Goahti
Lavvu
It has a design similar to a Native American tipi but it is less vertical and more stable in high winds.
It enables the indigenous cultures of the treeless plains of northern Scandinavia and the high arctic of Eurasia to follow their reindeer herds. It is still used as a temporary shelter by the Sámi, and increasingly by other people for camping.
Inside the living quarters of the lavvu, there is a fireplace the middle used for heating and to keep mosquitoes away. The smoke escapes through a hole on top of the lavvu, called a smoke hole that is usually left open. Occasionally a rough blanket could be used to make the opening smaller by wrapping it around the smoke hole, but not to the point where is would prevent the smoke from escaping. In order to prevent smoke from building up inside, proper air circulation must be maintained by leaving an opening between the ground and the cover, or leaving the door slightly open, to let air in and/or to keep the fire hot enough to force the smoke through the smoke hole. Also, the lavvu should be placed in the terrain such that wind does not blow down the smoke hole. Therefore lavvus are typically placed on top of hills, and never on side of a hill.
The lavvu has been - and still is, a strong symbol for the Sámi as a cultural haven. The lavvu played a prominent role in two events during the twentieth century as more than just a shelter. The first was at the end of World War II when the retreating Nazis burned most of the housing in Finnmark and the eastern part of Troms county. Because of this destruction, some Sámi lived in lavvus for many years afterward because of the lack of housing and unemployment from this period. Some Sámi were born in these lavvus that are still alive today with fond memories of this structure.
The second event was when the lavvu was used during the Alta controversy in Norway from 1979 to 1981. A lavvu was set up in front of the Storting (Norwegian Parliament Building) which became an international focus point as several Sámi went on a hunger strike to protest the proposed dam project that would have destroyed reindeer grazing grounds of the Sámi herders in the area and inundated the Sámi village of Máze. This lavvu became center stage in the political fight for Sámi indigenous rights. The irony was not missed when the Oslo police bulldozed the lavvu during the protest. The conflict gave birth to the Sámi Rights Committee which addressed Sámi legal rights within Norway which resulted in the Sámi Act of 1987. This in turn became the foundation for the Sámediggi (Sámi Parliament of Norway), a democratically elected body for the Sámi in Norway in 1989, and the Finnmark Act of 2005.
The strong symbolism of the lavvu has been shown in its pictorial form as the coat-of-arms for the municipality of Guovdageaidnu (Kautokeino) and in the physical shape of the Sámediggi building, whose shape was inspired by the lavvu.
Source courtesy of: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavvu
