Sami Clothing in the 17th Century
From Through Lapland With Skis and Reindeer by Frank Hedges Butler, 1917.
From: 1600 C.E. To: 1700 C.E.
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From Through Lapland With Skis and Reindeer by Frank Hedges Butler, 1917.
Dress
In summer their garments were of homespun woollen cloth, and in winter of reindeer skins. Their shoes and gloves were of the same material, stuffed with hay to make them warm; the shoes were worn on the bare feet without stockings.
Both men and women wore their garments next their skin without any linen underneath, for they had no flax in the country. They covered their heads with a cloth cap which reached down to and partly covered their shoulders, "leaving only a space for them to see through." The cap kept them warm in winter and protected them from mosquitoes in summer. In all clothing the hair of the skin was worn outside.
There was little difference in the apparel of the sexes, especially in winter, since the women must then wear breeches a by reason of the deep snows, storms, and badness of the ways."
Both the men and women were fond of ornaments, and upon festivals and holidays, instead of the customary plain leather girdle, wore one ornamented with silver or tin studs according to the wealth of the wearer. They also hung chains about their necks.
The women's girdles were much broader than the men's, and those worn on highdays and holidays were ornamented with tin or silver plates of the length of a finger engraved with "shapes of birds and flowers," the plates laid so close together that the leather fillet was entirely covered with them. They hung chains on the girdles and many rings and trinkets on the chains. The weight was often as much as twenty pounds; they were specially pleased by the rings, "the jingling of which is very grateful to their ear, and, as they think, no small commendation to their beauty."
They sometimes wore a sort of breastplate of coloured cloth ornamented with engraved metal studs. At fairs, weddings, and feasts they covered their heads with a red kerchief. There was no difference in the attire of married women or maidens. Neither sex wore night clothes; they lay naked on the reindeer skins, covering themselves in winter with other skins and blankets, in summer with the blankets alone, making of them for their heads a kind of rude mosquito net. Of the use of linen or cotton sheets they were quite ignorant.
Butler, Frank Hedges. Through Lapland with Skis and Reindeer. T. Fisher Unwin LTD., 1917.
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