Hielp Maria!

Sammanfattning: Saami culture and the Saami people have long been exploited and colonized by the Swedish state and church. Christian missionaries and priests have worked hard, violently, and oppressive to erase the indigenous religion and replace it with Christianity. During the systematical missionary work, which took place from the 15th to the 19th century, the missionaries wrote and published academic writings to their colleagues. The purpose for this essay has been to examinate these writings and interpret what they can tell us about Virgin Mary’s significance in the Saami indigenous religion and how it was expressed by the people. A particular interest has been dedicated to contextualizing how the missionaries and their writings were affected by the scholarly view on knowledge that was representative for their time of publishing. With help from a post-colonial theory, this essay has also viewed what the Saami’s responses were to the missionary and how the missionaries’ writings both confirmed and justified the colonization and racism of the Saami people. Virgin Mary had, and still have, a unique standing among the Saami’s. However, it is interesting how limited this relationship has been analyzed or discussed until the 20th century. This essay introduces three possible theories on why Virgin Mary became so special for the Saami’s: first, she resembled the indigenous goddesses and naturally assimilated to become one of them; second, she facilitated the process of conversion to Christianity for the Saami’s; third, she was an expression of longing for Christian teaching and missionary within the Saami culture. Regardless, it is safe to claim that although she is a Christian Virgin, at one point she also became a Saami one.