2018 is an exciting year as many Sami will head to Staare (Southern Sami for Östersund) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first Sami national meeting on the Swedish side of Sápmi. Many will go to the Jokkmokk winter market and for many both places will be on the agenda and it will be a busy day.
The celebration in Staare starts with a festival week from 5 to 11 February. I travel there for work but also to experience the unique days when celebration will be mixed with reflection and history is mixed with the present and the future. One of the champions who is finally being recognized is the activist and feminist of the time Elsa Laula (1877 – 1973). She contributed greatly to the national meeting in 1918, the Sami National Day on 6 February and to the formation of Sami organizations. Her campaign letter “For life or death?” raised questions about the right to land, water, education and the right to vote. In some respects, it is still surprisingly relevant.
But before that, it's Jokkmokk's winter market, the theme is Arctic gastronomy. I'll of course be there to talk about food, there will be a lecture at the Ájtte Mountain and Sami Museum. I'll talk about flavors, Sami resource use and how we gathered knowledge for the book A Taste of Sápmi and what it does for Sami food today. Now it's time to put the presentation in place on the computer, everything that's going to be good has to be prepared, then you have more freedom to take the plunge when the time comes.
I stretch a little more and breathe in more frozen air. The next few months will bring many dear reunions and new acquaintances. It's time to leave the weekend bubble with the closest family. And if you see me in the crowd, come up and talk. I myself have incurably bad face memory and it often causes it. But that's another story.
Don't miss my talk "Taste of Sápmi" during the Jokkmokk Winter Market on Friday 2/6 at 2:45 PM -4:30 PM in the Ájtte Museum auditorium.
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