Lars Hætta ( se, Jáhkoš-Lasse; 21 January 1834 – 17 February 1896) was a Norwegian Sami reindeer herder, prisoner, wood carver and Bible translator. Following the

Sami revolt in Guovdageaidnu The Sami revolt in Guovdageaidnu, also known as the Kautokeino uprising, was a revolt in the town of Kautokeino in northern Norway in 1852 by a group of Sami who attacked representatives of the Norwegian authorities. The rebels killed the local ...

in 1852 he received a death sentence, which was commuted to life imprisonment.

Personal life

Hætta was born in

Guovdageaidnu Kautokeino ( no, Kautokeino; se, Guovdageaidnu ; fkv, Koutokeino; fi, Koutokeino) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other village ...

, Finnmark, the son of Jacob Mathisen Hætta and Berit Aslaksdatter Sara. He was the brother of Aslak Hætta, and married Berit Hansdatter Gaup in 1868.

Guovdageaidnu revolt

In Finnmark the preaching of

Lars Levi Læstadius Lars Levi Laestadius (; 10 January 1800 – 21 February 1861) was a Swedish Sami pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadian pietist revival movement to help his largely Sami congregations ...

had attracted many supporters to his

religious movement Various sociological classifications of religious movements have been proposed by scholars. In the sociology of religion, the most widely used classification is the church-sect typology. The typology is differently construed by different sociologi ...

. These were in opposition to the established society. In 1852 a major conflict took place: a group of about 30 men and women marched to the centre of Guovdageaidnu to seek revenge for previous harassment. The sheriff, Lars Johan Bucht, and local tradesman Carl Johan Ruth were both killed; while the priest (later bishop) Waldemar Hvoslef, along with his family and household, were whipped by the mob. A rescue party eventually arrived and a fierce fight followed, during which the Læstadian community was overpowered and two of the sect members died. Five of the rebels were later sentenced to death, including Lars Hætta. Two of these, Lars' brother Aslak and Mons Somby, were beheaded in November 1854. Lars Hætta was reprieved by King Oscar I because of his young age. Ellen Skum and her brother Henrik were also reprieved.

Later life

While imprisoned at the

Akershus Prison Akershus Fortress ( no, Akershus Festning, ) or Akershus Castle ( no, Akershus slott ) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress ...

, Hætta started translating the Bible into the Northern Sami language, in cooperation with professor Jens Andreas Friis. After his release from prison in 1867, he joined Friis and

Ludvig Kristensen Daa Ludvig Kristensen Daa (19 August 1809 – 12 June 1877) was a Norwegian historian, ethnologist, auditor, editor of magazines and newspapers, educator and politician. Background He was born as Ludvig Christensen Daae in Saltdal to vicar Christen ...

on a scientific excursion, married in 1868, settled in Guovdageaidnu, and continued his translation work. The translated '' New Testament'' was finished in 1869 and published in 1874. The translated complete Bible was printed in 1895. Hætta also contributed to the dictionary ', and translated other books into Sami language. Several of his wood sculptures from Sami tradition are now located at the Norsk Folkemuseum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haetta, Lars 1834 births 1896 deaths People from Kautokeino Norwegian Sámi people Prisoners sentenced to death by Norway Norwegian prisoners sentenced to death Norwegian Sámi-language writers Norwegian translators Translators of the Bible into Sámi Norwegian sculptors People in Sámi history Sámi rebels Kautokeino rebellion 19th-century translators 19th-century Norwegian writers 19th-century sculptors