Understanding the environment and the landscape
Our traditional beliefs are based upon a matriarchal order with female deities. We believe that nature has a soul and can communicate with us. From this perspective, everything in the earth should be treated with respect.
Every meaningful place, fell, mountain, lake, waterfall, pasture, forest, and valley has its own deities that assist it. The deities can also become contentious if something angers or upsets them. The Sami world view is intricately linked with nature. Our Sami history, stories, and world view are often connected with our lifestyle, the surrounding nature in the forests, mires, mountains, water, the seasons, the heavens, the earth and fire.
Age-old knowledge creates a mind map of the landscape
Through interviews and conversations with Sami people throughout history, this world view has emerged more or less clearly. It has, however, been less understood by outsiders. Age-old knowledge is still used today as a kind of mind map of the landscape. The work we do on the land today is based upon age-old knowledge passed down through generations. This ancient wisdom is as important as a GPS or a paper map. This knowledge collectively gives many of us a sense that we know where our reindeer are, even when they are out of sight. This feeling or sense of where reindeer or other animals are is shared with other indigenous peoples of the north, regardless of whether they herd domesticated reindeer or if they hunt wild reindeer.