Service in 3 languages

Last Saturday it was time for Sámi church service in Hemavan, in the southern part of Sápmi. This is a special thing in that area, since there are two sámi languages there. The one is a variant of South Sámi, called Ume Sámi. The other one is North Sámi. The speakers of that language are families who have been forced by the state to move to that area in the first part of the 20th century. Then, many Sámi, especially in this southern part, have lost their mother tongue thanks to state policies. South and North Sámi are as different as let's say Swedish and German.

So in this area, we sing hymns and read texts in both languages, and preaching has to be in Swedish. It is quite a challenge to have a service like this, but worth the effort.