Sámediggi

August in Sámerica

/ Julie Whitehorn
At 01:19, you can hear Sandra Ericksen Eira joiked by Hans Ole Eira, Sámi Grand Prix winner (introduced by singer and actor Mikkel Gaup)

The uptick in Covid cases in Washington state means most of us are back to donning masks indoors, avoiding crowds, and washing our hands extra long. Just when we were getting out and about! It doesn’t have to be this way. Please persuade your friends and relatives to consult their doctors about vaccines, not social media, and then boost their immunity (and yours) by thanking them and staying in touch. Community boosts immunity!

Our ancestors lost so many of their loved ones to smallpox, pertussis, cholera, tuberculosis, influenza, you name it. I made a list based on death records for my own family and it was hearbreaking. So many children! Let’s do all we can to protect our most vulnerable.

Some of the events are online only. Follow Seattle Sámi on Facebook for the most current info.

August Events

6 pm, Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Sámi Parliament Member Sandra Andersen Eira, Leif Erickson Lodge, Ballard

Sandra will help install the lodge’s Sámi flag, talk about her role in the Sámidiggi, work as a sea captain, and whatever else she would like to share. There will be time for Q&A (maybe we can persuade her to tell how her home town inspired the film Ofelaš/Pathfinder.) A relief to some of you, we will NOT be singing the anthem together (thanks, Covid). We will listen instead. But, there will be cake! Free. In person only. No need to register. Questions? Email JoAn Rudo at the Lodge.

6 pm, Friday, August 13, 2021

Sámi Dreams, Photo Exhibit Reception, Nordia House, Portland

The exhibit is excellent, and no doubt the talk by photographer Randall Hyman & curator Max Stevenson will be fascinating. Hyman has been around the world as a Nat Geo photog. That said, it’s unfortunate the only Sámi included are two dimensional. We can all help our Nordic institutions adhere to the principle of “nothing about us without us” by flexing our memberships. (Join up to speak up!) Free. Online (registration required) and in person.

2:30 pm, Tuesday, August 17, 2021

A Night of Poetry From Fulbright Poets to Romania, Burkina Faso, and Finland

Two friends active in the Sámerican community are among the Fulbright poets sharing their work. Both did their Fulbrights in Finland, and both are extraordinarily talented. Tim Frandy is also the father of a charming toddler, professor of folklore, and translator of Inari Sámi Folklore, the first polyvocal anthology of Sámi oral tradition ever published in English. Cheryl Fish is professor of English, an essayist (from whose work about Sámi artistic response to resource extraction I learned the term “elegiac ecojustice”) and poet whose recent book, The Sauna is Full of Maids, romps through Finnish sauna culture and friendship. Free. Online only (register at link).

Do you want to share an event? Feel free to contact me here.

Sámi Solidarity with “Idle No More”

/ Julie Whitehorn / Leave a comment

Today, Sámi Parliament President Egil Olli expressed solidarity with Idle No More, the ongoing protest movement originating among the Aboriginal peoples in Canada and comprising the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples, and their non-Aboriginal supporters in Canada and internationally.

“I want from Sámediggi side to express our support and sympathy to the indigenous struggle in Canada. In particular, I wish to express my concern for the health of Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat nation, which now close to a month, went on hunger strike in protest against the narrow social and economic plight of Canada’s indigenous people live. I see it as natural that this will be one of the topics I will take up when I meet Canada’s Minister of Health in the Arctic Council 20 January.”

Yesterday the Church of Norway, including the Sámi Church Council, expressed solidarity.

The movement was launched in October, 2012 by four women (Nina Wilson, Sylvia McAdam, Jessica Gordon, and Sheelah McLean). On December 11, 2012, Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence began a fast, requesting a face-to-face meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Governor General Stephen Johnston (the Queen’s representative) to discuss broken treaties and protection of natural resources.

While Stephen Harper has agreed to meet with Chief Spence, Stephen Johnston has denied her request.

Meanwhile, protests, drum circles, and fasts continue around the world in support of the movement. An interactive map of Idle No More events can be found here.

Learn more about Idle No More at this informative blog by Toronto journalist and Sami-American Krystalline Kraus (who many of us had the pleasure of meeting in Minnesota last summer at the 2012 Siidastallan).