Landerren Txokoa

Sámi indigenous culture was close to disappearing thirty years ago; however,
mainly due to education, media and the Sámi Parliaments, the survival of
 this divided people is closer to reality. By Lander Arbelaitz


Outside the temperature is below 0° C and it has been dark since 13:00. Since the first day of December the sun did not rise and now there are less than two hours of light per day. In one of the two supermarkets of Kautokeino —a village with 3,000 inhabitants, in the northeastern part of Norway— some people are doing their shopping. The supermarket is not very big and in total there are ten people inside. The atmosphere is calm and quiet. Suddenly the fridge is opened and a wrinkled hand takes some yogurts. It is an elderly woman and she is wearing warm colorful clothes. Those costumes are the Sámi clothes and she is not the only one wearing them. For some people the traditional clothes are still part of their modern life and that is a sign that the Sámi culture is still alive, at least in places like Kautokeino.

In the same town, a twelve-year-old child called Henrik goes everyday to the Sámi school. At 8:45 am is dark, and often, very cold. He wears a black thick coat and he hides his sleepy face under a black hat. He says that he does not like to go to school, but he does not realize how lucky he is that he can learn everything in his native language. That was not the case for Sámi before him.

Two generations —the woman in the supermarket and Henrik—are part of the same culture. Two generations sharing time and space. One is the experience, the other the future. Two generations where one suffered from the oppression of foreign cultures, and the other is too young to understand what happened. This comparison of generations is a clear example of the transition Sámi culture is going t... (... jarraitzen du)

Etiquetas: sami, sápmi, sámi, Kautokeino, Gouvdageaidnu, Karasjkok, minoritary, indigenous