Riddu Riđđu

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Riddu Riđđu festival in 2007.

Ánde Somby from Vajas joiking at the festival in 2007

Riddu Riđđu is an annual Sami music and culture festival held in Olmmaivaggi (Manndalen) in Gáivuotna (Kåfjord) municipality in Norway. The goal is to bring forward both Sami culture and that of other indigenous peoples. Translated to English the name of festival is "small storm at the coast". The 17th festival will be held 9-13 July 2008.

[edit] History

The festival was initiated by a group of Sami youth on new-years eve 1991 in Olmmaivaggi (Manndalen). This was a decade after the Sami cultural revitalization started. Before that time the Norwegian government attempted to assimilate the indigenous Sami into the Norwegian majority population. In Olmmaivaggi almost all of the previously majority Sami population now considered themselves as Norwegian. During the 1990s the anti-Sami movement was especially strong in the area with Sami road-signs being shot to pieces and families being split. The group of youth started to ask questions such as: "Why did they [the Norwegian government] take away from us the Sami language? Why do we hide our sea-Sami identity and culture? Why are we ashamed [of being Sami]?". This started a Sami youth organization, that among other things organized the Riddu Riđđu festival ^[1]

The first festival was arranged in 1991, and the festival has since been arranged annually.

In 1998 the Riddu Riđđu Searvi organization was established, and has since been responsible for arranging the festival.