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 6 of February - the Sámi National Day Photo: Carl Johan Utsi

6 of February - the Sámi National Day

 

6 of February is the Sámi National Day and it is celebrated all over Sápmi and in other places where Sámi live. 1992 at the Sámi Board on the 15: e Sámi Conference in Helsinki it was decided that the National day for the Sámi should be February 6.
The first celebration was 1993 at a meeting in Jokkmokk during the UN International Indigenous Peoples year 1993.  


 The date February 6 honors the memory of the first Sámi Association Meeting (Landsmöte) in Trondheim 1917. For the first time Sámi from North and South and across National borders gathered to work on common issues. The meeting saw more than one hundred participators among those a large proportion were women. Elsa Laula Renberg from Tärnaby was one of the initiators of the meeting.

 

The Sámi flag has flown over Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia since 1986 when it was adopted by the Sámi as our National flag. It was approved August 15 by the Nordic Sámi Conference in Åre and is designed by Astrid Båhl from Skibotn, Troms. The circle symbolizes the sun and the moon. The sun ring is red and the moon ring is blue. Red, blue, green and yellow in the flag come from the traditional Sámi dress. These four colors also symbolize important elements of survival for the Sámi.  

Green: vegetation, nature and the land Sápmi - life giving for the Sámi

Blue: water the elixir of life.

Red: fire that represent warmth and love.

Yellow: the sun that represent a long and sustainable life.  

The ring in the flag is a symbol of spirituality that bind the four elements together.

1986 the official Sámi National Anthem was proclaimed - Sámi soga lávlla. The lyrics are written by the sea Sámi Isak Saba (1875-1921) born in Nesseby. Isak Saba was the first Sámi to be elected into the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget). The melody is composed by Arne Sörlie.

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