History and traditions of Sápmi

12,000 years ago almost the entire Scandinavian peninsula was covered by a thick layer of ice. It is the ice age. But the climate changes. It becomes warmer, and the glacier melts, firstly by the coasts. When the ice melts, humans wander into the area.

They live by fishing, hunting, and foraging for food in the forests and on the mountainsides. They move over large areas, travelling to where they can find food. They are nomads. The heavy ice sheet had pressed a lot of the ground underneath it down into the ocean. Now that the ice is gone, the land rises again.

After several thousand years, about 500 before the common era, the land area is a lot larger, and the sea smaller. Now, a new group of people wanders into the area. They have their origin in present day Russia. Possibly they have followed wild reindeer that have moved into Scandinavia. These groups of people blend, and develop common languages and traditions.

They become the Sámi people, and develop the Sámi culture. People who live in the area call their land Sápmi. Sápmi spans parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. The Sápmi climate is demanding to live in. The summer is brief, and then it is difficult to move over the wet bogs and moors.

The winters are cold with a lot of snow. The Sámi develop skis that help them travel the frozen ground, and they pull children and possessions in sledges on the snow. The sledge is called an ackja. From early on, the Sámi hunt wild reindeer. Around the year 500 they start to keep domesticated reindeer and gather them in large herds.

Reindeer keeping becomes a central part of Sámi culture. Reindeer are used to pull the ackjas. And they are an important source of food — not just meat, but also milk, which is used to make cheese. Everything on the reindeer is put to use when it’s slaughtered. Reindeer pelts, with their thick fur, protect from the bitter cold.

From the hides, the Sámi sew clothes, boots and bags. Even reindeers’ antlers and bones are used. Knives and other tools often have decorations from reindeer antlers, if they are not entirely made from it. In fact, the Sámi produce all the tools they need from materials found in nature. This milk jug is made from a tuber that sometimes grows on the trunk of birch trees.

This jar is made of bark from birch. Handcraft is an important part of Sámi tradition. The tools are life necessities, and they can also be bartered for salt or other things. The Sámi engage in trade for thousands of years. The Sámi live as nomads and move, walking or skiing, to the places where the reindeer can graze.

They live in a sort of tent, a goahti. The floor inside the goahti is covered with twigs from fir and birch, and on top of the twig there are reindeer pelts protecting from the cold ground. In the middle, there is the fireplace, árran. – The Sámi have a religion strongly influenced by their closeness to nature. Every god or goddess presides a certain animal. When a hunt is successful, it’s the gods who share their wealth.

A central figure in the Sámi community, called a noaidi, is in contact with the spirits and the gods. The noaidi connects with the spiritual world with the help of a drum. He or she is a seer and a doctor, and he or she performs the religious ceremonies of the Sámi community. The Sámi culture dominates the Sápmi area for many hundreds of years. But the Sámi culture and religion are about to become threatened.

In the 1300s, the Scandinavian kings start to claim rights to the most northern areas of the Scandinavian peninsula. Life from now on becomes more difficult for the Sámi.