Skolts

According to information voiced at the conference “History and current situation of the Skolt Sámi” held on October 18, 2011 in Murmansk , the total number of Skolts is about 1000 people: 600 in Finland, 250 in Russia, 150 in Norway ^[1] . According to other information, the number of Skolts in Finland is 500 people, in Russia - 400 people ^[2] .

Currently, the Kolts (Skolts) live in Finland in the community (commune) of Inari - in the settlements of Sevettiarvi , Keväjärvi , Nellim and their environs, in Russia - in the Murmansk region (in the north and west of the Kola Peninsula ^[2] ), in Norway - in the village of Neiden .

Colts belong to the eastern Sami group. Their original language is Colt-Sámi , however, only about 400 people in Finland can speak it to one degree or another (Finnish colt's communication language is largely Finnish ) and about 20 people in Russia ^[2] . Russian Sami speak the so-called Notozozeri dialect of the Koltta-Sami Sami.

Among the Neiden Coltis, there were no native speakers.

The traditional crafts of the Sami Skolts - reindeer herding , hunting and fishing ^[2]

In the 19th century, the Colts in Norway were subjected to forced Norwegianization . As Bishop Per Oscar Helos said in 2011 , “in Norway there is no other minority than the Skolts, who lived under such oppression by the local population and the state as a whole” ^[3] .

According to the Tartu Peace Treaty between the RSFSR and Finland (1920), the Colt land was divided by the border into two parts: the western ( Petsamo ) transferred to Finland, and the eastern transferred to Soviet Russia . The border has become a serious obstacle to the occupation of traditional crafts by the Colts, thereby violating their way of life.

Before World War II, Colt Saami was spoken in four villages in the Pechenga area, including in Petsamo ( Pechenga ) and Suonikylä . After the Soviet-Finnish war (1939-1940) , Finland lost its part of the Rybachy peninsula, and after the Soviet-Finnish war (1941-1944) Finland transferred the Petsamo region to the USSR. Before the transfer of this territory to the Soviet Union , the Sami population was evacuated to the villages of Inari , Sevettiarvi and Nellim in the community (commune) of Inari .

Religion

Currently, most of the Colts adhere to the Orthodox faith . The tradition of Orthodoxy is associated with the activities of Tryphon of Pechenga (Tryphon of Kola, 1495-1583), who baptized the Colts and other Sami in the 16th century and is revered as the “Enlightener of the Lapps”.

Tryphon of Pechenga (in the world - Mitrofan) was the son of a priest from Novgorod land ; at an early age, he decided that he wanted to serve God and would like to spend his life as a hermit . Settling in the north, he began to preach the Gospel to the Sami living along the Pechenga River . There he met Theodorite Kola , the educator of the Lapps , who was just beginning his missionary work. Mitrofan was tonsured a monk named Tryphon and ordained a hieromonk . After approval and ordination, Tryphon became hegumen at Holy Trinity Monastery (Pechenga-Trinity-Trifonov Monastery, now Trifonov Pechenga Monastery) on the banks of the Pechenga, and distributed the gospel to people living there.

Tryphon of Pechenga is revered by the Russian Church as a saint in the face of the saints . Rev. Tryphon is also widely revered among the Orthodox in Finland and Norway . Every year, representatives of three Orthodox communities - Russian, Norwegian and Finnish - come to the joint service in the chapel in honor of St. Nicholas in the village of Neiden ( Nor. Neiden ), located in the Norwegian commune of Sør-Varanger . St. George the Victorious , erected in 1565 on this site by the Rev. Tryphon of Pechenga ^{[4] [5]} .

On the western coast of the Bay of Neiden, on the upper part of the Norwegian cliff of Accobaft, a white cross is clearly visible, formed by the intersection of cutting through the granite quartz veins. According to the existing legend, the Monk Tryphon, having learned that many lopars gather at Akko, and the kebuns (shamans) make a deer meat sacrifice there, got to the pagan temple by water, got up in the boat, raised his hands to the cliff and overshadowed the pagans with the sign of the Cross. At the same moment lightning struck, a cross was imprinted on the rock, and shamans after that, as the legend tells, turned to stones, and their victims - to dust ^{[6] [7]} .

Fiction

The most famous Colt Saami writer was Kati-Claudia Fofonoff from Finland. A famous writer from Russia was Askold Bazhanov , who wrote in Russian.

Studying Collts and Their Culture

One of the first researchers in the history and culture of the Sami Skolts was the Russian Orthodox priest Georgy Terentyev (1823-1904).

Tim Ingold (born 1948), one of the largest modern ethnographers and anthropologists , at the beginning of his scientific career conducted field research among the Colts (Colt-Sami), the result of which was the monograph “Modern Colts” (1976).

The cooperation of the Skolts of Norway, Finland and Russia is carried out within the framework of the project “Skolt Sami culture without borders” ^[1] .

On September 25, 2011, a ceremony was held in Neyden for the burial of the remains of 94 colts seized at the beginning of the 20th century . Representatives of the University of Oslo in 1915 , despite protests by the local population, bought Sami skeletons from burials for anthropological research near the village on the banks of the Neiden (Näätämöyoki) . Vice Rector of the University of Ragnhild Hennum apologized for the human rights violations committed by the Colts and said that this should not be repeated. Rigmur Osrud Minister of State Administration, Reform and Church Affairs of Norway also apologized to the Colts . The burial ceremony was held according to the Orthodox rite by Archbishop Gabriel of Comana; the remains were buried at the site of the initial burial in the presence of several hundred people from both Norway and Finland and Russia ^[3] .

On October 18, 2011 in Murmansk the conference “History and current situation of the Skolt Sámi” was held, dedicated to the cultural heritage, history and current situation of this people ^{[1] [8]} .

On June 14–15, 2012, an international conference on the language and culture of the Sami-Kolt people was held in the Sami cultural center Sayos ( Inari , Finland) ^[9] .

In 2008, in order to preserve and revitalize the Colt-Sámi language and the culture of the Colt-Sámi in Finland, the Foundation of the culture of the Colt-Sámi was founded. The fund is mainly engaged in supporting cultural projects in northern Finland - in the places of residence of the Sami Sami in Finland: settlements of Sevettiarvi , Keväjärvi and Nellim . On August 13, 2013, the website of the Kolt-Saami Culture Foundation opened ^[10] .

• Ingold, Tim. The Skolt Lapps today (1976). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages ​​of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex .: SIL International. Online version
• Saarinen, Tuija; Suhonen, Seppo. Koltat, karjalaiset ja setukaiset, Snellman-Instituutti, 1995. ISBN 951-842-167-6

• A. Bazhanov: Poems and poems about the Sami region
• Colts in Finland // Articles on the Siid exhibition center website:

Suomen kolttasaamelaiset (Finnish) , The Skolt Sámi in Finland (Retrieved October 23, 2011)

• Skolt Sami culture without borders