I’ve been hoping to find Sámi nalbinding as there is so much nalbinding in the region, but finding Sámi specific nalbinding has been a bit of a challenge. Today’s Nalbound Object of the Week is a Skolt Sámi hat collected in 1933 that was brought to my attention by Ingela Lindberg Anderson after her trip to the National Museum of Denmark. As she was trying to find more information about some of the objects she had seen on display, she ran across this hat in the online catalog.
Photo credit: Mads Kildegaard Nielsen – Nationalmuseet, Danmark CC-BY-SA
Object: Skolt Sámi hat
Description: A light brown, natural colored, nalbound hat. The National Museum of Denmark provides the following measurements: Largest measurement 22 cm, Diameter 18 cm, Height 18 cm.1
Dated to: collected in 1933
Find location: The museum lists the location as “Samer – Suonikylä. Petsamo
Lapps, Finland.”2 This reflects the terminology of 1933 when the hat was collected. This region of the larger Sápmi is no longer within the borders of Finland as it was ceded to Russia in the Second World War.3
Material: wool4
Stitch(es) used: According to Margrethe Hald, the hat is worked in Långaryd stitch5, UOOOO/UUUUOO F1. However, the surface texture does not match that stitch determination. Further research should follow the Ethical Guidelines for Research Involving the Sámi People in Finland.
Inventory number: ObjectId 19278 Item number K.782
Current location: Nationalmuseet, Danmark, Ethnographic Collection
Link to museum catalog or other data:
https://samlinger.natmus.dk/es/object/19278
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Hald, Margrethe. Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs And Burials: A Comparative Study of Costume and Iron Age Textiles. Publications of The National Museum of Denmark; Archaeological Historical Series XXI. Translated by Jean Olsen. Copenhagen: Fyens Stiftsbogtrykkeri, Copenhagen, 1980. ISBN 87-480-0312-3. Pg. 298.
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- https://samlinger.natmus.dk/es/object/19278 Accessed 13 August 2024 ↩︎
- https://samlinger.natmus.dk/es/object/19278 Accessed 13 August 2024 ↩︎
- My thanks to Niina-Hannele Nuutinen for assistance with placing this location on a map and an introduction to the relocations that occurred in the region https://www.samimuseum.fi/saamjiellem/english/kolttaalue.html, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skolt_S%C3%A1mi and https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suonikyl%C3%A4 Accessed 18 August 2024 ↩︎
- https://samlinger.natmus.dk/es/object/19278 Accessed 13 August 2024 ↩︎
- Hald, Margrethe. Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs And Burials: A Comparative Study of Costume and Iron Age Textiles. Publications of The National Museum of Denmark; Archaeological Historical Series XXI. Translated by Jean Olsen. Copenhagen: Fyens Stiftsbogtrykkeri, Copenhagen, 1980. ISBN 87-480-0312-3. Pg. 298. ↩︎
Nalbinding in Skolt Sami could be called kuärrmõš, which technicly means sewing (or knitting) with a needle. One could specify that it is done with tä’httneull, a bone needle. The summer hat which the Skolt Sami men wore is called koolpiǩ and that could be done by for example in nalbinding.
Thank you! That’s very interesting and useful information.