This is a picture of aSami一些在传统服装在奥斯陆Syttende Maiin 2006.

Upon first glance, this word looks like it could be Japanese, but it is not. TheSamipeople are the indigenous people that inhabit parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. They are among the largest group of indigenous ethnic people in Europe. TheSamispeakSamilanguages, which are characterized as ‘Finno-Lappic’ languages, part of the ‘Uralic’ language group. ‘Uralic’ languages include Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari, and Udmurt. If you’ll notice back when I mentioned ‘Finno-Lappic’ languages, you might have thought the the word ‘Lapp‘ is more familiar thanSami. Lapps or Laplandersare deragatory names for theSamipeople and unfortunately they are more well-known terms to a lot of people thanSamiis. The wordlappmeans a patch of cloth for mending clothes, which is probably where the deragatory terms came from, describing traditionalSamigarb calledgatki.

TheSamipeople of northern Scandinavia and Russia have inhabited these regions for at least 2,500 years. There are several anthropological theories that predict the geographic and cultural origins of theSamipeople. One of the theories states that theSamipeople orginiated on the Iberian peninsula, their ancestors being the Catalonians and the Basque people. Another theory claims that theSamipeople come from the Volga-Ural region. It’s nice when historians discover soemthing and agree on a theory, but I have always thought that it is more fun to entertain the theories and be unsure. Historically theSamiwere nomadic people that hunted, fished, farmed, and herded reindeer. Today only the minority ofSamipeople are nomadic and maintain these forms of livlihood. Roughly half of the estimated 50,000-100,000Samis今天押尾学e in Norway.

The traditionalSami宗教是基于萨满,nativ相似e Americans in the United States. The shaman, ornoaidiswould enter a trance with the aid of a drum and was able to prophesy and predict future success and welfare of the community. The drum was the link between the people and the gods. TheSamigods were centered around the sun. Prayers and sacrifices were made toLeaibolmmai,the Alder tree man, the god of hunting and animals.

Although Christianity came to Norway in the 13th century, it wasn’t until the 18th century that the religion was pushed upon theSamipeople. TheSamibegan to paint Christian symbols on their drums below the paintings of the shaman gods.Samisalso began to attend Christian services on Sunday and practiced theSamireligion at home. Norwegians placed a stronger influence of Christian religion on theSamiby confiscating the rune drums and either burned them or sent them abroad to musuems.Samiswho showed visible signs of shamanistic pre-Christian religion were actually criminalized. Norwegian authorities were very clear about the desire to universalize Norwegian culture; they forced theSamisto assimilate into the greater Norwegian culture. Between 1900 and 1940, Norwegian authorities spent a great deal of money on eradicatingSamiculture, languages, andSamieducation.

After World War II the pressure on theSamito become/remain assimilated into Norwegian culture was relaxed and there was somewhat of a cultural revival. Today the Norwegian authorities and Norwegians in general actually support theSamiculture as a separate part of Norwegian culture as a whole.Samisare Norwegians too. There are government grants today to promoteSamilanguage, culture, and religion. In Norway, theSamiparliament was established in 1989 and since then, they have been able to democratically elect representatives who see to it thatSamiculture, language, education, and industry are regulated and protected.

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