| Spiritual activities 10-15 August 2008: Summer camp at the Varanger Fjord, Finnmark 18-21 December 2008: Midwinter camp in the Tana valley, Finnmark. - Sámi spirit introduction - Book, Yoik and link list - Travel info - more information on Niillas A. Somby and Mardoeke Boekraad. - article from a participant about Niillas in English -Contact and Registration form - Quotes from participants |
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Sámi spiritExperience the lifestyle, culture
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In ancient times Sámi relied on their spirituality to survive in the harsh sub-arctic climate. They lived in permanent contact with the world of the spirits and consulted them for important decisions and in everyday's life. Spiritual self-reliance of each individual is crucial in their culture. At the camp the training is based on experiencing yourself what happens when you connect to sacred surroundings.
Spiritual communication with animal-, ancestor- and other spirits happened for example via dreams, intuitive feelings and seeing, drumming, reading 'signs', stories and songs. Ancestors knowledge is stored and available at ancient sacred sites. At the camps you will get an experience and basic elements of knowledge about values, attitudes and intuitive techniques that Sámi used for instance for individual healing, keeping animals strong and healthy, find the right herbs for food and healing, prepare for birth and death, establish social relations or to find the right place to place a tent or house. A key principle is the strong and very concrete respect for natural balances. Sámi as a people have historically not cut down their forests or emptied the ocean and lakes for fish. They have not damaged ecosystems for future generations. The feeling of wholeness and completeness experienced when respect for beings in past, present and future is practiced makes one understand why the indigenous peoples did not participate in modern society for such a long time. The camps take place in the wild nature. These wild landscapes are used by Sámi reindeer herders and berry-gatherers. The population density of the area is amongst the lowest in Europe. Water of rivers and lakes is so clean you can drink it. Air is pure and fresh. You hear only nature sounds.Industries are far away. Temperatures are cool, also in the summer. There are few mosquitos at the fjords where the summer camps take place. With the right clothing your are not cold in the snow times. The North is the place of purification, of remembering of beginning and ending. Of total darkness in winter and endless light in summer. Those who live here know that there is much light in the darkness and much darkness in the light. In the winter there are high starry skies and Northern lights. The white bright snow reflects the colors of the sky. In the summer the trees and plants are growing and flowering day and night. Here live wild animals like bear, raven, fox, eagle, a very few wolves, wild salmon, moose and reindeer. The Northern wilderness is a perfect place to deepen the listening to spirit and for clarifying thoughts, to let go and re-begin. You will establish spiritual connections with nature- and Sámi spirits that will help and heal you and increase your inner power and knowledge. Participants of camps have given as feedback that they have found grounding, personal healing, insight, inspiration and guidance on their lives. On a practical level we make a choice of the following activities:
- do drumming: learn divination with the Sámi drum, do drum journeys
- practice the yoik, sámi traditional song used to connect with everything around
- get healing and learn how to heal others
- do ceremonies and rituals
- might learn a simple and effective form of healing
- on prior request you can make your own drum of local material during the camp: Birch wood and already prepared reindeer skin. You can make a basic model frame-drum , even if this this comes traditionally from Southern Sapmi.
- Niillas tells about Sámi culture, the rapid changes that have happened and how traditional Sámi perceive them; We put them in the context of the sámi rights movement and the international indigenous peoples’s movement
- the language of the camp depends on participants, Niillas speaks Sámi, Norwegian and English, Mardoeke can help to translate into Dutch, French and German if necessary
- we eat mainly local wild food like reindeer meat, snow grouse, elk, may be lake fish, berries, wild plants, herbal tea, bake ..our own herbal bread. Vegetarian food on request but that is not traditional.
- we ask participants to help out with maintaining the camp and sometimes building it up or taking it down. Much depends on the weather circumstances.
Niillas leads the spiritual activities of the camp.
Mardoeke can give healings. She also helps make a bridge between the non-indigenous and the indigenous worldviews and takes care of the organisation.
The camps are equally accessible for people with much or little experience in spiritual work. The only need is to be motivated to learn. We will adapt to each person’s needs and interests.
Sámi were confronted with an aggressive and violent Christianisation from the Middle Ages on. After the witch- and drum-burning of the 16th to 17th century the old religion could not be practiced in public any more. Even today there are Christian priests that say publicly that traditional spiritual activities like drum journeys or healing are dangerous. Others consider the old spirituality cruel, outdated or just backwards. A lot of people drum, heal and visit sacred sites in closed circles with family or friends. Most Sámi consider their spirituality as a private affair and do not share it easily with outsiders. Many indigenous nations in the world are reclaiming their traditional Earth-related spirituality and do public rituals. The Sámi society has not publicly reclaimed their spirituality.
Every spirituality are about reconnecting with the heart and the source of all things; still there are important differences in the way they express and put this in practice. There is a uniqueness about indigenous peoples' spirituality that has not been fully understood and recognized. There are many important differences between indigenous spirituality and other forms of spirituality that seem close, like for instance Celtic or Germanic paganism or animism and New-age and 'light movement' thinking. Not to mention those that are obviously very different like Christianity in all its forms. As some key aspects on indigenous spirituality could be mentioned: need for humans to be aware and to take responsibility of each of one's deeds and thoughts in the non-linear time thinking. That includes past, present and future and present, past and future generations; immediate connection with practical life; spirituality is not something remote, but very concrete and integrated in daily life; necessity for justice; from this stem many interdictions that are linked to punishing actions that have been used to scare people about the ancient spirituality; ability to keep the balance with nature and in society by respecting all beings; strong spiritual link to the land they live on with all its spirits and ancestors; deep love for the Earth, the Sky and all things and beings.
Niillas and Mardoeke think that it is very important that also non-Sámi understand the indigenous life perspective in order to be able to be to further develop their own spirituality.
Messing rings
with Niillas A. Somby 10 - 15 August 2008place: Varanger Fjord, Northern Norway Celebrate the healing power of the Midnight Sun The camp follows the setting of the traditional Sámi summer dwelling: sleeping in a tent where the reindeer herds have their summer grazing lands, eating local foods and gathering in a lavvu. The advantage of the seaside is also that there are not too many mosquitos in the summer. Varanger Fjord has many sacred sites and a national nature park.  Maximum number of participants: about 12 persons
Language: English, Sámi, Norwegian.
Food: traditional Sámi food: mainly reindeer meat and sea and river fish. We will use local herbs and berries as available. Vegetarian dinner and other diet requirements can be arranged if requested. Please request in advance. What to bring: Your own tent and sleeping bag, appropriate outdoor clothes also for cold and rainy weather and strong footwear. The July temperature normally fluctuates between 0 and 25 degrees with an average of around 15 C. If you like, bring your own drum and other instruments. If you don't have a tent we will provide one. Arrival day: Sunday 10 August in the afternoon/evening, camps closes Friday 15.08, departure on Saturday 16.  Price:  Contact:
Tel. + 47 78928788/+4741272046Register here |
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English Book List:
- Snowchanges, Dreamscapes: Snowchange Book on Community Voices of Change Ed. Elina Helander and Tero Mustonen , 2004, Tampere Polytechnic Publications, Ser. C, Finland, www.snowchange.org
- The Sámi People, Traditions in Transition, by Veli-Pekka Lehtola, ed. Kustannus-Punsti, Inari 2002 , Finland- No Beginning No End, The Sámi Speak Up, ed. Elina Helander, Kaarina Kailo, Circumpolar Research Studies Nr 5, Canadian Circumpolar Institute, 1998 - The Old Religion and Popular Beliefs of the Sámi, by Odd Mathis Hćtta, Ed. Alta Museum, Brochure nr 1, 1994; also available in German and French.
- Silde, Sami mythic texts and Stories, gathered by Elina Helander. Nelita Oy , 2004; ISBN 952-91-8019-5;
- The Sámi, People of the Sun and Wind, text by Sunna Kuoljok, Johan E. Utsi. Edited by: Ájtte, Swedish Sami museum, Jokkmokk, Sweden. First edition 1993. Also available in German and French.
Yoiks online
-www.somban.com
Information on Sámi on the web:
http://www.uit.no/ssweb/indexen.htm:
Tromsř University Center for Sami studies. With extensive Sami web pages link list.
www.sametinget.se: Sámi present themselves.
Travel information:
- info without guarantee -
Our camps take place in Finnmark, Northern Norway.
For the summer camp, fly to Vardř or Vadsř. Take a bus from Vadsř to Vardř. If Vadsř is very expensive, take a plane to Kirkenes and take a bus from there to Vadsř/Vardř.
For the winter camp, fly to Ivalo/Finland or Vadsř, Lakselv or Kirkenes and take a bus to Sirma, Tana Bru or Utsjoki.
We will pick you up and bring you to the bus stops.
With the train you can go via Stockholm to Kiruna or via Helsinki to Rovaniemi. You have to take long distance busses from those stations. Ca. 1 day drive from Rovaniemi. From Kiruna may be longer, its difficult bus connections.
www.visitnorthcape.com: All tourist info you might need for Northern Norway. www.laplandfinland.com: complete tourist info about Finnish Lapland.
Air companies in Norway: www.norwegian.no, www.braathens.no, www.wideroe.no. Via www.finn.no you can find the cheapest flights.
In Finland: www.finnair.com ( to IValo), www.blue1.fi ( to Rovaniemi)
Busses:
Kirkenes-Tana Bru:
Kirkenes- Tana Bru FFR bus line 520 A
Kirkenes-direct to Sirma line nr. 205 not every day
Ivalo-Utsjoki: take a bus or airport taxi that goes a few times a week, tel. Ossi Guttorm tel. + 358 40 7489415.
Watch out in Ivalo, busses does not stop at the Ivalo airport but at the Ivalo bus station in the city center. One has to take a taxi from the airport to the bus station. It takes about 10 minutes and there is a restaurant /café where you can wait for the bus.
Company 'Goldline' or in Swedish 'Borgatrafik' Näätämo/Karigasniemi-Ivalo-Utsjoki.
Eskelisen Lapin Linjat bus company: bus Ivalo-Utsjoki.
Photographer, video maker, writer, yoik-singer, active in the sámi cultural debate, traditional healer and leader of rituals. Father and grandfather.
Born not long after the war as oldest son of a traditional Sámi reindeer herder family. Based in Tana/Eastern Finnmark, that is 500 km North of the Arctic Circle and at the shores of the Barents sea. Niillas is a member of the last generation Sámi that consciously experienced the old nomadic lifestyle.
He became well known after a failed attempt to destroy a bridge during the protest actions against the plans for building a devastating dam for a hydroelectric power plant in Alta river in 1982. He lost one arm and an eye and fled to Canada to escape from persecution. In Canada he got an indigenous spiritual education from elders from British Colombia on Vancouver island and other places. Two years later he came back to Norway and was fairly sentenced for his acts.
Over the years his awareness of the importance of the indigenous Sámi spirituality became stronger and stronger. Niillas is active in the Sámi public debate for the revalorisation and rehabilitation of the traditional spirituality and practices. For him traditional spirituality is mainly about living with love and respect for nature and for each other. For a more detailed cv, see here.
Born in the Netherlands. She loved nature already as a child living in the big towns, started studying nature more and more and became an ecological activist. After having completed one year of university studies in biology she concluded that in order to preserve the natural environment we must understand and change the human attitudes and thought systems 
that lie behind the destruction. She studied French and after a few years she got a job in the European Parliament for the Green party. Based in the European capital Brussels she discovered the still existing European nature spirituality. She became an active member of the west-European pagan druid movement. After several years she met Sámi people. Mardoeke started even more intensively to search for understanding of the culture of the Sámi and the relationship between the human body, its values and emotions, the health of the individual and society. She lives together with Niillas and their little daughter.
Quotes from participants:
'I found some spiritual truths in this trip that I will never forget.’
‘My experience on the spiritual/shamanic level was wonderful.'
’I have learned much about how to connect to nature.’
‘I would like to send an extra thank you to Niillas for sharing beliefs and knowledge and I also enjoyed your way of teaching. I know that I will have use for what I have learned. For me coming from a structured environment where we plan for weeks ahead before doing anything, this was quite an experience.’
'Det var en trivelig uke og jeg har hentet mye kraft. Og: utviklingen fortsetter, det er bra.'
'We hebben heel goeie herinneringen aan ons bezoek. We vertellen nog vaak over de periode bij jullie en genieten nog steeds van de bijzondere tijd die het toen was, van het plezier en de samenhorigheid.'
'Why didn't I visit you earlier?'
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