Photoalbum

The main types of folklore traditions of the Russian Saami are: fairy-tale epos, songs and folklore traditions. But we can find folklore traditions in epos and songs, that`s why we can say that folklore consists of two types - fairy-tales and songs.

The Saami had no special rules or prohibitions connected with telling fairy-tales. Both men and women can tell and listen to fairy-tales, but in both cases the role of men is more active.

According to the content the Saami`s fairy-tales can be divided into the following groups:

1) heroic tellings (athletic epos);

2) mythological tellings and fairy-tales;

3) household fairy-tales and stories;

4) Russian fairy-tales (of different content).

The last narrators probably missed some unclear parts of legends and replaced them by other familiar notions; that is why the greater part of the Saami`s rich epos has been lost forever. However, this fact doesn`t lessen the value of the preserved pieces, which probably were parts of long legends. And the Saami still tell them. They say that many years ago there were narrators who could tell about earlier times - heroic legends about enemies` invasions - for several days. A number of legends tell about a heroic role of the Saami women who struggled for independence of the folk. Enemies in the Saami`s sagas are called differently: "shishi", "chud`", "julkvik", etc. meaning "a gang of armed people".

From tellings we can see that the Saami`s enemies don`t know about climatic and geographical conditions in Lapland, that`s why they are helpless; they often fall victims of clever Saami heroes. They are cruel, greedy and steal the Saami`s women. The majority of the enemies` and the Saami`s leaders are not only athletes but also strong magicians. Consequently, the Saami transfer the functions of their patrimonial leader-magician on the enemies when they have affairs with patrimonial elders or leaders in war conflicts with neighbours.

In general there is no mythology in form of a more or less connected cycle of religious tellings. But a number of narrative magical stories have little mythological character.

Undoubtfully, the Saami`s mythological and heroic epos was larger earlier. "Living" folklore and records have preserved only small parts of different fairy-tale stories. For example, almost all lost mythological stories were connected with respect and personification of the sun and other nature forces. Although writers of the 17th century marked the existence of remnants of the sun cult. The cult folklore has also been preserved in rather small pieces.

We can divide magic mythological stories into two groups:

1) Legends about Sejds, people turned into stones, magicians;

2) Fairy-tales connected with anthropozoomorphism, about people who turn into animals and vice versa.

Every story has a lot of different ways of telling.

Peculiarity of the Saami life fairy-tales - narrations is in almost complete absence of legendary elements. As a rule, the topic of the story is some real event that happened not a long time ago. The topic of narrations is moving of reindeer from one place to another, greediness of priests, peripetias connected with sending goers to the tsar, joining the army, etc. Some fairy-tales and stories have a family-chronicle or moralizing.

The Saami`s fairy-tales, if compared with magic stories of the nations - the Nenetz and Hanty - having the same culture, are characterized by a number of interesting peculiarities:

1) Though the possession of domesticated reindeer is considered to be the sign of well-being, no big herds consisting of several thousands of reindeer are mentioned; but we know about a predominating role of fishing and hunting;

2) The contrast between the rich and the poor or between the heads of one family is not shown in fairy-tales;

3) There`s no feud between different kins;

4) There`re no fairy-tales or legends about attacks on the kins of one`s own or another tribe;

5) There`re no mentions about any neighbours and constant peaceful and war contacts with them;

6) Neither kins or whole settlements of the Saami nor their athletes first start war campaigns;

7) A Saami woman isn`t passive but struggles with enemies during attacks. Neither the Russian nor Scandinavian Saami had their own musical instruments; they expressed musical emotions by singing. Probably the absence of musical instruments explains the absence of songs with certain tune. The most characteristic feature of the Saami`s art of singing is the preserved song-improvisation.

The Saami`s songs have no artistic images. They`re improvisations with a concrete content. A famous phenomenon attracting attention precedes all the Saami`s songs-improvisations, then follows the creative process of a song and singing itself.

The Saami have a certain peculiar style of singing and aesthetically admitted tune. Even if one doesn`t have ear for music it`s possible to distinguish a lot of tunes in the Saami`s songs. The vibration of sounds is so various and distinct that it is difficult for ordinary listeners to hear and memorize it.

V. U. Vize, a specialist in the Saami`s music, wrote in 1911: "I would like to say a few words about the Saami`s peculiar manner of singing. First of all it attracts attention by the vibration which they use in singing every note. This vibration is so strong that it is sometimes difficult to hear a certain tune: the sound vibrates between the neighbouring semi-tones".

Another characteristic feature of the Saami`s singing is constant changing of chest and guttural sounds; it creates an impression that a Saami sings abruptly. When he starts singing he doesn`t use any words but sings the same syllable "ly-ly-ly". Then he gradually starts to use words still combining them with the same "ly-ly-ly". This "ly-ly-ly" means nothing but helps the singer "to start the song itself".

The Saami don`t sing in chorus. They practice only solo singing.

Like other ideological displays the Saami`s songs are rather archaic in form and content. They show us the origin of a human song which used to be not only entertainment and expression of sexual power but also played a religious-magical and economic-organizing role.

The songs have a rather simple content which concerns not only family-chronicle matters, except religious and ritual singing. The Saami didn`t have songs of historical or mythological content. Typical songs are about hunting, reindeer-breeding, matchmaking and marriage, visiting guests, etc.

Russian music (harmonica and balalaika) and songs started to spread long ago. These Russian songs weren`t transformed and people sang them in Russian with the same tune.

The Saami didn`t have professional narrators and singers. The Saami didn`t have other forms of folklore than stories or songs within family circle, close relatives or trade-colleagues. The exception is ritual folklore and ritual ceremonies connected with reindeer sacrifices and bear cult.