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A tour of
Frostviken, old and new (South Sami religion)
by Åsa Virdi Kroik From Efter förfädernas sed - Om samisk religion (In the custom of our forebears - about Sami religion), Boska, Göteborg 2005, a collection of articles edited by Åsa Virdi Kroik. She contributed the piece “En rundvandring i det gamla och nya gamla Frostviken,” portions of which have been translated here. Words are in South Sami language. When I was a child, I was like other children. I ran around and played in the woods, swam in the creek and climbed along the cliffs. I followed papa to the mountains during the summers at calf marking time and picked moss for winter’s hungry reindeer in the fall. My playmates and I fantasized about the fairy people who lived under big trees or by the streams or on the high mountain. We played with them and they were real to us. As an adult the fantasies have been replaced by a longing to know who really lived there before me. Who was born, played, loved, strived and died by these very streams, bogs, mountains...?  Dajmanjapp stone. Photo by Ǻsa Virdi Kroik Between old and new beliefs In the old times when people were buried, it was preferably by the water and on islands, so as to make a boundary between the living and the dead. The deceased were feared and separation rites were held to distinguish the living from the dead. The church’s demand that bodies be buried on consecrated ground led to temporary burial sites. The body was protected as long as possible, preferably on small islands, until it could be brought to the cemetery. According to the traditional method of burial, the body was wrapped in birch bark before being placed in the ground. It was common to place the body in a akkja (reindeer sled), a boat or a hollowed out log. Otherwise it could be placed between logs and covered with stones to protect it from animals before covering the grave with earth. Even the reindeer who pulled the corpse was slaughtered and the bones buried. Grave gifts were things the deceased had used while alive: axes, knives, fire making tools, bow and arrows, sewing tools and the like. In Mubpien-aaja, the other world where the dead went, life continued approximately like it did for the living. That’s why these useful things were needed. The deceased received gifts for up to three years after death and it is said that small gifts were left when passing a grave. The dead continued to have contact with the living from the other world. In a dream, a departed relative would come to a pregnant woman to reveal which name the child should have. It is also told of the dead reincarnating and being reborn in the world of the living. The nåjd, the Sami shaman, was the person who had closest contact with the dead. In his trance he could visit them and simply employ them to guard the reindeer of the living. As long as the deceased were remembered, they existed, and as long has they were yoiked, they were remembered. In this South Sami area the yoik tradition was broken only one generation ago but young Sami have blown life back into the yoik again. At the Sami midsummer, which is still celebrated in Ankarede, yoik must be heard at the dance – otherwise it isn’t a real dance. As long as can be remembered, Sami from the surrounding mountains have gathered in Ankarede. It has been a natural meeting place during the summer migration, and it is said that the dead were buried here. The small mounds and depressions seen around the tents are remains from these graves. It was desirable to be buried where the reindeer could be seen, for example at the mouth of a brook where the vegetation would be lush. There, the calls of the small calves and the clicking of their tendons could be heard. Eventually a church was constructed in Ankarede in 1785. This church site has been a unique gathering place for Sami, from north to south, until this day today. To bury the dead in a churchyard was not always popular among the Sami during the transition from old to new. It was a requirement that they had to bear. Jonas Åhrén lived in Raedievaerie. His memoirs were published during the 60s. In them he recounts that as a child he knew an old woman who wanted to be buried in the mountains: “When she found out that it was no longer customary to bury the dead in the mountains, she thought that this was strange and wondered why they couldn’t bring consecrated ground to her grave on the mountain. She told that earlier it had been common to send someone to get the three shovelfuls of earth from a churchyard down land. After the minister read the burial rite over the shovelfuls, they would be carried to the mountain grave and carrier would repeat the words he had heard the minister say.” Another variation was practiced at Bågade which involved the minister pointing to the mountain where the deceased was buried. In that direction he threw the three shovelfuls of earth and read the funeral service.  A photo from Ankarede of unknown date. The building pictured is still in use. Silver in the antlers A common story refers to an offering where a reindeer was buried so that only the antlers were above ground. The offering seems to have no direct connection with offering stones or offering trees. This was told by my great-grandfather Klockar-Ante from Östra Värjaren: “There is something mystical about Leipikvatten, and I tell you that it really is a place like that. It’s west and south of the lake, not too far from the river, near the border and pretty high up, It was in the middle of the warm season when I was there. I found several birch poles standing and thought to myself someone is looking for something here. So I thought about it and started to look around since I thought there was silver there. And there was. I saw that a 15 year old reindeer ox had been ‘sacrificed.’ He was buried so that only the antlers could be seen. There was no silver on the antlers, but further down there was. I thought about going back there when there weren’t so many others along because there was silver in the bottom that’s for sure – Speciedalars, fäderneslandet and those old time coins.” Offering places were respected long after the change in religion, but eventually were plundered more and more often. From the time when there was a temptation to pick up offering gifts there are many stories about what happened after. This is told by Olof Persson from Raukasjö: “East of Senansjö and east of a little mountain lake on the marsh, past a path between Dabbsjö and Daimi which used to be used a lot, there is a Sami offering place. There is like a little stile in the woods there. About 30 years ago it was easy to see, and lots of people – even Swedes – knew about this offering place. Antlers stuck out of the ground and had silver leaves hanging from them, and on the ground around it there were small silver objects. You knew that it was dangerous to take something from there and so everything was left alone. But a brave Sami named Klemet Andersson from Orrnäsfjäll decided to take the silver that was there. One day he went and took it. On the way home to Daima, where he lived, he got sick and had to go to bed as soon as he got home. He got worse and worse and finally understood that he was going to die if he didn’t bring the silver offerings back. He did that but never got completely better. He kept getting weaker until the day he died.” Towards the end of the time of offerings, animals were no longer used, only small metal objects. Gievrie – pathfinder and guide Drums are believed to have been quite common in older times. It is possible that each household had a drum from which advice was sought when needed. During that time when the drum came into focus as a symbol of heathendom, a witch hunt for them began. The Sami were forced to hand over their drums which were burned, otherwise destroyed or taken away. Therefore, some Sami chose to hide their treasures in the mountain. The missionaries focused on the drum’s religious significance but it had many important practical uses as well, and was depended upon for, among other things, reindeer herding. Jonas Åhrén tells that the drum could tell whether predators or even bandits, so-called tjourie, were approaching. The best and least dangerous migration route could be determined and it is said that the drum could even be used to find the way after getting lost. Jonas Åhrén also tells that many Sami, after becoming Christian, could not understand what was wrong with both believing in an all-powerful god and asking the drum such things that even Christians needed to know in their daily life in the reindeer forest. Perhaps this is why the tradition of the durum is so rich in this area and the reason it was kept for so long. Jonas Åhrén even names one person who had his drum up until 1910. The last to own a drum in the area is said to have been Tomas Nilsson, my grandmother’s grandfather. His son, Lars Aron, is said to have hidden it in some cliff openings in Skornajadalen or on the east end of Lill-Raukasjö after his father’s death. To what extent these claims are true is difficult to say but it is possible that Lars Aron actually did hide his father’s drum somewhere in the mountain. Fatmomakke ornament At the church place Fatmomakke just north of Frostviken a remarkable find was made in the spring of 1981. While digging a grave, two Sami ornaments became visible at a depth of 30 cm. One of them is believed to be an arpa. An arpa was used by the nåjd in the old times when divining with the drum. It was placed on the drum surface and the nåjd would strike with the hammer so the object would bounce over the skin. When the arpa stopped on a particular image, thenåjd understood what the answer was. This beautiful metal object inspired goldsmith Tore Davidsson in Vilhelmina to make a jewelry collection and a bridal crown based on the find. This ornament’s form has its roots in the Catholic period. You can observe that it resembles an “M.” The M stands for Maria, Jesus’ mother, and was a common symbol in Scandinavia during the Catholic period when the Maria cult was most alive. The loose hanging piece is a variation of an “A” which stood for Anna, Maria’s mother. Even Anna had her own followers and cult at that time.  The letters have their own Sami shape and are today a very common and popular motif. On the Fatmomakke ornament the A-form resembles a person and therefore it is believed that it represents a nåjd. The Fatmomakke jewelry, as it is now called, is worn as a brooch or a pendant – as a testament and a greeting from a nåjd who had the ability to move in time and space just like his arpa has done. The original is kept at Västerbottn’s museum in Umeå. From #44, Fall 2006 Translated from Swedish by Arden Johnson Archive Copyright ©1996-2007 Árran |
