I tried to find the exact date and origin of this photograph. All links led me to what I assume to be the source, the Finnish Museum of Photography.
I found it after I saw a post on Reddit from a concerned dad asking if he should stop his baby from sleeping on their stomach. In the comments someone mentioned ‘swaddling,’ which I got me curious and Googling. Naturally this led me to Wikipedia, then there was this image. A Sami woman holding her child in a cradleboard — the ǩiõtkâm. The cradleboard is an extremely old tradition in many different cultures. People use it to wrap their young babies for protection and safety. Such as stopping a baby from rolling on its stomach which can cause them to suffocate if they can’t roll back.
CC SA
The Sami languages are a collection of languages used by people spread across the very North of Norway and Finland, and to the very far North-West of Russia. The Skolt Sami themselves live around the Nothern tip of Finland. The Skolt Sami lived in their homeland, Sapmi, across seven Sijdd. There was considerable community between the sijdd with marriages, agreements, and shared winter towns that familes would move to during the colder months.
However, being located at the intersection between three different countries put the Sami people in the crossfire of both Finns, Germans, and the Russians during the Second World War. When the Russians feared Finland becoming a base of operation for the Germans, they invaded Finland and kicked-off The Winter War which last from 30th November 1939 to 13th March 1940. Due to the way country boarders were drawn, Sami and Sami were forced to fight each other, albeit not by choice. The Finnish Sami defending the Sampi and the Russian Sami trying to take it. At the end of the war, Finland ceded several land changes to Russia. Leading to Finland joining with Germans and the launch of Oeration Barbarossa on 22nd June 1941 against Russia.
When armistice between the Soviet Union and Finland was signed on 19th September 1944, Finland agreed to expell all German troops from its borders. This led directly to The Lapland War (15th September 1944 — 27th April 1945), where the Germans would be successfully pushed out of the country. Not before the Germans destroyed massive portions of the country’s infrastructure using their Scortched Earth tactics for revenge against the Finns. This also included the vast destruction of Sampi by the Germans which annihilated Sami heritage and culture. Artefacts and structures that stood for hundreds of years were gone.
As of 2000, the Sami language is recognised in Norway (1988), Finland (1991), and Sweden (2000). Which, in my opinion, is far too late for a indigenous population which has lived in Sampi for at least hundreds of years. They played a vital role for the Finnish army during the Second World War, using their expert knowledge of Sampi for long-distance reconnaissance. Yet it seems, like for many other indigenous people across the world, their contributions to society is downplayed and forgotten.
There are around 80,000 Sami today.