Nutukas, finnesko, or simply Sámi boots are traditional
Sámi
The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, Rus ...
winter footwear made of
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
hide. Because they are soft, the nutukas will not freeze as solidly as thick boot
leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...
, making them relatively easy to put on after overnight exposure to subzero temperatures. From 1890, they are regularly mentioned in accounts of polar travel.
Construction
Nutukas are made from soft
hide, traditionally from a reindeer's leg or head, with the fur left on and sewn so that the fur is on the outside of the boot. On the sole, the pieces are assembled with cut in the middle so that the fur goes in different directions to improve traction in snow.
The shaft of the boot is laced with a wide strap (called a ''vuoddagat'' in Northern Sámi or a ''skallebånd'' in Norwegian), often highly decorative, that is wound in several rows to keep snow out of the boot. Traditionally, a grass, (such as
sennegrass),
was used inside the boot to keep the foot dry and warm; now, a felt slipper or
valenki
Valenki ( rus, ва́ленки, p=ˈvalʲɪnkʲɪ; sg valenok ( rus, ва́ленок, p=ˈvalʲɪnək)) are traditional Russian winter footwear, essentially felt boots: the name ''valenok'' literally means "made by felting". They are not wate ...
is commonly worn instead.
The stiff beaked toe of Sámi boots differentiate nutukas from
mukluk
Mukluks or kamik ( iu, ᑲᒥᒃ ) (singular: , plural: ) are a soft boot, traditionally made of reindeer ( caribou) skin or sealskin, and worn by Arctic aboriginal people, including the Inuit, Iñupiat, and Yup'ik.
Mukluks may be worn ove ...
s and other styles of Arctic footwear.
Although the shape of the curved-up beak varies regionally, it serves the same purpose of helping to hold firm a traditional
binding strap on a pair of
ski
A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...
s. This upturned toe helps to keep the boot from sliding back and out of the binding as the ski kicks back.
Terminology
The word "nutukas" is borrowed into English from
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
, which adapted it from Sámi languages. In various Sámi languages, such boots are called in
se, nuvttot or ''gállohat''; smj, nuvtaga; sma, novhtehke or ''gejhkehke''; sjd, пиматҍ (pimat'); sms, nu'trneǩ; smn, njuuppâh; sje, guobok; and sju, nuuhtahka, most of which apparently derive from a
Proto-Samic
Proto-Sami is the hypothetical, reconstructed common ancestor of the Sami languages. It is a descendant of the Proto-Uralic language.
Homeland and expansion
Although the current Sami languages are spoken much further to the north and west, Pro ...
''*nu(v)ttVkke̮''.
''Finnesko'' is an antiquated word coming from
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
. In contemporary Norwegian (both
Bokmål
Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...
and
Nynorsk
Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...
), nutukas are referred to as ''skaller''. In
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, the boots are referred to as ''bällingsko'' or "bell shoes," while in
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
they are called ''пимы'' (pimy).
Variations
The style and form of nutukas varies depending on the cultural area and the wearer. Similar footwear is used by other indigenous peoples of the Eurasian Arctic:
*
Kisy – traditional shoes of the indigenous peoples of the
Far North (
Khanty
The Khanty (Khanty: ханти, ''hanti''), also known in older literature as Ostyaks (russian: остяки) are a Ugric indigenous people, living in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as "Yugra" in Russia, together ...
,
Komi,
Mansi
Mansi may refer to:
People
* Mansi people, an indigenous people living in Tyumen Oblast, Russia
** Mansi language
* Giovanni Domenico Mansi
Gian (Giovanni) Domenico Mansi (16 February 1692 – 27 September 1769) was an Italian prelate, theolog ...
,
Nenets, etc.), sewn from skins from the calf of a reindeer, with a thick sole, knee-high, often with a small heel.
*
Pimy – national shoes of the
Uralic
The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...
peoples. It is also common among
Starozhily in the Arctic and
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
. They are boots made of the skin from the feet of a reindeer (less often – from the skin from the forehead of a reindeer), which are made with wool outwards.
*
Unty – boots made of sheep, reindeer or dog skin.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nutukas
Sámi clothing
Sámi culture
Sámi-language terms
Norwegian clothing
Finnish clothing