Tuesday, November 3, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org

Sami

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Texts

Fjellner — The Son of Pischan-PaschanA Sámi hero epic — the son of a murdered chieftain discovers his parentage, confronts the ogre Stalo on the Black Ridge, and wins back his father's herds through ritualized combat and an extraordinary eschatological vision. Collected by Anders Fjellner from South Sámi oral tradition; translated from the 1873 Swedish edition by the Good Works Archive.Fjellström — A Brief Account of the Lapps Bear-HuntingThe earliest detailed account of Sami bear-hunting ceremonies, written by the Swedish missionary Pehr Fjellström in 1755. Covers the origin myth, the sacred bear-language, post-kill ceremonies, ritual bone burial, and the women's brass-ring rites. First English translation.Fjellström — A Brief Account of the Lapps Bear-HuntingThe earliest detailed account of Sami bear-hunting ceremonies, written by the Swedish missionary Pehr Fjellström in 1755. Covers the origin myth, the sacred bear-language, post-kill ceremonies, ritual bone burial, and the women's brass-ring rites. First English translation.Introduction to Sami ReligionA source-critical scholarly introduction to Sami religion and sacred practice — the noaidi, the gobdas drum oracle, sky and earth powers, Maderakka birth-spirits, the saivvo spirit world, and bear ceremony.The Monastery of Petschenga — J. A. FriisJ. A. Friis’s sketches of Russian Lapland from historical and legendary sources, translated by Hill Repp and published in London in 1896: eight chapters on the monastery founded by the hermit Trifon on the Petschenga River, its fisheries and trade, and its destruction on Christmas Eve, 1589.The Sun's Son's Courtship in Giant-LandThe complete text of the most important Sami mythological epic ever recorded — the Sun's Son's voyage beyond the North Star to court the daughter of a blind giant, the wedding, the flight, and the three magic knots that summon the storm. Collected by Anders Fjellner from Leuhnje of Tornio Lappmark; a new English translation from Gustaf von Düben's 1873 Swedish verse edition.Therman — Joikun, the Song of the LappErik Therman's 1940 essay on the Sámi joik — its power as sorcery and trance, its capacity to conjure the spirit-host of the mountains, and its deep kinship with the Arctic landscape. Includes improvised joik compositions by the master singer Jooseppi Maaka of Nunnanen. First English translation from Swedish.
Donner — Sami Songs24 pages

Sámi songs and joiks from Otto Donner's Lappalaisia lauluja (Helsinki, 1876), translated from the Sámi, each printed with its Sámi text.

Friis — Lappish Mythology6 pages

Chapters from J.A. Friis's Lappisk Mythologi (1871) on Sami gods, drums, and ceremonies.

Friis — Sami Tales, Proverbs and Riddles43 pages

North Sámi folk tales from J. A. Friis's Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania, 1856), translated from the Sámi, each printed with its Sámi text.

Halász — Pite Sami Tales and Sayings47 pages

Pite Sámi tales, legends, songs and proverbs from Ignácz Halász's Svéd-lapp nyelv V (Budapest, 1893), taken down from Sámi of Arjeplog in 1891, translated from the Sámi, each printed with its Sámi text.

Qvigstad Collection3 pages

Sami legends and tales from Just Qvigstad's folklore fieldwork collections.

Travellers in Lapland4 pages

Older English accounts of journeys among the Sámi of Lapland, from Linnaeus's tour of 1732 to the travellers of the turn of the twentieth century, preserved in full as period witnesses.