Bible in Southern Sami to be launched this weekend
This weekend, the translation of the New Testament into Southern Sami, Orre testamente, will be launched. Handicraft exhibitions, seminars on campus and a high mass are on the schedule during the launch weekend.
David Kroik, Ph.D. in South Sami and responsible for the South Sami subject at Mid Sweden University, will give a lecture on language revitalization on Saturday.
"I'm going to talk about language revitalization and whether and how Bible translation can contribute to that," he says and continues:
"One thing that I will highlight is how this group that has done this translation has worked together for a long time and learned a lot together. They have had to do this translation based on a South Sami mindset, so in a way it becomes a deconolization.
The main translator Bierna Leine Bientie, the first South Sami priest in the Norwegian Church, will hold a seminar on the work with the Orre Testament.
Big lending weekend with several happenings
The launch weekend starts with the opening of a South Sami handicraft exhibition at Gaaltije on Friday evening. On Saturday there are seminars on campus and on Sunday Orre's testament will be received during the High Mass in the Great Church in Östersund.
This is the first time that the New Testament has been translated in its entirety into South Sámi, and it is the most comprehensive collection of texts published in South Sámi. Orre's Testament has come about through a collaboration between the Church of Sweden and the Church of Norway. During the weekend, South Sami church life and culture will be highlighted in several ways.
The seminars at Mid Sweden University are on Saturday, in room F229 at 10.00-12.30