Hi guys, first time posting here. I'm planning an art lesson for the upcoming Saami day for a bunch of grade 5s. I want to get them to design shaman drums with Saami symbols to illustrate some elements of some legends I found here. I plan to explain the importance of these symbols (based on some research I'm doing) before the students use them in their art.

However, I need advice on whether the use of these symbols and drums in this context is appropriate or not. I'm not from Norway and so I'm not aware of the nuances of the Saami culture, and I'm worried about being disrespectful.

Also, if you have any resources to share to help me improve my understanding on the topic, I'd love for you to share them.

UPDATE: Thank GOD I asked you guys first. Yup. This was such a bad idea, especially about the drums, now that I've read up about how the drums were destroyed. I wish I had read up on that sooner to realize how bad this idea was.

Thanks for all the great suggestions and advice all. I think I will talk about the importance of the symbols and get the kids to design their own original symbols on a piece of paper based on animals in the Norwegian forests. The designs should be in the style of the Saami's symbols, not copying them or misusing them. I'll highlight a few Saami artists as well. Hopefully this toes the line to being respectful but also informative for these foreign students.

Sorry if this is off topic, but I tried posting this on the Norway subreddit but was it was deleted for having a “New Account”😂 but since most Sami live in Norway and was wondering if any Sami people on this subreddit that still live in Norway could live

I’m trying to figure out, what my families original last name was in Norwegian as it probably got changed at Ellis Island. My earliest Ancestor was Ole L Johnson born 1845 in Norway before immigrating into the US with his wife Gunda. If anyone knows how to search Norwegian records it would mean so much as I hate how abundant my last name is, and maybe would change it back to the original last name. If anyone can help I know all his American descendants but idk if that would be any help.

I'm interested in learning Northern Sámi, but as far as I am aware (please tell me if I am wrong), there are (understandably) fewer resources available in English than in the scandinavian languages and Finnish. If I wanted to eventually learn Northern Sámi, would it be better to have the ability to read Norwegian, Swedish, or Finnish? What language are most resources available in (besides Sámi, obviously).

For extra context, I am an experienced language learner and I usually take an input-based approach. So the most useful resources for my style of learning are books, TV shows, movies, podcasts, radio shows, etc. But I've gone to some streaming sites and the UI is in say, Swedish for instance, so I'd be mainly focusing on learning just enough to find and use resources for learning Sámi.

Or if you think I should just use an online translator to bumble my way around until I find what I'm looking for, that would be a valid approach too! I'm just curious what you guys think :)

Hi all! I am writing my thesis about Sámi literature, especially historical novels. Could you guys please recommend me some historical novels about the Sámi? I mean works with Sami characters or based on Sami culture, set in the past. Mainly in English, but my Swedish is also ok so if you have any untranslated suggestions that's great. Thank you so much!!

Buorajk!

American and reconnecting Ume here. My relatives moved to the states and have refused to ever speak about their heritage after moving. I’m trying to reconnect and learn as much as I can.

Information on Ume Saami in my region has been like pulling teeth. I plan to visit my ancestors lands with my mother in the coming year.

Is there anything I should know before going? Are there any friends I should make, anywhere in particular I should visit?

Gïjttuo! ❤️💚💛💙

So Iv'e always been aware of that my ancestor was a saamì and also that he had a lot of sapmì family. We also have a pitcures from the 1900s where it's like wearing a kolt. I am learning northern sami and i'm gonna move to northern sweden when I get older. I love the sapmì culture and want to be a part of it because it's so welcoming and warm in comparison to some of the toxcicity where I live. My family didnt continue my ancestors sami roots. I love reindeers and want to work with them when I get older.

A lot about being saami is about your language and culture and not just "ancestry". Sure , my family have saami traits and also saami background in terms of my ancestors but we live in in southern sweden so it isn't like we practice sapmì culture. I really love the culture though and wonder if I can be a part of it , especially that I have the ancestral requirments but not the cultural one...

I'm very interested in saami culture,language and basically everything, I believe I had found saami ancestry through my swedish-finns ancestry, would I be able to respectfully claim saami ancestry despite being somewhat distant genetically? And can I also learn the culture and language to better understand the people and way of life?

What i mean is the belt, marks and etcetera. I know these have meanings but what are there meanings

On top of that my family comes from the area around Karlsøy, is the lyngen-Gákti the one they use there?

Hi, My mom visited Findland ten years ago and she was always in contact with indigenous people from all around the world. I don’t remember very well but I believe that she bought this from the Sammi people. I would like to know if this symbol has any meaning or if it’s just decorative. Thanks in advance.

Hi all,

I’ve recently discovered that my first name (Lajla) is likely of Sami origin. I live in Texas, and my mother’s family is Norwegian in origin. My mother and I are interested in learning more about the Sami people / history in Norway.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a book on this topic?

Thank you!

Anyone else here able to trace their lineage to Aikia Aikianpoika (1591-1671)?

I've just begun my journey tracing my genetic roots, so please bear with me.Through intuition, scant family history, and the more obvious physical features unique to my family, we have always known there were Saami lineages in our background (and likely originating in Finland.)

I have officially traced my lineage on myheritage.com to Uula Olof Aikianpoika Kuhmitsa/Aikia from Kuusamo, and honestly, I'm shocked. This may be a long shot, but I'm having difficulty filling in the family tree past Uula. If anyone has any further information, feel free to share. Its greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone :) Sorry if there's any spelling mistakes, english is not my first language.

Ok, so some background info. My grandmother and most of her family, were saamelaisia. They all lived and grew up in saamenmaa and practiced the culture to some extent (except religion wise). My grandma was born to a religious sect, which she later on resigned from and was most of her life raised by her aunt.

She teached me a lot about sámi culture most of my childhood. We ate traditional foods, I learned about Indigenous sámi religion and spent some time in her home in sápmi region. Our world view and the importance and respect towards nature comes from sámi culture.

I guess most of my recent ancestors weren't allowed to speak Northen Sámi and were forced to give up their culture. There is a lot of religious trauma, alcoholism and trauma caused by violence, that have been passed down from generation to another in my family. It was very shameful to be a sámi. They were trying (and some what succeeding) to convert them into being finnish and denied their right to practice their culture and speak their language. My grandmother died back in 2021 and all of our closest relatives from that side are dead.

I'm so sad about not fully growing up in sámi culture and not learning the language of my ancestors. I feel like there's something missing in me. I would love to practice the culture and learn Northen Sámi to pass it down to my children, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to, because I didn't fully grow up in the culture. Do I have the right to practice sámi culture and at some point maybe identify myself as a saamelainen?

hello I apologize if this post has already been made by others, but I had always been told I have Saami heritage and recently did some digging on Ancestry.com and was able to uncover that my dad's grandparents that came to America from Norway were Saami and came from a long line (or at least as long as I could dig up) of Saami ancestors that lived (and died) in Norway. I am in the US (Wisconsin) and want to know what are some ways I can get involved in Saami culture and connect with this side of my lineage?

I have a podcast that focuses on the stories of ancient stones and I’d love to do an episode on the Sami Sacred Stones. I read an article on Ancient Origins about them and would love to know more. Is there anyone that has information about this?

Good afternoon. I would like to ask if the clothes this woman is wearing are traditional Saami clothes ?

https://preview.redd.it/ay2guthcaxzd1.jpg?width=802&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dc7b4d979596b27f0ef6b12965115636745d5cfa

The dictionary of the Ume Sami language (ubmejensámien giella), the second least spoken Sami language, will be available for purchase again, "tryckabok.se", the publisher of the dictionary, confirmed to me. This book can no longer be found on the internet. The book was written by Barruk Henrik, known for his work revitalizing the Ume Sami language.

Ivnnit vuoinnadit visot ealla oaidnán mannanáiggi ja boahtteáiggi,

Mazatec noaidi gáide mu siellu,

Gásku jungelis oahpes álgoolbmuiguin smávvudeame boares hávit,

Just to give a little context, I was traveling in Mexico and I ended up in Oaxaca City where I was a bit lost and in a market I met a Mazatec farmer who invited me to his village. I lived there for a few days and the village healer offered a healing ceremony with some mushrooms and the haiku is from after the ceremony and I’m trying to process what I had been through

I saw in the news today that former minister of education Sandra Borch identifies as Sami and has been accepted to the voting lists for Sami parliament, but that apparently the public broadcaster NRK has investigated this and disagree with parliament.

I learned about this from Ságat, from a letter to the editor from the not entirely uncontroversial leader of Nordkalottfolket, Vibeke Larsen. She is mad at NRK, and points out that her own father didn't tell her that until he was 70 that he hadn't known a word of Norwegian when he started school.

I got to agree a bit with her here, and I'm frankly a bit surprised at the two genealogists NRK used to substantiate their claims. Do they really not know that lots of Sami people hid their language and heritage in the census? I could give lots and lots of examples of this, of people who were 100% Sami in one census and 100% Norwegian in the next. Often it wasn't even their own fault: some census takers, most notably in Alta, practiced a one-drop rule where anyone with any known Norwegian ancestors at all were classed as Norwegian. The absurdity of that was even called out by contemporaries.

Nordkalottfolket have been quite outspoken about inclusive definitions in the past, setting themselves up as self-styled champions for the Norwegianized Sami - but it seems to me their main opposition in Sami political matters have not wanted to fight them on that, instead asserting that they on no account want to create a hierarchy of Sami-ness. I kind of have a feeling that NRK are the proverbial fools who rush in here.

I'm not quite sure if this belongs here, but I needed a place where I could share my experience and maybe find some hope. Please let me know if there are anywhere else I rather could post, discuss or read about this subject.

TL;DR: I have Sami ancestry and feel a deep sadness about not growing up with Sami traditions and language. Some part of me feel the need to "take back" what once belonged in my family, but in which I do not have any right to when not being brought up with Sami culture myself.

I'm a Norwegian with Sami ancestry. Three of my great-grandparents were Sami. Sadly as history is, the language and culture didn't get passed down and both my grandparents and mother with her siblings didn't/don't really care for the subject of Sami culture and language. My grandfather understood the language but as far as I know never used it, and my grandmother tried learning but I think she were too shy about speaking another language. My aunt recently told me that they were told as children that they should not talk about being Sami with anyone in their town, because they will be looked down upon. And I think that is a common thing in the town I'm from, even the county is - from which I have read, in denial of the Sami history belonging to the area.

The thing is that I can't stop thinking about what could've been. If there weren't any shame and hate. What if my great-grandparents learned their children the language and culture, what if it was passed down to my mother and then to me and my sister. What would life be like?

In the last few years these thoughts have been increasingly difficult to deal with. I feel like I'm missing a part of myself, that our family is missing something. I'm jealous of the people growing up with Sami parents and getting traditions and language passed down. I think it is extra hard because I halfway grew up in Northern-Norway but were forced to move to Oslo to live with my father. I had to give up my dialect to fit in, to not get bullied. And now I can't take back something I didn't grow up with and which didn't get passed down to me. I'm learning Northern Sami, but other than that I can't really do much about this situation. I have family far out who are Sami, and I was asked years ago if I wanted a gakti, but I never followed up on the offer because I was scared. What would I answer people if they asked about it, wandering around to parties and on official holidays in a tradional costume that I didn't grew up with. I guess it is the same with the bunad, I never owned one because I didn't feel like I belonged enough to any region and it was too expensive. I've dreamed about that gakti for years, one day I said. I would tell my friends when I was younger that I'm half-Sami and my mother would always tell me that it is in our blood. But without traditions and language you do not actually belong.

I don't know how I should move on or deal with this. I feel ashamed of myself. I feel hurt. I long for something that doesn't exist. I want to be something that I'm not. I want to give my children something that I never had which is not even mine to pass down. I just wish history could've been different, that people didn't have all that hate and fright in their hearts.

I think what I wanted with this post is to connect with other Norwegians/Scandinavians that share similar stories. Just any advice or commentary would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, so I am not Sámi myself but my maternal family is Tornedalian/Lantalainen. My mom was born and raised in Kiruna (Sápmi, Northern Sweden) and so was her mom. We belong to an ethnic minority that has spoken/speaks Meänkieli, a language closely related to Finnish that also includes both Swedish and Sámi loanwords and regional variations.

Lately I was visiting my family's cabin in Northern Sweden where I found many family treasures that my uncle left there for us after my grandma's passing. Among her things was a small risku. The silver has been a little discoloured with time, so it is certainly old, and I assume it was my grandma's. I asked my mom about it but she said she had never seen it before and said my grandma tended to hide the pretty things (like fancy clothes) away in her closet/room and would never wear them out.

Is it alright for me to wear this risku that has been in our family as a person of Meänkieli-background? For me it is a way to honour my ancestors and our people's cultural exchanges with the Sámi.

Cultural context: Historically our Meänkieli-speaking people have lived close to Sámi communities and many have blended Sámi-Meänkieli ancestry and families. Sámi culture has also shaped our culture and our ethnicities have exchanged cultural practices on both sides (such as the Tornedalians adopting some reindeer herding from the Sámi and the Sámi adopting kaffeost and Lovikka mittens from our culture).

I have traced back my own family tree and I found a Sámi ancestor (born in a Sámi village) who married into a Tornedalian community 7-8 generations ago. One of my elders who is a Meänkieli speaker, married with a South Sámi man, said she also recognized a last name as Sámi from another ancestor in my family line when I showed her my family tree - but I could not find information of a Sámi village for that ancestor. I was honestly not expecting to find any Sámi ancestry.

I came up with a really cool D&D character idea and I named him after the Sami bear God want to know if that's OK

Today I read that Tromsø municipality is once again voting to join the administrative area for Sami languages (forvaltningsområdet for samiske språk), after they had already voted for it once, but it was aborted when the conservatives got power.

I think it's pretty great news. But there's an odd pattern I see: Many areas that I know from my genealogy research were dominantly Sami-speaking, have not joined the administrative area, but some areas where there were really not many Sami speakers, have joined. Tromsø, the city, used to be a bastion of Norwegian language in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its rural areas Tromsøysund, Balsfjord etc. were far more Sami, but the municipalities currently in those regions have not joined the administrative area. The historical area of Lyngen was majority Sami speaking (Kven/Finnish was even the second largest language), but of the municipalities that area is split between today, only one (Kåfjord) has joined the administrative area.

It seems many municipalities where few people have Sami ancestors are eager to join the area, but municipalities where there are more people with a Sami background don't want to join it.

Some of it may have to do with moving. There are probably a lot of Sami speakers who have moved to Tromsø as the largest city of the region. But Hammerfest and Alta also surely have a lot of youths moving in from the core Sami areas, and they have not joined the administrative area. Nor can it be all about urban people being more open to indigenous heritage, because there are also a lot of quite small municipalities which have joined the area (e.g. Tjeldsund).

I'd love to hear your thoughts about what makes municipalities decide to join the area or not, especially if you live in Troms or Finnmark, or one of the municipalities further south which have decided to join.

Hello!
Sorry for (yet another) curious outsider question, but I was wondering if any people here knew of any Sámi people or organisations willing to do sensitivity reading for a text in english? It's not a small book (123k) and the Sámi elements are not critical to the plot, but it's really important to me that this of all things gets checked. There would, of course, be payment- I'd never ask anyone to do something like that for free
If anyone is interested or knows anyone who would be, please shoot me a DM! (and take this down if it's considered soliciting)

Edit: typo, *if

https://preview.redd.it/ggu6tu5oexvd1.jpg?width=669&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=147179f2ca8368ce4098c202693fda2960728c48

The nameplace Lapland conjures up distant territories, bitter cold, and a sun that never sets. The Sami acknowledge the whole of their territory by the names of Sápmi, Sábme, Saepmie, Sábmie, Säämi, Sääʹmjânnam, or Saam' jiemm'n'e among others. Each of these endonyms corresponds to a Sami language. Depending on the state, each language has different demographic, geographical, and sociolinguistic factors. Unfortunately, they all share the same problem; the danger of extinction. Revitalization is the key to survival.

Sami languages belong to the Finno-Ugric linguistic family, such as Finnish, Estonian, Livonian, or Hungarian. The diversity of Sami languages, each with a different number of speakers, makes it impossible to simplify them in a single linguistic situation. In the past, Sami was made up of a group of at least 14 languages; 9 are still spoken today. Sami is a pluricentric language divided into two large blocks. The Western Sami languages are South Sami (500 speakers), Ume Sami (20 speakers), Pite Sami (20 speakers), Lule Sami (between 1,000 and 2,000 speakers), and Northern Sami (about 26,000 speakers). On the other hand, the Eastern Sami languages are Skolt Sami (320 speakers), Inari Sami (300 speakers), Kildin Sami (600 speakers), and Ter Sami (2 speakers). There are five official minority languages in Sweden, including North Sami, South Sami, and Lule Sami. In Finland, in the north of the region still known as Lapland, Inari, Skolt, and Northern Sami have official status. Meanwhile, in Russia, the situation is much more complicated. Languages are written in the Cyrillic alphabet. A few decades ago, the Akkala Sami language went extinct. Ter Sami is dying out. Kildin Sami is currently a critically endangered language.

Full article: https://www.nationalia.info/new/11527/sami-languages-revive-in-their-diversity

During the opening day of Sami Language Week, Henrik Barruk talks about his pioneering work to save Ume Sámi (ubmejensámien giella), the least spoken second Sami language that was close to extinction. He also translated parts of the play “When We Were Sami” into Ume Sami – the first time a play has been performed in the language. The event occurs on Friday, October 18, 2024.