by Karen Nyenhuis | Aug 15, 2024 | Just Knud Qvigstad, Sami History, Tales from Sapmi
Many of Just Knud Qvigstad’s works are out of print, and most are not in English. This is my paraphrased translation of stories from Sápmi from a French translation of his work. The Angry Loon God made the magnificent birds and let them fly away. The loon grumbled...
by Karen Nyenhuis | May 23, 2024 | Just Knud Qvigstad, Norse Mythology, Sami History, Tales from Sapmi
This story is hard to make sense of. It has a bit of shape-shifting in it, a phenomenon mentioned in Norse myth. The Sami had a broad understanding of Norse myth in the eighteenth century, as evidenced by the journal of Isaac Olsen, Lutheran missionary to Sapmi in the...
by Karen Nyenhuis | Mar 6, 2024 | Folklore of Scandinavia, Just Knud Qvigstad, Sami History, Tales from Sapmi
Two stories in Just Qvigstad’s Contes de Laponie illustrate that giants in the stories of the Sami were nocturnal and would turn to stone if caught by the rays of the sun. In one story, “Au royaume du géant,” a group of sailors sail their ship to the realm of the...
by Karen Nyenhuis | Mar 6, 2024 | Folklore of Scandinavia, Just Knud Qvigstad, Sami History, Tales from Sapmi
Just Knud Qvigstad tells three stories about the seida, the sacred stones of the Sami. The glossary in his book Contes de Laponie defines the seida as objects in which spirits and gods can manifest themselves, especially blocks of stone. Story One A wealthy mountain...
by Karen Nyenhuis | Feb 23, 2024 | Folklore of Scandinavia, Just Knud Qvigstad, Sami History, Tales from Sapmi
The glossary in Just Qvigstad’s book, Contes de Laponie, indicates that the Halde are invisible spirits. In one tale, “The Young Halde Girl,” the Halde manipulate an unsuspecting young shepherd. A man herding his sheep in the mountains of Kvaenangen sees a house with...
by Karen Nyenhuis | Jan 19, 2024 | Folklore of Scandinavia, Just Knud Qvigstad, Sami History, Tales from Sapmi
Two stories from Just Qvigstad’s Contes de Laponie continue the idea of the Stallo as killers of men. One story, “La jeune fille rusee,” tells of a Stallo who kidnapped a girl and took her to his forest home. Men searched for her for a long time. One man noticed marks...
