THE STRENGHT OF A CULTURE

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An identity through arts

Placing itself as one of the oldest indigenous people, the Lapps or the Samis have a strong identity. This is demonstrated throughout their strong cultural background, lifestyle and numerous traditional activities. Between colorful clothes, meticulous handicrafts and impressive singings, the Lapps culture is complex and wide.

Working with reindeer, following the migrations tracks, fishing and creating items with greenery materials, the Sami culture is built in parallel with nature. The foundation of their traditions and way of life is based on what nature gave them.

Sami costumes

Colourful and typical to the Sami people, the gákti is the Northern Sami costume. As one of the most iconic item of their culture, the Sami people distinguish themselves with this outfit. In Norwegian, this can also be called a Kofte whereas in Swedish it is Kolt and in Finnish, Takki.

And, considering that the Lapps are spread over four different countries (north of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia) several variants of the costume exists through the countries. A specific Kolt can show where the Sami wearing it is from in Sapmi because each area has its own specificities.

The traditional ones are mostly made of red and yellow, however the Sami costume can be made out of blue and red or with green parts. In every cases, the costume will display the colours of the Sami flag: blue, yellow, red and green. The Kolts are different for men and women as the length is different and the cut differs from area to area.

The birth of an art

One of the activities for which the Sami are best known is the creation of handicrafts, called duodji. This activity is a way of carrying their culture through generations. Items are made in a specific way with meticulously designed rounded shapes. However, the emphasis is always put on their high level of functionality.

The Sami people always created their own hand made knives, clothes, storages, etc. And, because the herders lived following the tracks of reindeer migration, the Lapps had to design their items in order to make them useful and convenient to travel. Sami handicrafts are made out of natural materials such as wood, roots, branches or barks. In addition, wool, antlers and skin from animals, such as reindeer could be used.

First, one of the most important item for the Lapps was a knife. Indeed, they were using it on an everyday basis, whether they are at home or taking care of the reindeer. Today, the handcrafted knives are more pieces of arts than actual tools.

Another iconic and traditional duodji that the Sami create is a storage container that they use in houses. According to the official site of Sweden, the Lapps used to build this furniture with birch burls or tubers.
Also the náhppi is well-known in the Sami culture. This tool is a milking bowl which was used by the herders when they milked the reindeer. It is typical to the Sami people since the náhppi is bowl with a small opening and edges that fold in order to prevent the liquid from spilling.

The need to know duodji has decreased in the Lapps society. Everybody willing to learn the practice doesn’t necessarily have the opportunity to since it is becoming rarer. Today, the Sami population fears that this iconic activity is completely erased with time.

A náhppi, milking bowl. Image credit: Hakimu, Flickr

Image credit: Hakimu, Flickr

An old religions and practices

As far as it is possible to reconstruct it, the Sami religion seems to be based on nature and shamanism traits. Isabelle Guissard, charged with the Research Section at the University of Tromsø, explains: “Lapps believed in the strength of natural elements surrounding them. Belief of the Sámi took a visible and material dimension in the cult of divinities and an invisible and spiritual dimension regarding the forces that emanated from nature.”

She explains that in order to perform his spiritual journey into the supernatural world, the shaman used drums, or goabdes, which the beats were compared to heart beats. Also, the shaman says incantations and sings imitating animals. This is called joiks or yoiks.

Indeed, the Lapps have three traditional style of music: the lavlu or laavlaoe, the vuelie and, the most common one called the yoik (also spelled joik).The first one called lavlu is referring to a song made of words and lyrics whereas the second one, vuelie, is the tale of a story in music.

As for the yoik singings, Andé Somby, professor of law and Sami yoiker from Norway declares in an interview with Chris Watson from the 22 June 2016 that “being a yoiker is being a chanter of traditional Sami songs cult yoiks and yoiks are the oldest musical tradition that is living in an unbroken practice since time immemorial. They represent precious things for the Sami people. “

“It’s a wonderful and strong type of expression. It resonates in people, it’s a kind of original song that is inside people and people recognized when they hear it.”

Yoik could be compared as a non-verbal singing. It is a very personal chant that the joiker produces to express a genuine matter. The joiker’s aim is to tell a deep and true story through a song. Indeed, yoik singings are often used in order to tell the essence of the subject about personal matters, people, animals or even the nature as means of reminder or souvenirs.

And, it is important in the Sami traditions that every Lapps practicing the yoik has his or her specific animal, people or landscape to sing about, explains Somby. He continues saying that his animal is the wolf.

“When you yoik a wolf, then you are also a wolf in some sense, you have to meet the wolf that’s inside you and meet the wolf that’s inside the audience.”

He adds: “Yoiking give the space to express things that are not verbally that apparent.”

However ,yoiking being a shamanistic form a music, some people believed that yoiks were incantations or magic spells related to Noaidi, a shaman who represents the indigenous nature religion. Therefore since the Christianization, yoiking was seen as being pagan practice.From this point, this form of music was banned for a long time by the Swedish Lutheran Church. And, in the 50s, it was prohibited to yoik in schools in Sapmi. Somby explains:

“The yoiks have had a very politically challenging situation […] Some parts of the yoiks unfortunately disappeared like the practice of drumming and yoiking [...] the drums were at one point taking away and burned and banned and so one.”

Jonne Järvelä, another Sami yoiker whom I spoke to explains: “There are not so many joikers even in Lapland but it is way more than for example 50 years ago when it was totally “illegal” and a sin to joik. Christianity took it as a Shamanism practice which is the same for them as a Satanism practice, which of course is not true.”

Somby continues and explains that even in 2014 yoik singings are still banned in churches in northern part of Norway. “My reaction to that is both: I think is a very bad thing that you banned this wonderful song, but on the other hand, when I think that yoiks are still so powerful that you have to ban them... and what songs are banned today? So, it’s also a flavor of pride that I connect to this aspect of yoik.”

However, Sami musicians are still performing and one of the most known example is the case of Sofia Jannok who sang at the Swedish selection contest for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009. Originally an old form of music in Europe, the Sami people are perpetuating the tradition. The Samis are passing on the know-how to the next generations and so on and so forth. Somby states:

“We have a saying about yoiks that you can burn my drum but you can never ever burn the song that’s inside me.”

The Sami art forms are meeting new thinking

Today, Lapps culture is evolving along with modern thinking. Therefore, their traditions are changing and new Sami art forms are flourishing. Recently, the Giron Sami Theatre in Sweden is preparing several productions aiming at portraying the Lapps through plays. Indeed, being one of the oldest tribes of Europe, the Sami have a lot of traditions and a rich culture that they are using to create plays each year to teach people about them while entertaining them.

Traditional duodji is less and less common in the Lapp community. However, new styles and new techniques now exist and the Sami activity is becoming more modern. People from all over the world can buy handcrafted items in Sami market in northern Scandinavia. A certificate is given to the purchaser to guarantee the authenticity of the items and that the creator’ skills of it are recognized within the handicraft industry.

And being Sami or with sami roots, some artists are still yoiking in their songs and carrying the traditions in a modern society. Nowadays, the traditional Sami singings can be heard in music such as rock music and this is giving a new life to an old practice.

Jonne Järvelä, a sami yoiker, released his new album in 2014, using yoik singings:

ISABELLE GUISSARD

charged with the Research Section at the University of Tromsø

Strongly influenced by the religion of the ancient Scandinavians, the Sámi religion was a whole series of rituals and myths passed down from generation to generation. Often, cults were practiced as a ritual sacrifices or venerations of sacred places. Guissard explains that the Samis made offerings to the gods for "the divinities are favorable to them and help them in performing particular tasks."

Guissard adds: "The meditation was made in silence or as incantations. Nature offerings varied in function of the divinity, the activity exercised by the Sami or of the place where they were. For example, animals were offered to the sun, while the Sea Sami tended to sacrifice fish and the Mountains Sami offered reindeer”.

For each ritual, the shaman intervened. Considered wise, all the Lapp community gathered around him during religious ceremonies. Guissard says: He played the role of a doctor: he had knowledge of medicinal plants, the power to heal the ills, to purify the souls that evil spirits had taken possession and to stop the blood flowing from injuries.”

“He [the shaman] was the intermediary that restored the balance in a muddled nature”.