Outi Pieski

The ládjogahpir is an upright headdress that was traditionally worn by Sámi women until it was banned and nearly vanished at the end of the 19th century due to Norwegian assimilation policy and missionary work. Christian ministers claimed that the devil resided in the headdress’ “horn.” Norway carried out a brutal process of assimilation of its Indigenous people with massive repercussions for the Sámi and Kvens, with the most intense suppression occuring from1851 to 1970. This official policy of assimilation was called “Norwegianization” (Fornorskning). 

The ládjogahpir gets its shape from a curved piece of wood, known as the fierra, which sits inside the headdress. The ládjogahpir convey information about family, status, home region and the emotional state of the wearer. Much knowledge about the headdress was lost because of colonial suppression, and there are few sources about its historical use.  

How do Sámi women relate to the ládjogahpir today? What special significance does it have in today’s Sámi society, and what does the process of making it mean? 

These are questions that Sámi artist Outi Pieski and archaeologist Eeva-Kristiina Nylander (formerly Harlin) investigate in their project Máttaráhku ládjogahpir – Foremothers’ Hat of Pride.  

In addition to publishing a book about the project, Pieski and Nylander have organized workshops on the ládjogahpir for Sámi women to learn more about the headdress and how to make it.  

Máttaráhku ládjogahpir spans historical and archaeological research, social activism, and the revitalization of duodji. Duodji is an ancient and vital Sámi concept involving “craft” making, philosophy, and cosmology.  

With the ládjogahpir as a starting point, Pieski and Nylander examine the colonization of mind and body in Sámi women’s history. Their process can be called rematriation – a term that has its origins in Indigenous feminist perspectives. Pieski and Nylander seek to revitalize and reclaim the ládjogahpir as symbol of rematriation in Sámi society. 

The term rematriation describes the process of returning to the sacred “Mother” (Earth/land), to heal relationships with ancestral lands, waters, knowledge, and culture disrupted by colonialism. For example, Pieski and Nylander highlight the ancient Sámi cosmology, where gender equality is central.  

Outi Pieski had one of her first encounter with a historic ládjogahpir in 2017, at an exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the first Sámi National Assembly in Tråante/Trondheim. The headdress Pieski encountered was to be returned to Sámiid Vuorká-Dávirrat at RiddoDuottarMuseat in Kárášjohka/Karasjok. It was on display in connection with Bååstede (“to return” in South Sámi) – a project in Norway that deals with the repatriation of Sámi cultural heritage to the Sámi museums.  

Shortly after, Nylander visited the National Museum of Finland in Helsset/Helsinki to examine a ládjogahpir in the museum’s collection. She discovered that this particular headdress originally belonged to Golle-Gáddjá, Pieski’s own great-grandmother.  

The experience in 2017 inspired the research project in which Pieski and Nylander examined ládjogahpir – 47 of them depicted in the exhibition – which survived the prohibition period and now belong to various European museum collections, including the collection at UiT The Arctic University Museum of Norway here in Romsa/Tromsø. Most of the headdresses originated from the northern parts of Sápmi in Northern Norway and Finland.