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.