<h2>Sami</h2>

<p>The Sami people are considered to be the native population of northern
Norway, Sweden, Finland and West Russia (the Kola Peninsula).  More information
can be found at <a href="http://www.eng.samer.se/">samer.se</a> and in the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people">Sami people article in Wikipedia</a>.</p>

<h3>Sources</h3>

<p>Stellarium's Sami sky culture is based on the work of Bo Lundmark <i>Bæi'vi mánno nástit</i>
(Swedish title: <i>Sol- och månkult samt astrala och celesta föreställninga bland samerna</i>
[<i>Sun and Moon cult and astral and celestial concepts among the Sami</i>], 1982), who based
much of his work on the writings of the Sami artist and author Johan Turi.</p>

<p>This sky culture is a conglomeration of at least three slightly different cultures from
the people of the South-Sami, North-Sami and Russian Sami.  Each of these groups have slightly
different languages and as such there may be small differences with some references.</p>

<p>Sami constellations can be observed on Sami artifacts connected to the old religion, suggesting
that the night sky played an important cultural role for Sami peoples in years gone by.</p>

<p>The Sami sky culture has a lot in common with other arctic and sub-arctic cultures in
Eurasia. One unfortunate similarity is that much of the culture was lost before it was recorded
properly.</p>

<h3>Constellations and Stars</h3>

<p>The Sami constellations are probably very old but were recorded in writing during the 19th
century. In is unclear if the written record is complete. The constellations and stars included
here are all connected to the dominant constellation, <i>Sarva</i> &mdash; the elk.  Sarva is the
Sami name for elk, an alternative name is <i>Sarvvis</i> &mdash; Bull elk.  The origin of this
constellation probably dates back to the old hunter culture before reindeer were domesticated.</p>

<p><i>Sarva</i> consists of the Western constellations Cassiopeia, Perseus and parts of
Auriga. Constellations and stars surrounding Sarva represent hunters of the elk.  <i>Favdna</i>
(also transcribed as <i>Favtna</i>) is the star Arcturus, and represents the Hunter who aims
at the elk with his bow and arrow (<i>Fauna davgge</i> &mdash; the Big Dipper).  Favdna must
aim well, for if he hits the Sky Support <i>Boahjenaste</i> (the star Polaris), legend has it
that the world will come to an end.</p>

<p>Favdna has a number of helpers: <i>Galla</i> (Procyon<sup><a href="#note1">1</a></sup>)
and his sons <i>Gallabarneck</i> (Orion's belt), the "Ski Runners", <i>Cuoigahægjek</i>
(Castor and Pollux) and "The Runner" (Vega). The Pleiades are called <i>Rougot</i> (dog pack)
or <i>Miese-cora</i> (calfpack).</p>

<p>The Milky Way is called <i>Lodde-raiddaras</i> (lit. bird path) or <i>Jakke-mærka</i>
(lit. year mark).  The name used depends on the season. In the sky chart of Johan Turi, one can
observe a star <i>Guovso-naste</i>, morning star, that can be identified as Venus, but this is
not certain as it can also be identified as Altair, a star showing the morning is approaching
(similar to Arcturus in the Norse skyculture).</p>

<p>The Sami sky culture does not have a large number of constellations. This is thought to be
mainly because of the high Northerly latitude of the Sami people's range.  Two factors contribute
to this: that the Southern sky stays below the horizon to a large extent, and that the Aurora
Borealis is frequently bright enough to obscure many stars.</p>

<h3>Notes</h3>

<ol> <li><a name="note1" />The exact star which represents <i>Galla</i> is uncertain.  it is
probably Procyon, Rigel or Sirius - Procyon was chosen as Galla for this sky culture since Sirius
is very hard to spot from the latitude where the Sami live.</li> </ol>

<h3>Author</h3>

<p>Jonas Persson (jonas.persson@physics.org)</p>


