As some of you might know, the sun is completely gone for two months in the winter here in Tromsø (the polar night). In Northern Norway it is common to celebrate the first day of the sun’s return. The date of the return varies, but in Tromsø it is the 21th of January. On this day it is possible to see the sun if the weather is clear. The most common way to celebrate is by drinking hot chocolate and eating “solbolla”, which is a special kind of pastry made for this day. The pastry is similar to the German Berliner Pfannkuchen, a sweet doughnut fried in fat or oil with sugar, powdered sugar or icing on the top. They are often filled with either jam or vanilla cream.
The national day of the Sámi people is the 6th of February. This day marks the date of the first Sámi congress was held in Norway in 1917. This was the first time Sámi from Sweden and Norway gathered across their national borders to find solutions for common problems. The first time the national day was celebrated in Norway was in 1993.
The Sámi flag consists of four colours: red, blue, yellow and green. The four colours are the same that are used in the national costume (gákti). According to myths Sámi are daughters of the moon and sons of the sun. The blue part of the circle is the moon and the red part is the sun. The yellow and green stripes symbolises the rich natural resources in the Sámi area.
Sámi soga lávlla, the official song of the Sámi people, was originally a poem written by Isak Saba in 1906. Arne Sørli later set a melody to the poem, and in 1993 it was approved as the national anthem. Here is a link for a clip on youtube.
The 6th of February is celebrated all over Sápmi. Most Sámis put on their national costumes and gather to celebrate. Often there are arranged concerts or people go out to eat together. The traditional meal on this day is bidus, which is reindeer meat, carrots and potatoes boiled together. While you are here we will go to the city hall and eat bidus.
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 6th 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.
torsdag 11. desember 2008
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.
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.
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!
This is a blog for class 3mua at Kongsbakken Upper Secondary School dedicated to the Comenius project Dramatization and digital tools: a key to understanding our myths and legends. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author(s), and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein.
