Last modified: 2004-11-27 by phil nelson
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![[Flag of the Sami People]](../images/x/xn_sami.gif)
by Zeljko Heimer
See also:
The Sami people live in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and The
Russian Federation. Their language belongs to the Uralic
language family, the Finno-Ugric branch to be specific. It is
related to the Finnish and Estonian languages. In reality there
are three different Sami languages, and a variety of dialects.
In all the Sami population numbers about 70.000 people. About
45.000 live in Norway (mostly in the county of Finnmark),
17.000 in Sweden, 6000 in Finland, and about 2000 in Russia.
Jan Oskar Engene, 16 October 1995
The question of a adopting a flag surfaced with the increased activism among the Sami in the 1970s. The idea of having a flag was first regarded as too radical by many. These people associated the idea with demands for separatism and the establishment of a Sami state. Nevertheless several proposals were made over the years. However, no decision was made, until the present design was chosen in 1986.
The flag of the Sami was adopted at the 13. Nordic Sami Conference in Are (Sweden), where it was hoisted for the first time on 14 August 1986. The Sami Council (an umbrella organization of Sami organizations, of which the Nordic Sami Conference is the supreme representative body) announced a competition for a Sami flag. In response, 27 participants submitted a total of 74 designs. Two proposals were submitted to the Conference for final decision.
The first was the already well known unofficial Sami flag of red, yellow
and blue in the proportions 3-1-7. It was designed by Synnove
Persen of Porsanger (Norway) in December 1977, and based on
colours used by Sami activists in Norway from the 1960s. This
flag was widely used, and was a common sight during the
protests against the Alta-Kautokeino hydroelectric development
project.
Jan Oskar Engene, 16 October 1995
The Saami flag is on its way to being legally recognized in
Norway. For many years the flag has been used by the state and
municipalities without any legal regulation. Now, government
proposed to amend the law on the use of flags from municipal
buildings to include the Saami flag as one of the authorized
flags, and also to introduced a few passages mentioning the
flag in the general act on Saami matters. These amendments will
probably become law this spring.
Jan Oskar Engene, 27 March 2003
According to http://www.sametinget.se/sapmi/flagg.html these days are Saami flag days:
Construction Sheet
![[Saami Construction Sheet]](../images/x/xn'sami.gif)
by Zeljko Heimer
The other, winning design was made by Astrid Bahl of Ivgovuonbahta (Skibotn in Norwegian). This design adds the colour green to the established colours red, yellow, and blue, adding also a circle in blue and red. This design was adopted by unanimous decision of the 13. Nordic Sami Conference. The measurements issued by the Sami Council are:
The followig are the Pantone colors:
As for the symbolism, several interpretations have been
launched. One is that the colours are those of the Scandinavian
flags (if so, the white of Finland is missing), and the ring
represents unity (in which case it is appropriate that the ring
is 'divided' - just like the land of Sami people). Another
version is that the colours are based on the Sami traditional
dress, often made in the colours blue, red and yellow (some are
mostly white, so this colour is again missing). The ring can be
seen as the sun, or the moon, or both. The ring can also be
interpreted as the drum of the shaman (this would be
controversial in the puritan Lutheran communities of the Sami).
I have also seen the colours interpreted as red for fire, blue
for water, yellow for air, and green for earth. In this version
the circle was seen as the sun.
Jan Oskar Engene, 16 October 1995
The half rings of blue and red are to represent moon and sun
respectively. Nothing is said on other colours than they are
traditional colours of Sami outfits.
Zeljko Heimer, 10 February 1996
The flag enjoys semi-official status in Norway, and is flown
by the 'Sameting' - the (mainly consultative) assembly
elected by the Sami people.
Jan Oskar Engene, 16 October 1995
February 6th is the national holiday for the Sami (Lapps). In the municipal council of Oslo, Kari Pahle (SV) proposed to hoist the flag of the Sami on that holiday, because there are a lot of Sami living in Oslo. Spokesman Per Ditlev-Simonsen declared on January 28th that there wouldn't be an official hoisting of the flag, because the Foreign Department (UD) hasn't worked out rules for the use of this flag. As a result, every commune may decide on its own whether it wants to hoist the flag or not, and apparently, the municipal council of Oslo decided not to do so. One of those opposed to the official hoisting of the flag was Svenn Kristiansen (Fr.p.), who said that the Norwegian flag sufficed for him.
Source: Aftenpost Aftennummer, 1998-JAN-29, page 19,
'Sameflagget heises ikke i Oslo'.
Filip van Laenen, 1998-JAN-30
First of all, let me explain the politics here. Per Ditlev-Simonsen, of Hoyre the conservative party, is the mayor of Oslo. SV is the Socialist Left Party which is to the left of the Labour party. The party is mostly positive towards the Saami minority, especially outside the Saami core areas in the North of Norway. It should be noted, however, that the SV candidate in Finnmark in the September 1997 election ran a campaign against giving more rights to the Saami people and against granting more powers to the Saami Assembly. He was elected. FrP is a party to the right of the Hoyre, the conservatives, and is know for its negative attitude to foreigners. In the 1997 election campaign it also launched the Saami issue and argued against 'special treatment' of a small group of people.'
Oslo, though a far way from the traditional Saami areas, is nevertheless the municipality with the highest number of Saamis.
No doubt some of the municipalities in the counties Finnmark and Troms will hoist the flag. The Saami flag has a kind of semi-official status. It is flown by Sámediggi, the Saami Assembly, which is an official elected assembly with mostly consultative powers. Despite the semi-official status, or perhaps because of it, there is a lack of official guidelines for flying the Saami flag.
Two years ago the County Governor of Finnmark (the county where the Saami presence is strongest) said that the flag was not hoisted outside the offices on Saami national day because his office didn't have a flag. They had hoisted the Norwegian flag instead.
Some time ago I received information on the use of the flag
of the Church of Norway, and they noted that the church flag
was on the same level as the Saami flag, and should be used
subordinate to the national flag. The Church of Norway, which
is a state church, frequently displays the Saami flag.
Jan Oskar Engene, 30 January 1998
I found recently in Flaggenmitteilung a flag labelled (in
German) Samid Aednan (Samenland). I think that was a Sami
movement or proposal.
Jaume Olle, 7 April 1997
I have no definitive information on this flag, but I came across a very similar emblem some time ago when I did a little research on Saami flags.
This resembles the emblem used by the Nordic Saami Council
(now known as the Saami Council,or Samiraddi in Saami), except
that the circles only overlap (or touch) in the narrow white
bands and that there is a smaller white circle in the centre of
the three. Most frequently, the NSC's emblem was *not* drawn as
perfect circles, but in a more rough style. I have seen the
emblem used on flags in several photographs, mostly dating from
the period before the mid-1980s. These photos were all black
and white, so I am unable to say anything else than that the
field is of a dark colour while the circles are of a light
colour. Green and white may very well be the colours. I do not
know if the flag with the emblem is still used today.
Jan Oskar Engene, 09 April 1997
![[alternate flag of the Sami People]](../images/x/xn_samia.gif)
by Antonio Martins
All of this reminds me of a Sami flag I saw in two occasions. It differed from others I've saw in other sources, and looked definitely better.
It is very squarish, maybe 4:5, horizontally divided in four stripes, the central two being much narrower: blue, yellow, green, red. Over those stripes, a narrow ring (same thickness as each narrow stripes), red in its upper half (over blue and yellow) and blue in the lower (over red and green).
It was a photo from a Nordic Esperanto Meeting, published in
the Swedish Esperanto Association bulletin.
Antonio Martins, 09 April 1997, 17 April 1997