Sámi goahti

The goahti – kåta in Swedish – is the traditional Sámi dwelling, and it comes in several types.

The tent goahti – låvdagoahte in Lule Sámi – is age-old. Simple, but ingenious. Under one cloth there is a kitchen, a workroom and a bedroom, and the cloth keeps out rain, wind and winter cold. Right up to the 1950s many live in the tent goahti all year round. Today it is used mostly in summer, for example at calf-marking in the mountains.

The forked-pole lávvu is the simplest: three sturdy poles forked at the top form a tripod, and lighter poles lean against it. The bent-pole goahti is the most common. It is built on two pairs of curved poles that meet at the top. Further north it is covered with turf and becomes a permanent home – the turf goahti. In forest Sámi country, log-built goahtis stand instead, usually square, sometimes six- or eight-sided.

The plan is the same in all of them. The hearth – árran – lies in the middle, with the smoke hole above. The floor is covered with birch twigs, in the forest country in winter with spruce, and reindeer skins are laid on top. You sleep under a rahkas, a sleeping tent against the mosquitoes.

At the very back lies the boassjo. Food, utensils and water are kept here – and, in the past, the shaman's drum. It is the sacred part of the goahti. Even today you never step there and never sit there.

A guest does not walk straight in. You sit down by the door and wait to be invited. In South Sámi tradition you back out of the goahti, out of respect for those who remain.

Arvidsjaur, 1827. A new church town is laid out to a plan by the vicar Gustaf Edvard Rehn, in three parts. In the Sámi part the goahtis stand on one side of the street and the storehouses opposite – all in straight lines. The forest Sámi come here for the church festivals, the greatest of them Storstämningen at the end of August. Today there are 32 goahtis and 54 storehouses.