THE SAMI FLAG – “SAMI ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE SUN”

The Sami flag is the flag of all Sami, no matter what country they live in.

The Sami flag represents the Sami people and Sápmi, and it carries the Sami colors red, blue, green and yellow. These colors are most common traditional colors to use on sami clothing. It has a circle that symbolizes the sun in red, and the moon in blue. The yellow and the green are symbols of nature and the animals.

Read also: Sami languages

Astrid Båhl created the Sami flag in 1986. She is from Ivgonvuonbahta (Skibotn, Norway). It was based on the flag that had already been used in Sápmi, but the green colour and the ring was added. The designer called the flag “Sami are children of the sun”.

Astrid Båhl drew the flag under inspiration of the Sami drum and the poem «Paiven parneh» («Beaivvi bártnit») (“Sons of the Sun”) by the southern Sami man Anders Fjellner (1795–1876). In this poem the sami people are refered to children of the Sun.

The Sami people are children of the nature – the sons and daughters of the sun.

There was a priest in 2013 who expressed his disconsent of the flag because it has heathen symbols. His name was Malvin Børresen and was a pastor in Tana, northern Norway. All the other nordic flags has a cross to show that they are christian countries. The Sami flag is the only nordic flag that doesnt have a cross, but instead the circle that symbolises the moon and the sun, which is connected to shamanism. He didnt get much support on his opinions, so the case rested after the article in the christian newspaper about his discontent.

Seventeen years after the Sami flags adoption by the Sámi Council, in 2003, the Sámi flag received official status in Norway, the country with the largest Sámi population. It is now compulsory for municipalities in Norway to fly the flag on February 6, the Sámi National Day.

Sami flag days

Sami flag days, adopted by the Saami Conference in Helsinki, 1992 the Saami Conference in Murmansk, 1996 and the Saami Conference in Tråante 2017:

1. February 6th – The National Day of the Saami People which celebrates the memory of the first national gathering of the Saami, which was held in Trondheim in 1917 
2. March 2nd – Opening of the new Saami Parliament of Finland in 1996
3. March 25th – Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, traditional Saami holiday
4. Midsummer’s day – official holiday
5. August 9th – UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
6. August 15th – The Saami flag was adoped on this date in 1986
7. August 18th – The Saami Council was founded on this date in 1956
8. August 26th – The Saami Parliament of Sweden was founded on this date in 1993
9. October 9th – The Saami Parliament of Norway was founded on this date in 1989
10. November 9th – The Delegation for Saami Issues in Finland was founded on this date in 1973
11. November 29th – Elsa Laula Renberg was born on this date.
12. November 15th – Isak Saba was born on this date in 1875. He wrote the national anthem of the Saami.

You can get a Sami flag from Amazon. When you follow this link and we will get commision of your purchase.

Read more:

Sami languages.     

 What and where is Sapmi

An introduction to Shamanism

“I am from Sápmi”

Information from these sites 26.01.2019: http://www.trestammersmote.no/les_mer.asp?id=67

http://www.saamicouncil.net/en/about-saami-council/national-symbols/

https://www.vl.no/troogkirke/pastor-hoster-storm-etter-kritikk-av-sameflagget-1.59464?paywall=true