Happy Christmas

The Sámi people

The Sámi week is held in February, the week you are coming to visit us. This particular week there is a lot happening in Tromsø; there are various concerts, movies, exhibitions and of coarse the 6^th of February, which is the Sámi people’s national day.

The Sámis are an indigenous people. There are about 70 000 Sámis living in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russisa (Sápmi) and they are among the largest ethnic groups in Europe. The Sámis have their own spoken and written language belonging to the Finno-Ugric group of lanuages.

Traditionally the Sámis lived by hunting, fishing and reindeer herding, and they lived in lavvus, traditional tents. Nowadays some Sámis still make a living of herding reindeers, whilst most Sámis have modern professions.

The culture of the Sámi people is still very much alive and is expressed through the traditional clothes, the traditional handicraft and the traditional way of singing, joik. The traditional clothes, gákti, are decorated differently according to if you are a woman or a man, your age and what region you are from. The gákti can be made from various materials: reindeer leather, cotton or wool. Cotton is used for summer wear and wool for the winter. The most common used colours are red, yellow, green, blue and black or grey.



The first picture shows a map of the Sámi area.
The sceond picture shows a Sámi boy in the traditional clothing, holding his reindeer.

Written by Sandra.

The sun is now below the horizon for 8 weeks, but still the sky in the south is full of light around noon. View from a classroom window.

Aurora Borealis – the Northern lights

The Northern lights are also called Aurora Borealis, after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas. The Aurora Australis is the southern counterpart of the Aurora Borealis. The Auroras can be observed in the area around the magnetic poles.

Typically the aurora appears either as a diffuse glow or as "curtains" that approximately extend in the east-west direction. At some times, they form "quiet arcs"; at others ("active aurora"), they evolve and change constantly. Each curtain consists of many parallel rays, each lined up with the local direction of the magnetic field lines, suggesting that aurora is shaped by Earth's magnetic field.

When the solar wind is perturbed, it easily transfers energy and material into the magnetosphere. The electrons and ions in the magnetosphere that are thus energized move along the magnetic field lines to the polar regions of the atmosphere.


In folklore:


In Russian folklore aurora borealis was associated with the fire dragon ("Ognenniy Zmey"), who came to women and seduced them in the absence of their husbands.

The Finnish name for northern lights is revontulet, fox fires. According to legend, foxes made of fire lived in Lapland, and revontulet were the sparks they whisked up into the atmosphere with their tails.
In Estonian they are called virmalised, spirit beings of higher realms. In some legends they are given negative characters, in some positive ones.
In Latvian folklore northern lights, especially if red and observed in winter, are believed to be fighting souls of dead warriors, an omen foretelling disaster (especially war or famine).
The Sami people believed that one should be particularly careful and quiet when observed by the northern lights (called guovssahasat in Northern Sami). Mocking the northern lights or singing about them was believed to be particularly dangerous and could cause the lights to descend on the mocker and kill him/her.
The Inuit people of Alaska tell the traditional tale of their ancient ancestors who are seen in the rippling movements of the northern lights. They say that the "shadows" within the display are relatives and friends who have gone to the sky and march along or dance to remind the living people of their presence. When the dogs bark and howl at the sounds of the aurora borealis, it's said that the dogs recognize their one-time companions in the colorful display.

In Norwegian folklore the Northern Lights are the souls of dead people. If you wave to the northern lights with a handkerchiefor whistle to it, it will take you.

In Japan it is believed that the Northern Lights bring fertility.

Written by Maria :)

Our trip to Spain

On September 27, our trip to Spain began. We arrived in Cordoba on Sunday night after a long trip from Tromsø. Our hosts made us feel welcome from the first minute. We were separated in different villages, but that was okay since we had such great hosts. The next day, our exiting week could finally begin. We went to Montoro and had traditional breakfast at the school before we had sightseeing around town. Throughout the week we visited an olive mill, the beautiful mosque in Cordoba, a natural site and much more. We even got our photo in the local newspaper! In addition to this, we got to know the Spanish culture. All this was great, but the best thing about our trip was the social part. We made many new friendships, and we had a super week. Miss you guys, can’t wait till some of you get to Tromsø!

Greetings from the norwegian Spain- team