Wednesday, 14 August 2024, 3–5pm Helsinki Time (Zoom)
Gifts from the Sentient Forest
Sámi Perspectives on Plants, Fungi, and Culture
Image Credit: Chaga on Birch, Rovaniemi, Finland by Francis Joy (2024)
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Click the above image of chaga to access the YouTube recording of the seminar.
Download the seminar flyer here.
Join distinguished speakers Lone Beate Ebeltoft, Kyrre G. Franck, and Åsa Andersson Martti for Gifts from the Sentient Forest: Sámi Perspectives on Plants, Fungi, and Culture, on 14 August 2024, from 3-5pm Helsinki time. The online seminar introduces participants from around the world to Indigenous Sámi views of plants, fungi and land.
Indigenous people are bearers of different kinds of traditional knowledge that is only shared within the culture and personal knowledge that is shared among families and sometimes with people from outside. A great deal of this knowledge is sacred.
When Indigenous knowledge is shared, it can help change fixed ideas about other people and relationships with the natural world. This is why the Sámi have a long history of traditional knowledge expressed through art and oral traditions that is used for educational purposes. And the practice of sharing stories has many positive benefits in terms of supporting well-being, maintaining identity and preserving cultural memory.
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Today, as Sámi traditions are revitalized, some people want to share their knowledge so that it might be given the recognition and value it deserves as an important resource, especially as climate change accelerates. Approaches such as Indigenous storytelling help us rethink and improve our relationships with forests and trees as well as the plant kingdom. Stories offer a sacred meeting place between peoples, cultures and worlds
Lone Beate Ebeltoft shares how plants and fungi reinforce Sámi rituals and ceremonies. She discusses the powers and healing properties of the fungi Amanita Muscaria and Chaga, her strongest allies along with her ancestors and local animal and nature spirit guides. Kyrre G. Franck presents his journey to meet the spirit of Chaga. Åsa Andersson Martti offers insights into Mountain Angelica (Angelica archangelica) and the different ways to use it, especially as protection against unwanted surprises
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ABOUT OUR PRESENTERS
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Lone Beate Ebeltoft is from Vardø in Finnmark, Sápmi. She studied marine biology and creates Sámi inspired clothes together with the traditional Sámi dresses (Gákti) from her area. She is of Sea Sámi heritage and works as a spiritual and cultural speaker for her community.
Kyrre G. Franck is the visioner of the World Drum project and Shamanic Association of Norway. Kyrre has studied and received traditional knowledge in the Sámi arts known as noaidevuohta. For more information, see www.sjamanforbundet.no
Åsa Andersson Martti is an Indigenous Sámi and Tornedalian artist, healer, and academic researcher based in Kiruna, Swedish Sápmi. She is founder of the historical and animistic pilgrim trail ‘Sámi Trail of Tears’ based on her mother’s childhood memories.
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