Sami History - Sami Art

Sami Art

Traditionally, Sami art has been distinguished by its combination of functional appropriateness and vibrant, decorative beauty. Both qualities grew out of a deep respect for nature, embodied in the Sami's animism. Their religion found its most complete expression in Shamanism, evident in their worship of the seite, an unusually shaped rock or tree stump that was assumed to be the home of a deity. Pictorial and sculptural art in the Western sense is a 20th century innovation in Sami culture used to preserve and develop key aspects of a pantheistic culture, dependent on the rhythms of the seasons.

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