Sami Culture

 Sami Culture

The fire in the centre of a Sami house.

At the entrance to the fjord that leads to Kjøllefjord is the Finnkirka, a rock formation that  is similar to a church and a chapel, the two darker stand alone rocks either side of the grey fan of debris in the centre of the photo.

Perhaps you need a lot of imagination...

...or I just didn't get the right perspective.

We were dropped off for our Sami cultural experience in Kjøllefjord and the plan was for the ship to sail on to Mehamn where we would rebouard.  I am sure that it was a sound, tried and tested plan, but it is disconcerting when you see you ship sail away and you are still on shore.

The harbour front of the small town of Kjøllefjord...  

                                        

...and another view of the harbour front.

Then we had a drive out of town to the Sami settlement. A traditional, permanent Norwegian Sami home is called a game. It is built, often circular but other shapes are common, and a domed or curved roof, covered with turf. There is a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape and there may or may not be a window.

The one we visited was circular but much larger than the traditional house as it was purposefully larger to accommodate groups so that they could have the experience but not be cramped. There was a raised fire place with seats around it...

...and a giant funnel above to catch the smoke and direct it through the roof.

Seat around the fire with traditional textiles, reindeer skins to sit on or to cover your legs if it is cold, and round timbers to act as individual tables.

Our host for the evening was Ilo, who sang a song to welcome us and handed out slivers of dried and cured reindeer meat, and of course dressed in traditional clothes.

We had an introduction to their culture and a game of learning some Sami. We were each given a number to remember and we had to call out our number in the right order. The pronunciation was poor at first and people forgot their numbers but it was just a bit of fun. Then a greeting used as 'Welcome' or 'Hello' which sounds like 'Bora Bevi'.

We had to guess how many words they have for snow. I knew Inuit have a lot and as snow covers the reindeers' food in winter, snow and how it settles is very important. Despite that, my guess was well off as they have over 300 words or snow.

Ito played a tune on a drum and despite being just reindeer skin stretched across a wooden from, he could make several different notes and a melody.

These are just a collection of gods the can be made from reindeer, supplemented by seal skin and grass. There were shoes, which can be insulated with a special type of grass for winter use, bags, gloves, hats, rope, bowls and cutlery made from wood and utensils from bone and horn, knife handles and scabbards from leather, decorated with carves bone of antler, to name just a few.