The Sami Flag
The current Sámi flag was designed by artist Astrid Båhl and approved by the 13th Nordic Sámi Conference in 1986. It was a revision of an earlier Sámi flag designed by Synnøve Persen in 1977. The newer flag added a circle (representing the sun and the moon) and a green stripe to the red, yellow, and blue of Persen’s design. The sun and moon symbol derives from similar symbols on old Sámi shamanic drums, and was inspired by the Sámi poet Anders Fjellner’s (1795 -1876) epic poem “Paiven Parneh” (The Son of the Sun), which tells of the origins of the Sámi people as descendants of the Son of the Sun and a giantess.
The Sámi flag was deliberately designed to be different from the Nordic cross flags, and does not comply with the rules of European heraldry. This is, in part, to show that the Sámi nation is not part of the Eurocentric state system.
Today the Sámi flag is recognized and honored in Norway, Sweden, and Finland on eleven official flag days, adopted by the Saami Conference in Helsinki, 1992, the Saami Conference in Murmansk, 1996, and the Sámi Conference in Tråante, 2017.
Flag stamp issued by Norway in 2017. (Image posted under fair use doctrine)
In Seattle, the Swedish Club has flown the Sámi flag for more than a decade. In February, 2020, the Sons of Norway’s oldest lodge in Washington, Leif Erickson, voted to install the Sámi flag in its main hall. In Poulsbo, City Hall flies the flag on Sámi National Day, February 6.
Official and non-official flag days:
February 6 – The National Day of the Sámi People commemorates the first congress held in Trondheim in 1917
March 2 – Opening of the Saami Parliament of Finland in 1996
March 25 – Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a traditional Sámi holiday
May 17 – Syttende Mai, “independence day” in Norway
Midsummer's Day
August 9 – UN International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples
August 15 – The Sámi flag was adopted in 1986
August 18 – The Sámi Council was founded in 1956
August 26 – The Sámi Parliament of Sweden was founded in 1993
October 9 – The Sámi Parliament of Norway was founded in 1989
The second Monday in October – Indigenous Peoples Day in many jurisdictions in the United States
November 9 – The Delegation for Saami Issues in Finland was founded in 1973
November 29 – Elsa Laula Renberg was born in 1877
November 15 – Isak Saba was born in 1875
Sámi flag remixed with a pride flag. (Image posted under fair use doctrine)
