Lappeleir vd Silvig
Sámi álbmotbeaivi / Sámij álmmukbiejvve
On 6th of February, Sámi álbmotbeaivi (Northern Sami) / Sámij Álmmukbiejvve (Lule Sami) / Sami National Day is celebrated all over Sápmi and also some places outside Sápmi. The day is celebrated in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
The date for the Sami National Day was adopted at the Sami Conference in 1992, and the first celebration of the national day was held the following year. The reason for the choice of date was that on 6 February 1917 the first Sami national congress was held in Tråante (South Sami), or Trondheim as the city is called in Norwegian. The initiator of the congress was Elsa Laula Renberg (1877-1931) who came from the area around Vilhelmina on the Swedish side, but the family was from both Helgeland and Västerbotten.
In 2017, the 100th anniversary was celebrated with an anniversary week in February, and events and commemorations throughout the year. The NTNU University Museum in Trondheim showed an exhibition called “Who owns history” that showed documentation of Sami presence in southern Norway all the way back to the 800s.
THE SAMI FLAG
The Sami flag was designed by the Sami artist Astrid Båhl from Skibotn. There were several proposals for the flag from several artists, but the current flag was approved at the Sami conference in 1986.
Read more about the flag and the Sami national day HERE.
The Sami national anthem
In 1986 it was also decided at the Nordic Sami Conference that the song “Sámi soga lávlla” would become the official Sami national anthem. Isak Saba (1875-1921) wrote the lyrics in 1906 while the melody was composed by Arne Sørlie.
Listen to “Sámi soga lávlla” in North Sami here:
Listen to podcasts from Expedert with Sami theme
Only in Norwegian