Lappstaden
A good way to find out more about the
Sámi
culture (which manifests itself more and more as you travel north from here) is to visit
Lappstaden,
which lies just off the main drag, Storgatan. Although you probably won’t meet any
Sámi
here, you will at least be able to see how they used to live in traditional huts, or
kåtor
. About eighty of these huts in the eighteenth-century
Sámi
church town
have survived, and are clumped unceremoniously next to a yellow, modern apartment building. The design of these huts – square wooden buildings supporting a pyramid-shaped roof – is typical of the Forest
Sámi
who lived in the surrounding forests, constructing their homes of indigenous timber. Local
Sámi
schoolteacher, Karin Stenberg, made it her life’s work to preserve Lappstaden, and the huts are still used today during the last weekend in August as a venue for a special
festival
, Storstämningshelgen.