Saernieprieve 20 – Dávvirat Duiskkas – suehpeden/ ruffien 2025
May 19-23, Dávvirat Duiskkas‘ fourth and fifth workshop with public events took place at Davvi Álbmogiid Guovddáš/Center of Northern Peoples[i] in Olmmáivággi/Manndalen in Northern Troms and the Sámi University of Applied Sciences for Guovdageainnu gilišillju/Kautokeino Municipal Museum /RiddoDuottarMuseat[ii] in Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino in Western Finnmark. Center of Northern Peoples had chosen Sámi food traditions as the topic for their workshop,[iii] while Kautokeino Municipal Museum/RiddoDuottarMuseat wanted to highlight artifacts in fur and hide. [iv] Topic for the public events both places was Sámi cultural heritage in German museums.[v]
The week-long journey began by minibus from Tromsø Monday evening May 19. Tuesday morning the group was all set for a guided tour of Center of Northern Peoples. The center roots back to 1988 and houses a Sea Sámi museum, a language centre, a library, exhibition rooms, kitchen, and office spaces for among others the Sámi Parliament and Riddu Riđđu, an international Indigenous festival, which takes place in Manndalen annually.[vi] Of particular interest was the tour of the museum’s new permanent exhibition „De čalbmi ii olat guhkibuidda“ (Then the eye reaches no longer).[vii] The cultural historical objects that were returned from the Norwegian Folk Museum in Oslo through the Bååstede project (2012-2019)[viii], constitute the backbone of the exhibition.
Sea Sámi food tradition is an area of commitment for the Center of Northern Peoples. Isak Anta Mihkkal Kvitfjell spoke about the center’s work to strengthen and develop Sea Sámi language, art, and culture through the revitalization of Sea Sámi food traditions and dishes such as guohhparmális – soup with cod roe dumplings.[ix] Professor Trude Fonneland at the Arctic University Museum in Tromsø spoke about the Sea Sámi food system in general and documentation that exists in the museum’s archives. Both Tromsø University Museum and Center of Northern Peoples are partners in the project “Máhtut – Sámi Knowledge and Practices in the Era of the Green Transition” (2023-2026).[x]
Food and rituals involving food is conspicuously present in Sigbjørn Skåden’s new “Sami Noir” novel Láŋtdievvá/Planterhaug (2025) named after his own hometown in Southern Troms. Dávvirat Duiskkas had invited the author to talk about the background for the food focus. Skåden shared information on some of the historical sources that have inspired scenes in the book. In addition, he read the text “Guške for Lunch” to a chuckling audience. The text is an imaginary conversation between a liege (lensherre/ lehnsherr) and his servant. The liege has requested “great auk” (lundefugl/ papageitaucher, now a threatened species) for lunch but the inept servant only brings him “guške”, which seems to be the local Sámi word for whimbrel (småspove/regenbrachvogel). “Guške for Lunch” was originally written for The Sámi Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2022,[xi] but the bizarre situations created by Skåden and the many sources of error related to the collection and classifying of an object – not to mention the unreliability/resistance of the locals – certainly resonated with museum practices and colonial history.
After lunch, Anna Westman Kuhmunen, Head of cultural history at Ájtte Swedish Mountain and Sami Museum in Jåhkåmåhkke/Jokkmokk talked about food as ritual in the Lule Sámi are in the late 1600s, early 1700s when more direct, but obviously biased, descriptions of Sámi life were developed through the Swedish missionaries’ reports (the so-called “priestly reports”) and other sources. Kuhmunen called attention to eating as a ritual in itself where for example the distribution of meat within the household played an important part. Moreover, the act of not eating could create misfortune or express a social sanction. Food is not a fixed category, Kuhmunen cautioned. While there were no general food taboos in the Lule Sámi are at the time – some ate bears other not – the customs varied both geographically and within families. Finally, Dávvirat Duiskkas’ project leader Cathrine Baglo, spoke about the presence of Sámi food items in German museum collections. In comparison, Sámi food items have rarely become part of Norwegian museum collections.
In the afternoon the group got to know Manndalen a little better. We visited the shop and workshops of Manndalen Husflidslag/Manndalen handicraft/duodji association and saw demonstrations of rátnogođđin, a very old form of wool weaving that has been maintained in the area.[xii] Another important tourist attraction in Manndalen is the Anton Sjåbakken house also known as “the shithole shack”.[xiii] Like the other buildings in Manndalen, Sjåbakken’s house was burnt down to the ground by the German occupation forces in 1944. When Norwegian authorities later charged people for the leftover material they had used to build makeshift houses, Sjåbakken wrote a letter that voiced the community’s fury.
In the evening the public event “Sámi Cultural Heritage in German Museums” took place. Svein Leiros, the director of Northern Peoples spoke about the center’s participation in Dávvirat Duiskkas. Cathrine Baglo shared information about the project and Sámi collections in German museums, while Swantje Opitz at the University of Göttingen spoke about her newly initiated PhD project on the Gustav Hagemann collection at Museum Europäischer Kulturen (MEK) in Berlin. Hagemann (1891-1982) was an important German painter, sculptor and printmaker who visited Northern Scandinavia and Sámi areas yearly from 1926 to 1939.[xiv] A large part of the material related to the travels – copper plates, prints, slides, photographic negatives – are today in MEK’s holdings. Particularly interesting from a Sámi perspective are the etchings Hagemann encouraged some of his Sámi duojarát friends to do and that were later published. In contrast to other German “collectors”, Hagemann visited the Sea Sámi area in the Ivguvuotna/Lyngenfjord region where the Center for Northern Peoples is located.
Wednesday, the bus continued to Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino with stops in Gilbbesjávri/Kilpisjärvi in Finland, the Laestadius Museum in Gárasavvon/Karesuando, the newly opened Beaivváš Sámi Našunálateáhter/Sámi National Theater, and Juhl’s Silver Gallery, both in Kautokeino. Lars Levi Laestadius (1800-1861) served as a priest in Karesuando from 1826-1849, more specifically in the little wooden building we visited. Laestadius founded the Christian revival movement known as Laestadianism which rapidly resonated with many Sámi communities, not least because Laestadius preached in Sámi.[xv] Morover, Laestadianism is important to understand the history of Kautokeino where we were headed. [xvi] Indeed, the 1852 Kautokeino uprising forms the backdrop of Kautokeino Municipal Museum’s long longed for exhibition on Jáhkoš-Lásse/Lars Jacobsen Hætta (1834-1896) and the wooden duodji miniatures he made while serving his sentence as an underage convict in Oslo for his participation in the uprising (“Lars Jakobsen Hætta – Jáhkoš-Lásse duodji”, September 2025). The exhibition is based on miniatures that have been returned from the Norwegian Folk Museum in Oslo and the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen.
Thursday the workshop „Artifacts in fur and hide“ took place at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences. RiddoDuottarMuseat (RDM) hosted the event. The consolidated unit consists of a Sami art collection and four Sámi museums located in Kárášjohka/Karasjok, Porsáŋgu/Porsanger, Jáhkovuotna/Kokelv and Kautokeino, hosted the event. In her welcome speech RDM’s director Anne May Olli, emphasized the importance of duojars (artesans) and traditional knowledge when working with cultural heritage objects. However, pesticides severely limits investigations. Gunvor Guttorm, professor in duodji at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences, fully proved Olli’s point.
Guttorm spoke about the Sámi baby cradle – gietkka in North Sámi – that is carved in wood and covered with sisti (reindeer hide tanned with bark): How for example the gietkkamuorra, the wood for the cradle has to be very light and able to float like a boat if lost in the river but at the same time stable enough not to roll over when put on the ground. While the sisti might be changed a good gietkkamuorra can last for generations. Guttorm also spoke about the various regional shapes of the gietkka, the various family patterns on the woven ribbons used to tighten the child to the cradle, the ancestral knowledge the gietkka articulates, the importance of ornaments or small pieces of jewellery – šiella – to give protection against evil, danger, or disease, and how the collection of gietkkadarfi – moss for the cradle – could signal that a new human being was about to arrive in the world.
Seal skin was the topic for Ove Stødle’s talk. Stødle is the manager of Mearrasámi diehtoguovddaš/Sea Sámi Centre of Competence in Billávuotna/Billefjord, and himself a practising duojar.[xvii] Stødle explained and demonstrated how to prepare and sew objects such as footwear in sealskin. Mearrasiida is participating in a large EU project called Birgejupmi: bridging knowledge systems for inclusive, resilient, and prosperous Arctic coastal futures (2025-2027).[xviii] Mearrasiida will particularly work with seal and knowledge related to seal in Porsangerfjorden.
Elle Bals from Kautokeino Municipal Museum reflected on her partcipation on Dávvirat Duiskkas‘ trips as representative for RiddoDuoattarMuseat and the types of duodji she has seen in German museums. After lunch the spotlight was moved from the objects themselves to more overarching issues. Helene Tello, the author of The Toxic Museum – Berlin and Beyond (2024) gave an historical overview of the use of pesticides in German museums and what this means in terms of challenges for Indigenous cultural heritage today. Lara Ertener Selin gave an overview of the Sámi collection in Museum am Rothenbaum – Kulturen und Künste der Welt (MARKK) in Hamburg. Ertener Selin is the curator for MARKK’s European collection. Lastly, Cathrine Baglo gave an overview of Sámi collections in German museums with emphasis on objects in fur and hide.
In the afternoon Elle Bals gave the group a tour of Guovdageainnu gilišillju/Kautokeino Municipal Museum where she works. In the evening we met again at the Sámi University for a public event on Sámi Cultural Heritage in German Museums. Anne May Olli welcomed the audience, Cathrine Baglo spoke about Dávvirat Duiskkas, Elle Bals spoke about inscriptions on njuikumat, tablet weaving looms made of reindeer antler, while Veronika Grahammer from Museum Fünf Kontinente in München gave an overview of the Sámi collection in the Bavarian capital. Grahammer had also been asked to share light on Julius Konietzko, the single most important collector of Sámi objects in German collections. [xix]The presentations were translated into North Sámi by Ellen Oddveig Hætta.
Many thanks to the generous staff at Center of Northern Peoples, RiddoDuoattarMuseat and many thanks to everyone involved. It was a busy but fantastic trip full of new insights, knowledge, great conversation and inspiration!
Jïjnjh heelsegh
Cathrine Baglo
Notes:
[i] https://senterfornordligefolk.no/?lang=en
[iii] https://museumsforbundet.no/nyheter/workshop-on-sami-food-traditions-at-center-of-northern-peoples-tuesday-20-05-2025/
[iv] https://museumsforbundet.no/nyheter/workshop-on-artifacts-in-fur-an-hide-at-sami-allaskuvla-thursday-may-22_2025/
[v] https://museumsforbundet.no/nyheter/davvirat-duiskkas-invites-to-talks-on-sami-cultural-heritage-in-german-museums-at-center-of-northern-peoples-tuesday-20-05-2025/
[vii] https://senterfornordligefolk.no/ny-fast-utstilling-sa-nar-ikke-oyet-lenger/?lang=en. The title is taken from the novel „Bæivve-Algo“ (1912) by the Sámi teacher, journalist, and writer Anders Larsen: “There – infinitely far away – the sky meets the sea. Then the eye reaches no longer. But thoughts and longings float even further away. For them there are no fences, no sea, and no sky either.”
[viii] https://nordligefolk.no/sjosamene/historie-religion/baastede-tilbakeforing-samisk-kulturarv/
[ix] https://nordligefolk.no/sjosamene/mat-og-oppskrifter-2/syv-sorter/rognbollesuppe/
[x] https://mahtutproject.com/
[xi] Indigenous Sámi artists transformed the Nordic Pavilion designed by Sverre Fehn into ‘The Sámi Pavilion’ for the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2022.
[xii] https://nordligefolk.no/sjosamene/klaer-handverk-og-duodji/greneveving/grenevevingens-historie/
[xiii] https://nordligefolk.no/hjem-2/kultur-og-historie/sjabakkhuset-eller-sjit-helvedes-kaken/?lang=en
[xiv] See for example, Geheimnis des hohen Nordens : Auswahl der graphischen Arbeiten von Gustav Hagemann (1948); Unter dem Nordlicht : aus dem Leben und der Arbeit des Malers und Lappenforschers Gustav Hagemann (1966); Gustav Hagemann : der Maler des Nordens (Mersmann 1981)
[xv] Much has been written about Laestadius, also in English. See for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Levi_Laestadius
[xvi] More specifically the so-called Kautokeino uprising. The uprising marked the culmination of a religious-political conflict that had been going on for years between a group of Laestadians and the Norwegian authorities in Kautokeino. The conflict escalated, and on November 8, 1852, a violent confrontation took place. The merchant and the sheriff were killed, and the priest whipped. The uprising was eventually put down by other Sámi. Five of the agitators were sentenced to death, but only two death sentences were carried out: Aslak Hætta and Mons Somby were beheaded in Alta on 14 October 1854. The bodies were buried locally but their heads were sent to the University of Christiania now Oslo for research. Other agitators were sentenced to penitentiary in Trondheim and Oslo. Sentences ranged from one year to life imprisonment. Some of the convicts were underage, such as Lars Jacobsen Hætta (1834-1896). In addition to helping translate the bible into North Sámi while serving his sentence, Hætta made wooden miniatures. The miniatures illustrate the life and culture of the reindeer herding Sami. See for example https://snl.no/Kautokeino-oppr%C3%B8ret; https://snl.no/Lars_H%C3%A6tta
[xvii] https://mearrasiida.no/index.php
[xviii] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101182041
[xix] https://museumsforbundet.no/nyheter/den-tyske-samleren-julius-konietzko/
