now haveexactly the same mark as its mother’s. Thecalf bounds off, Thomas picks up the lassoand puts his knife in his pocket. He, thereindeer and the 50 or so other reindeerowners have many more hours of searchingahead of them tonight.

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The reindeer roam and are moved from onegrazing land to another within each sameby.The grazing areas have different properties thatmake them suitable for reindeer husbandry atdifferent times of the year. Migration routes,which are often very old, are used to move theanimals between the different areas. Apart fromthese routes the reindeer herders also useenclosures to gather, separate, mark and/orslaughter the reindeer.

The work with the reindeer is adapted to the

animals’ natural behaviour and weather andgrazing conditions. Reindeer husbandry is sen-sitive to interference from other land users andpredators. It is especially important not to dis-turb the reindeer in the spring at calving time.They are also sensitive to disturbance at othertimes of the year, for example during migration.If they are disturbed in a narrow passage orcrossing a road, the whole herd may scatter,which involves a great deal of extra work for thereindeer herders.

Reindeer husbandry adapted to the animals’ way of life

Reindeer are cervids and live in flocks. Thespecies found in northern Scandinavia is calledtundra reindeer. There are about 255,000 rein-deer in Sweden (in 2008). Reindeer are theonly deer species in which both males andfemales have antlers. They shed their antlersevery year. Large antlers confer high status inthe flock. A male may have a harem of 25–30females whom he guards. After the rutting sea-son the males shed their antlers, but thefemales keep theirs until the spring. Havingantlers helps the females to chase the malesfrom the best grazing sites during the winter.

Reindeer are adapted to the climate. Theirfur is dense and covered with insulating hairsand their hooves are big enough to allow themto run on snow and dig through it for lichen.

They grow to a height of 85–120 cm. (Elksare twice as tall and weigh five or six times asmuch).

In May the females go up to the mountainsto calve. The calf follows the mother for the firstyear until she has a new calf. Reindeer put on alot of weight in summer to get them through thewinter. Reindeer owners often slaughter some ofthe males in autumn when they are at theirheaviest before the rutting season.

Adapted to the climate

Reindeer marks consist of cuts in the ears thatidentify their owner. All the marks are differentand are often handed down from one generationto the next. They are all recorded in Sami Parlia-ment registers.

Left ear Right earFrom the front

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Although Sune Enoksson is one of the best-known Sami handicraft artists he has neverbeen able to live by his art. His knives,boxes and drinking-cups are in greatdemand among collectors, and customersmay be on a waiting-list for years, but his arthas never made him rich.

Not in terms of money, that is. But interms of quality of life he has – togetherwith his handicrafting wife Astrid and fourgrown-up children – had ample compensa-tion. He met Astrid at the Sami Folk HighSchool in Jokkmokk in 1951. They havelived and worked together for over 50years, Sune with “hard handicraft” andAstrid with soft materials such as leatherand textiles.

They radiate rare harmony and well-being when we meet in their combined stu-dio and home on the slope leading up fromTärnaby. It is a fine late summer’s day and

the view of Gautajaure and themountains to the south is magnificent.

Long days and hard work

Astrid has a little sheath-knife hangingin a twined leather cord round herneck. It is a full-horn knife, with asheath and handle of reindeer horn,richly ornamented. These knives areone of Sune’s specialities, this onebeing one of his many gifts to his wife.

– I use it for everything. To cutpaper with, for sewing … everything!

Handicraftingwith heartand soul

Name: Sune Enoksson.Family: Handicrafting wife Astrid, four chil-dren and seven grandchildren.Education: Sami Folk High School inJokkmokk, craft teacher education in Nääs.Profession: Handicraftsman and teacher. Heis represented in Västerbotten Museum,where he and Astrid also exhibited in the1960s and in 2002. Received the Västerbot-ten Culture Grant in 1964 and 1999.Background: The family used to be reindeerherders in Vapsten sameby, Tärna. In the1920s the family bought a farm with someland and cattle in Sandnäset.

– I chose my wife carefully. She has reindeer luck,says Sune and gives Astrid a loving glance.Photo: Olle Nessle

I took it with me when I went to China,says Astrid.

His most beautiful works remain in thefamily. The four children each have a col-lection of their own. Sune Enoksson,always a hard worker, has made manythings in his day.

– I had long working days when I had afull-time job. First I worked at school andthen in the studio until 10 or 11 in theevening. We used to end the day with thin-ly sliced reindeer meat, water and crisp-bread!

He worked as a craft teacher in Tärnabyfor 40 years alongside his work as a handi-craftsman. Now aged 70, he is retired.

Why have you been so successful?– You must have a consuming interest, a

passion for what you do. You need a littletalent of course, but pigheadedness is whatyou need most. And you must be able toafford to be poor at times!

Sune says that it is impossible to make aliving from handicraft. To make a reason-able income he reckons that you must havea turnover of about SEK 400,000–500,000a year. And that is impossible when youwork as an artist.

– That’s the real problem, says SuneEnoksson, who says that he did time andmotion studies on himself for quite sometime.

– Only five hours out of an eight-hourday are actual work. The rest is spent onother things, visitors, customers etc.

High artistic quality is all-important

The workshop is in a small red buildingjust outside the house. His raw materialsare packed in boxes: reindeer horn, elkhorn, curly-grained birch, roots and woodof various kinds.

Here are several machines – a saw, agrinding machine, a lathe – that he uses forinitial shaping, unlike older generations ofcraftsmen. But most of the time he sits atthe worn table under the window and

works with his knife. He cuts the ornamen-tal patterns by eye directly in the materialwithout any models.

– The knife is my main tool, says Suneand emphasizes how important it is tokeep the lines pure.

None of Sune’s knives, boxes or drink-ing-cups is exactly like any other. Somedetail always sets them apart. His decora-tions are always strictly geometrical in theSouth Sami style without any trace of thenorth Sami organic, figurative style of deco-ration. But he does experiment with newcombinations of materials such as inlaidpewter and silver in reindeer horn.

Quality is essential if you want to make aname for yourself in handicrafts, says Sune.

– With a reputation for quality you willalways have buyers.

What is your advice to anyone whowants to go in for handicrafts?

– To learn how torun a business. It is importantto know about book-keeping, tax rules andthat kind of thing so as to avoid setbacksthat can be very troublesome.

– Sami culture will not disappear with-out government grants. But it would cer-tainly help if there was an investment fundfor Sami handicraft businesses. Our organi-zations have discussed the matter. Workingas a professional handicraftsman often callsfor substantial investment in equipment,premises, education and marketing. ButSami handicrafts can never be mass-pro-duced, says Sune Enoksson.

After thinking for another minute ortwo, as so often, he adds:

– Although the right person, with theright interest and the right ambition, willgo on creating works of art, grants or nogrants.

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A working year in SápmiAs Sami handicraftspeople and life companions,Astrid and Sune Enoksson live close to nature.There is an annual rhythm to their work. Astridherself describes their working year.

In the winter months from November toMarch we are busy processing the materials inthe deep freezers, such as raw reindeer skins ofvarious ages, tendons for spinning thread andvarious barks.

We are also busy preparing Sami foodthroughout the year. Freezing and drying aregood ways of making nature’s delicacies lastlonger. Apart from that, there are always thingson our workbenches that need finishing.

When the March sun rises over the horizonthis means that spring is on the way, and that isthe signal to remove the nets from under the iceand dismantle the grouse snares. As the daysget longer it becomes more difficult to stayindoors to work.

When the snow crust is hard enough to walkon in April-May we collect material for knivesfrom the gnarled, storm-beaten birches aroundthe timberline in the mountains. Before thestream melts in May we dehair the skins anddye them with bark that we have gathered anddried the year before.

In early June, before the vegetation hasstarted growing properly, we go searching forcurly-grained birch roots and collect angelica,alder and tormentil roots to dye skins and woolwith and to use as medicinal herbs.

From the end of June to the latter half ofJuly we dress skins and hides. The trees aresapping then and it is easy to gather bark fordrying. We dye wool for tapestries and bandsand dry and deep-freeze herbs and plants. Thedog days are upon us at the end of July and lastuntil the end of August, and during this period itis humid and hot. September is what we call theslaughter month when we prepare and preservereindeer and elk meat for the coming year, aswell as preparing hides and tendons for craft pur-poses. The rutting season for reindeer is a monthfrom 16th September and for elk a little later.

Some years we go walking in the woods inSeptember and October looking forchanterelles, although we donot always find any owingto drought or because thefrost and snow start early thatyear.

TärnabyAstrid Enoksson

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The sewing machines in Lapland stop whenthe elk hunt starts. At least that is true ofSara Svonni and Ann-Sofi Fjällström, two offive members of a design group whose com-mon denominator and source of inspirationare their Sami origins.

They all attended the Sami Education Cen-tre in Jokkmokk. They graduated from thenew fur and leather garments programmein 2000. They held their first exhibition atJokkmokk Fair the same year.

Now they all have their own designbusinesses and live hundreds of kilometresapart. But they meet regularly and collabo-rate on fashion shows and marketing underthe name Davvebiegga – the North Wind.

They make modern clothes with a dis-tinct Sami style. They have exhibited theirclothes in Stockholm several times and reg-

ularly stage shows in Norrland despite thedistance between them.

Sami, but innovative

Åsa Päiviö lives in Jokkmokk, Hanne LenaWilks in Norway, Lise Tapio-Pittja inNattavaara and Sara Svonni and Ann-SofiFjällström in or near Tärnaby.

All five of them grew up in Sami homeswhere sewing and handicrafts were every-day chores. When they appear together inpublic they are often dressed in the tradi-tional Sami gákti.

– When you sew clothes it’s importantto know what is traditional and what isnew, says Sara Svonni. She says that the

The design group from the northmakes Sami-inspired modern clothes

Anja Pärson, the world-famous alpine skier,phoned to say she wanted something good forthe Sports Gala. She gave Ann-Sofi Fjällströmand Sara Svonni a day’s notice.

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Sami sources of inspiration are the materi-als themselves – usually reindeer skin andwool – and colours and details.

– For instance, if I’m going to put tasselson an anorak, it is natural for me to use redand yellow woollen cloth. Those are thecolours in my gákti from Jukkasjärvi.

She shows the reindeer skin anorak withtassels and other specifically Sami features,such as twined leather cords and insetwoollen cloth triangles at the ends of thesleeves.

Sara describes her style as youthful. Butshe reverts to a traditional style in the details,for example simple pewter embroidery onwhat is otherwise a modern-looking dress.She sews most kinds of clothes, but leathertrousers are something of a speciality.

Anja phoned

Since both Sara and Ann-Sofi live near Tärn-aby, they keep in close touch. Sometimesthey work together too, as they did on thereindeer suede dress for Anja Pärson, thealpine skiing star who also lives in Tärnaby.

– Anja phoned and wanted somethingspecial for the TV Sports Gala. She was in ahurry and gave me a day. So I phoned Saraand she took the measurements. Then wewent to work. We got it finished in time and

the dress attracted a good deal of mediaattention. They called it the “Lord of theRings dress”, says Ann-Sofi.

Every garment that Sara and Ann-Sofisew is made to measure in accordance withthe customer’s wishes. The material – oftenleather or fur – is expensive, so you’d betterknow what you’re doing before you put aneedle in it!

Sara Svonni’s dressmaking shop is in herparents-in-law’s red guest-house in Tär-nafors. Ann-Sofi often comes visiting andthey sit down and exchange ideas or dis-cuss design problems.

– It’s nice to have someone to talk to.At the moment I do everything myself:designing, measurements, making patterns,sewing, marketing, daily bookkeeping andselling. I also do a lot of alternations. Buteventually I only want to work with designand marketing, says Sara, who grew up out-side Kiruna.

Reindeer of her own

Ann-Sofi has reindeer of her own andbelongs to Ubmeje sameby. She is also atrained pre-school teacher and sometimesworks extra in a pre-school. She occasional-ly works as a receptionist and school-teacher too. She also gives lectures on Sami

culture, history and dress. No one can makea living from sewing alone. We have to bejacks of all trades, like many other Sami.

– You have to make a name for yourself ifyou’re going to succeed as a designer, saysSara Svonni. That is why she and Ann-Sofihave exhibited their clothes at Rookies, afair for young designers in Stockholm. Andthey plan to go south again if necessary,although Jokkmokk Fair is the most impor-tant event of the year.

– We usually sew round the clock a cou-ple of weeks before the Fair!

Ylva Pavval is studying at Samin Åhpadus-guovdás (the Sami Education Centre) as theDavvebiegga designers did. She has alreadylearned the rudiments of duodji and is keen tolearn more. The handicrafts programme whichYlva is taking is one of several longer pro-grammes that students can choose. The Cen-tre has its roots in the Sami Folk High School,which was established in 1942 and is now runas a foundation. The school offers courses inboth Sami and Swedish, and it is the only oneof its kind in the whole of Sápmi.

Studying handicrafts (duodji) at Samin Åhpadusguovdás in Jokkmokk

Five designers who have all studied at the Sami Edu-cation Centre in Jokkmokk. Today, Åsa Päiviö, SaraSvonni, Hanne Lena Wilks, Ann-Sofi Fjällström andLise Tapio-Pittja run the Davvebiegga design grouptogether.

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Traditionally, the materials used by men arewood and horn, while women sew andwork with skins and roots. These are calledhard and soft handicrafts, respectively.

Knives are used for everything fromhunting to household chores and for mak-ing leather bags, chests and boxes to packthings in, drinking-cups and milk pails.Utility goods like these were, and still are,made from natural materials.

Reindeer contribute horn, bone, fur,skins and tendons that can be used as

threads. Birch-trees provide wood, birch-bark, roots and the gnarled protuberances

called knurs. Thanks to thousands of yearsof experience, craftsmen know when andwhere to get the material they need.

Today, artistic design is just as importantas utility. There are many collectors ofquality duodji all over the world, andskilled handicraftspeople are admired.Sami handicrafts are strongly traditional,with an easily recognizable local style, andfamilies such as Fankki, Poggats, Sunna,Kitok, Huuva, Pirak and many others havemade a lasting mark on the history of thisart form. The younger generation is stilldeveloping the tradition.

From utility goods to works of artThe origins of duodji go back to the days when the Sami were self-sufficient nomads. As they were often on the move, they needed light, practical utensils. Function was theimportant thing and artistic decoration – food for the soul – was a secondary consideration.

Full-horn knives by Esse Poggats. The sheath ismade out of two pieces of horn that are glued orriveted together.

Handicraftsmade of birchroots are anancient Sami tradition.This náhppi (milk cup)was made by Ellen KitokAndersson, daughter of AsaKitok, a legendary root handicraftsman.

Bead bag of reindeer skin by Åse Klemensson,Undersåker.

Nils Nilsson Skum (1872–1951) was one ofthe great pioneers of Sami art. He mainlyworked with pencil and chalk. He depictedthe landscape and the work of the reindeerherders with the reindeer caravans in greatdetail and often from a bird’s eye view.

Photo: Jan Gustavsson

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Photo: Thorbjørn Bjørkli/Varanger Samiske Museum

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Traditional Sami dressThe traditional Sami dress is called a gákti.It is an important identity symbol, especial-ly in connection with ceremonious occa-sions such as christenings, funerals, wed-dings, confirmations etc.

The gákti varies between different areasin Sápmi. The cut is also different depend-ing on the sex of the owner and, in someareas, the owner’s age and civil status too.There are differences in cut due to the factthat men’s gáktis are shorter than women’sand that gáktis tend to be longer in thesouthern Sápmi areas than in the north.Fashion also plays a part in the differencesbetween gáktis. Depending on the imagina-tion of the dressmaker, there may also beindividual differences in colour, decorationand band patterns.

Previously most clothes were made athome. The basic materials were derivedfrom reindeer and other fur-bearing ani-mals; both clothes and shoes were madefrom fur, skins and tendons. Frieze andbroadcloth, as well as wool for band weav-ing, were bought from tradesmen. The gáktiof today is still sewn from broadcloth and

frieze, but materials such as silk, velvet andsynthetic fabrics are used just as often. Thetraditional accessories for gáktis are belts,shoes and shoelaces and, in the case ofwomen, shawls or bosom-cloths. Acces-sories such as storm collars, jewellery,gloves, trousers and caps are often used too.

Lars Pirak (1932–2008) isconsidered a great renewerof Sami visual art andhandicrafts. In 2003 hebecame the first Sami artistto be made an honorarydoctor at Umeå University.

John Pålsson Fankki (1880–1961), “thegodfather of the Lapp knife”. Highly per-sonal and artistically distinctive decora-tion is a feature of his work.

A full-horn needle holderby Anders Sunna, son ofErik Knutsson Sunna(1894–1976), a well-known handicraftsmanand one of the first towork full time in theKiruna area.

The signatures of some Sami handicraftspeople. From the book Masters of Sami Handicraft by Kurt Kihlberg.

Leather reindeer collar decorated with red andgreen broadcloth and pewter embroidery. ByLena Persson, Hallen.

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Silver – bank and status symbolFor centuries silver was used as a statussymbol and bank in Sami society. Silver wasused on ceremonial occasions as a sign thata person was a successful reindeer herderor tradesman. It also had the function of abank, guaranteeing the financial security ofthe family and future generations.

Old silver bears witness to historicalmeetings between cultures, for exampleChristianity and shamanism. Today’s Samisilver jewellery is inspired both by the Samitradition and modern influences.

Ann-Ristiinna Anti, Nils Anders Appfjell-Utsi andAnna Caroline Siri-Fyhn.

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A little detail in the nape of the traditionalLulesami gákti, a multicoloured broadclothsquare (called gávlos), is the source of Monica L Edmondson’s impressive glass art. This is her palette: fiery red, yellow and blue. The rest is winter, winter, winter.

– My Australian husband is also a winterperson, says Monica L Edmondson casually,and tells the story of her somewhat erraticcareer which, when she was 33, led to afour-year degree course in visual arts andglass at the Canberra School of Art in Aus-tralia. After that she got off to a good startas an artist.

– Winter has always been important tome. I have found that glass is a materialthat can express the feeling of being in awinter space.

Today her large glass dishes, bowls andclosed vessels are in great demand on theglobal art market. Almost all her work ismade for galleries and to order. There is along waiting-list.

Sami school in Tärnaby

She first trained to be a junior schoolteacher, but after a few years, some at theSami school in Tärnaby, she gave up teach-ing to see the world.

For many years she tried to live a winterlife all year round, commuting as a profes-sional ski coach and instructor betweenJapan, Australia and Sweden. Then she metSimon, acquired a taste for glass and wentto the University of Canberra.

In 2000 she returned to live in Tärnabyand set up a studio and workshop in a con-

verted barn in nearby Bäcknäs, with a viewof Lake Gäutan and the mountains behind.She lives with her husband Simon and ofcourse their four-year-old daughter Aana.The family always planned to return toVästerbotten.

– I would never have dared take theplunge without Simon, she says. Perhaps Iwould have made do with a garage with asmall kiln and had glassmaking as a hobby.Australians are different, they go in forthings in a big way, says Monica, and thatalso goes for the machinery she has boughtfor the workshop after much carefulresearch.

Italian technique

Three kilns and some powerful grindingmachines are essential for her special glass-

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Her technique comes from Italy, and Monica L Edmondson is the only person in Sweden who uses it. Sami culture is her source of inspiration, especially forher colours.

Monica L EdmondsonA WINTER PERSON WITHA FEELING FOR GLASS

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makingtechnique.

She hot-works, kiln-

forms and grindssmall square bits of glass

called murrini that she makes herself.First she melts down sheets of specially

hardened glass in selected colours into alarge block. The block is drawn out into along cane and then cut into smaller piecesthat look like liquorice allsorts. Murrini isan ancient Italian technique that was usedto make glass look like precious stones. Shethen places these murrini in the patternsand shapes that she wants and melts themdown in the kiln. After that she wheel-cuts,grinds, engraves, etches and polishes theglass before putting it back in the kiln forthe fourth time to bend it into its finalshape.

– It’s a long process, but that’s the way Ilike to work. It takes time and the objectscan talk to me and that way they have a lit-tle more soul, says Monica.

– No two pieces are alike. But somebasic shapes recur – large curved bowls,square curved surfaces, small blown closedvessels that make you want to cup yourhands round them. These vessels remind

one of the encircling shape of a drinkingvessel (like the one Anja Pärson gaveCrown Princess Victoria on her birthday in2004).

A fervent heart

Her Sami origins – especially the brightcolours, perhaps the most easily recogniza-ble feature of her work – are an instinctivesource of inspiration.

– A fervent heart – life itself – amid thewinter space, as she says.

Monica was born and grew up in Gälli-vare. Her father Lasse Larsson was a Samifrom the Lulesami area around the StoraLulevatten lake.

– I have always been aware of my Samibackground, but it isn’t something I go andthink about all the time. May, my mother,is not a Sami, but she always encouragedme to learn sewing and handicraft. I wassurrounded by Sami influences.

– I never thought about becoming anartist. The word didn’t exist for me. ButI’ve always written a great deal and felt theneed to express my feelings and thoughts.And if you feel the need to express your-self, that means you have the artistic urge.Then when I came into contact with glasseverything fell into place.

She has taken part in many prestigiousglass exhibitions all over the world, inVenice, the USA, Japan and, of course, sev-eral times in her second homeland Aus-tralia. She has also had many exhibitions athome, including the exhibition SamiChurch Art in the Ájtte Museum inJokkmokk.

– I think it was a great advantage for meto learn glassmaking in another country. Itwas a good art school with many goodteachers who gave me international con-tacts. This gave me a down-to-earth attitudeto the art world. I am not afraid to applyfor exhibitions. I know you can be accep-ted even if you are unknown, says Moni-ca modestly but very determinedly.

Monica L Edmondson, the glass artist, returned toTärnaby where she used to be a teacher at theSami school. Her studio has a view of Lake Gäutanand the mountains behind. Large curved dishesand bowls are among her favourite pieces.

Contemporary Sami art

Marja Helander’s ironic photograph “Njalah-toaivi” is one of the photographs on show at theUmeå BildMuseum.

Lena Stenberg’s mon-umental installation

“Lavvo” was stagedat the exhibition

“Same Same butDifferent” at the

Umeå BildMu-seum.

BrittaMarakattLabba is anembroidererand well-known Samivisual artist.

The glass bowl ”Blue Yonder, Close at Heart # 2”

With histhought-provoking artand mixture of styles PerEnoksson hascreated a per-sonal meansof expression.This paintingis called “ATaste of Par-adise”.

Photo: Stuart Hay

Photo: MikaelLundgren

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Maria Vinka lives in Älmhult (Ikea’s birthplace)in the forests of Småland, a province in thesouth of Sweden. Her roots are in Västerbot-ten and she grew up in Karlskoga, but nowthe whole world is her workplace. Maria is one of 10 permanent designers at Ikea.

Maria spent all her childhood summers inthe family’s summer house in Tärnaby.There, near Lake Björkvattnet, was thehome of her Sami relatives.

Maria describes the global nature of herdream job.

– Nowadays I spend more time in NewDelhi than in Stockholm. As a designer in alarge transnational company I spend a lotof time travelling. Instead of sending sam-ples between the head office and the pro-ducer countries, designers nowadays go tothe country in person.

All materials

There is no niche or material that she isnot familiar with. She designs everythingfrom furniture, carpets and lamps to flowerpots, cutlery and glasses, from fabrics totoys. Plastics, textiles, glass, china, rattan,wood… you will find Maria Vinka’s nameon all kinds of products.

Maria Vinka– a designer at Ikea withthe world asher workplace

Maria Vinka is a designer at Ikea. She has aSami-inspired tattoo on her elbow and is proudof her Sami origins. Photo: Anna-Stina Lindén Ivarsson

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– After seven years in this business I’vetried almost everything, but I tend toreturn to textiles in the end. Images arewhat I like most. Among her personalfavourites is a textile print called Nean.

– It was about peace and it stood forsomething. It’s been discontinued now,unfortunately. Another favourite of mine isthe Gullholmen rocking chair, partly, per-haps, because it is so popular and has soldso well.

Maria calls it a “rocking chair”, but thesmall chair, woven of banana leaves andwith a narrow handle-like back, is full ofassociations.

– “A grouse”, said dad the first time hesaw it. Other people say it reminds them ofa drinking vessel. And it’s possible that I wasunconsciously influenced by my Sami roots.

Proud of her background

Her great-grandfather was a reindeer-owning Sami, while her grandmother keptmountain cattle. Her father was born inTärnaby, but moved south to Värmland inhis youth and took a job at a sawmill. Hergrandparents moved to inland Västerbottenin the 1960s.

– I have always liked making things withmy hands. My grandparents were my rolemodels. Granny wove fabrics, knittedstockings, crocheted bedspreads, every-thing. Granddad was a carpenter. Theymade everything they needed themselvesand later I realized I could do the same.

– I am proud of my background. Eventhough I’m not a “full-blooded Sami”, I’mnear enough to have the right towear Sami dress, says Maria,and confesses that she stilldoesn’t have a gákti. Butshe would very much liketo have one.

Sami tattooing

She has alreadydesigned a tattoo withSami symbols, a large jagged

circle enclosing Maria’s left elbow.– I looked at some old pattern collec-

tions. This triangular shape is the symbolfor goahti, and this one means a settle-ment, she says pointing at the rather con-spicuous decoration on her slender arm.The tattooer misunderstood some of myinstructions and the lines turned out toothick.

Often, when she feels free to do so, shetries to give her designs a more pronouncedSami look, although you would hardlynotice it yet. But she is working on a new,more conspicuously Samidesign as a tribute to theSami people and all otherindigenous peoples.The Nean textile print is one of Maria’s favourites.

The Gullholmen rockingchair suggests many asso-ciations, such as a grouseor a drinking-vessel.

Sami handicrafts – duodji– are strongly linked tothe Sami way of life.The products were tra-ditionally crafted to

meet the needs of peo-ple in a forest and

mountain environment.The old skills havebeen handed down

from generation to generation and have deeproots and a long tradition in Sami culture.Handicrafts are one of several integral elementsof Sami culture.

Sámi Duodji was founded in 1993 by thenational Sami organizations to promote, supportand develop Sami handicrafts. Its work encom-passes three areas: handicraft and cultural her-itage, business development, and research anddevelopment. Among its aims are to encouragetraining, develop marketing and improve thehandicraft situation. The work of the Founda-tion is funded by grants from the Sami Parlia-

ment Council of Cul-tural Affairs and the NationalSwedish Handicraft Council. The Foundationhas offices all over the country and its headoffice is in Jokkmokk.

The Foundation is also responsible for theDuodji label, which is a trademark for Samihandicrafts. The purpose of the label is toinform buyers that the product is made bySami. It protects handicraft products againstplagiarism and unfair competition. Productsthat are designated souvenirs and do not serveany useful purpose are not labelled.

Sámi Duodji (Sami Handicraft Foundation)

Photo: Ikea

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The history of the Sami language is still amystery in many respects. It is difficult toknow where the language was spoken previ-ously and who the speakers were in contactwith. But there is no doubt that Sami hasbeen spoken in present-day Sápmi for thou-sands of years and that it is quite closelyrelated to Baltic Finnic languages, includingFinnish.

Actually, Sami is not one language, but atleast three: East Sami, which is spoken inthe Kola Peninsula, Central Sami, which isspoken in Finland, Norway and Sweden,and South Sami, which is spoken in Swe-den and Norway. These languages can inturn be divided into dialects. The CentralSami dialects North Sami and Lulesami, aswell as South Sami, are spoken in Sweden.The languages are not always mutuallyintelligible. Linguistic variations over sucha large area are not surprising, especiallysince the language variants have developeddifferently for hundreds and even thou-sands of years.

Hunters from the East

Thousands of years ago speakers of theProto-Sami language were in contact withhunters to the east. Some of the words inmodern-day Sami are related to words inlanguages spoken east of the Urals, e.g.njuolla ‘arrow’, juoksa ‘bow’ and suotna‘tendon’. Some words are only related towords in languages west of the Urals, e.g.goahti ‘Sami dwelling’ and njuovvat ‘slaugh-ter’. These contacts may have taken placeas long ago as 6,000–8,000 years!

The vocabulary of a language can suggestconclusions about contacts with other lan-

guages in the past and also about the way oflife of the speakers, although such conclu-sions are rather uncertain. It may be con-cluded that earlier generations of Sami werein contact with Germanic peoples for thou-sands of years and borrowed words such asbassi ‘sacred’. There are also loanwords fromProto-Nordic that were borrowed duringthe first few centuries AD, e.g. áiru ‘oar’,gáica ‘goat’ and vuostá ‘cheese’. Loanwordslike these in Sami not only give a picture ofthe contacts between the speakers of thedifferent languages, but also of the pronun-ciation of the Nordic words.

Many Sami do not speak the language

There are about 70,000 Sami in Sápmi,and perhaps 20,000 of these have a know-ledge of one of the Sami languages. Most ofthem speak North Sami, maybe 85% of allSami speakers. Most of the Sami speakersin the Kola Peninsula speak Kildin Sami(about 600–800 persons). Skolt Sami andInari Sami are spoken in Finland (by about500 speakers in each case). The number of

North Sami speakers is estimated at16,000–18,000, 5,000–6,000 of whom livein Sweden, 9,000–10,000 in Norway and2,000 in Finland. There are estimated to be600–800 Lulesami speakers, and a similarnumber of South Sami speakers. However,all these figures are uncertain, since no reli-able statistics exist.

The Sami language is highly inflected. Averb like borrat ‘eat’ is inflected for each ofthe persons in the present, e.g. mon boran‘I eat’ and (mii) borrat ‘we eat’. The verbforms are different for each of the persons,in addition to which there are three formsfor the different combinations of two per-sons, e.g. moai borre ‘you and I eat’. Thereare therefore nine verb forms altogether inthe present tense. Since there are also ninedifferent verb forms in the past tense andin the imperative, conditional and potentialmood (the last of these is used to expressuncertainty), each verb may have as manyas 45 different forms.

There is great variety not only in inflec-tions but in other forms. For example, newwords can be formed with the help ofderivative suffixes. For example, startingwith the verb borrat the verbs borastit ‘eata little’, borralit ‘eat fast’, boradit ‘eat for along time’, borahit ‘get a bite to eat’ can beformed. Passive verbs can also be formedby means of such suffixes, e.g. borrojuvvot

It is often said that yoiking is one of the oldestforms of music in Europe. But it has not alwaysbeen appreciated by the powers that be. TheDanish-Norwegian king Christian IV proclaimedin 1609 that those who practised Sami witch-craft, which included yoiking, would be con-demned to death.

Yoiking attracted little attention for manycenturies but there has been a renaissance forin the last few decades, and many young Samiare now becoming aware of their cultural her-itage. The interest in the music of other minori-

ty peoples around the world has probably stim-ulated the revival. Both Sami and non-Samisingers today are renewing the yoik and creat-ing modern music. Mari Boine is one of themost well-known of these singers.

The tune and the lyrics are interwoven in ayoik. You do not yoik about something, you yoiksomething. The subject of the yoik may be amountain, an animal or a person. It may alsodescribe a feeling, joy or sadness. As in theSami language, there are many yoiking dialectsdepending on where the yoiker is from.

Yoik – a way of remembering

The Sami language– a historical mystery

‘be eaten’. Nouns also have many forms,i.e. cases with different endings that areused instead of prepositions to denoteplace or provide other information, e.g.dálus ‘in the house’. Here are some exam-ples of the seven cases: mánnái ‘to thechild’, mánáin ‘with the child’, mánnán ‘asa child’.

The language is well equipped to formnew words with the help of endings. Forexample, a few years ago the word cálan‘printer’ was formed from the verb cállit‘write’.

Rich vocabulary

A language spoken by a people of huntersobviously developed a rich terminology inmatters relating to the weather and terrain.The rich vocabulary in these areas is alsouseful in connection with reindeer hus-bandry. A word like sealli ‘free of snow andhoar-frost’ was useful in connection withthe laying of snares for grouse, for example.Pens used to be set up for the grouse snaresby putting birch or willow twigs in theground and leaving an opening for thesnare. By removing the hoar-frost fromthese pens they enticed the grouse to comeand eat. Grouse look for places that aresealli. The verb seallat means to remove thehoar-frost from trees. There are many dif-ferent words for snow depending on theconditions with respect to skiing, depth,new or old snow and grazing conditions.There are words to describe the snowcover where reindeer have recently grazedin the area or a long time ago. The wordsuovdnji indicates that new holes havebeen made in the snow to graze under-neath while the word ciegar is used in thecase of old holes.

Such distinctions were important notonly in connection with wild reindeer hunt-ing, but also in modern reindeer husbandry.

There are many terms for differenttypes of terrain. The word njoaski means asmall hollow in a ridge, and people are

likely to pass the ridge at that particularspot so that there are paths over the njoas-ki. The large number of words used todescribe the terrain make it possible todescribe routes and destinations very pre-cisely. If the name of a valley ends in –rieh-ppi, this means that it is at the bottom ofthe valley and inaccessible, which means inturn that reindeer that have gone into itmust return the same way.

Crucial importance

A knowledge of the terms used for weatherand terrain conditions is important and

perhaps of crucial importance to peoplewho live close to nature in varying condi-tions.

As times change, new Sami words arefound for new phenomena, just as in otherlanguages. Thousands of new Sami wordshave been invented in the last few decadeswith the help of derivative suffixes, neolo-gisms or loans, for example dihtor ‘comput-er’, dáidda ‘art’, girjerádju ‘library’ andinterneahtta ‘Internet’.

Mikael Svonni, Professor, Departmentof Sami Studies, Umeå University

East Sami area

South Sami area

Central Sami area(Lulesami and North Sami)

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The Sami examples quoted inthis article are all in North Sami.

Sami theatreIt is possible to see theatrical performances with Sami actorsspeaking in Sami in several parts of Sápmi. Like other theatretraditions, Sami theatre is developing dramatic art in variousways. Its performances help to spread and strengthen the Samilanguage and culture. Both Hamlet and Macbeth have beenperformed in the Sami language.

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I grew up in Vallenäs, which is in the Tärnamountains in Västerbotten. I spent my firstfew school years in the Sami school in Tärn-aby. The schoolchildren were from thewhole of Västerbotten, some from reindeer-herding families and some not, and fromother parts of Sápmi. The school subjectswere largely the same as in the municipalschool except for Sami language and Samihandicrafts. Since hardly anybody speaksSami where I come from, we hardly everheard Sami spoken. True, we sang songs inSami sometimes and we performed parts ofplays in Sami, but that was all.

I can’t remember ever thinking that thismade me less Sami than other people.Hardly anyone thought it strange that Icould not speak Sami although I grew upin a reindeer-herding family. Hardly anyoneelse could speak Sami either.

Changed to North Sami

My first encounter with the Sami languagewas when I moved to Jokkmokk at the ageof 16 to study handicrafts at the Sami Edu-cation Centre. Of course I knew that therewere students there who spoke Sami, but Ididn’t give it much thought.

At first I studied South Sami, but I soonrealized that this form of Sami was not atop priority. I needed the support of ateacher for more than the two weeks aterm that was offered to those of us whostudied South Sami. So I decided to study

North Sami instead. My own Sami dialectwould have been South Sami, or Umesamias they call it, but I thought North Samiwould be better than no Sami at all.

For almost four years I studied NorthSami for beginners and became more andmore interested in learning more. Thebiggest difference compared with Sami lan-guage teaching at the Sami school was thatI heard the language around me all thetime both at school and in my spare time.This made it much easier to understandwhy I needed to learn the language. I thinkit is just as hard to motivate yourself tolearn algebra as it is to learn a new lan-guage if you cannot see that it is alive andmay be useful to you.

No simple language journey

By the time I had finished studying atJokkmokk I had decided that I wanted tolearn Sami, although I knew it would taketime.

The most difficult thing about Sami isthat you cannot go abroad and take a lan-guage course, as you might go to Englandand just inhale the language for a year. It ismuch more difficult with Sami. True, thereare places like Kautokeino and Karasjok inNorway where you can hear the languageevery day, but there are no language cours-es you can sign up for and it is definitelynot easy to get a job as an au pair.

I’d already been thinking about becom-

ing a journalist. In that case the obviousthing to do would be to try to get a job inthe Sami media, and this would fit in wellwith my plans to learn the Sami language.I thought of the language as something thatwould help me to get the kind of job that Iwanted.

Many people I talked to were pes-

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Imagine moving to a place where you don’t know anybody. And you cannot talk to the people either, because they speak a completely dif-ferent language. Perhaps you can understand what I felt when I arrived in Kautokeino in northern Norway five years ago to learn Sami, myown language. The strange thing about Kautokeino was that we were all Sami and we all found it extremely difficult to understand eachother although we were brought up in a Sami environment with Sami culture. This was the beginning of the most difficult journey in my life.

Jenny Israelsson went to Kautokeino in the northof Norway to learn her own language – Sami.

Learning your own language

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simistic and of course they often told mehow difficult it was to learn Sami. Some-one said she had studied Sami for 10 yearsand still could not speak the language flu-ently. I cannot say that really frightened meoff. And I didn’t need to learn the languageto confirm my identity, like many otherpeople. I regarded it as a part of my educa-tion, something I needed to make mydreams come true.

Did not understood a word

So one fine autumn day, having plucked upcourage and bought a map of the area, Iwent north. I knew roughly where I wasgoing, but I had no idea what it would belike. I and another girl who had beenadmitted to the same course had packedthe car and were on our way to Tanabru innorthern Norway to study Sami.

If I had known when I started off whathard work it would be, I would probablynever have gone. I understood absolutelynothing, and everybody talked Sami, all thelessons were in Sami and all our assign-ments had to be done in Sami. Many atime I thought of giving up. What’s thepoint of taking a course that is too difficultfor you? What’s the point of studying foran exam when you know from the startthat you’re not going to understand thequestions, let alone pass it? It was not easyto find answers, but I was stubborn. Aftersix months and exam papers that I couldnot understand my appetite was whetted.I would learn. And now I have!

Many people I know have studied Sami,but few of them speak the language. I’mnot quite sure why this is, but I think it isoften because of a mental barrier that pre-vents them talking. They think everyonewill start laughing if they make mistakes.They don’t realize what fun it is to learn acompletely new language! I thought of thelanguage as something that would help meto learn new things, to make friends andlearn more about our Sami society.

I felt left out

When I went to Kautokeino and Tanabru itwas the first time anyone asked why I did notknow Sami. It was also the first time I felt theneed to know the language and felt left out.

Feeling left out in the communityyou’re supposed to belong to was awful. Tostart with, everything seemed hopeless andeverything sounded like Greek, but withthe help of friends who never gave up andwent on talking although I didn’t under-stand what they were saying I learnedmore and more of this incredibly difficultlanguage. To start with, I didn’t dare tospeak, but with the help of a family whereI worked and their Sami-speaking childrenit did not take long before I started speak-ing the language.

It is a very special feeling when yourealize that you have mastered a language.You understand the songs you sang as achild, you understand what they’re sayingon the radio and you start to understandthe society you are living in. Only after-

wards did I realize what a privilege it is tobe able to understand and speak Sami.

As a South Sami you live in the Samicommunity, but you’re still an outsider. ForNorth Sami speakers the language is morealive and most of what happens in ourcommunity is reported in North Sami. Ifyou don’t know the language you miss agreat deal.

Light at the end of the tunnel

I have sadly given up my own language andlearned another one. But I now realize Iwould never have experienced the samechange if I had opted for South Sami.

Sometimes I feel really depressed and Ihave mixed feelings about the language,but the positive change in my life is like alight at the end of the tunnel. It is nevertoo late to learn something new. Whoknows, perhaps I will learn my own lan-guage – South Sami – one day?

Jenny Israelsson

Gollegiella, the Nordic Sami language prize,was awarded for the first time in 2004. Theprize, which is worth NOK 100,000, wasshared between Ella Holm Bull for years ofuntiring efforts to preserve and develop theSouth Sami language and Anaraskiela servi(the Society for the Inari Sami Language) for itsdedicated and successful language vitalizationefforts.

The prize was instituted by the Ministers forSami Affairs and presidents of the Sami parlia-ments in Norway, Finland and Sweden. Itsobject is to promote, develop and preserve theSami language.

The prize is awarded biennially to individu-als or organizations that have done valuablework to promote the Sami language.

– The prize plays an important part in stim-ulating efforts to promote the Sami language,says Professor Mikael Svonni, Umeå Universi-

ty, who is the Swedish government’s represen-tative on the assessment committee. It shouldalso encourage the use of Sami in society, andit is the use of a language that assures itsfuture.

Sami language prize

Ella Holm Bull and Matti Morottaja, chairman ofAnaraskiela servi, received the 2004 languageprize.

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When 8-year-old Lisa Kråik’s best friend wasgiven Finnish lessons she wondered whyshe couldn’t learn her mother tongue, Sami.But there were no resources for that in herhome town in the 1970s.

– I was very angry, but I accepted it asnothing could be done about it.

To her surprise, things have not changed

much since then although Sami now hasthe status of a national minority languageand according to the Compulsory SchoolOrdinance Sami pupils must be offeredmother-tongue education even if Sami isnot used at home on an everyday basis.

– I wanted my three children to havemother tongue education and I found ateacher. The headteacher thought it sound-

ed OK, but after discussing it with themunicipality she said no.

Many objections

Today Lisa Kråik lives outside Norrtäljeand, like many other Sami parents aroundthe country she is fighting for Sami teach-ing for her children. First the municipalitysaid the fee asked by the teacher was much

Mother-tongue education – a right for the few

Alexander, Ida and Simon Kråik are proud of their origins and would like to be able to speak Sami with their relatives.

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too high, although it was normal for theteacher’s qualifications. The next objectionwas that Lisa did not speak Sami with herchildren and should have a better knowl-edge of the language herself.

– But how could I when the state hasdeprived us of our language for two genera-tions? It’s not my fault that people wereashamed of being Sami. My mother’s gener-ation were put in the corner if they spokeSami. She was sent to a boarding school inJämtland where the Sami children weremade to feel ashamed of their origins. Theyused to be called “bloody Lapps”.

But Lisa was proud of her origins and

didn’t mind being called “Lapp Lisa” whenshe went to school in her large Sami bon-net. In the summer she used to stay withher relatives in Tjallingen in southern Jämt-land and learned more about Sami culture.

– To me it’s extremely important thatthe language survives, especially SouthSami which is dying out. My cousins havemarried Sami and speak the language athome. Why shouldn’t my children be ableto understand their own relatives?

The question of mother-tongue educa-tion for the children has been examined bythe National Agency for Education, whichcriticized Norrtälje municipality for notarranging a proper test of the children’sproficiency. But no such test has beenmade, and the municipality still insists thatLisa and her husband should speak Sami athome.

– The municipality has really behavedvery badly. Instead of being proud of hav-ing Sami here, they do everything to keepus back.

Studying on their own

Alexander is 16, Ida 14 and Simon 8, andat present they are at three differentschools. When their parents starteddemanding mother-tongue education forthem they went to the same school.

– They’ve started studying on their own

and they’re cleverer than me. But theyneed help from a teacher.

Lisa says that it is important for thechildren to learn about their Sami heritage.They have a right to feel like Sami, but it isup to them to decide whether or not theywant to adopt the Sami culture.

– My mother’s generation never had thatoption. It’s important to understand theculture so that you can understand yourself.It’s not about owning reindeer. It’s morelike a feeling. Am I Swedish? Yes and no.I want my children to be able to choose.

No one can say how the dispute willend, but the Sami flag is still flying outsidethe Kråiks’ house and before it is over theymay well finish building the goahti in thegarden so that they can smoke fish andmeat.

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Lisa Kråik thinks everyone should be entitled tomother-tongue education.

In 2000, Parliament declared Sami a nation-al minority language in Sweden. Later thatyear the Sami were given the right in somemunicipalities in Norrbotten county to usetheir language in communications withadministrative authorities and the courts.They also have the right to use Sami in con-nection with pre-school education and elder-ly care.

All school pupils with a mother tongueother than Swedish are entitled to study theirmother tongue both at compulsory school

and upper secondary school, provided thatthey use the language on a daily basis withat least one parent or guardian. Mother-tongue education is optional for the pupils,but the municipality is required to arrange itif there are at least five pupils in the munici-pality who want such education.

Sami pupils are entitled to mother-tongueeducation even if they do not use Sami on adaily basis. The municipality must arrangesuch teaching even if there are less than fivepupils in the municipality who want it.

National minority language

The Sami Library, which is located in thesame building as the Ájtte library inJokkmokk, has a large collection of literaturein Sami, as well as literature about the Samiand Sami affairs.

Anyone who is interested can borrowbooks directly from the library or through theLibris inter-library loan service.

The Sami Library not only has non-fiction,but also works of fiction by Sami writers.There are a number of Sami writers writingin Swedish or Norwegian, or whose bookshave been translated, for example:

Nils-Aslak ValkeapääAndreas LabbaHarald GaskiJohan TuriRose-Marie Huuva Rauni Magga Lukkari

The Sami Library

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Snow that will barely hold a person, snowwith a hard, rugged crust and light, fluffysnow are some of the hundreds of types ofsnow for which Sami words exist.

Yngve Ryd and the reindeer herder JohanRassa have described the many words inLulesami for types of snow in their bookSnow. “Snow is a big subject that includes

snowfall, the thickness of snow cover andsnowmelt. Snow ages and changes duringthe winter, which affects its consistency,bearing capacity and skiing properties”,writes Yngve Ryd. “Snow also occurs in dif-ferent contexts, which is reflected in thelanguage. Snow words used in connectionwith skiing and reindeer grazing are differ-ent, even though the snow is the same”.

Vahtsa. One or two inches of new snowon top of old snow. If the new snow iswatery, other words, such as slahtte, areused.

Slabttse. Falling rain mixed with snow. Iflying on the ground it is called släbtsádah-ka or simply släbsát. As long as släbsát isuntouched it is white, but the moment aperson or animal walks on it the watercomes to the surface and it darkens.

Skilltje, bulltje and tjilvve are used aboutlumps of snow and ice that becomeattached to objects, reindeer moss andtrees. Large lumps of snow that stick to ahouse are nearly always called bulltje.

Åppås is virgin snow without any tracks.The word is used mainly when reindeer arelooking for pasture. Where the absence ofreindeer tracks shows that no reindeer havebeen grazing, people say: “It’s åppås”.

A language with infinite variation

Vahtsa

SläbsátÅppås

Bulltje

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Many modern-day Sami sports mirror Samilife in former times, but new influences havealso made an impact.

There are annual reindeer herding conteststhat test the participants’ skill in handlinglassos, rifles and skis. Reindeer sled racesare increasingly popular in northern Sápmi.Cross-country and track running, downhillskiing and floorball are also well-estab-lished. After skiing, football is the mostpopular sport in Sápmi. There is a SwedishSami Sports Association and a Sami Foot-ball Association.

In the summer of 2004 Sápmi played itsfirst friendly football match against North-ern Cyprus in Tromsø in Norwegian Sápmi.

The match ended in a 1–1 draw, which wasa symbolic victory for friendship and soli-darity. The Sami also take part in the Arc-tic Winter Games, a new internationalsporting event for provinces, autonomousdistricts, territories and minority nations inthe circumpolar region.

Sami skiers were pioneers

The Sami may be said to have laid thefoundation for the modern sport of skiing.The first ski races in Sweden were organ-ized towards the end of the 19th century.Sami skiers were often successful partici-pants. The first major, well-known andproperly organized ski event in the worldwas probably the Nordenskiöld Race in1884, which started and finished inJokkmokk. The race was longer than a dou-ble Vasa Ski Race, i.e. 220 km. It all startedwith an unsuccessful polar expedition toGreenland the year before. The Norden-skiöld Race dispelled any doubts about theability of Sami skiers.

Never-ending Greenland ice

A.E. Nordenskiöld prepared an expeditionin 1883 to find out whether Greenlandwas completely covered with ice. Pavva

Lasse Tuorda and Anders Rassa fromJokkmokk were two Sami members of theexpedition who were well-known for theirskiing stamina. After travelling across theice for 30 days the expedition was runningout of provisions and strength. The expedi-tion decide to return, but before startingfor home Nordenskiöld wanted to makeone last attempt. Rassa and Tuorda wereasked to ski as far as the edge of the ice, ifpossible. They left the camp and set off ata brisk pace. By the time they had returnedthey had gone 460 km in 57 hours. Animpressive performance, but there weremany doubters when the expeditionreturned to Sweden.

The race proved it

A.E. Nordenskiöld therefore arranged arace to prove that Rassa and Tuorda weretelling the truth. The race was held on 3April 1884. Some of the skiers gave upafter a mere 10 km. At the halfway markin Kvikkjokk, a stone’s throw from theBear Mountain, Per Olof Länta and PavvaLasse Tuorda were in the lead. The homelap went just as fast. After 220 km PavvaLasse Tuorda won with a time of 21 hours,22 minutes, which proved once and for allthat the Sami were very good skiers.

Pavva Lasse Tuorda and Anders Rassareceived medals from the King for theirachievement. The Society for the Promo-tion of Ski Sport (established in 1892 andlater renamed the Association for the Pro-motion of Outdoor Life) included a Samiskier in its logotype. The Society erected amonument in honour of the Sami for hav-ing popularized skiing and as a “reminderof the debt of gratitude that Swedish skiersowe to their Sami brothers”.

Håkan Kuorak, Vice-Presidentof the Sami Football Association

Sport intertwined with history

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Reindeer sled races are becoming increasinglypopular.

Aslak Sokki (left) scored a goal for Sápmi in thefriendly match against North Cyprus.

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The last two weeks have been hectic, whatwith studying, listening to the pastor and –most important of all – hanging out with allmy new friends. We’ve hardly slept a winkin the last day or two here in Jokkmokk.

Henrik Israelsson does look rather sleepysitting among his fellow confirmation can-didates and listening to the last sermon.

New friends

– I can’t understand why I remember so lit-tle about the word of God and the lessons.That part is a bit hazy to tell you the truth,says Henrik.

But he has other memories for life. Formany years now confirmation camps lasting

a couple of weeks have been arranged forSami boys and girls by Sáminuorra (SamiYouth Organization). The confirmationcandidates are from Idre in the south toKaresuando in the north, and from north-ern Norway too. Many young Sami lookforward to the camp. It is their first chanceto meet other Sami of their own age andmake new friends, sometimes for life.

– I was awfully nervous at first and I justwanted to get it over and done with, butbefore long we became close friends andwere having a great time, says Henrik.

A huge tent

On the last day there was a beautiful serv-ice in a huge tent. Somehow the servicewas not churchy and solemn as you wouldexpect. One after the other they went for-ward and took communion and sat downrelieved. Then they filed out into the sun-

light and the worst part, the farewells.Tears and hugs and red-eyed questions –You will keep in touch, won’t you?

– We formed a large circle. No onewanted to part or go home. It was reallytragic, Henrik remembers.

At last the youngsters moved, the close-knit band of friends dispersed, jumped intocars, waved cheerfully and spread to allcorners of Sápmi.

– As soon as we got home we startedphoning each other and text messaging, sowe still keep in touch.

Sami confirmation campThe confirmation camp is attended by Sami youngsters from all over Sweden who often make lifelong friends there. Group photograph of the2004 confirmation candidates.

Henrik Israelsson having his photograph taken. Allthe boys and girls had their portrait taken that day.

Photo: Jan Gustavsson

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Henrik is one of the 48 young Sami to takepart in the traditional Sami confirmationcamp. They are all in their early teens,Henrik is 15.

Nowadays, religion is no more or less impor-tant to the Sami than to everyone else inSweden. But there was a time when religionplayed a much more dramatic role in Samiculture.

Before they were converted to Christianitythe Sami had their own beliefs. Since allliving things had a soul, human beingsmust live in harmony with nature. TheSami performed special rites to ensure ben-eficial interaction with nature.

Their cosmos was divided into threespheres: the underworld, the real world andthe celestial world. All three worlds hadtheir own gods and spirits. Human beingsand animals inhabited the earthly worldand the dead inhabited the underworld.

Shamans and ceremonial drums

Men’s rites had to do with hunting and fish-ing and the weather and women’s withhome and family. The shaman (noaidi)

played a key role in religious cere-monies as a mediator between

people and the gods. The cere-monial drum helped the

noaidi to make contactwith the gods. The

sound of the drumhelped him totransport himselfin a trance to thecelestial world,the kingdom ofthe dead or far-away coun-tries wherehe could

experience

and later tell people about things theycould not see. The noaidi was also a seer,doctor, healer and herbal expert.

In some areas all families had a ceremo-nial drum that helped them to foretell thefuture. The Christian missionaries regardedthe noaidis’ contacts with spirits as com-munion with the devil.

Certain natural phenomena, such asunusual stones, rocks or other formations,were regarded as religious centres of forceand sacred areas. They were places visitedby the supernatural and were chosen assacrificial sites. Special stones and woodenfigures, sieidi, were placed on these sites.Animals, especially reindeer, were sacrificedthere and the sieidi were smeared with theblood and fat of the sacrificed animal.

Sacred bears

The pre-Christian Sami believed that bearswere sacred. It was wise to be on goodterms with bears since they were possessedby mighty spirits. Many rites were per-formed to neutralize this force and placateand revere the spirit of the bear. Bears wereeaten, and after the meal their bones wereburied in the same order as on the livebody. This was done to conciliate the bearso that it would not take revenge.

Forced Christianization

The first efforts to convert and teach theSami were closely related to the objectiveof integrating them into Sweden. Churcheswere built and schools started in Laplandin the early17th century.

This created an urgent need for Sami-speaking pastors and parish clerks. In 1632Skytteanska Skolan in Lyckselse becamethe first school in which selected Samiboys were taught reading and Christianity.

In 1685 the state decided to Christian-

ize the Sami by force and idolatry trialswere held at courts set up in all Lapp-marks. The shamans’ drums were to beburned. Disobedience was to be punishedby “flogging against the courthouse wall” orrunning the gauntlet. Cult images (sieidi)and sacrificial sites were destroyed, andsacred Sami sites were desecrated.

In 1723 a decision was taken to buildschools beside the Lapland churches. Theywere small boarding schools, and theCrown paid for board and lodging for sixpupils at each school. The pupils normallyspent two years at school studying readingand Christianity.

Laestadius had Sami ancestry

The Laestadian revivalist movementreached Sápmi in the 19th century. LarsLevi Laestadius was appointed pastor ofKaresuando, Sweden’s most northerlyparish, in 1826. He had Sami ancestry onhis mother’s side and grew up in a Samienvironment. Laestadius taught the Christ-ian gospel in a new way and referred to pre-Christian Sami religion in his preaching.

Drums were used to foretell the future. In themiddle is the sun, surrounded by images ofobjects and people, as well as gods and spiritsthat the person or family that owned the drumconsidered particularly important.

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Religion interacting with nature

The picture of the noaidi with his drum is from Professor Johannes Schefferus’s book Lapponia, published in 1673.

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Sara Omma’s mother is from the southernprovince of Småland and her father is areindeer herder. But she thinks it is simplerfor a Sami to live in Kautokeino, Norway.

It is a Sunday morning in September andSara Omma is spending a long weekend inher family’s red house in Gällivare. Likemany other people of her age she is study-ing, but instead of taking the plane southshe journeyed by car to the Sami Universi-ty College 350 km north of Gällivare.

– I could have chosen to study journal-ism in Sundsvall, but I chose Kautokeinoinstead. There I don’t have to explain whoI am and I can use my own language, shesays.

Kautokeino is one of two municipalitiesin northern Norway where the Sami are ina majority. There, unlike Gällivare, you canspeak Sami both in cafés and banks. Fluen-cy in Sami is a requirement for admissionto the University College, although Saraalmost lost her language.

Half Sami, half Swedish

Gällivare is one of six towns in Swedenwhere Sami children can go to a Samischool for their first six school years. But

Sara Omma dreams of becoming a reindeer herder, but is studying to be a journalist so as to have a goodeducation to fall back on if her reindeer herding dreams do not materialize.

Sara takes the future into her own hands

Youth organizationsSáminuorra is a Sami youth organization in Swe-den. It seeks to promote the economic, social,cultural, legal and administrative interests of Samiyouth with special reference to Sami occupations.It has several local branches in different parts ofSweden.

Infonuorra Sápmi is a public information servicefor Sami youth in Sápmi. The purpose of the cen-tre is to provide information about education,work, culture and recreation, rights and societyso as to enable Sami youth to make choices on

the basis of their own language and cultural iden-tity. It has an office in Bodø, Norway, and a web-site.

DoajmmaSiebrre Julev-sábme (DSJ) is a nation-wide organization for young Sami in NorwegianSápmi. The aim of the organization is to promoteSami language, identity and culture.

Suoma Sámi Nuorat (SSN) is a Sami youthorganization in Finland. Its purpose is to strength-en the identity of Sami youth and their knowledgeof their own culture. It seeks to increase contacts

between Sami youth in Finland and other coun-tries and to increase the use of the Sami lan-guage and support Sami culture.

Meeting-places for Sami youthApart from organizations such as those men-tioned here, many events are arranged in differ-ent parts of Sápmi at various times of the yearthat provide meeting-places for Sami youth. Hereare some examples.

Riddu Riddu A large indigenous peoples festivalin Olmmáivággi, Kåfjord, Norway. Indigenous

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artists from all over the world give performanceseach day of the festival.

All Saints Cup An indoor football championshipfor teams of all ages from different parts of Sápmi.The championship is held in Gällivare, wheredancing and a “pub evening” are also arrangedfor the grownups.

The Sami Cup Perhaps the biggest football tour-nament for teams from the whole of Sápmi.Matches in various Sápmi venues.

Márkomeannu Festival Mostly Sami artists fromthe whole of Sápmi. Held in the area betweenHarstad and Narvik in Norwegian Sápmi.

Swedish Sami championships These champion-ships are arranged in various venues in Sápmi.Lasso-throwing contests and races in the summer,skiing in the winter.

South Sami Cup A football tournament held insouthern Sápmi for teams from Sweden and Nor-way.

Easter in Kautokeino The Sami Grand Prix is heldduring the Easter holiday – the Sami equivalent ofthe Eurovision Song Contest. There are also con-certs, reindeer sled races and snowmobile crossraces.

The Jokkmokk Winter Fair Held on the first week-end in February. The Fair is an opportunity tomeet people, enjoy yourself and experience artand culture. The origins of the Fair go back to the16th century, when it was a centre for tradebetween Sami, traders and other visitors. TheFair’s 400th anniversary was celebrated in 2005.

going to a Sami school does not necessarilymean that you speak Sami.

– Although my mother is from SmålandI think she’s more Sami than many Samipeople I know. But this fact did mean thatSami was not my mother tongue and Ilearned Sami from my father, says Sara.

Many of the children in the Sami schoolwere in the same boat as Sara. Several ofthem had one Sami parent and oneSwedish parent.

– We spoke Swedish in between lessonsso that everyone would understand, saysSara.

Although she has studied Sami afterSami school, Sara says that she still does nothave a perfect command of the language,but at least she is not afraid to speak it,unlike some of her friends. Sara thinks this isbecause they are afraid of being corrected.

– There is a counterproductive tendencyamong the Sami to give people who do notspeak perfect Sami a hard time. But ofcourse there are others who encourage youfor trying and accept the fact that yousometimes make mistakes.

Wants to be a reindeer herder

Sara’s father is a reindeer herder in Sörkai-tum sameby, which extends from Gällivareto the Norwegian border north of Sarek.Sara wants to follow in his footsteps.

– The Sami language and reindeer hus-bandry are at the core of my Sami identity.I wish things were as they used to be, whenyou could spend weeks on end in the rein-deer forest, but to make both ends meetnowadays you have to have a regularincome on the side.

That is why she decided to study tobecome a journalist.

Disappointed with the Sami Parliament

Reindeer-herding Sami are in a minority.Sara Omma thinks it is important, if rein-deer herding is to survive, to have partiesin the Sami Parliament that are involved inreindeer husbandry issues. That is why shejoined the Reindeer Owners Associationparty.

– I have always committed myself, evenas a little girl. I have always had opinionsand wanted to change things and informpeople, says Sara Omma, who is notimpressed by the Sami Parliament.

– I was disappointed when I realizedthat the Parliament doesn’t have much sayreally. It is after all a central governmentagency, and I think it is mostly there tomake the government look good. The gov-ernment still takes most of the decisions.

The Reindeer Husbandry Act dividesthe Sami into two camps. Sami who ownreindeer and are members of a sameby are

entitled to pursue reindeer husbandry,hunting and fishing in the designated areas,while other Sami do not have these rights.

– This division of the Sami makes it diffi-cult for the Sami Parliament to get any-where because of all the conflicts of interest.Putting reindeer-owning Sami and otherSami on different sides is asking for trouble.

– But the Sami Parliament is still young.I hope and believe that it will start workingproperly in the near future.

Together for the future

Sara Omma is also a member of Sáminuor-ra (Sami Youth Organization), which shetries to influence together with otheryoung Sami. Although she has only beenon the board for a few months, Sara saysthis job suits her down to the ground.

– It’s terrific trying to do somethingtogether to make life better for young Samipeople, says Sara who has great plans forthe future including demonstrations inStockholm and changes in the school cur-riculum.

– I’d like to change the curriculum sothat all Swedish schoolchildren learn moreabout the Sami. If people knew moreabout the Sami and reindeer herders theywould understand the Sami way of life bet-ter and accept it. That’s important, saysSara.

– Perhaps Sweden has never come to termswith its colonial past because the Swedishbrand of colonialism was never as brutal asthat in Norway, says the Sami politicianLars-Anders Baer. Here the policy towardsthe “Lapps” was more paternalistic. As aresult, the structures that were createdthen are still in place.

– There was never any reappraisal, theissues were never discussed. The big questionmarks about land and water management

remain since the Sami were not consideredcompetent to manage land and water.

Bureaucrats and politicians today do notknow what happened a hundred years ago.But in Norway everything came to a headin connection with the protests against theAlta hydropower project in the early1980s.

– We in Sweden never went that far, andpoliticians and the public never had toaddress the past. Compared with other sec-tors, therefore, the Sami question is still anon-issue in Sweden in the sense that it isnot integrated into other policy areas,explains Lars-Anders Baer.

– Our existence must be recognized inpolitics and Sami issues must be integratedinto politics at all levels.

Lars-Anders Baer does not want tobreak free from Sweden and establish anindependent Sápmi.

– The Sami live in four countries, andthere is sometimes talk of creating a stateof our own. But nation-states are going outof fashion. What we need to do instead isto open up the borders. We are demanding,more and more specifically, the right tomanage our own affairs. Lars-Anders Baerspecifies the areas in which most Samiswant autonomy.School education Good cooperation onSami schools and with municipalities.The Sami language The Sami language is rec-ognized as an official language in the north-ern counties, but progress is slow. It used tobe an official language in the 17th and 18thcenturies and much of the 19th century.When Sweden was a great power no oneminded people speaking Sami, but after1809 Sweden was cut down to size. Weshould restore the situation that existedbefore colonization left the Sami in the cold.Culture The culture situation is satisfactory.In the 1960s an MP said that when twocultures meet, the stronger one wins. Butnow there is a new attitude to Sami cul-ture although many people still have a stat-ic approach and cannot realize that, likeother cultures, it changes with the times.Resource management The most importantissue is resource management and owner-ship. Given the paternalistic attitude thatprevailed during the colonial era, the Samiwere not considered capable of managingresources. Our opposite number is centralgovernment. I don’t think anything can bedone about the pioneers who were givenour land. You can’t turn the clock back.But a lot of land is not owned by anybody.The Sami don’t have a title to this land,nor does the state. So it’s the same for bothsides.

Lars-Anders Baer does not consider itfeasible to take the government to court. Itwas not the courts that put an end to

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Lars-Anders Baer during a plenary assembly of the Sami Parliament.

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The land of the Sami was colonized forhundreds of years. Pioneers settled andtilled the land and the state took its riches.But Sweden has never come to terms withthis period in its history. Its colonial policywas never that blatant.

Time to open thedoor to a new era

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apartheid in South Africa, but the politicalsystem, he says. In Canada, for example,the Inuit – the indigenous people – havesucceeded in acquiring land rights throughnegotiations.

– The important thing is information.Not enough people in Sweden realize thatthe Sami are not a threat. We’re not aboutto fence the land in, after all we belong tothe state of Sweden too.

An important step for the Sami is thefact that the draft EU Constitution recog-nizes them as a people. Indeed, it hassometimes been easier to gain a hearing inBrussels than in Stockholm, says Lars-Anders Baer.

– Most of the other member states haveexperience of a colonial past and know whatit means. And we are a unique group in theEU since we are Europe’s only indigenouspeople.

By and large, Baer thinks that globaliza-tion benefits the Sami. The EU NorthernDimension speaks of the inherent right ofthe Sami to self-determination.

– We don’t worry whether the EU is

good or bad for Sweden, but whether it isgood or bad for us. And the EU has beengood for us. Membership has improved theprospects of a dialogue in the North. It hasboosted integration, and there is now acompletely different kind of cooperationbetween municipalities and county admin-istrative boards.

He thinks that the regional policy trendin Sweden is good for the Sami too.

– Previously, the general view was thatthe Sami should stick to herding reindeer.But things have changed as policies forsparsely populated areas have changed. Thegeneral exodus from such areas gives theSami a chance. It makes Sami society morevisible. We can help to maintain employ-ment levels and levels of economic activity.

Dependence on the state

In Norway, Sami are more likely to returnhome after graduating from university thanother Norwegians. Lars-Anders Baerbelieves the situation is similar in Sweden.

– We need even more well-educatedpeople to manage our self-determinationthan Swedish society does.

The fall of Communism led to détentein Europe’s Arctic region. Besides, substan-tial oil and gas deposits are now beingextracted in the Sami areas of Norway andRussia. In Russia the Nenets receive a per-centage of the revenues from the oilextracted in their areas.

– It is important for us in Sweden tohave a source of income too. We are verydependent on government funding forthings like the Sami Parliament since we donot have a tax base. We need income ofour own, perhaps in the form of a percent-age of the revenues from natural resourceexploitation. If the Sami were allowed toadminister hunting and fishing, we wouldbe able to exercise better control andimprove our cash flow too.

– It would be better for the region if wehad our own administration and revenuebase so that we could make the Sami sys-tem work. We could create an economicand cultural growth area. It has happenedin other areas where indigenous people liveand it could happen here too. Our strait-jacket has made it impossible to exploitour full potential.

The Sami ParliamentAs an indigenous people who lived here along time before today’s national bound-aries and countries existed the status of theSami differs from that of other minorities inSweden.

The Sami Parliament was set up by Actof Parliament in 1993 in recognition of thefact that the Sami are a separate people.This has made it easier for the Sami to maketheir voices heard and given them a say incommunity planning. The Sami Parliamenthas decision-making powers on a number ofdifferent matters for exam-ple culture, language andschools. It is elected bythe Sami in general elec-tions every four yearsand consists of 31 mem-bers. About 7,800 Sami inSweden are registered inthe electoral roll.

– Our existence must be recognized in politicsand Sami issues must

be integrated into politics at all levels.

Lars-Anders Baer is an active politician in theSami Parliament.

Apology by the governmentIn 1998 the Swedish government apologizedto the Sami people for Sweden’s oppressionof the Sami. The refusal to let the Sami usetheir own language and forcible displace-ments of Sami groups were mentioned asexamples of such oppression.

Today, there is a closer dialogue with theSami Parliament and other bodies in orderto build openness and agreement. Regularmeetings take place between the govern-ment and Sami representatives. The ques-tion of increasing Sami self-determination,for example by transferring new tasks to theSami Parliament, is at the top of the agenda.

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SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING ...

Beach, Hugh. A year in Lapland: guest of the reindeer herders. University of Washington Press, 2001. – xiii, 242 p. ISBN 0-295-98037-0. An excellent introduction to the life of Sami reindeer herders, with a new Afterword.

Borchert, Nanna. 2001, Land is Life: Traditional Saami Reindeer Grazing Threatened in Northern Sweden. Ed. Kenyon Fields. 2001. Available as a PDF file: http://www.oloft.com/landislife.pdfStarting with an excellent brief introduction to Sami reindeer herding past and present, it presents the Sami casefor a solution to the legal actions brought against Sami reindeerherding communities by private landowners.

Hætta, Odd Mathis. The Ancient Religion and Folk-Beliefs of the Sámi. Alta Museum. 1994. 42 p.(Alta Museum pamphlets, ISSN 0805-9101). ISBN 82-7784-004-7.

Hætta, Odd Mathis. The Sami: an Indigenous People of the Arctic. Karasjok. Davvi Girji, 1993. 79 p.

Kuoljok, Sunna, John E. Utsi. The Saami: People of the Sun and Wind. Ájtte, 1993. 59 p.

Manker, Ernst. People of Eight Seasons. Stockholm. Wahlström & Widstand, pr.1972. 214 p. ISBN 91-46-19958-6. Richly illustrated “classic”.

Pettersson, R. 2004. Sami Tourism in Northern Sweden. Etour, Östersund–Umeå.

Valkeapää, Nils-Aslak. Greetings from Lappland: the Sami – Europe’s Forgotten People. Translated by BeverleyWahl. London. Zed Press, 1983. 128 p.

... AND SURFING

www.samer.seInformation portal of the National Sami Information Centre. Will contain pages in English.

www.sametinget.seSwedish Sami Parliament website. Information about current Sami issues and politics; links to the Sami Parlia-ments in Norway and Finland, Sami organizations in Sápmi and relevant international organizations.

www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/index.htmlWebsite of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

www.utexas.edu/courses/samiThe large number of articles offered at this Texas University site represent an encyclopaedia in miniature ofSami history, pre-Christian religion, livelihood, culture, literature and thinking.

www.samitour.no Concise briefing on a wide range of Sami topics based on Hætta, The Sami: an Indigenous People of the Arctic (see above) from a Norwegian Sápmi angle.

www.somban.com A well-made yoik site. Includes 14 full-length yoiks in MP3 format that can be listened toonline or downloaded.

The Sami – an Indigenous People in SwedenProject management: Karin Kvarfordt, Nils-HenrikSikku and Michael Teilus in cooperation with theNational Sami Information Centre, which is attachedto the Sami Parliament.

Design, illustrations, editorial and graphic production:Svensk Information.

Texts: Svensk Information, unless otherwise stated,and John Erling Utsi (pp. 20–24, 36–37, 58), Anna-Stina Lindén Ivarsson (pp. 42–49), Marianne Wanger(p. 30), Lars-Ola Marakatt (pp. 60–61)

Translation: Robert Crofts

Cover photograph: Frida Hedberg

Printed by: Edita Västra Aros, Västerås 2009

The book can be ordered from the National SamiInformation Centre’s web portal: www.samer.se

Order number: Jo 04.015

ISBN 978-91-975444-9-8

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The Sami – an Indigenous People in Sweden describes what it is like be a Sami today, whatit was like in the past and what it may be like in future. The book gives a picture of theSami as an indigenous people, their culture, history and society. It is based on reportageand factual material, as well as texts written by researchers, writers and other experts.

The book was written in connection with the government’s national information cam-paign on the Sami and Sami culture in cooperation with the National Sami InformationCentre. The government has conducted an information campaign during the period2001–2004 in order to raise awareness about the Sami and their culture. A new aspect ofthese efforts is the establishment of the permanent National Sami Information Centreattached to the Sami Parliament. The Centre will provide relevant and credible informa-tion about the Sami and Sami culture and increase knowledge about the Sami in a long-term, broad perspective. One channel of information used by the Centre is the informa-tion portal www.samer.se.

A book about Sami life in today’s society

Ministry of Agriculture