Ecological Sustainability in Traditional Sámi Beliefs and Rituals

by Mardoeke Boekraad, Ruth Hutzel (Editor), Gerhard Droesser (Editor)

Overview

The book gives a detailed overview of relevant traditional indigenous Sámi myths, beliefs and rituals based on empirical findings. The author inquires whether and how they are related to an ecologically sustainable use of the natural environment. Her main sources are ancient missionary texts, writings by Sámi and contemporary interviews with Sámi individuals. The traditional value system included ecological sustainability as a survival strategy. Beliefs and rituals, transmitted via stories, incorporated these values and transmitted a feeling of a round life, despite the strict rules for right behavior and punishment for transgressions. The term round symbolized a sense of safety, interconnectedness, reliance on mutual help and respect, identification and empathy with all living beings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783631665985
Publisher:	Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Publication date:	02/22/2016
Series:	Moderne - Kulturen - Relationen , #20
Pages:	166
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mardoeke Boekraad studied biology and French language and literature in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris as well as religion at the University of Bergen (Norway) and Umeå (Sweden). She is committed to environmental issues both on a private and on a professional level.

Table of Contents

Contents: Ecological Sustainability – Traditional Sámi Beliefs and Rituals – Indigenous belief, rituals and nature – Indigenous religion and ecology – Sámi people – Superhuman agency – Animal shape shifting – Animal ancestry – Sacred animals – Sacred landscape – Underground people – Animal Species-Related Protection Spirits.

Preface

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Editorial Reviews

«This book compiles selected written documentation augmented by contemporary voices about Saami in their Saapmi Umwelt, showing how inner values, cultural ritual, and the natural environment sustain their own enduring dance.»
(Myrdene Anderson, Anthropos 112.2017.2 )

From the Publisher